Sideoats grama seed stalk

Last time you saw some flowering Bouteloua curtipendula, a native grass known as sideoats grama. Here’s a later stage showing not only the grass’s drying seeds but also a spider web that had pulled the normally erect stalk into a curve. The date was July 12th, and I found myself behind an office complex on the east side of Capital of Texas Highway in northwest Austin.

I didn’t mention it yesterday, but sideoats grama is the official state grass of Texas. Why a state needs an official grass—much less a state molecule—I have no idea, but then the number of things I don’t understand will always be much greater than the number of things I do. In fact the older I’ve gotten, the more the gap has widened. So much for progress.

© 2013 Steven Schwartzman