Sand cherry

Did you know that cherries are in the same genus as plums and peaches? ‘Tis true, and that genus is Prunus, a word you recognize as the source of the prune that is a dried plum. Here you see some flowers of Prunus pumila, known as sand cherry, that I found at Illinois Beach State Park on June 9th.

© 2016 Steven Schwartzman

Ceanothus herbaceus

Yet another wildflower from Illinois Beach State Park on June 7th: Ceanothus herbaceus, called prairie redroot and Jersey tea. This species grows in Austin, too, even if I’ve rarely gotten to see it there. (Speaking of Austin, I’m far away from home now, so I may be slow in responding to comments.)

© 2016 Steven Schwartzman

Milkweed buds

On June 9th at Illinois Beach State Park I photographed this cluster of milkweed (Asclepias spp.) buds. In looking at the picture now, I like the way the curves and lines of the elements farther back complement the buds whose closest tips are sharply detailed in the foreground.

© 2016 Steven Schwartzman

And what is so rare as a day in June?*

Make that: And what is so rare on a day in June? Answer: Castilleja sessiliflora, known as downy yellow painted cup, which I photographed at Illinois Beach State Park on June 9th. In identifying this wildflower for me, Melissa Pierson quoted Swink and Wilhelm: “An extremely rare plant in our area…. Probably the world’s easternmost colony of the natural range of this species occurs near Zion in Lake County, Illinois, where it grows in sandy soil….” Here’s a closer look from lower down:

Most Castilleja species I’ve seen in person or in pictures have had reddish-orange bracts. The closest in color that any central Texas Castilleja species comes to what you see in this photograph is Castilleja purpurea var. citrina.

© 2016 Steven Schwartzman

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* The title is the opening line of a once-well-known poem by the once-well-known American poet James Russell Lowell.

Killdeer

At Illinois Beach State Park on June 14th we noticed a lot of clutter in one place, as you see in the first photograph. Flitting in and out of that clutter was a bird that I learned is a killdeer, Charadrius vociferus.

The “cage” of dead branches rising from the beach sand obviously wasn’t natural but had been placed there by people. When we got closer we could guess at the reason for the uprights: to mark the killdeer’s nest and keep walkers from accidentally treading on it, given how easily a passerby might take the eggs for just a few more stones out of the thousands on the beach.

© 2016 Steven Schwartzman

Minuartia michauxii var. michauxii

This post’s title is a mouthful. Only a little better are the common names Michaux’s stitchwort and Michaux’s sandwort. One article notes that the plant “is a gorgeous low-growing ground cover for dry, sandy, or rocky soils in full sun from New Hampshire to Virginia, with a disjunct population in the dunes around Lake Michigan.” Sure enough, I took today’s photograph at Illinois Beach State Park on June 7th.

© 2016 Steven Schwartzman

That which we call a rose

It may be the case that that which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet, but changing out the sense of smell for that of sight, here’s an already faded native rose that I made a non-traditional portrait of at Illinois Beach State Park on June 7th.

As for which species this was, Melissa Pierson wrote: “There are 3 species of native roses that grow along the beach and the river: Rosa blanda, R. carolina, and R. palustris. They all bloom there at about the same time, and their habitats intermingle, and they are very difficult to differentiate, but my guess would be that we saw R. blanda.”

That said, I hope you won’t find this portrait bland.

© 2016 Steven Schwartzman

Verdant Volo views, vertical and horizontal

The vertical picture shows Lysimachia thyrsiflora, known as tufted loosestrife or swamp loosestrife,

The horizontal picture shows a curlingly dry leaf fallen onto the duckweed-covered surface of some water in the Volo Bog State Natural Area in Lake County, Illinois, on June 7. The first photograph comes from the same session.

Euphorbia corollata

At Illinois Beach State Park on June 9th I found a flowering spurge plant, Euphorbia corollata. The species name is Latin for ‘having a small crown,’ and Melissa Pierson, who identified the species for me, noted that “when a little further along the little white flowers form a crown above the stem. Abundant at Illinois Beach, I don’t find it anywhere else.” Today’s photograph is a downward-looking view at one of those small white crowns, which was about a quarter of an inch across (6mm).

© 2016 Steven Schwartzman

Sparse and not sparse

On that last visit to Illinois Beach State Park on June 14th I found this flowering spike of Lobelia spicata. Compared to the pale-spiked lobelia in the photograph at the Illinois Wildflowers site, this one seems sparse, but that’s the way it was. Not at all sparse there that day (or any other) were the pebbles on the shore of Lake Michigan.

© 2016 Steven Schwartzman