Buffalo gourd
Have you ever noticed how an opening buffalo gourd flower (Cucurbita foetidissima) when seen from the side has a contour similar to that of a dinosaur footprint? Of course you haven’t. Below is a close look at the center of one of these flowers. Both of these portraits are from June 28th in northwest Austin.
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Just read a thoughtful and well-written essay by Peter Wood about last month’s
Supreme Court ruling against racial preferences in American universities.
© 2023 Steven Schwartzman
Portraits of Wildflowers 
No, the dinosaur footprint escaped me. But I did see an upside-down version of a prairie skirt, just made for dancing. Of course, that brought to mind good dance music, and the possibility of a parody: “Buffalo Gourds, won’t you come out tonight?
shoreacres
July 15, 2023 at 8:26 AM
What a good seque from Buffalo Gals to Buffalo Gourds. I just learned from the Wikipedia article about the original song that “the lyrics are a reference to the many ‘dancing girls’ who performed in the bars, concert-hall dives, and brothels of the Buffalo, New York, Canal district, which at that time was the western terminus of the Erie Canal and the site where canal and freighter crewmen received their wages.” For all the decades I’ve known “Buffalo Gals,” I never would have made that connection—just as I never would have imagined an upside-down buffalo gourd flower as a prairie skirt.
Steve Schwartzman
July 15, 2023 at 12:43 PM
Great observation! That absolutely looks like a 🦕 footprint. Wonderful close-ups highlight completely different aspects of the beauty of this flower. ☺️
Birder's Journey
July 15, 2023 at 10:35 AM
Thanks. I like your enthusiastic appreciation. For a long time now I’ve taken to photographing a flower in different ways, the more the better. I have quite a different-looking view of a buffalo gourd flower scheduled for next week.
I see that buffalo gourd, mostly a plant of the southwestern and south-central United States, has established small outposts as far away as Ohio and northern Florida. Perhaps you’ll get to see one.
Steve Schwartzman
July 15, 2023 at 12:53 PM
Great non-logical tangential leap from triangular yellow on black form to dinosaur footprint. And the interior view with the tiny insect really shows off the hirsute nature, which wasn’t as emphasized in the first pic
^^^
Interesting essay. Doesn’t address economic inequalities in terms of access to quality education, nor sanctions against non-conformists. Nor failure to challenge young minds – “They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom” as Leonard Cohen wrote. But I do agree that each application should be considered on its own merits. Which would take into account such factors as socio-economic background, academic achievement, and others. My daughter and I showed up late one Friday afternoon at a university and the professor was about to close his office, but when I mentioned that she had been volunteering at a local non-profit related to the major of interest, he invited us in and had a long chat. She graduated with a Master’s degree in three years, thanks to AP class credits. A shame that they weren’t available when I was a kid (he said, with a mouthful of sour grapes).
RobertKamper
July 15, 2023 at 11:50 AM
I’ve been seeing and photographing buffalo gourd flowers for two decades. After all that time, I don’t know why this one suddenly suggested a dinosaur footprint. May there always be unexpected connections.
You’ve seen enough of my commentaries to know that my goal is for racial preferences in college admissions (and many other things) to become unnecessary. That’s why I so often criticize the abysmal state of education in our country. It’s especially important to inculcate the basics in children who don’t get reinforcement at home and have nowhere else but school to learn such things. Offering a solid basic education doesn’t take a lot of money; it does take will power and a sense of purpose in the people who control education—attributes sorely lacking in those people now.
Fortunately I was able to take AP Calculus and AP French in my Long Island high school. I did well enough on the latter that when I got to college the next year I was allowed to sign up for any upper-level French course I wanted to. That’s how I became a French major.
Steve Schwartzman
July 15, 2023 at 1:08 PM
I couldn’t help but think of this tune when I read your title.
Steve Gingold
July 15, 2023 at 2:55 PM
Oh, I should have read the comments sooner. Nice to know Linda and I had the same reaction.
Steve Gingold
July 15, 2023 at 2:56 PM
We could say you were tuned in to her thought.
Steve Schwartzman
July 15, 2023 at 3:30 PM
You even linked to the same recording of the song.
Steve Schwartzman
July 15, 2023 at 3:31 PM
Yes, I noticed that. There were several but I preferred something more “traditional” than some of the more recent versions.
