This past week Jeanne and I headed up north to Norman, OK to attend the TORCH conference. TORCH stands for Texas Oklahoma Regional Consortium of Herbaria. The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT®) $1.5 million to digitize its 355,000 herbarium specimen collections from Texas and Oklahoma in 2019. The theme for this year’s conference was “Carrying the TORCH: The increasing value and importance of herbaria.”. We both enjoyed the one day conference, the talks and the field trip the next day.
So we arrived the night before and Claire, Paula, and Briar took us to one of their favorite parks the first evening.
However before supper we got a tour of the backyard prairie. They have 750 yard species and counting for the whole yard! This was a plume moth larva.
There were multiple of the Checkered Spot cats! Indeed Claire and Paula are restoring a wonderful varied habitat to many!
Then we were treated by a Chef to a taco bowl. Yum! And sorry Chef, my photo is not as pretty as Claire usually takes. 🙂
So with our stomachs full we headed out to a park!
A small Robber Fly (Asilidae) was having a meal too!
Honey Locust seed pods hung with contrasting colors with the leaves.
A small Geometrid Moth (Geometridae – Subfamily Sterrhinae) was a standout.
A funky looking gall on the Narrow-leaf Morning-glory! The next day I consulted with Kimberlie Sasan (BRIT), a gall expert. She said it was either a mite gall or a fungus. Thanks Kimberlie!
The Big Top Dalea (Dalea enneandra) was showing off!
Indeed a very short coneflower (Echinaceapurpurea)!
The evening had been cool enough that we did the whole loop!
Now it was time to get a good night’s rest before the conference the next day.
Was a wonderful conference and field trip made even more special due to our gracious hosts and chefs – Claire, Wes and Paula!
Great article on the rights of nature – kudos to Equador and New Zealand for their insight into environmental justice.
The plume moth larva is spectacular! And the gall is fascinating. Looks like a fossilized slug. Interesting that the critter inside can sometimes be Identified.
Never seen a plumber mouth larvae but she is pretty. Looks like a good time by all.
Indeed it was a good time!
So glad you came to stay!!
Thank you for having us!
Lovely field trip with lovely people! Enneandra is one of my favorite botanical names. It comes out sounding so exotic.
It does indeed. If I could only remember how to pronounce it. 🙂
Was a wonderful conference and field trip made even more special due to our gracious hosts and chefs – Claire, Wes and Paula!
Great article on the rights of nature – kudos to Equador and New Zealand for their insight into environmental justice.
The plume moth larva is spectacular! And the gall is fascinating. Looks like a fossilized slug. Interesting that the critter inside can sometimes be Identified.
It does. Ha ha!