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| (Gaura parviflora) |
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| (Gaura brachycarpa) (?) |
(Gaura parviflora)
The second question in the Gaura key asks if the anthers are about 1 mm. long. If yes then the Gaura you are looking at is G. parviflora. In the description are the common names “LIZARD-TAIL GAURA” and “VELVET-LEAF GAURA” which reassure me that I ended up in the right place. These plants are growing close to the drive on the right just before the gate close to the house. I had seen them and passed them by on the previous Sunday, didn’t get over to take a better picture on Friday, and so I settled for a quickie photo on the way out to make a record. . . .
Gaura brachycarpa (?)
Unlike the one above, there are many questions in the key to get to G. brachycarpa and many of the questions refer to the mature fruit which aren’t around yet. So, I’m putting a question mark by this one. Also, unnerving is that the Balcones Preserve plant list doesn’t have it. Still, of the characters I do have and looking at photographs and drawings suggest this is my best guess for now. For sure it is different from the preceding plant. So, all the ways in which two closely related things show the inventiveness as well as the conservative nature of nature are displayed for our viewing enjoyment. Of course, the same comment applies to the 3 evening primroses I was looking at yesterday.
The flowers in the one photograph are wilted. This is consistent with the name since the flowers for that plant open in the evening and are on their way out by the morning. This photograph was taken in the early afternoon just before lunch. These plants are found in the field maybe a hundred feet south of your orchard.
Gaura brachycarpa (?)
Unlike the one above, there are many questions in the key to get to G. brachycarpa and many of the questions refer to the mature fruit which aren’t around yet. So, I’m putting a question mark by this one. Also, unnerving is that the Balcones Preserve plant list doesn’t have it. Still, of the characters I do have and looking at photographs and drawings suggest this is my best guess for now. For sure it is different from the preceding plant. So, all the ways in which two closely related things show the inventiveness as well as the conservative nature of nature are displayed for our viewing enjoyment. Of course, the same comment applies to the 3 evening primroses I was looking at yesterday.
The flowers in the one photograph are wilted. This is consistent with the name since the flowers for that plant open in the evening and are on their way out by the morning. This photograph was taken in the early afternoon just before lunch. These plants are found in the field maybe a hundred feet south of your orchard.
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| Stemless Evening Primrose (Oenothera triloba) |
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| Cutleaf Evening Primrose (Oenothera laciniata) |
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| Cutleaf Evening Primrose (Oenothera laciniata) |
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| Kunth’s Evening Primrose (Oenothera kunthiana) |
Remember how I thought an earlier evening primrose was of the cut-leaf kind? Well, now I think I found it all over again. Since I was equivocating in the past, I thought it would be good to give an extra bit of diligence this time. (But let me add the usual disclaimer that I think self-correcting is part of the re-calibration of the universe that is one of the interesting off-shoots of nature watching. Those who profess feel embarrassed, while it is just business as usual for those who are amused by the spectacle.)...
Right name are not, I do think it is pretty certain that there are three kinds: one with no stem, one with a good-sized stem, and a white one. Also the seed pods are different, the flowers are different and the leaves are different. Seed pods—I think you can see in the photos that there are angles on the white-flowered one and more rounded corners on the tall one’s seed pods. Below are my guesses.
Oenothera triloba (Stemless Evening Primrose)
One of the evening-primroses growing south of the picnic table has no stem. It has the largest blossoms and they grow from the center of a clump of leaves. I think it is Oenothera triloba. Here are someone else’s pictures:
http://www.sbs.utexas.edu/bio406d/images/pics/ona/oenothera_triloba.htm
O. laciniata (Cutleaf Evening Primrose)
This plant is growing on the way to the dump right after the fence line. The following page has an image comparing leaf shapes of O. laciniata:
http://www.missouriplants.com/Yellowalt/Oenothera_laciniata_page.html
And this page has an image showing the stigma of O. laciniata (the other two Evening Primroses have the stigmas above the stamens when they are releasing pollen according to the key in Shinner’s book).
http://www.ppws.vt.edu/scott/weed_id/oeola.htm
O. kunthiana (Kunth’s Evening Primrose)
Here are some images of O. kunthiana:
http://swbiodiversity.org/seinet/taxa/index.php?taxon=494
The Wildflower Center has photos of something that looks like the pink flowered O. speciosa (showy evening-primrose) to me so I’m not sure they have the correct plant. . . .
. . . Walter was busy weed-eating when I left yesterday. I’ll bet that cling weed, scarlet pimpernel, and bastardcabbage at his place are now all a thing of the past. The word “bastard cabbage” is what the USDA web site calls Rapistrum rugosum. The Balcones Preserve plant list says the common name is “yellow cress”, but I think “bastard cabbage” has a nice ring to it. The bastard cabbage is one of the plants for which I obtained nothing but awful photos last Sunday, and so I was looking for one in order to try again. When I couldn’t find it right away I was supposing you had gone after it with a weed hoe or something since it can be annoying. As you drive from Marble Falls to Austin just now it is an extremely common plant.
