More huisache flower globes
Click for better clarity and color.
On the partly cloudy morning of February 15, the day after I saw the first few huisache flowers of the season in my neighborhood, I found an Acacia farnesiana in a more advanced stage of blossoming. Notice how, from a distance, the human eye blends many of the small flowers and makes some boughs seem swathed in yellow-orange.
This majestic huisache, of which you’re obviously seeing only a part, is near the intersection of Northtown Blvd. and The Lakes Blvd. on the prairie in northeast Austin. A decade ago I wandered freely in nature there, before either of those streets existed, but more and more of that land has been developed and keeps being developed. Let’s hope that if this plot gets built on, which is likely, someone will have the good sense to work around the tree.
© 2013 Steven Schwartzman
The flowers are lovely, but the branch structure is awesome! The closer view really defined their outlines.
Lynda
February 21, 2013 at 7:18 AM
You read my mind, Lynda. In an earlier version I had this sentence in the text: “Don’t you love the gestalt of this species, with its pattern of large and scraggly branches reaching skyward?” Huisache trees also have lots of small thorns that neither picture has showed and that I don’t recall ever getting a good picture of.
Steve Schwartzman
February 21, 2013 at 9:05 AM
Beautiful tree. I doubt the tree will be preserved. Builders do not care nor do they possess the good sense of what a tree or other native shrubs are worth. It saddens me every day when I see these things happening.
petspeopleandlife
February 21, 2013 at 9:18 AM
Sometimes I’ve found trees that builders have left alone, but that’s been the exception rather than what I wish were the rule.
Steve Schwartzman
February 21, 2013 at 9:22 AM
Wow, cet arbre est magnifique. J’ai des amis qui m’ont apporté en automne deux arbustes qui sont des acacias qu’ils ont ramenés des states mais sous forme de graines. Cela fait 7 ans qu’ils les avaient plantés. S’ils deviennent aussi grands…
chatou11
February 21, 2013 at 11:55 AM
Il y a pas mal d’espèces d’acacias, y compris quelques-unes dans ma région. Bonne chance, et que tes graines deviennent grandes. (Je m’amuse toujours quand je vois le mot wow en français.)
Steve Schwartzman
February 21, 2013 at 1:23 PM
It really is quite an extraordinary tree when in bloom. It’s ok at other times, of course – but a really prolific tree makes it seem as though an extra sun has risen in the neighborhood. 😉
shoreacres
February 21, 2013 at 7:20 PM
And a sweetly scented sun, at that.
Steve Schwartzman
February 21, 2013 at 9:32 PM
You could say that this image is simple yet complex, at the same time — and is the charm of it for me…
Andrew Graeme Gould
February 21, 2013 at 9:26 PM
Thanks. That’s a good way to put it. As you can tell, I’m especially charmed by huisaches.
Steve Schwartzman
February 21, 2013 at 9:35 PM
It’s snowing outside my window. I’m living spring vicariously through your photos. Sigh.
Joan Leacott
February 22, 2013 at 1:59 PM
I’m happy to continue being the Vicar of Austin for you.
Steve Schwartzman
February 22, 2013 at 2:16 PM
[…] that was doing a good job of blossoming on February 13. Two days later, across the street from the flowering huisache tree that you also recently saw, I found a graceful redbud doing its thing on the prairie. This pastel […]
A closer look at a blossoming redbud tree | Portraits of Wildflowers
February 26, 2013 at 4:45 PM
[…] In February of this year I showed a picture of an early-flowering huisache tree and speculated that the land it was on might not last long. That land is now a construction site […]
Some updates, several of which are downers | Portraits of Wildflowers
September 16, 2013 at 6:15 AM
These are beautiful Steve. It is much taller than Acacia pinetorum, perhaps this is why it was reclassified.
Maria
February 9, 2018 at 7:33 AM
They are beautiful when they’re fully flowering. Even if the pinetorum variety is much smaller, I see that the flowers are just as fragrant:
http://meadowbeautynursery.com/pineland-acacia/
Steve Schwartzman
February 9, 2018 at 7:50 AM