Easter daisy

A fringe benefit of my trout lily quest at Nan Hampton’s country place on March 13th was the chance to see a plant that’s widespread across much of the western United States and parts of western Canada but that reaches the southeastern limit of its range in Lampasas County and therefore doesn’t quite make it to Travis County and Austin: Townsendia exscapa, known as Easter daisy. The best little clumps of these flowers I found on my visit were the ones in the seemingly (to people) harshest conditions, which is to say that the plants grew in caliche and amid stones but seemed to thrive in that environment, as you see here in a photo that marks the first appearance of this species in these pages.

© 2015 Steven Schwartzman