Some wildflowers are valued for their beauty, some are viewed as pests and invasive but still may be attractive in the field. This newsletter will cover both.
We’ll start with Yellow Stonecrop-Sedum nuttallianum, a plant we don’t remember seeing around here before but evident this year. The plant is a very small, fleshy, succulent herb that settles itself beautifully on and around stones in our rocky soil. You probably have some on your property. If not, it can easily be seen on the right side of the road as you enter BWR in front of the Verato’s property. Coincidently I saw some plants for sale at the H-E-B in Wimberley.
A few years back the fields were full of Prairie verbena- Verbena bipinnatifida, but since then for some reason we just have scanty patches of it.
In this same family, we feel lucky to have a few examples of Texas Vervain- Verbena halei, shown below.
We’re all familiar with the prickly pear cactus and with all the flowers being produced, It looks like a good year for making jelly. However, there seem to be fewer Lace Cactus- Echinocercus reichenbachii or they’re blooming in short spurts, the hot pink visible one day and gone the next. Today (5-5-18) we saw around a half a dozen across from the Shuler’s, where the cows have a trail to the west. Below is a nice double bloomer.
Queen’s Delight- Stillingia texana is an interesting plant and as far as we know this is only one of a few on our property. It’s quite handsome with its yellow “candles” which are just now coming into bloom.
Marshall Enquist describes Three-Seeded Mercury- Aclaypha Lindheimeri as “being found in weedy habitats” which may be the reason it feels so at home here. I used it recently in a flower arrangement and its curved shape, color and lasting ability were very impressive.
One of the many yellow spring flowers Slender-Leaf Hymenoxys- Hymenoxys linearifolia is a sturdy little annual plant with yellow daisy-like leaves. There are many of them along the roadsides in BWR this year.
According to author Enquist, children are easily fascinated by the Sensitive Briar-Schrankia sp). They enjoy touching the leaves and watching them immediately fold up. This perennial with interesting round pink flowers has a sprawling habit and produces seed pods.
We have four Twisted Leaf Yuccas- Yucca Rupicola along the driveway and they made it to the bloom stage this year because of the wire cage. Cattle and deer like the flower buds. We want the seeds.
These twisted leaf yuccas are rather common, but the flower stalks are not so common as the wildlife and cattle eat them without hesitation.
We’ll end the wildflower section of the newsletter with three thistle types, two are aggressive aliens introduced from Europe and the third is our own Texas native.
Musk Thistle-Carduus nutans is a large plant, 2-6’ with 2 ¼ to 3 ½” pink flowers. This plant was introduced from Europe many years ago for its use in gardens. The best way to identify these thistles is by inspecting the flower head. Here’s the musk thistle flower.
Note the prickly leaves bracketing the flower.It can be a tough plant to chop down when it is mature, but do chop it down (before it goes to seed).
Malta Star Thistle-Centaurea melitensis is another thistle from Europe and this one is a really bad guy, as it is very prickly and aggressive. Note here that the base of the flower head is all spines.
We chopped a few out of our land this week. Do you remember a few years back when there were so many that it was impossible to eradicate them all? Such is the case with wild plants. They flourish one year and then disappear for a few years—you think they are gone and then here they are again. The seeds can lay dormant in the ground for years. As we were told by one of the people at King’s Feed, since the flood customers are reporting plants they’ve never seen before in the area.The Texas Thistle-Cirsium texanum is native and not very aggressive. Additionally, it provides seeds for the birds. It exists throughout the hill country. The seeds are especially savored by the goldfinches and the other day we saw a Lesser goldfinch clutching a stem blowing frantically in the wind picking at the seeds that were left as the rest of the seed head disintegrated and swirled around him.
It’s well worth it to get to know the difference between these thistles. Chop out the alien ones and save the Texas thistle for the birds.
Sightings
Sightings this month are that the painted bunting arrived May 5th, right on time and the quail are talking to each other. It seems like the quail population might be down a bit this year based on the calls heard. We even heard an owl this morning. We saw only one snake so far and it was a small speckled king snake-lampropeltis getula. The range of the speckled king snake is east Texas, so its presence is a bit unusual here in central Texas.
David F. sighted this Western Rat Snake-pantheropic obsoletus which posed nicely for a photo.
Rat snakes are common, but they can be hard to identify because they vary so much in color and in markings. This black snake variety of the Western Rat Snake wasn’t shown in our books but after getting the name from TX snakes I.D.com it was then found easily on the internet. Now I am sure it’s the mottled brown version that I saw at our old place in Medina. The snake was crawling along in front of the double stall garage and it was almost the length of a door! Rat snakes are capable of climbing trees and into the rafters of old barns looking for their prey. They are very beneficial, so take care of them.
Books of Interest
Roemer’s Texas 1845-1847 by Dr. Ferdinand Roemer. Roemer is known as the Father of
Texas Geology. He was also a well known botanist and Catclaw Acacia- Acacia Roemeriana is one of the plants named after him. This is a fascinating look at Texas with emphasis on the German immigrations to New Braunfels and Fredericksburg.
A Life among the Texas Flora Ferdinand Lindheimer’s Letters to George Englemann by Minetta Altgelt Goyne. Lindheimer, known as the Father of Texas Botany, led a very interesting life as he traveled this area of Texas in search of botanical specimens to send to Asa Gray in St. Louis. His home on the banks of the Comal River in New Braunfels has been preserved and may be visited. And, the Sophienburg Museum is a wonderful little gem of early New Braunfels history. Following is a mural seen from the parking lot of the most well known bakery in New Braunfels.
R & D Tusch
