Snapshot, Week 25: 6/21-6/27 2009

White Crepe Myrtle in camophladge (sp?)

Snapshot, Week 25 June 21-27

Not a lot of variety here. Not because there is nothing going on outside, its just so dang hot and I'm inside.

Major Players right now

Plains Coreopsis

Black Eyed-Susan

Mimosa

and

All and every shade of Crepe Myrtles, from bushes to sprigs, to firework trees.

Hairy Wild Petunia

I'm a Little Petunia in a Petunia Patch!


Wild Hairy Petunia
Ruellia humilis

Acanthus family (Acanthaceae)

The light lavender or light purple flowers are funnel-shaped, with 5 flaredlobes, and range in length from 1½-2½". There are usually fine purple lines towards the center of the corolla that function as nectar guides to visitinginsects. There is no noticeable floral scent. A flower typically opens duringthe morning and falls off the plant by evening. The overall appearance of HairyWild Petunia resembles cultivated petunias, but they are members of differentplant families. The blooming period occurs from early summer to late summer, and lasts about 2 months. The root system is fibrous. The dark seeds are fairlylarge and fall to the ground not far from the mother plant.

http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/prairie/plantx/hw_petuniax.htm

Note: As mentioned, I picked up several flowers later in the day to examine them, and they fell right of the stem, leaving the purple trumpet bloom in a single piece (on the ground) and the pistil and stamen parts still sticking from the stem. I put the nectar to my tongue and found it less sweat than honeysuckle, but still a treat.

Purple Headed Sneeze Weed (Clown Nose)

Helenium Flexuosum

aka: Funky Susan, Clown Nose,

http://www.missouriplants.com/Yellowalt/Helenium_flexuosum_page.html

Snapshot Week 24: 6/14-6/20: Bring on the Heat

Mimosa (Silk Tree)
Elderberry

Butterfly Weed

Idunno

Purple Headed Sneeze Weed

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Its a disk flower bonanza: Blackeyed Susans, Plains Coreopsis, and Daisy Fleabane in the mix.

.
Wild Parsley? (member of the Wild Carrot Family)

Snapshot, June 14-20

Info to come

Dandelion

Common Yard Dandelion

Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Tribe: Cichorieae
Genus: Taraxacum

Species (uncertain)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dandelion

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This particular post is not spot-on seasonal. If my old filing system is correct, I took these images in the middle-Spring and early-Fall of 2003. I post them here now, to set the stage for presenting other (spot on) members of the dandelion family.

Odd memory. As kids, we not only blew the seeds, but used the juice from a broken dandelion stem to "tattoo" our arms. By placing the bottom of a hollow stem on our skin, we could leave a little ring of juice, or even smear the juice... which in turn tuned dark on our skin as it dried. I am not sure if the juice was "photo" sensitive, but it really did turn darker after applied.

Carolina Chicory (Texas Dandelion)

Carolina Desert Chicory

or

Pyrrhopappus carolinianus

False Dandelion - 2
Or that which is also not-a-Dandelion but which is not the-other-False-Dandelion.
Or (my name)
"Lion's Mane Dandy"

http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioimages/species/pyca2.htm

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=PYCA2


I need to be careful that I do not call too many things my favorite weed, but this one has to be one of my very favorite favorites. I like the contrast of its outlandish Southern Bell flower, with the Gothic (almost gargoylish) support works. Look at the stem parts holding the bloom, and it looks like iron works that could support a vase. And there is the height, in combination with the gargoyle leaves.

Of interest: I do not know if I have photographed one or two different varieties of Carolina Chicory. I see some of these plants that are only about a foot high, and rise like periscopes out of lawns. Then there are the three and four foot variety that climb out of the "ruins."

Also of interest: These are sun tracking flowers that follow the sun across the sky. For more on "Heliotropism" see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliotropism

Purple Thistle

Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Subfamily: Carduoideae
Tribe: Cynareae
Genus: Cirsium





I do not yet know what species of thistle this is, though it belongs to the genus "Cirsium", which includes a wide variety of thistles. All pics, early June, 2005 Northern Arkansas.


(9/23/08) It would appear that this is Carduus nutans, or a "Musk Thistle." For a different variety of purple thistle see: http://idarkansas.blogspot.com/2008/09/purple.html




Variant Species (we have these here, but these are from Nebraska, July 05)

Wild White Indigo (or False-Indigo)

5/18/05




Reissue from end of May last year



Wild White Indigo, or False Indigo
Baptisia Alba


Dena Gets the gold star for helping me identify this plant. I knew that it was a Legume (ie member of the Fabaceae (pea) family, but I had it as part of the Lupine genus. Turns out to be a part of the Baptisia family

Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Genus: Baptisia

Species: B. alba

(more later)

Plains Coreopsis

Coreopsis tinctoria

In just over a week, the Plain Coreopsis have taken the status as the dominant interstate flower, coating the sides in bouncing gold and rust.