Big thanks!

Big thanks to the many friends (and Octogenarians!) who made my photo show at the Library such a real success. In your honor... A Rainbow!

Kirk Jordan is slightly embarrassed (but not too embarrassed) by the level of coverage given to his first Multi-media showing of ID Arkansas to be shown on September 24, 2009 in Conway, AR. (Which also accounts for the fact that I am so far behind on posting things to this site!

--

Photographer Kirk Jordan is set to present at the Faulkner County Library, 1900 Tyler Street on September 24th at 7:00 pm. Jordan (in conjunction with ID Arkansas) has produced a dynamic and beautiful digital “slideshow” presentation entitled The Divine Commute. The Divine Commute is a photographic guide to over 80 flowering species found between Conway and Little Rock, Arkansas. The multi-media show features artful yet highly descriptive photographs of local flora, many which line the Interstate. The presentation is free and open to the public. This presentation is a great program for the whole family to enjoy. Free refreshments will be served. Door prizes will be available to kids.



http://thecabin.net/acclaimed-photographer-kirk-jordan-present-divine-commute

Purple Thistle

I believe this is Cirsium arvense, one of many types of purple thistle. (It could also be Cirsium altissium).
For a moment, I thought these were a flower I had never seen. Most thisles grow upright, but after strong winds and rain, this outcrop was bent over.
For a different variety of purple thistle see: http://idarkansas.blogspot.com/2008/05/purple-thistle.html




Info to be added

All pics, mid September 2008

Orange Jewel Weed (Impatiens capensis)

.

Touch-me-not or

Orange Jewel Weed,

Impatiens capensis

Info to follow. No time.

National Yellow Thing Month

Goldenrod and willow-leaf sunflower





Tickseed





Willow-leaf sunflower

Just a note: This series is all from previous years, but I see I am getting searches related to yellow flowers in Arkansas. Our two most dominant yellow flowers, beyond the little roadside ragworts are Tickseed and the Willow-leaf sunflower. I've got great newer images of both but will post when I have time. Until then

Willow leaf: 14 bracks (yellow petals) overall flat look to the bloom

Ticks seed: 8 bracks, cup shaped,

More to come

Willow Leaf Sunflower (Butter balls)

Helianthus salicifolius

Tick seed

All images, late September, Early October (2003/04)

Bidens aristosa

http://www.ct-botanical-society.org/galleries/bidensaris.html

Bidens coronata

Bidens polylepis (?)

http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/wetland/plants/ts_sunflower.htm

http://www.pbase.com/1designguy/image/33539701

A quick look at the Internet shows that there are actually dozens of flowers that are called Tickseed, though I think this one is most commonly identified as such. (Some of the plants that hold this name are members of the same family, while sometimes the title seems loosely applied to any kind of yellow daisy.

Like the Willow-leaf Sunflower, this member of the sunflower family grows in big hedgey bunches, and is a dominate part of Arkansas's Indian-summer landscape. It might be indistinguishable from the Willow-leaf sunflower except for these attributes: the Tickseed sunflower has 8 petals, opposed to the Willow-leaf's fourteen. Beyond that, the bloom has a notable cup shape, and the leaves are slightly thicker with a jagged edge.

Golden Rod

Info to be added : Recycle

Jerusalem Artichoke (Sun Choke)

Lobelia

Missouri Plants indicates that this is a member of the lobelia genus, but this doesn't seem to be the offered species. May be Lobelia purpurea. All I know is have never seen it before and it took me by surprise...

Found on Highway 365 near the Mayflower exit.

Ground Nut: Apiosis americana

Ground Nut

Apiosis americana

This will clearly rank as one of my productive flower weeks in years. I have seen over the top Springs, but this "down summer" marked by greater rains and moderate temperatures (for August and September) is reaping a harvest of photos, many of things I have never noted before, including this thing called a ground nut, or American potato bean. (Thanks Tom for the ID help. Check Tom's Ohio wildlife blog on the side bar.)

Turns out Apiosis americana is (has been and may be) an important food source, both for its been and its starchy sweat-potato like tubers:

(Wikipedia): Apios americana, sometimes called the potato bean, hopniss, Indian potatoor groundnut (but not to be confused with other plants sometimes known by thename groundnut) is a perennial vine native to eastern NorthAmerica, and bears edible beans and large edible tubers. It grows to3-4 m long, with pinnate leaves 8-15 cm long with 5-7leaflets. The flowers are red-brown to purple,produced in dense racemes. The fruit is a legume (pod) 6-12 cm long.The tubers are crunchy and nutritious, with a high content of starch and especially protein. The plant was one of the most important food plants of pre-European North America, and is now being developed for domestication."

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

Pink Weed

(color in shade)

(color is sun)

All pics, early September 2009

Pinkweed

Polygonum pensylvanicum

I am not absolutely sure on the pensylvanicum part, as there are dozens of Polygonums, and quite a few of them lean pink.

This Plant appears to thrive in colony, and can take on the form of a large sprawling hedge, or can just exist on a stem by stem basis. I have seen these in leaner branching form clear into December.