Want to share this with others?

Archives

• October 2024
• September 2024
• August 2024
• May 2024
• March 2024
• December 2023
• September 2023
• August 2023
• June 2023
• May 2023
• November 2022
• November 2021
• August 2021
• February 2021
• September 2020
• June 2020
• May 2020
• March 2020
• February 2020
• October 2019
• September 2019
• August 2019
• June 2019
• May 2019
• April 2019
• March 2019
• February 2019
• January 2019
• December 2018

The post “Blooms on the South Texas Sand Sheet,” by C.M. Rich, Texas Master Naturalist appeared first on El Mesteño Ranch and Arboretum.

Images are of a male Black-legged, long-horned native bee, (Svastra atripes), nectaring on Cowpen Daisy in Puerto Rico, Texas.

The post In Celebration of National Pollinator Week 2023! appeared first on El Mesteño Ranch and Arboretum.

Where the water trough overflows, a dirt border is built to contain and hold precious drops of water as it spills out over the top and out onto the South Texas Sand Sheet.

Where the water trough overflows, a young Brasil tree’s roots are like anchors, providing excellent erosion control as they dig and cut deep down into the loose, red, sandy soil.

Where the water trough overflows, after a fashion, green, native plant material begins to spring up next to sturdier shrubs that have been by the water trough’s side from years before. 

Where the water trough overflows, Cowpen daisies Tiny Tim, and Three Lobed Florestina grow, thrive, and feed a plethora of pollinators, including an American bumble bee.

Where the water trough overflows, Pipevine Swallow tails float on warm, breezy currents as they dart in and around mature Wild Olive trees sporting fresh, crisp, white blooms and bright green, soft leaves.

Where the water trough overflows, Hummingbirds, Green Jays, Northern Cardinals, Long-billed Thrashers, Pyrrhuloxias, Groove-billed Anis, Northern Bobwhite, Great Kiskadees, and White-winged Doves take refuge in the arms of Lotebush and Colima.

Where the water trough overflows, native plant material provides shade and cover for insects, birds, lizards, and all manner of creeping, crawling, slithering, living things.

Where the water trough overflows, an unexpected, wonderful microecosystem will spring up and sustain life when significant amounts of native habitat have all but dried out to mere sticks and twigs due to lack of precipitation.

Where the water trough overflows, flora will grow and all manner of fauna will be attracted to it.

The post “Where the Water Trough Overflows,” by C. M. Rich appeared first on El Mesteño Ranch and Arboretum.

The indescribable beauty of the Scarlet Musk Flower is best illustrated with a picture.  This picture was snapped on a somewhat cloudy day in Starr County while I was out and about on a driving tour of the countryside.  Recent, ample rains had helped native flora spring forth with renewed vitality, luster, and brilliance.  Sharp pops of bloom colors, ranging from blues, purples, yellows, creams, and whites, just to name a few, were generously scattered and strewn up and down the lone gravelly road that my vehicle crept along for as far as my eye could see.   

At a certain point in my driving tour, I parked my vehicle, and got out to walk amongst the many low-growing, blooming, wildflowers so that I could get a closer look at each of them.  I treaded as lightly as I could to avoid crushing any flowers underfoot as I continued to meander through the blooms. Soon, I spied a plant sporting something bright red.  Could this be a red bloom?  Whatever this plant was, it towered at least four (4) to five (5) inches above its plant neighbors.  I picked up my pace and soon I arrived at this breathtaking Scarlet Musk Flower.  (Nyctaginia capitata) This flower was mesmerizing, gorgeous, exquisite, and delicate.   It was hard for me to move forward on the path after gazing upon its beauty.    

As soon as I got home, I had to consult a few of my go-to plant books for more information on this member of the Nyctaginaceae family. This plant also goes by the name Devil’s Bouquet.  It is a perennial that grows from a tuberous root, can grow up to heights of sixteen (16) inches, and is an excellent nectar plant for butterflies.  Geographically speaking, this plant is “widespread from Cameron County north through Edwards Plateau, west throughout Chihuahuan Desert.  Grasslands, fields, prairies, open desert scrub, roadsides, and other open areas.  Summer, fall.  Common.” *

*“Wildflowers of Texas,” by Michael Eason.  Timber Press Field Guide.  Timber Press, Inc.  Portland, Oregon.  2018

Additional source of plant information:

“Plants of Deep South Texas,” by Alfred Richardson & Ken King.  Texas A & M University Press.  College Station, Texas.  2011.

The post The Scarlet Musk Flower appeared first on El Mesteño Ranch and Arboretum.

What a vision of loveliness lay before me as I rounded the corner the other day in the Kawasaki Mule 4 X 4 on a routine “fenceline check.”  There she was!   Had I not glanced back a second time,  I would most surely have missed her—the Purple Pleat Leaf!  Almost as soon as I spotted her, after searching for the last fifteen years (15) years for any sign of her continued presence on El Mesteño, I began to doubt what my very own eyes beheld.  It was, indeed, the Purple Pleat Leaf.  What a beauty!

In the heat with the glaring midday South Texas sun beating down upon us both, I knelt down in the red, sandy soil to get a better look at her.  Using my hat to block the bright sunlight, I attempted to snap a few pictures with my cellphone that would be worthy of showing the world how intricately and exquisitely designed this perennial native wildflower truly is.  Even though I have been looking for her return for years, it turns out that she is a common occurrence in the Sand Sheet and other parts of Texas.

In Plants of Deep South Texas, by Alfred Richardson and Ken King, page 40, the Purple Pleat Leaf (Alophia drummondii), “is a plant of sandy soils.  This species was named in honor of Thomas Drummond, from Scotland, who made extensive collections of plants in Central Texas in the 1830’s.”

In Wildflowers of Texas by Michael Eason, page 433, the common names for this flower are listed as, “Purple pleat-leaf, propeller flower, prairie iris.”  Their habitat is listed as, “Fields, meadows, grasslands, roadsides.”  Their bloom time is listed as, “Spring, summer.”  Their occurrence is listed as “common.”  Their location range is given as, “Found in South Texas and eastern third of state.”

In A Photographic Guide to the Vegetation of the South Texas Sand Sheet, by Dexter Peacock and Forrest S. Smith, page 62, this plant is also called a “Purple Nymph.”  Additionally, the guide states, “This flower has many names, and it is one of the most striking wildflowers in the Sand Sheet.  It blooms throughout the year following rain.”

• “Male Mesoxaea texana on the South Texas Sand Sheet”
• “Female Mesoxaea texana on the South Texas Sand Sheet”
• “Making more Mesoxaea texana on the South Texas Sand Sheet”
• “Mesoxaea texana nectaring on Waltheria indica on the South Texas Sand Sheet!”
• “Tepanec Long-horned Bees Nectaring on Coma on the South Texas Sand Sheet,” by C. M. Rich, Texas Master Naturalist

The post The Purple Pleat Leaf appeared first on El Mesteño Ranch and Arboretum.