Antelope-horns flower globe

In this morning’s post you saw a closeup of two flowers of antelope-horns, Asclepias asperula. I mentioned that they were part of a globe of flowers, but perhaps I should have added that a globe is a common (but not mandatory) shape for the inflorescence of this species. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then let me save about 900 more of them and show you one of those flower globes now. The photograph is from April 1, 2013, on the right-of-way beneath the large power lines west of Morado Circle. I think you’ll find this a good example of global forming.

© 2014 Steven Schwartzman

Two antelope-horns flowers

The most widespread milkweed in Austin is Asclepias asperula, commonly called antelope-horns. Here’s a closeup of two flowers on a flower globe of this species, along with a tiny two-toned beetle. In that last sentence I’ve played up the number two, but you can see that milkweeds inherently do things in fives.

This picture is from the Smith Memorial Trail in northwest Austin on April 29th.

© 2014 Steven Schwartzman