Yellow water-lily

Nymphaea mexicana; Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center; May 6th.

© 2018 Steven Schwartzman

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Horsemints flowering with firewheels

Eight years ago today I found this colony of horsemints (Monarda citriodora) flowering with some firewheels (Gaillardia pulchella) in Pflugerville.

If you’re interested in the craft of photography, point 18 in About My Techniques is relevant to today’s picture.

© 2018 Steven Schwartzman

Two-leaf senna

Here’s a native wildflower I’ve never shown you before. That’s surprising, given that it grows in my neighborhood and that on several occasions I’ve shown the other species of senna that grows here. This one is Senna roemeriana, known as two-leaf senna or two-leaved senna. The common name refers to the fact that each of the plant’s leaves is made up of two leaflets; you can see one leaflet and part of its symmetric twin at the lower left in the photograph.

I took this picture beneath the power lines west of Morado Circle one month ago today.

© 2018 Steven Schwartzman

Blister beetle on Penstemon cobaea

On April 8th in Round Rock I came across this blister beetle in the genus Pyrota, apparently P. lineata or P. bilineata. The flower is the kind of foxglove, Penstemon cobaea, that you saw from farther back in a post here last month. Thanks to bugguide.net for identifying the genus of the beetle.

© 2018 Steven Schwartzman

Winecups

Behold some winecups, Callirhoe involucrata, at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center on May 6th. Below is a closeup of a standing winecup, Callirhoe pedata. In both species, the petals are about an inch long.

© 2018 Steven Schwartzman

Blackfoot daisies, one and many

Way back on March 31st I made a portrait of a blackfoot daisy flower head, Melampodium leucanthum, along Yaupon Dr. in my extended neighborhood. Then on April 17th I photographed a colony of flowering blackfoot daisies beneath the power lines west of Morado Circle.

© 2018 Steven Schwartzman

Engelmann daisy leaf

One thing that distinguishes the Engelmann daisy, Engelmannia peristenia, from so many other yellow daisies is the plant’s leaves, both in their lobed shape and in their fuzzy texture. I photographed this backlit Engelmann daisy leaf on the vanishing prairie in Round Rock on April 8th.

Here it is a month later and I’m still seeing Engelmann daisies around Austin.

© 2018 Steven Schwartzman