Rosa Multiflora

To be honest, I am not sure this next bush and close-up are of a "Rosa Multiflora". The bloom clusters are not as tight. But if not a multiflora, it's pretty close.

(Recycle, as I am seeing all manner of wild rose -- and garden variety - pop out everywhere)

Wild Rose Bush (Rosa Multiflora)

First week of May, 2008

I've been taking pictures of blooming things for some time, but I have never seen as many wild “bush” roses that I have seen in this last week. I am not sure if that is because I never stopped to photograph them (they are a photographic challenge) or, if with recent rains there are just more of them.

Everywhere I look I am seeing bushes, hedges, and tendrils exploding with wild white roses.

As is, I am not sure if all of the rose covered bushes are of the same species, or simply family variations. The flowers at top appeared more clustered than those shown lower.

For more on wild rose groupings see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Rosa_species

Common White Clover

Common White Clover (Recycle from 08)

Most of us think of a clover as "a" flower, but close inspections shows us that each little clover is actually a ball of little flowers.

Lyre Leaf Sage

LYRE-LEAF SAGE (Lyre Leaved Sage)

Salvia lyrata

Family: Mint (Labiacea)

Perennial

http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=SALY2

Lyre-leaf sage is a strictly upright, hairy perennial, 1-2 ft.
tall. Its pale-blue to violet, tubular flowers are arranged in whorls around the stem forming an interrupted, terminal spike.Whorls of 3-10 lavender to blue flowers surrounding a square stem in an interrupted, spike-like cluster. Large basal leaves are purple-tinged in the winter.
The exposed lower lip of salvias provides an excellent landing platform for bees. When a bee lands, the two stamens are tipped, and the insect is doused with pollen.

Possible medical uses:

http://www.hsl.unc.edu/Collections/MedicinalGarden/LyreSage.htm

Black Locust (Smellr 2)

Robinia pseudoacacia

Info to follow

Sanapshot, Week 16: 4/19 - 4/25 Warm Smells.(Recycle)

Thursday, April 23, Mammatus clouds ushered in our first 90 degree Spring day, the hottest on record for the date.




These daisy fleabain (?) are part of a patch, but you can often see the individual stems standing alone. From a distance, I thought these were kind of a white ragwort... they have a similar profile and belong to the same family. Of curiosity, in the late summer and fall, there are any number of plants that put out a similar flower but are much bussier in the stem. I will have to see if they are the same thing gone wild, or just cousins.

All our other maples (Silver tips, Mountain, Red etc) went to seed a good month or two ago, but Sugar Maples break the mold by going to see well after they have broken into leaf.

Crimson Clover at their apex, even as the White Oak behind is in full floral flourish (though perhaps not thought of in that way.) Some of the Crimmsons are beginning to shed the red and stretch into elongated brush heads.

I have yet to learn the name of these things, though I call them "Jetson grass" as they remind me of something one would see on the Jetson's cartoon. Their floral outcrop appears to climb upward from the base to tip even as the cone enlarges.

From a distance, the bloom of the black Locust looks like a wild cherry bloom on steroids. Up close they look rather like Wisteria -- and they must be the most fragrant flower in Arkansas, smellable from blocks away.

Purple Mailbox flowers. Something like Climaxia. They show up every year at this time, though some folks cheat and use plastic.

(2009 Recycle)

Not sure if they miniature wild roses are of the same species posted a couple or weeks back, but they are major part of our highway landscape, and will in time, give way to dense brier patch.

Other things observed:

1. lots of buttercups.
2. white clover
3. yellow clover
4. The final final trees (members of the Hemlock family) join the green revolution.
5. Skies move from chilly blue to hot blue.
6. The air is thick in pollen, dusting cars.
7. Lots of little roses, including some attached to bushes.
8. Irises in full force.
9. Movement toward the "Monogreen" but still with lots of gold green, limon, and kelly in the mix.
10. Lyre Leaf Sage, visible from road
11. Evening Primrose in fresh start flourish
12. First hint of Queen Anne's Lace
13. Spotting of a single Honey Suckle bloom
14. Crimson, red, yellow, and white clover all going strong. (I will have to take a picture of the red to distinguish it from the Crimson)

Unknown Shrub (Smeller 1)

Unknown.

