North Central Texas Wildflowers - A Narrated Walk

[Branwen]

North Central Texas has over a mile of species of plants; over 5,000.  Every spring many of them bloom and create a riot of color.  People see the obvious ones, like splashy pink primroses and bluebonnets by the highway, but they overlook the ones right in their backyards, parks and other places.  I took a little time today to walk in the park and photograph a few of the species in bloom.

The pictures are taken with a cell phone so please make allowances.  All images are mine except where noted.  Images are going to be spoilered with a description as the title and will be resized inside and clickable for people with slow connections.

Please enjoy what my tiny part of Texas has to offer.

Blackberry - yes, the edible kind.  I made careful note of where the clusters were so I can go back and eat them later on this summer.  Hot blackberries on a summer day are the best!

Lanceleaf Coreopsis

Winecup - not only pretty, they have a tuber that is edible.

Why it's called a Winecup. (not my image)

Silver Leaf Nightshade - be wary of nettles.  The Pima used it as a source of rennet for cheese production.

Bull's Nettle.  Showy white flower, but look carefully and don't touch!  Those spiky nettles are excruciating and very hard to get out of the skin.  I know from experience!

Prairie Gaillardia - often mistaken for Indian Blanket.  All species of Gaillardia are major food sources for butterfly caterpillars.

Indian Paintbrush

Indian Paintbrush can also appear pink.  Sometimes it's genetics, sometimes soil acidity, sometimes a hybrid.  Always pretty!

Antelope Horn, a milkweed.  This is the major food source for the Monarch Butterfly which migrate through here to and from Mexico.

Unopened Sow - Thistle.  But look closer.  What's that?  Spit?

Spit Cocoon of the Frog Hopper

Frog Hopper (not my image).

Queen Anne's Lace.  You can eat the carrot like tuber, but you have to get them young otherwise they're too hard.

Peppergrass

Mustang Grape

Mustang Grape Fruit.  You can eat them, but they are super tart!

Prickly Pear Cactus - Genus Opuntia, unkown species.  Beautiful flowering cactus, but I'm not sure what the precise species is.  Prickly pears are edible but be sure to roast off all the nettle like spines before handling!

Texas Thistle.  Butterflies feed off it and finches eat the seeds and use the fluff from the mature fruit to feather their nests.  Typically a lot of Texas Thistle means the soil is sandy and somewhat worn out.

Texas Star.  Pink and white varieties also exist.

Verbena

Indian Blanket

[Cycle]

This is absolutely beautiful, branwen.  Thank you for sharing.  I wonder if there are other people on E with good working knowledge of botany?

All I know is:  go to the florist's and ask for "those over there."  ;D

[RedPhoenix]

What Cycle said, this is lovely! Thank you so much for posting this!!!

[Branwen]

Thank you both.  I enjoyed my botany courses very much in college and like knowing things about my local native species.  What makes me laugh is I know nothing about decorative flowers for the garden. 

[Dovel]

Look at all those beautiful flowers!

Thank you Branwen for taking the time to put all of this together. So beautiful. I believe I like the Lanceleaf Coreopsis the best. I can just imagine hundreds of yellow petals over a sea of green.

[Caeli]

Thank you for sharing this, Branwen. :-)

[Branwen]

Thank you, Dovel and Caeli.  I'm glad you read it.

I should have gotten a video of the wind blowing the buffalo grass and made it into a gif.  It was really pretty.

[Branwen]

Added a few more species at the bottom starting with Opuntia.

[Blythe]

Oh, I really liked the Texas Thistle! So lovely. *adores thistles*

*watches thread for flower developments*

[Branwen]

Thank you, Blythe.  There were some from last season that had dried and the fluff was hanging out, but I took blurry photos.  :(  I'll try again next time I see some.