Snapshot: Early Oct: Willow Leaf and Thistle

A touch of color and a night or two with nip suggest we may yet see a Fall.  And hasn't this been an odd season.  More rain than I have ever seen, with little Second-Spring editions, from Gardenias to Queen Anne's Lace, to Honeysuckle (in much smaller numbers) -- dotting the Indian Summer landscape.

The Most visible of the Early October flowers are the Yellow Tickseed, Willow Leaf Sunflowers, and Godlen Rod (see posts below) making for a truly golden brew.

(Picture of Purple thistle 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

.

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)

False Dandelion (or Cats-ear)

False Dandelion

Hypochaeris radicata

http://www.forestryimages.org/browse/detail.cfm?imgnum=5237012

I had assumed that this plant was a close relative of the common yard dandelion. (Infact, I have always called them "mega-dandies", however, If I'm right on the ID, these are considered a more distant cousin and a member of a different genus. Unlike our dainty lawn dandies, these things range from 1 to 2 feet high. And where common yard dandies showcase one flower head per stem, False dandies may support several yellow heads on a branching stem. Like regular dandelions, False dandies rise out of of base pad (rosette) but rather than one or a few, False-Dandies launch whole stem thickets. In keeping, the stems are tough and fiberous (not hollow), and -- as anchored, most difficult to pull from the ground. Some False-dandies rise elegant, and can -- as a cluster, resemble the shape of a coke glass or vase. Others, like the one featured on top, look more like a Medusa head.

Like common dandelions, False Dandies follow a pattern which at first surprised me. The yellow flower head (comprised of many smaller florets) folds in on itself before reopening into the seed ball head. The second-to-last picture features a plant with yellow flower-head folded in waiting to unfold again as the seed ball.

Final note: the seed balls of False Dandies are frumpy, not nearly as elegant as real dandelions.