I suspect that this shrub/hedge/tree comes to Arkansas tby way of the nursery. It is a substanital part of the Suburban landscape, and I have seen it raning in forms from small bushes to a small tree.

Distinctive features: Leaves in Spring with a decideley "Fall" color pallette: forest, copper, olive, deep red and purple.

Bold Fragrance. I love it, some folks may call it too strong. It wafts for blocks.

butter cup

Buttercup

Ranunculus (repens?)

Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Ranunculales
Family: Ranunculaceae
Genus: Ranunculus
(by way of Wikipedia)



Recycle from may of last year, however the Buttercups are coming in strong. It appears there are several varieties in this area, but I am not ready to tackle the differences.

The name buttercup is applied casually to any number of small yellow field flowers, though most of the time it is applied to members of the Ranunculus genus. One of the strong characteristics of this flower type is not only multiple stamen (male part) but multiple pistils. (female component.)

I'll try to get a better picture to illustrate the flourish. Until then, here is a better picture by way of backyard nature: http://www.backyardnature.net/buttrcup.htm

One of the notable characteristics of the featured buttercup is its affinity for drainage areas and wet soil, and its notable waxy sheen. (Which in turn makes it more difficult to photograph). This variety always has five petals.

There is a small irony in the location of Arkansas's field buttercups. They seem to take well to pastureland, and can sometimes be seen distinctly within the perimeters of places where cattle feed. Some varieties of Buttercup are called cowslip, because (I imagine) they slip so easily through cows. On the other hand, buttercups are poisonous, and can blister the mouths of cattle.

For more information on all things Ranunculus see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranunculus

Buckeye (Red)

(This is a recylce from last year. I may be a bit ahead of myself, but these are popping up along the road, in the shade if you peak real hard. All pics, May 4, 5 2008 Conway, AR

Red Buckeye (Aesculus pavia), is a small deciduous tree or shrub native to the southern and eastern parts of the United States, found from Illinois to Virginia in the north and from Texas to Florida in the south.
It has a number of local names, such as scarlet buckeye, woolly buckeye and firecracker plant.

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

My Wild Arky Rose

Repost, from 2008.

As of 4/16/09, these blooms are out in force. In fact I think I could take an identical picture today, and have seen many such minature rose patches along the highways,

Wild "Arky" Rose.

All pics around April 24, 2008 -Conway AR (c) Kirk Jordan

I suspect there are a number of of rose sub-speciesthat are called wild rose... and this is one of them. The fully opened blooms are just a tad larger than a quarter -- and grow on thorny little brambles that arch, spray, and coil over the ground and small hedges.

Purple Vetch (Repost)

Purple Vetch

Vicia benghalensis

Family: Fabaceae

Note: Some photo sites list Purple vetch as the same thing as American Vetch (Vicia Americana), but the American Vetch appears to have a much smaller cluster head.

-----

This is a repost from 2007. These are starting to emerge mid-April with some force, so I repost now, even though the patches may not be as thick as some shown here.


Travel down any Arkansas's Highway in April and May and you are bound to see patches of Purple Vetch, lifting from the grass like violet waves.

As is, Purple Vetch is a member of the larger pea family (ie, legume) and has nitrate fixing qualities (as do peas, peanuts, clover etc.) . As such, Purple Vetch is sometimes used in rotation with other crops as a ground cover and soil aid.

For agriculture applications of Vetch with rice see:
http://www.sarep.ucdavis.edu/cgi-bin/ccrop.EXE/show_imgs_31

For more on the Fabaceae (pea) family see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabaceae