Mexican hat remains

Click for greater size and clarity.

Long-time visitors to these pages may remember the Ratibida columnifera, commonly known as Mexican hat, that starred in a post a year ago (and if not, you may want to follow that link back so you know what the wildflower looks like in its prime). I’ve long been fascinated by the way the “column” of this species dries out and deteriorates after it has spilled its seeds, and now you get to see one of the possibilities.

For more information, and to see a clickable map of the many places in the United States and Canada where Mexican hat grows, you can visit the USDA website. Mexican hat also grows, appropriately, in northern Mexico, where I’ve read that people call it sombrerito mexicano or sombrerito de Zapata.

The violet glow in the background of today’s picture is from some prairie verbenas, Glandularia bipinnatifida, that were flowering near the Mexican hat. The date was October 15, the location the south side of Great Hills Park.

For those of you who are interested in photography as a craft, points 1, 2, 5, 6, 16, and 20 in About My Techniques are relevant to this photograph.

© 2012 Steven Schwartzman