Mountain pinks growing in caliche

In the previous post you saw a buckeye butterfly in what I call the “scaffolding” beneath a bunch of mountain pink flowers—only you didn’t get to see any of those flowers. Here from June 20th along the Capital of Texas Highway is a typical view showing the way Centaurium beyrichii thrives in seemingly barren places. The kind of ground these plants are growing in is known in Texas as caliche.

Today’s photograph looks largely downward at the margin of land along the highway, but last year I aimed upward to show how these plants live up to the name mountain pink by seeming to grow right out of lofty rock.

© 2014 Steven Schwartzman