Category: Uncategorized

This Gulf Fritillary, or Agraulis vanillae, was fluttering around these colorful goldenrods outside my church this morning. The Gulf Fritillary is a brightly colored butterfly common across extreme southern portions of the United States. At home in most open, sunny habitats, it frequents roadsides, disturbed sites, fields, open woodlands, pastures, yards, and parks. It is a regular in most butterfly gardens, including those in more urban settings.

They are commonly mistaken for their famous distant cousins, the Monarch butterfly, due to their coloring and patterns. Although they do not make the Monarch’s incredible journey all the way to Mexico,they are widely spread across the South. Sadly, some species of fritillaries are considered endangered.

You can find my iNaturalist observation here: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/4370141

Texas Sage (Leucophyllum frutescens) is a native Texas plant that grows to a medium-sized shrub with silvery to gray-green leaves, and beautiful purple flowers.  It is sometimes called “barometer bush” because flowering is triggered by humidity or high soil moisture after rains. This plant’s native range is from Northern Mexico through the Rio Grande Plains and Trans-Pecos, into New Mexico. It is extremely drought and heat tolerant and maintenance-free once established.

After a good rain, almost like magic, it explodes with hundreds of small purple flowers. It is frequently used in xeriscape flowerbed designs. Texas Sage loves the sun, and will struggle and grow weak and leggy in a shady location.

This Texas Sage shown below is outside of my work in Round Rock. This is the first time I have ever seen it’s flowers, and it was quite a site to see.

My iNaturalist post can be found here.

Source: http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/ornamentals/nativeshrubs/leucophyllumfrutes.htm

http://austinnativelandscaping.com/leucophyllum-frutescens-texas-sage-cenizo-silverleaf-texas-ranger-barometer-bush-purple-sage/

Garrya ovata ssp. lindheimeri is a subspecies of Silktassel, named after Ferdinand Jacob Lindheimer (1801 – 1879) who is often called the Father of Texas Botany because of his work as the first permanent-resident plant collector in Texas. Lindheimer immigrated to the United States in 1834 as a political refugee. From 1843 – 1852, he spent his time collecting specimens in Texas. In 1844, he settled in New Braunfels and was granted land on the banks of the Comal River, where he continued collecting plants and attempted to establish a botanical garden. He shared his findings with many others who shared his interest in botany, including Ferdinand von Roemer and Adolph Scheele. Lindheimer is credited with the discovery of several hundred plant species and his name is used to designate forty-eight species and subspecies of plants. He is buried in New Braunfels and his house, on Comal Street in New Braunfels, is now a museum. This subspecies of Garrya ovata is an understory plant whose natural range is limited to Central Texas. These shrub-like trees like to grow in the rocky limestone hills and canyons of the Edwards Plateau.

iNaturalist observation.

Source for Lindheimer info.

Trametes versicolor, or the turkey tail fungus, is one of the most common species of fungus in North America. They grow on dead or diseased hardwoods or conifers. They are decomposers of the polyporaceae family. They can vary tremendously in color. Individual caps cans grow up to 10 cm across, but often fuse with other caps. They are not poisonous to humans, but are also not consumed. They are currently being used in clinical trials to help boost the immune systems of cancer patients.

My iNaturalist observation can be found here.

This little skipper was resting in a patch of grass when I was able to take a photo of it. I have identified it as Atalopedes campestris, or sachem skipper. It belongs to the Hesperiidae family and Hesperiinae subfamily. This one is likely a female because males are brighter in color. The males are yellow-orange and females are yellow-brown to dark brown. The larvae have black heads and dark olive green bodies and brown lines and dark bumps. They have three broods from May to November in the north and four to five broods in the south from March to December. Caterpillars feed on grasses such as Bermuda grass, crabgrass, and goosegrass, and adults feed on nectar from a variety of flowers such as milkweed, buttonbush, and asters. They prefer to live in disturbed, open areas, which is probably why I saw it in a small patch of grass in an apartment complex. The population is noted to be globally secure, although they may be rare in certain areas they are native to.

Sources:

http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Atalopedes-campestris

http://bugguide.net/node/view/9521

http://www.learnaboutbutterflies.com/North%20America%20-%20Atalopedes%20campestris.htm

My iNaturalist post can be found here.

The Gulf Flitillary,  Agraulis vanillae, is an orange and black butterfly found in southern areas of the United States. I saw this butterfly in the same place I found the Red Bird of Paradise. There were several other butterflies in the area, potentially a Clouded Sulphur butterfly and an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, but this one was still long enough for a few pictures.

This beautiful butterfly, like most, comes from a humble and ugly beginning. The mature larva is a toxic orange with many black spines.  Butterflies are being largely impacted by humans, migration has been interrupted by wind turbines and other large structures, pesticides and herbicides have a substantial impact but climate change may be the largest impact yet. Global warming may disrupt the synchronization of the waking of the caterpillar in the spring and food availability provided by violets.

This information was found here and the iNaturalist post can be seen here

Outside my office window, I found this little guy just staring inside seemingly pondering what it was like to not be a lizard for a second. He wasn’t shy and even modeled for me for a few moments while I got the best shot. This type of lizard is known as a green anole or anolis carolinensis. Anole’s have the ability to change colors and the males have whats called a “dewlap” under their chin that can be expressed when they are courting or being territorial. They also have very fragile tails, which any Texas kid knows. It will easily fall off, which helps then escape quickly from predators. The tail will eventually grow back, although normally a little shorter than the original.

iNaturalist Link: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/4292151

Yaupon Holly is a unique and well known plant in central Texas. It is a shrub that grows about 12-45ft tall. The female plant is easily identifiable with bright red berries. It is a unique plant because the leaves contain caffeine. Yaupon Holly is the only native plant in Texas that contains caffeine. Native Americans would dry and crush the leaves to make a tea to drink. They used the tea as part of rituals and would drink a lot of it and throw it up. However, the leaves do not cause vomiting. It was also commonly given to guests but not in large quantities. You might even see Yaupon Holly leaves sold in stores as a tea!

 

Yaupon Holly is an evergreen shrub so it is used in many landscapes as well as in restoration plots. It is very popular in the winter because of the dark green leaves and bright red berries. In order to have the red berries you need both male and female plants.

My iNaturalist post can be found here.

references:

http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=ILVO

 

Up until a few hours ago I was not located within the scope of this project, but I was able to snag this ID of a Texas Live Oak on the St. Edward’s campus.

I’m not sure who pruned the tree at this insane angle, but some Native Americans used to bend young trees to mark trails, good campsites, or warn of danger ahead. Some trees also end up growing sideways like this after being partially uprooted by storms. Generally, if you can see the roots on the opposite side of the bend, it means that the tree was partially uprooted by a storm. In this case, the roots are not partially uprooted, so I would bet someone did this on purpose!

My iNaturalist observation can be found here.

The Prickly Peary is a cactus in the Genus Opuntia.  The first time I came across this cool succulent plant was interning on a game reserve in South Africa.  We conducted a number of conservation management practices on the reserve. One of my favorites was invasive species management. The prickly pear is an invasive species in South Africa along with other species such as Lantana.  We used a variety of methods to remove these invasive such as chemical and mechanical (physical) removal.  The prickly pear was a good candidate for chemical removal.  We used large syringes to inject a herbicide into the fleshy pads of the cactus and allow it to die down.

When I moved to Texas and observed the prickly pear, I had instant flashbacks to the good times I had in South Africa.  I see them all the time when I am mountain biking out in the hill country, and I think nature is getting revenge as I fell on one a few months ago!  The Prickly Pear cactus represents about a dozen species of the Opuntia genus (family Cactaceae) in North America. The fleshy pads I used to inject are modified branches or stems that serve several functions such as; water storage, photosynthesis, and flower production.  Members of the Opuntia genus are unique because of their clusters of fine, tiny, barbed spines called glochids.  Another cool thing is both the pads (known as nopalitos) and the fruits (known as tuna) of the Opuntia are edible and have some medicinal value.