On a fringe of a rain-lily colony
Click for greater clarity and size.
On September 25th I made a second visit to the prominent colony of rain-lilies, Cooperia drummondii, on the triangle of land where Perry Ln. runs into Mopac. At one edge of the colony I encountered a lone flower head of greenthread, Thelesperma filifolium, which plays the starring role in today’s portrait. Beyond it, indistinctly, you can make out not only rain-lilies that were still white and fresh, but also older ones that had turned reddish as they shriveled and bent over into arcs.
© 2013 Steven Schwartzman
Portraits of Wildflowers 
Nice in its simplicity.
Jim in IA
October 24, 2013 at 7:51 AM
So I’ll say simply Thanks.
Steve Schwartzman
October 24, 2013 at 7:59 AM
Greenthread. One of the things I enjoy, besides your photography, about this blog is the number of species you have there, Steve. We have a goodly number, but Texas seems to really have some great diversity. We have a Goldthread here……http://stephengingoldphoto.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/Flora/G0000J7rraELfG3M/I00004Z7sSk0UYS8 …very different.
Steve Gingold
October 24, 2013 at 6:02 PM
Texas has a lot of native species, no question about it, enough that I can keep introducing new ones here from time to time to punctuate my perennial (and annual) favorites. Greenthread is one of those, as is the rain-lily, with both having appeared here a bunch of times.
I looked up your goldthread (nice picture!), which appears to be Coptis trifolia, a mostly Northeast species that we don’t have in Texas.
Steve Schwartzman
October 24, 2013 at 6:39 PM
Hm. How very odd. I see a boxed place where the photograph should be, and it says to click for greater clarity, but there is nothing in the box! When I click I get a little white dot in the center of dark gray.
???
The previous posts are still normal and lovely, so I wonder what has happened?
Lynda
October 24, 2013 at 10:46 PM
Once in a while I get a report of some anomaly like the one you’re describing. The programmers at WordPress make many changes behind the scenes, and with such a large enterprise things occasionally go awry. I suspect Internet service providers sometimes cause problems, too.
As of now, the morning after you posted your comment, the photograph is behaving normally for me, but of course that doesn’t mean it’ll behave normally for you this morning, but do try again and see if the problem has resolved itself. If not, let me know and I can e-mail you a copy of the picture so you’ll know what you’re supposed to have seen here.
Steve Schwartzman
October 25, 2013 at 7:21 AM
Strangely, this photo is still MIA. However today’s post is picture perfect as are all the rest.
Lynda
October 25, 2013 at 7:35 AM
OK, I know what is doing it, but I can’t fix it. It is my virus protection software. I added you to the “safe” sites list, but I only get the picture if I turn off my software. But I did get to see the lovely picture! Even if only briefly. 😀
Lynda
October 25, 2013 at 7:45 AM
I’m glad you’ve figured it out, Lynda.
Steve Schwartzman
October 25, 2013 at 7:55 AM
lovely
sedge808
October 24, 2013 at 10:47 PM
That’s what I like to hear.
Steve Schwartzman
October 25, 2013 at 7:22 AM
Very painterly, this shot.
kathryningrid
October 31, 2013 at 5:48 PM
It’s good of you, a painter, to see it that way.
Steve Schwartzman
October 31, 2013 at 6:34 PM