On we traveled to the next stop on the same road. We watched carefully for other special plants but they were not up yet.
The coneflower is awesome at all stages of its development. Here the petals are barely showing themselves.
White Milkwort (Polygala alba)!
The pods on bladderpods are like little balloons!
Here at this stop, the Missouri Primrose (Oenothera macrocarpa) were really large!
Then Jeanne made the observation that spotted red sepals were riding side saddle.
In this example, the sepals were still covering the petals!
One of them had been munched on! And this led us to examine the parts closer. The pistil is divided up into three parts, the sigma (part on the top, the style (connects sigma to the ovary), and the ovary.
So Jeanne cut open the long long style all the way to the ovary. It will become a large four winged pod! We had not ever looked so closely before. Always something to new to explore!
On the other side of the road, we found these plants. Not much to look at right? However, Jeanne looked closer.
And found this delightful caterpillar and several of its friends! It is the Southern Dogface (Zerene cesonia) or (syn Colias cesonia)! A new cat for me! Oh and I think its host may be the Scurf-pea Linearifolia (Psoralea linearifolia). This concludes today’s post. There was one more stop to make and that will be tomorrow’s post.
Love the beautiful cat. It always pays to look close, doesn’t it.
You can say that again😊
Ooh new cat!!
Wonder what the cat will make. Its so pretty must make something special. Or not.
It is a type of sulphur butterfly called Southern Dogface. https://bugguide.net/node/view/727440
I love those prairie specialists. Amazing camouflage.