Indiangrass

You’ve seen pictures in these pages of Indian blanket, Indian paintbrush, and Indian mallow; you’ve also seen three native grasses in the past week. Putting those two things together, here’s Indiangrass, Sorghastrum nutans, making its debut here today. The backlit leaf—one more small source of fall color in central Texas—is what first drew my attention, but then a closer look revealed details of the stalk I’d never seen before: the two-tone textured joint and the long wavy striae above it.

Like the last view, this one comes from November 19th along US 183 in Cedar Park, a fast-growing suburb to the north of Austin.

© 2013 Steven Schwartzman