Steve Gingold
July 15, 2023 at 3:41 PM
Speaking of music, there’s a song from “Fiddler on the Roof” about “Tradition.”
Steve Schwartzman
July 15, 2023 at 3:48 PM
Just dropped by to enjoy the excellent photography.
I was not disappointed.
Dinosaur footprint. Didn’t think of that but now I’ll be laying down again looking at flowers in so many different ways.
Flowers from the gourd family seem to resemble papier-mâché.
Wally Jones
July 15, 2023 at 3:47 PM
Happy non-disappointment (for which I’m relieved). If a dinosaur footprint wouldn’t have occurred to you, the resemblance to papier-mâché wouldn’t have occurred to me. Different flights of the imagination. Lying down is a good way to see wildflowers.
Steve Schwartzman
July 15, 2023 at 3:51 PM
I had NOT noticed…
Alessandra Chaves
July 15, 2023 at 4:51 PM
And neither had I till the other day, when my mind engaged in a flight of fancy.
Steve Schwartzman
July 15, 2023 at 4:52 PM
of course now I cannot unsee it 😉
Alessandra Chaves
July 15, 2023 at 4:58 PM
Now you’ll have to start seeing dinosaur footprints as buffalo gourd flowers.
Steve Schwartzman
July 15, 2023 at 6:56 PM
😅all your fault
Alessandra Chaves
July 15, 2023 at 7:41 PM
I plead guilty.
Steve Schwartzman
July 15, 2023 at 9:27 PM
A beautiful flower from an apparently very useful plant. Have you ever eaten young buffalo gourd? Or the seeds?
Gallivanta
July 15, 2023 at 10:35 PM
No, I haven’t. The plant has an unpleasant odor, and the flesh of the gourd doesn’t taste good (from what I’ve read). After I handled a buffalo gourd plant the other day, I found that the odor lingered on my fingers for hours even after I took a shower. As you said, the toasted seeds apparently make good eating if you can remove all traces of clinging pulp. Here’s a video about it.
Steve Schwartzman
July 16, 2023 at 5:50 AM
I guess the key to the taste is in the description, Foetidissima
Gallivanta
July 16, 2023 at 8:27 AM
You’ve got it.
Steve Schwartzman
July 16, 2023 at 10:22 AM
Yes, a thoughtful essay and it mentions what I thought was one of the sticking points of the decision: “Roberts’ ruling also includes an odd footnote (footnote 4, page 22) that exempts military service academies from the broader ruling:
The United States as amicus curiae contends that race-based admissions programs further compelling interests at our Nation’s military academies. No military academy is a party to these cases, however, and none of the courts below addressed the propriety of race-based admissions systems in that context. This opinion also does not address the issue, in light of the potentially distinct interests that military academies may present.” I wonder who will be the one to bell this cat!
Gallivanta
July 15, 2023 at 11:57 PM
Good question. Once someone in the military brings a lawsuit, I can’t imagine that the same court that barred racial discrimination in college admissions will allow continued racial discrimination in the military.
Steve Schwartzman
July 16, 2023 at 5:53 AM
The court may decide but as with the universities so with the military but perhaps even more so because it is a super power within a super power. If affirmative action is giving the US military an edge on the world military stage it will find ways to continue with that strategy.
Gallivanta
July 16, 2023 at 8:02 PM
That’s a big “if.” The evidence I’m aware of shows that “woke” policies have been weakening the U.S. military—the opposite of what the promulgators of those policies blithely claimed and keep claiming will happen. Here’s an article about it if you’d like some particulars:
https://www.heritage.org/defense/commentary/the-rise-wokeness-the-military
“Woke” policies are one factor contributing to the military’s inability to fulfill its yearly recruiting goals.
Steve Schwartzman
July 17, 2023 at 5:28 AM
Yes, it is an important and big “if” but my main point is that the US Military is very powerful and very capable and it will do what it needs to do to stay that way. That may mean rejecting affirmative action at some time or it may not. The competition to get into elite military academies in the US is, as I understand, very stiff. Ordinary enlistments may be dropping but that would be the same for other countries which don’t have compulsory military service. For example, NZ and Australia and the UK are all having issues with recruiting, and, more importantly, retaining people. Here’s another if; If the US military is weakening ( and that may be the case ) it’s doing a very good job of hiding the weakening in its capability in the Indo Pacific region. The US is very busy with joint military exercises and this latest sabre-rattling exercise, “Talisman Sabre 2023”, won’t be going unnoticed by China. It’s a huge exercise and display of military might. https://www.defence.gov.au/exercises/talisman-sabre Thanks for the link to the article. It’s always good to consider all points of view.
Gallivanta
July 17, 2023 at 9:07 PM
It seems you find the US military currently more capable than I do. Alas, I don’t believe “it will do what it needs to do to stay that way.” That’s why wokeness is so dangerous: ideology reigns over reality. Though I have no personal experience with the military, in a field where I do have personal experience, education, I’ve watched for 50 years as ideologues (who would now be called woke, though the term didn’t exist back then) have persistently eroded standards and made excuse after excuse when their policies have led to ever more poorly prepared students. In fact the poor academic preparedness of so many young Americans is one of the reasons the military can’t get as many recruits as it needs.
Putting on a display of military might isn’t the same thing as actually having a mighty military, especially if the people in charge don’t know how to use it well. Once again I’m judging by evidence rather than claims, as in the shameful way the current American administration pulled the military out of Afghanistan.
Steve Schwartzman
July 18, 2023 at 6:58 AM
Perhaps my more favourable view of the US military’s capabilities comes in the context of what we have in the way of defence capability in New Zealand. We were recently mocked on media, worldwide, for this back up plan: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/26/new-zealand-pm-chris-hipkins-row-flying-to-china-backup-plane
Gallivanta
July 18, 2023 at 7:46 AM
I hadn’t heard about that or the similar previous instances documented in the article. Now I understand why you have a more favorable view of the U.S. military.
Steve Schwartzman
July 18, 2023 at 7:53 AM
Our defence personnel do the best they can with what they have, and I do truly bless their military socks during times of natural disaster. They are also an invaluable component of Operation Antarctica. Mention of Antarctica reminds me that Christchurch is a gateway to Antarctica and as such we have had positive interactions with the US military since the US Operation Deep Freeze began flights from Christchurch in 1955.
Gallivanta
July 18, 2023 at 6:27 PM
Ever since 1955: that’s a long time. And the Australia, New Zealand and United States Security Treaty (ANZUS Treaty) goes back to 1951.
Steve Schwartzman
July 18, 2023 at 6:46 PM
I should add that when an institution recruits and promotes people based in part (and sometimes a large part) on extraneous considerations like race and sexuality—a practice that has become common in all institutions now, including the military—it results in a lowering of standards and in less-capable people being put in charge. That in turn leads to fewer advances. While American generals are prattling about white privilege and systemic racism, the Chinese continue building up their military and inventing new weapons.
Steve Schwartzman
July 18, 2023 at 7:21 AM
Yes, China doesn’t mess about. Every university student in China has to complete a military training program. Military training isn’t simply an option but an integral part of higher education.
Gallivanta
July 18, 2023 at 7:41 AM
By the way, I couldn’t help noticing that Peter Wood has the same take as I do on what universities will do in the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision, as I said in my commentary about this last week:
“Amazingly, I’ve lived long enough to see [this decision]. Nevertheless, the probability that ‘elite’ American universities will adhere to the spirit of yesterday’s Supreme Court’s ruling is zero. (Compare yesterday’s commentary about nullification.) Universities won’t flagrantly keep putting racial checkboxes on applications, but they’ll find ways—some obvious and others devious—to circumvent the ruling. Increasingly many schools have already been eliminating objective measures of performance, like the SAT and the ACT, so there’ll be less evidence of the discrimination that the schools will keep perpetrating.”
Steve Schwartzman
July 16, 2023 at 6:26 AM
Yes, I noticed that, too.
Gallivanta
July 16, 2023 at 8:28 AM
The people who run universities feel they can do whatever they want with impunity, including flouting existing anti-discrimination laws and ignoring Supreme Court rulings.
Steve Schwartzman
July 16, 2023 at 10:26 AM
For some reason that never occurred to me Steve! Hehe!
Ann Mackay
July 16, 2023 at 5:12 AM
You’re hardly alone in that, Ann.
Steve Schwartzman
July 16, 2023 at 5:53 AM
[…] While there I also went for a limited-focus approach, thanks to a broad aperture of f/4, in portraying a buffalo gourd flower (Cucurbita foetidissima). You can compare the result to the get-as-much-in-focus-as-possible approach you saw here last week. […]
Not equestrian | Portraits of Wildflowers
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