Ok, I started out of order and did the afternoon portion yesterday. It was too exciting not share the the forty-seven Frosted Elfins with you. Kinda like eating dessert first LOL.
First stop Tuesday morning was at the Wild Blue-indigo (Baptisia australis var minor) in the Bonham State Park. Typical pose for botanizing, lichening, or bug hunting LOL. Laura was kind enough to be the driver for the day’s adventures. Thank you Laura!
Here are the seed pods of the Wild Blue-indigo. Good to know what the plants look like, eh. In the morning, I wanted to search in the northern Caddo units and this was the more probable Baptisia we might find in the northern units.
Crimson Clover (Trifolium incarnatum) is along roadsides now. It is a non-native from Europe.
Insects do visit it.
As we went through the gate to the unit, Texas Vervain was quickly spotted!
Texas Toad-flax (Nuttallanthus texanus)! The Forest Service may have burned this unit last fall. Many like this one were thick among the burnt and dead brush.
Another less obvious flower was the Starwort or Dixie stitchwort (Minuartia muscorm)! It was small and only was a few inches tall.
A side view!
Multiple species of butterflies were spotted. I caught this Buckeye still for a moment. 🙂
A new plant for me, the Threadleaf Sundrop (Oenothera linifolia)!
I had walked right passed this Three-toed Box Turtle. Nice find Alan!
Beautiful moss!
Really big moss!
I mean really big compared to most mosses! A very lovely morning with Laura and Alan! Thank you again for coming to help in the search!
Keep looking!
The more you know, the more you see and the more you see, the more you know.
7 Comments
Is their Baptisia the Baptisia australis var. minor like in Collin county or not the variety minor?
Kathy, finally I got around to looking up the Blue Wild Indigo. After my investigation, I found it is indeed the Baptisia australis var minor. I checked all my floras, including the FNCT. They seemed to indicate that B. a. minor has more spreading branches. Plus it does not apparent to grow in Texas, but back in the East. All the photos show that B. australis as being a much more compact plant. Mystery solved and hopefully I have corrected all in the blog. Oh and it is still a valid name and variety. Some other synonyms for it were Baptisia minor Lehm. Index Seminum (HBG, Hamburgensis) 1827: 16 (1827)
Baptisia texana Buckley Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 13: 452 (1862)
Baptisia versicolor G.Lodd. Bot. Cab. 12: t. 1144 (1826)
Baptisia vespertina Small ex Rydb. Fl. Plains N. Amer. : 456 (1932)
Is their Baptisia the Baptisia australis var. minor like in Collin county or not the variety minor?
I don’t know yet. I will look at it closer when I get home. Then I will let you know😊
Kathy, finally I got around to looking up the Blue Wild Indigo. After my investigation, I found it is indeed the Baptisia australis var minor. I checked all my floras, including the FNCT. They seemed to indicate that B. a. minor has more spreading branches. Plus it does not apparent to grow in Texas, but back in the East. All the photos show that B. australis as being a much more compact plant. Mystery solved and hopefully I have corrected all in the blog. Oh and it is still a valid name and variety. Some other synonyms for it were Baptisia minor Lehm. Index Seminum (HBG, Hamburgensis) 1827: 16 (1827)
Baptisia texana Buckley Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 13: 452 (1862)
Baptisia versicolor G.Lodd. Bot. Cab. 12: t. 1144 (1826)
Baptisia vespertina Small ex Rydb. Fl. Plains N. Amer. : 456 (1932)
Great pictures. Looks like a beautiful place. And thanks to all your helpers, especially Gracie.
Gracie was especially helpful 😉
Do you think the giant moss might be the same kind we saw at beaver’s bend last year?
That’s where I saw it before. 😂 I could not remember where I had seen it before. I collected it so maybe Jeanne will ID it 😊