Mexican hat at the shopping mall
In yesterday’s prairie picture you saw bunches of wildflowers, including some Mexican hats, Ratibida columnifera. Here’s a much closer look at one from May 10th at the Lakeline Mall shopping center in Cedar Park. Various wildflowers spring up spontaneously on undeveloped parts of the mall property, something I’ve been taking advantage of in my photography for a decade now. I showed one example of that two years ago:
https://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/2012/05/24/now-add-some-live-oaks-to-the-mix/
In today’s closeup, notice the Mexican hat’s curved stalk, a feature that doesn’t predominate in this species but that’s not rare either. Although the picture is from a month and a half ago, Mexican hat colonies are still prominent around Austin in this first week of summer.
© 2014 Steven Schwartzman
Portraits of Wildflowers 
A very elegant hat. But like the blue bonnet, I am glad the real hats are a little bigger. More comfortable to wear that way.
Gallivanta
June 23, 2014 at 6:19 AM
Ah, practicality, practicality.
Steve Schwartzman
June 23, 2014 at 6:46 AM
Sigh! My Scottish ancestry sneaks out sometimes. Speaking of which, it is thanks to a particular Scottish family that we have a very special area of native bush remnant in Christchurch. http://silkannthreades.wordpress.com/2013/02/16/ageing-treefully/
Gallivanta
June 23, 2014 at 8:22 AM
Vivat Scotia (Long live Scotland). I’m happy to hear about that preserve of native trees.
Steve Schwartzman
June 23, 2014 at 3:47 PM
Just beautiful!!!
Green Cathedral of South Africa
June 23, 2014 at 6:29 AM
Hard to believe that some people consider these abundant little wildflowers weeds. Your reaction is mine.
Steve Schwartzman
June 23, 2014 at 6:52 AM
😉
Green Cathedral of South Africa
June 23, 2014 at 8:41 AM
Reblogged this on My Choice and commented:
Just Beautiful. Pictured by Steven Schwartzman!!!
Green Cathedral of South Africa
June 23, 2014 at 6:30 AM
I’ll add that a Mexican hat flower head is usually between 1 and 2 inches tall. The amount of reddish-brown on each ray varies from essentially none to the large majority you see here.
Steve Schwartzman
June 23, 2014 at 6:56 AM
Thank you this addition Steve!
😉
Herman
Green Cathedral of South Africa
June 23, 2014 at 8:39 AM
You’re welcome, Herman.
Steve Schwartzman
June 23, 2014 at 3:49 PM
😉
Green Cathedral of South Africa
June 23, 2014 at 11:55 PM
Oh! Glorious! I especially like that subtle little curve in the flower head that echoes the curve of the stem. Apart from that, it’s a beautiful natural example of the combination of curved and perpendicular that shows up elsewhere: candleholders, banana holders on kitchen counters, Calder mobiles. And then there’s that Fibonacci thing going on.
Apart from all that, it’s beautiful. The blue sky’s an especially nice background for this one, I think.
shoreacres
June 23, 2014 at 7:06 AM
I like the Fibonacci thing, too. The orange-blue combination is striking. Plus, the small touch of green is nice.
Jim in IA
June 23, 2014 at 7:19 AM
While you were writing this I was answering the previous comment and said a little more about Fibonacci numbers. Now I’ll really have to look at some Mexican hats more closely.
Steve Schwartzman
June 23, 2014 at 7:24 AM
You won’t be surprised to hear that I agree with you about the blue background, which does such a good job of complementing the brown, red, and yellow of the Mexican hat’s rays. You also read my mind about “that Fibonacci thing”: last night I looked at this picture and realized I’ve never tried to count the rows of spirals on any of these seed columns to find out for sure if they’re Fibonacci numbers, which is what I assume. (That’s not always the case with plants: years ago I counted spirals of spines on a cactus and got numbers that were two times the standard Fibonacci numbers.) And it’s good of you to notice the way the column on this Mexican hat is slightly curved. I don’t know how common that is, but I’ll try to be more observant while there are still large numbers of Mexican hat flowers around.
Steve Schwartzman
June 23, 2014 at 7:22 AM
Perfect name for a really cool looking flower! I love it 😃
jkgphotos
June 23, 2014 at 7:52 AM
Not only cool looking, but quite common here: even after the conspicuous colonies of them fade, individual plants here and there can be found flowering through the summer and fall, usually till December.
