Endurance

This flower-topped column of frogfruit, Phyla nodiflora, is an advanced stage that began with a ring of flowers down near the stem on a small core that was initially globular. As that core slowly grew into a longer and longer cylinder, a new ring of tiny white flowers replaced each previous one, and the remains of all those successive floral rings bedeck the narrow column. If you’d like to see an early stage in the process and also get a better look at some of the individual flowers, you’re welcome to check out a post from two years ago.

Date: August 21.  Location: the Blackland Prairie in northeast Austin.

To see the many places across the United States where this species grows, you can check the USDA map.

© 2014 Steven Schwartzman