atlasmira's Favorites

Williamson county, Texas; Guentzel Cemetery
3/02/2024
Hymenopappus artemisiifolius

A few plants in maintained cemetery. Flowers mostly lacking the characteristic reddish tinge, but the leaves are consistent.

Note the phyllaries are fused nearly to the top and the ring of orange-ish glands near the top, which helps distinguishes this species from Thymophylla pentachaeta. Growing over fractured limestone in partial shade.

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
A healthy population, about 20 individuals, growing along the fence, some in private property. The land owner cleared most of Ashe juniper, and left these bushes alone.

The biggest one is starting to bloom, found two open flowers.

Burnet county
Behind the fence, in a private property.

Two big patches, very healthy.
These Texas Almond are huge, taller than me. (I am 5'5")
I think I am done with Texas Almond (Prunus minutiflora) for a while.

Travis County, Texas. Second cluster of plants found near the other plants (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/194395968).

Location obscured with iNaturalist obscure feature, but true location is obscured as well.

Travis County, Texas. Appears to be an undocumented population not recorded on GBIF or SEInet.

Sprawling shrub 3-5 feet tall, dominant species under a Quercus fusiformis motte among Croton fruticulosis, Berbersis trifoliolata, Smilax bona-nox, and young Juniperus ashei. Mixed oak-juniper woodlands on gently sloping upland.

Incidental find in a rather precarious location. A second cluster of plants was found nearby (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/194395969). Location obscured with iNaturalist obscure feature, but true location is obscured as well.

This is the same seedpod around a month earlier https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/179512797

I had been watching this population for a while. It had rained the night before, and I decided to check if the seeds had ripened yet. They had. It appears that the damage on one side of the capsule had not prevented the other seeds from maturing.

Nice to see this uncommon plant still blooming in these drought conditions. These particular plants had been submerged earlier in the year but were now exposed and blooming. Note the different leaf types on the same plant: The broad rounded leaves grew when the plant was submerged; the narrowly ovate leaves are the aerial growth form.