Switching back to the Caddo NG from a week ago. As with many a fence line in Texas, the trees sprout up.
Cow skull and a vertebra that I placed on top.
We reached the far end of the tract at the fence line. Here along the fence were more trees including junipers. This bagworm sports some of the cedar berries. On this bag, you can see the the empty pupal skin left behind by pupae of male moth that wriggled out of the bottom of the bag. Check out TAMU Field Guide to Common Texas Insects for more information.
In a hole among the trees, we found a spleenwort fern!
First of season crane fly for me!
A crustose lichen shines blue with the UV!
Do you recognize this knob?
This is the Toothache Tree or also called a Hercules-club (Zanthoxylum clava-herculis)! Its trunk’s diameter was ten or twelve inches. It was big old tree! The term toothache comes from the fact that if you chewed on some of the tender small bark, it will numb the mouth. So it would help a toothache 🙂
Along with the Toothache Trees, were the Bois D-arc (Maclura pomifera)! I just loved the bark.
Remains of a paper wasp nest in the crouch of a tree.
Alan walks ahead.
Jeanne stops for the mosses! It was time to move back out into the open prairie. More tomorrow from the Caddo NG!
Hope everyone got some good rain yesterday. And I for one, will be glad to see warmer weather tomorrow.
That toothache tree is really facinating. And love the bois d arc bark. Never seen it like that before. Nice pics.
That tree is so bumpy! Wow!! I’ve never seen that that I can remember
Yeah, it was an awesome tree!