Moving into autumn, even while afternoon temperatures remain in the nineties. It's not the dramatic introduction to a new season that some experience, but the excitement is probably on about the same level. For us, anyhow.
All of the images except for the final one illustrate just a few of the plants in bloom within the Stonefield this September.
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| Sesbania pods |
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| View of the Stonefield from the yard (slowly, plants take root among rocks) |
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| View of the Stonefield from about the Beer Rock next to the Creek. |
This plant above is one of about six Texas species of spurges (genus Tragia) going by the appropriate name, "noseburn." Every part of the plant grows stinging hairs, each tipped with a crystal of calcium oxalate.
We read this: "A 1976 study at Texas A&M University took a close look at the stinging mechanism. Viewed with an electron microscope, each hair is seen to be a four-celled structure. Three support cells surround a tall central cell that rises above the leaf’s surface, with a crystal at the tip and a cavity down below that holds a drop of irritating fluid. The crystal works like a spear point: touch the plant and it pierces your skin. The fluid irritant comes right behind it, released by pressure on the bending hair" (from
Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine, March 2015).
And in keeping with the central Texas theme of late summer suffering, spears, and spikes, we've also been enjoying these: Eryngo (Eryngium leavenworthii), Cocklebur (Xanthium strumarium L.), and the one whose leaves sticketh closer than a brother.
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| Stickleaf (Mentzelia oligosperma) |
...and the most common flowering plants now:
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Straggler Daisy (Calyptocarpus vialis)
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And not--quite-as-common pretty little things....
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| Silver dwarf morning-glory |
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Scarlet spiderling (Boerhaavia coccinea)
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| Senna |
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| Clammy weed |
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| Curly-top gumweed |
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| Palafoxia |
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| Snow-on-the-mountain |
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| Morning light |
