After the rains here in North Texas, the Rain Lilies are really having a moment!
In fact all those foot high white dots you see as you are going 70mph are Rain Lilies on the roadsides!
Cooperia drummondii is the name you will find in FNCT for this species. However it has now been moved to Zephyranthes chlorosolen! And just to confuse everyone the other lily, Cooperia pedunculata was moved to Zephyranthes drummondii. Crazy confusing! Additionally if you had not heard its new family is Amaryllidaceae and not Liliaceae.
A bud was waiting to open.
These anthers still had plenty of pollen available.
I decided to get a close look at a specimen with so many Rain Lilies popping up.
One way to tell the difference is the length of the style. And if you are in North Texas Z. chlorosolen will be the one you will find.
Close up of the stamens!
The stigma is slightly below the stamens. Do you see the pollen on it?
The eggs in the ovary! Indeed it looks like corn on the cob.
Finally shot of the stem under the compound microscope. And I certainly have no idea what these parts are, but I think they are cool. 🙂
Beautiful!!
Those eggs really do look like corn on the cob!
And the stem looks like springs. Cool
I saw thousands of rainlilies on my way home today – all along Hwy 287 south of Decatur – curiously they were pretty much nonexistent north of town.
Thanks to Suzanne & Mary for the road decommissioning article. Encouraging news.
A great study of the rain lilies, especially the close-ups. Who would ever guess what the “corn on the cob” eggs were? Good articles too.