Jeanne and I were off to visit Wyle’s property in Cooke County. Strangely enough we were returning on the same date as a year ago. And Wyle had time to join us. Additionally we really appreciated the nice transportation to the backside of his property.
We headed up the hill in Wylie’s faithful truck. Yes, it was old, but it was up to the job. Aren’t the cracks in the windshield interesting!
Jeanne was interested in finding a species of moss, Venturiella. I was however interested in documenting a plant, Vesper macrorhizus. These were neither but I remembered the cactus from our last visit exactly one year ago. Hello Plains Nipple Cactus (Escobaria missouriensis). No hugs, just a warm greeting to a friend. 😉
Along side the cacti were Standing Cypress (Ipomopsis rubra) rosettes.
Slender Orange Bush (Teloschistes exilis) were on the Shin Oaks (Quercus sinuata var. breviloba)!
Indeed, Psora pseudorussellii were present on the limestoney hill top. Also known by the common name False Russell’s Fishscale Lichen.
So the tiny leafy liverwort can sometimes be hard to spot. However on this Shin Oak it was in plain sight.
Indeed some mosses are hard to spot in the crevices on bark like this incredibly tiny Orthotrichum moss.
Wylie allowed me permission to collect the Cymopterus (Vesper macrorhizus) for BRIT. It was hard to dig up with all the small rocks embedded around it’s tuber. The tuber will normally be buried about 10 cm below.
We continued on searching for a moss, Venturiella.
The more you know, the more you see and the more you see, the more you know
7 Comments
Wylie’s is a totally special place – many different types of soil, plants and topography make for a wonderful variety of plants, many of which we seldom see – and there are so many!
Shin oak communities are always so interesting. It’s good however that you refrained from hugging the Escobaria LOL. Love that Psora! I will be calling my state rep today about that ridiculous TPWD bill. Apparently the rep who filed it has a total conflict of interest – he’s a deer breeder and is mad about TPWD’s rules on Chronic Wasting Disease.
Wylie’s is a totally special place – many different types of soil, plants and topography make for a wonderful variety of plants, many of which we seldom see – and there are so many!
Agreed totally!
Love the fishscale lichen. Nice to see a positive article, the nature and brain article. News lately is mostly saddening.
I know😟
Yikes on abolishing TPWD! I hope everyone is calling their representatives!!
Shin oak communities are always so interesting. It’s good however that you refrained from hugging the Escobaria LOL. Love that Psora! I will be calling my state rep today about that ridiculous TPWD bill. Apparently the rep who filed it has a total conflict of interest – he’s a deer breeder and is mad about TPWD’s rules on Chronic Wasting Disease.
Good to know. Thanks for sharing that.