No doubt many of the happy Texans driving around this very day are gazing upon fields of it as they comment on the beauty of the wild flowers this year. This is another reason to use the USDA common name for the plant, it would enliven the spring motoring nature excursions. “Honey, put little Johnnie over there in the bastard cabbage so I can get a picture.” Neither Correll and Johnston nor the Shinner’s book list a common name, but the latter says the genus is the Latin word for wild rape. And, actually, I kind of like the plant myself, but a weed it is in the opinion of many.
Another plant considered to be a weed is a new plant to the list—scarlet pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis). I didn’t go through a key, but I think I know it when I see it. I did do a photo id. In this case, my picture would not be much of a field guide photo in a plant book but it works for me as a photo is some other kind of field guide. Maybe it is a field guide to seeing. H.
(A few of the common names have been created because the petals of Anagallis arvensis are said to close when bad weather approaches. We're watching.)
Right name are not, I do think it is pretty certain that there are three kinds: one with no stem, one with a good-sized stem, and a white one. Also the seed pods are different, the flowers are different and the leaves are different. Seed pods—I think you can see in the photos that there are angles on the white-flowered one and more rounded corners on the tall one’s seed pods. Below are my guesses.
Oenothera triloba (Stemless Evening Primrose)
One of the evening-primroses growing south of the picnic table has no stem. It has the largest blossoms and they grow from the center of a clump of leaves. I think it is Oenothera triloba. Here are someone else’s pictures:
http://www.sbs.utexas.edu/bio406d/images/pics/ona/oenothera_triloba.htm
O. laciniata (Cutleaf Evening Primrose)
This plant is growing on the way to the dump right after the fence line. The following page has an image comparing leaf shapes of O. laciniata:
http://www.missouriplants.com/Yellowalt/Oenothera_laciniata_page.html
And this page has an image showing the stigma of O. laciniata (the other two Evening Primroses have the stigmas above the stamens when they are releasing pollen according to the key in Shinner’s book).
http://www.ppws.vt.edu/scott/weed_id/oeola.htm
O. kunthiana (Kunth’s Evening Primrose)
Here are some images of O. kunthiana:
http://swbiodiversity.org/seinet/taxa/index.php?taxon=494
The Wildflower Center has photos of something that looks like the pink flowered O. speciosa (showy evening-primrose) to me so I’m not sure they have the correct plant. . . .
. . . Walter was busy weed-eating when I left yesterday. I’ll bet that cling weed, scarlet pimpernel, and bastardcabbage at his place are now all a thing of the past. The word “bastard cabbage” is what the USDA web site calls Rapistrum rugosum. The Balcones Preserve plant list says the common name is “yellow cress”, but I think “bastard cabbage” has a nice ring to it. The bastard cabbage is one of the plants for which I obtained nothing but awful photos last Sunday, and so I was looking for one in order to try again. When I couldn’t find it right away I was supposing you had gone after it with a weed hoe or something since it can be annoying. As you drive from Marble Falls to Austin just now it is an extremely common plant.
No doubt many of the happy Texans driving around this very day are gazing upon fields of it as they comment on the beauty of the wild flowers this year. This is another reason to use the USDA common name for the plant, it would enliven the spring motoring nature excursions. “Honey, put little Johnnie over there in the bastard cabbage so I can get a picture.” Neither Correll and Johnston nor the Shinner’s book list a common name, but the latter says the genus is the Latin word for wild rape. And, actually, I kind of like the plant myself, but a weed it is in the opinion of many.
Another plant considered to be a weed is a new plant to the list—scarlet pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis). I didn’t go through a key, but I think I know it when I see it. I did do a photo id. In this case, my picture would not be much of a field guide photo in a plant book but it works for me as a photo is some other kind of field guide. Maybe it is a field guide to seeing. H.
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| Bastard cabbage, Yellow cress, Turnip-weed, Common giant mustard, Ball mustard, Wild turnip, Wild rape and Tall mustard-weed (Rapistrum rugosum) |
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| Scarlet pimpernel, Red chickweed, Poorman's barometer, Poor man's weather-glass, Shepherd's weather glass or Shepherd's clock (Anagallis arvensis) |
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| Rock Cress (Arabis petiolaris) |
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| Showy Buttercup (Ranunculus macranthus) |
***Harlin's plant list reached 203 near the end of March 2012. ***
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| Spawning spotted gar? (south shallows of the Pond) |
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| Finally replacing the roof |
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| March 24, Six Twenty-six and fifty-four seconds |
