suz's Favorites

Hill County, Texas; Picnic area on north side of Hwy 22 east of Hillsboro
4/24/2024
Geranium molle

Common on east side of picnic area. The plants adjacent to the asphalt, like this sample, seemed younger with no mature fruit, and it was difficult to photograph the ridges. Plants further away from the asphalt seemed older, sprawling, with mature fruit and had been mowed over.

Lee County, Texas; Lawhon Springs cemetery
Anemone caroliniana
2/19/2024

Common in front part of maintained cemetery.

It was my first time seeing this species, even though I had made a few deliberate attempts to find it in areas of east of Williamson county in past years. It was a nice surprise.

Lee County, Texas; Mesquite cemetery
2/19/2024
Abdra brachycarpa

Patchy along a row of stones on the northwest(?) side of cemetery. Only this smallest specimen (4.5cm tall) seemed to still have open flowers in this patch, though I would later find a somewhat larger one in the mowed area outside the cemetery that was in flower. None were as large as the fully fruiting specimen I saw at the Copperas cemetery earlier in the day.

Lee County, Texas; Lawhon Springs cemetery
Draba cuneifolia
2/19/2024

Mostly prevalent around and on the soil pile at the back of the cemetery. Scattered, very small specimens found occassionally on the rest of the grounds.

Lee County, Texas; Lawhon Springs cemetery
Houstonia micrantha
2/19/2024

Patchy, possibly common, in maintained cemetery. Easily overlooked. I initially dismissed these as small Houstonia pusilla, until it became clear that they appeared significiantly smaller than the abundant Houstonia pusilla. I then thought they might be Houstonia parviflora which also has small white flowers and occurs in the region and I did not realize until I got home that the leaves were more consistent with H. micrantha. I only took two measurements in the field, the flower width of about 5mm and stem length of about 2.8cm. However, from the width, I could estimate that the corolla tube was probably around 2mm (from the profile photo), more consistent with H. micrantha than H. pusilla.

Williamson county, Texas; Lake Georgetown Overlook
2/2/2024
Draba cuneifolia

A nice misty cool winter day for looking at small flowering plants.

Some small patches from here to the trail along limestone outcrop. This is the furthest from the trail I have seen them and they are really hit and miss from year to year along this outcrop, sometimes subject to herbivory though I don't know by what. In this patch, most plants were only about to 3cm tall, but some closer to the trail were taller.

A weed in a lawn, garden beds, and with potted plants.

Seedling photo taken about two years later.

Acalypha gracilens and A. rhomboidea compared here:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/189657165

Williamson County, Texas; North San Gabriel River east of Camp Tejas
10/15/2020
Amphiachyris dracunculoides

Impatient pics on a windy, cloudy day. Plants scattered sporadically from here to at least the low water crossing on river terrace occasionally flooded when Lake Georgetown backs up in some years. Don't think I have seen these in this area before, so perhaps washed in from upstream fields. Just for fun some Gutierrezia texana occur in the same area.

National Butterfly Center

This is the actual native Passiflora foetida, not to be confused with the introduced P. lanuginosa that the vast majority of people of Texas are more familiar with and usually is mistakenly called P. foetida. You can use the distinctions listed below to tell the two species apart.

In our area:

P. lanuginosa:
Usually larger darker leaves with the lobes usually being larger, more angular, and coming to a point
Stems and leaves can be anywhere between hairless to densely hairy
Leaves have little to no smell when lightly rubbed
Pink/white/pink coronal filaments with pinkish petals/sepals (occasionally white)
Hairless fruit that turns red at full maturity
An introduced species, usually found on disturbed sites / around human habitation
Aggressive growth habit; spreading

P. foetida:
Usually smaller lighter green leaves with the same basic shape as the leaves of P. lanuginosa, although with smaller more rounded lobes, usually not coming to a defined point
Leaves densely hairy; truly velvet-like in texture
Leaves give off a strong funky smell when lightly rubbed (to me it smells like cheese)
Bluish-purple coronal filaments with white petals/sepals
Hairy fruit that stays green at full maturity
Native species usually found on less disturbed sites; in Texas limited to south Texas
Smaller, less vigorous species than P. ciliata; not spreading
Reaches the northern limit of its range in Texas around the northside of San Antonio

