Back to the LBJ NG!

No place like home, eh! And certainly the LBJ grasslands feels like home to me. Especially since I have been exploring there since 1990’s.

Here was the area we started in. Jeanne said it was a mixture of Inland Sea oats (Chasmanthium latifolium) and Hairy Woodland Brome (Bromus pubescens) Looking at the Guide to Texas Grasses (Shaw) it is the only native brome in North Texas. Thank you Jeanne!

A huge old Box Elder tree with a big hole!

Box Elder (Acer negundo) leaflets can easily fool you to thinking it is poison ivy . However, the Box Elder’s leaves has opposite leaves unlike poison ivy with alternate leaves. Additionally, the saplings had a green stem.

Secretly I think the Hackberry was watching us. đŸ˜‰

The bottomlands trees are always so interesting with roots and knobbies like this Bois D’arc (Maclura pomifera).

Of course mushrooms are another bottomland treat!
The above mushrooms surprised me when I look under, a polypore. I certainly had expected gills.

The Wood Ear (Auricularia auricula) jelly fungus was some of the biggest I have seen. Additionally this was on the ground.

This is a test. Find the moth.

Here’s the hint if you didn’t find it. I had the advantage this time because I saw it land. đŸ™‚ It is a common moth in the woods. Look for them all summer long. And yes, summer is about here.

Here’s what Kathy found today…

Kathy found multiple of these cats on her pecan tree!
It is the Black-blotched Prominent (Oedemasia leptinoides)! The Prominent Moths (Notodontidae) have some very interesting larvae.

Thanks Kathy for sharing your great find!

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Keep looking!

The more you know, the more you see and the more you see, the more you know.

2 Comments

  1. I hadn’t thought of Bois D’arc as bottomland trees until we moved here. The only one is down on the bank of the river. And the two I planted in our sandy upland have barely grown and stay wilted all the time.
    Love big trees and jelly fungus!

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