Mimosa (Silk Tree)

Mimosa Tree, information to be added

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.

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.

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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

Crimson Clover (Recycle)

Crimson Clover

Trifolium incarnatum

Fabaceae

.

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

I was surprised to find upon reading the Wikipedia article, that Crimson clover is neither native to Arkansas nor the US. Turns out this very visible highway-medium bloom and bushy head grass is a European transplant.

.

Note: I started ID Arkansas just short of year ago, and will now begin to recycle posts as they match current blooming things. As the Crimson Clover are just now starting to go full force in Central AR, I am reposting my first ever post from last year near this time.

Wistera (American)

Wild hedge smothering

Ornamental

Wisteria (American Wisteria)

These are file photos from years past, however, I just saw the yearly avalanche of Wisteria that drape a hedge row near the junction of Interstate-430 and I-630 in Little Rock, AR (USA) -- and seem to hang around for a week before disappearing into a purple rain.

(Note: as obsrved now for several weeks, our Spring this year, 2010 is about a week behind the last several.)

As lovely as they are, the wisteria vine is not always welcome as it can smother trees and brush. Years ago I came across wisteria clusters that formed something of a Wisteria Falls, as clusters cascaded down a 40 foot tree.

Kingdom:Plantae

Division: Magnoliophyta

Class: Magnoliopsida

Order: Fabales

Family: Fabaceae

Subfamily: Faboideae

Tribe: Millettieae

Genus: Wisteria

Species: W. frutescens

Wisteria/Wickipedia

Guess what else is part of the Fabaceae family? (You may be suprised)

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

Amberique bean, wild pea, wooly bean etc.

Amberique bean, wild pea, wooly bean etc.

They call this one everything but the right name "Republican Bean" --- Can you see the elephant?

Strophostyles helvola

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)