Snow sounds very refreshing today doesn’t it? Of course there is none in North Texas. Well, at least not the ice crystal type. However we do have Snow-on-the-prairie (Euphorbia bicolor) and Snow-on-the-mountain (Euphorbia marginata)! And we have the Snow-on-the-prairie (Euphorbia bicolor) here at our house. So guess what? That will be the “snow” today. LOL
With cooler weather on my mind I thought the clouds looked refreshing this morning!
So did the original person that gave Snow-on-the-prairie its common name, wishing for snow? This season’s was not a particular good year for them. Most of mine are not more than a few feet high. Additionally they are not as thick. The grasshopper was one of the Spur-throated grasshoppers (maybe Melanoplus). I don’t think it was a Differential Grasshopper (Melanoplus differentialis) for two reasons. It does not have the black herringbone markings on outer face of hind femora or a yellow hind tibiae.
So this morning on my walk I decided to check on every cool Snow-on-the-prairie that I walked passed. What would I find? First find started with a little sweat/furrow bee. They seemed to be around most of the plants that have flowers!
A closeup of the pilose hairs! So soft! Actually the whole plant has the soft hairs including the stem.
Another bee!
Not just looking at the flowers I hoped to find a caterpillar. No luck. ;-( However the tiny seed of the Beggars-ticks or Hedge-parsley (Torilis arvensis) hooked up. I am afraid we have too many of this invasive plant.
Everything was to be examined. I believe this might be an anther that fell off.
Ants were frequent visitors as well!
This was the only True Bug (Hemiptera) I found. Tentatively ID’ed as Hyaline Grass Bug (Liorhyssus hyalinus).
Indeed what examination of plants would you not find a crab spider like this cutie!
I hope today’s post made it just a tad cooler for you with such a cool plant!
The more you know, the more you see and the more you see, the more you know
5 Comments
Im surprised anything can bloom as dry as it’s been. Maybe the snow on the prairie is predicting cooler weather. We can hope. It’s such a pretty plant.
Im surprised anything can bloom as dry as it’s been. Maybe the snow on the prairie is predicting cooler weather. We can hope. It’s such a pretty plant.
I agree!😊
We have a little bit of “snow” here too!
Cool!
The snows are beautiful! Really cool article about parasites.