Here is a good example of actual P. foetida:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/86986821

US Passiflora key:
http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=124132

This is Lantana camara. Lantana camara was introduced over a century ago on this island and is a self-sustained introduced population. The plant has not proven to be particularly invasive here, the climate is perhaps too wet for Lantana camara to outcompete the many other invasives on the island. Note that the computer vision top choice was Lantana horrida, and Lantana × urticoides was a third option. This, for me, explains the frequent misidentification of Lantana camara as Lantana horrida or Lantana × urticoides.

Note too how the colors shift: the seventh image suggests that some florets were yellow, but to the naked eye they were clearly orange. Exposure choices made by my Motorola Moto G6 altered the colors from what is seen in person.

As for the ID, note the finely toothed margins, the reduced floral bractlets, the flat blade. This observation is a good example of a lantana that does not have the lavender/fuchsia/pink florets but rather has the floret color spectrum of Lantana × urticoides and yet is fully Lantana camara.

Bastrop County, Texas; McKinney Roughs
4/19/2023
Linum imbricatum

Patch of plants in light colored sandy soil which seems to have accumulated on a flat part of the mostly downhill Bluff Trail Loop. Distinguished from L. hudsonioides (which occurs in the nearby uplands of the park) by the ciliate margins found on some upper leaves. It was quite difficult to see the ciliate margins. With a 10x loop I could only see what might have been ciliate margins, but also could have been hairs on the adjacent stem. With a 30x pocket microscope, I could see that there were ciliate margins on at least some of the upper leaves (midstem and upwards), but it did not appear that all the margins were ciliate. Photography of these minute cilia was also difficult since I could never tell if they were in focus and they did not respond well to the direct light of the onboard flash.

I arrived at these plants early in the afternoon and within about 45 minutes almost all of the petals had fallen (or popped off in a ring), as they tend to do in these species.

Plants were up to about 11cm. Petal lobes (measured from top center in flower) were about 8mm.

Found this patch based on this recent observation:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/155017445

A last note. Although all the plants within about a 5 meter radius appeared to be L. imbricatum, there was an isolated individual in the taller vegetation about 20-30m away which appeared to be L. hudsonioides.

Bastrop County, Texas; McKinney Roughs
4/17/2023
Linum hudsonioides

Probably Linum hudsonioides. Small patch in flower along Ridge trail in sparsely gravelly compacted sandy soil. For the most part, the leaves appeared entire, not ciliate margined as in L. imbricatum. However, it does appear that this population had some occasional really minute cilia at the base of some leaves. I don't know if that occurs in other populations or maybe because there be some slight intermediacy in this area due to the proximity of L. imbricatum (maybe just a few hundred meters away on the Bluff Trail).

Plants were to about 15cm tall, with petals approximately 8-9mm.

Williamson County, Texas, Garey Park
4/1/2023
Geranium texanum

After seeing sporadic occurrences of Geranium carolinianum on the lowland trails thoughout the day, I finally find a couple of specimens of G. texanum at the end of the loop only a few meters from where I started the hike, in the heavily mowed margin of the trail near the gate in a sea of Medicago minima. By this late in the day the petals on the one bloom I found were already falling off, and some had done so by the time I finished handling the plant to take photos.

Dallas County, Texas; Thomas Jefferson Park
4/13/2021
Geranium texanum

A few specimens in slightly longer vegetation closer to edge of pond. The rest of the park was mowed short. Confirmation of previous sighting in this park I think.

Dallas county, Texas; Cedar Hill State Park
4/12/2021
Geranium texanum

Small patch in shady area in disturbed ground behind the nearby bathroom. Most plants not blooming yet. Note the anthers are pinkish with purple lines, which is how they often look when the flower has opened but the anthers have not. A photo from about 8 hours later shows the opened anthers appearing more purplish and the petals already falling off.