Oenothera sheath

The last thing I’ll show you from my stop along TX 29 a little east of Llano on April 7th is this close view of the underside of a wildflower in the genus Oenothera, though I’m not sure of the species. (You may recall that the pink evening primroses you recently saw are Oenothera speciosa.) The flower buds in this genus are long and tapering, and their outer sheath persists beneath the flower that emerges from it. Behind the open and yellowing sheath that you see here is a greenish one from a bud that has yet to open. The touches of blue-indigo in the lower left are from a bluebonnet, Lupinus texensis.

© 2015 Steven Schwartzman