Steve Schwartzman
June 23, 2014 at 8:07 AM
Beautiful – so fun to see ‘new’ to me flowers and plants-
photoleaper
June 23, 2014 at 8:33 AM
Yes, so very different from the flora of British Columbia. I’m glad to see you’re enjoying your continuing exposure to the species that grow in Texas.
Steve Schwartzman
June 23, 2014 at 3:12 PM
That is a really interesting name and pretty obvious how it got it. Are the flowers opening from bottom to top or the reverse? Really cool Fibonacci patterning.
So these Mexican Hat colonies…is that required attire for all residents?
Steve Gingold
June 23, 2014 at 10:10 AM
The ray flowers (which are the colorful ones) seem to all develop at the base at around the same time. The disk flowers, which are the more numerous and much tinier ones that surround the column, are opening here from the bottom up, and I’ve seen that in other heads of this species, but I’m not sure that’s always the case.
The attire is definitely required, even if the balance of colors in the ray flowers is variable.
Steve Schwartzman
June 23, 2014 at 3:33 PM
It was the disk flowers I was curious about. The upper cone seems pretty fresh and I thought the process would lead upward as is the case in most flowers..spikes especially…but there are always exceptions.
Steve Gingold
June 23, 2014 at 3:43 PM
I’m going to look more carefully the next time I see a colony of these. If I notice any exceptions to the direction in which the disk flowers open I’ll let you know.
Steve Schwartzman
June 23, 2014 at 3:52 PM
Oh that’s fabulous! Reminds me a bit of the cone flower. Love the velvety petals 🙂
Sarah Longes - Mirador Design
June 23, 2014 at 10:59 AM
Some people call this a prairie coneflower, but the math teacher in me rebels because the central column is no cone. Another vernacular name that’s more accurate is thimbleflower.
Steve Schwartzman
June 23, 2014 at 3:36 PM
Yes, the cone part actually sort of grows up from the flower on a true coneflower whereas this already has quite a protrusion 😉
Sarah Longes - Mirador Design
June 23, 2014 at 3:38 PM
Love it. Gorgeous shot. The intensity and crispness of color, shape and bold composition combine for one fiery image. Hurray!
kathryningrid
June 23, 2014 at 1:48 PM
I like your description, K.I. This is one wildflower I believe you have in abundance in north-central Texas, and it seems a likely candidate for you to portray. I did a search on your blog for “Mexican hat” but all the hits seemed to be about (presumably Mexican) food.
Steve Schwartzman
June 23, 2014 at 3:42 PM
Yup … like it, very much. D
Pairodox Farm
June 23, 2014 at 2:51 PM
There’s a lot to like in this little wildflower, so I can see why you do.
Steve Schwartzman
June 23, 2014 at 3:44 PM
Wow, so sharp. Strange and beautiful.
bentehaarstad
June 23, 2014 at 4:26 PM
It’s relative, Bente. For people in Texas, this is a wildflower that’s quite common—some even consider it a weed—and can be found blooming in large quantities in May and June, and then at least in small quantities for the next half-year. You must have many species that would seem strange and exotic to us over here.
As so often before, I’ll give the credit for sharpness to my 100mm macro lens.
Steve Schwartzman
June 23, 2014 at 4:53 PM
That is such a fascinating plant, the photo is superb. I am going to look this up on the internet to get more detail.
Charlie@Seattle Trekker
June 23, 2014 at 5:47 PM
Thanks, Charlie. In February I showed a late stage left over from last year:
https://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/2014/02/01/mexican-hat-with-a-curious-loop/
Speaking of which, last year I showed a medium-range view of a Mexican hat colony in my neighborhood:
https://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/2013/05/25/mexican-hat-colony-flowering/
In 2012 I showed a colorful visitor on one of these flower heads:
https://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/2012/08/23/the-red-and-the-black/
Steve Schwartzman
June 23, 2014 at 6:54 PM
Gorgeous photo!
montucky
June 24, 2014 at 10:57 PM
These little wildflowers, so common here, work wonders on the minds of people elsewhere.
Steve Schwartzman
June 25, 2014 at 7:01 AM
Nice light and detail.
bythebriny
June 26, 2014 at 8:51 AM
I appreciate your noticing the subtle shading on the column of this flower head.
Steve Schwartzman
June 26, 2014 at 10:10 AM
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