Observaciones de rymcdaniel

Williamson county, Texas; Guentzel Cemetery
3/02/2024
Hymenopappus artemisiifolius

A few plants in maintained cemetery. Flowers mostly lacking the characteristic reddish tinge, but the leaves are consistent.

Williamson county, Texas; County Road 490
2/26/2024
Anemone caroliniana

A few clumps on upper part of sandy ditch area, possibly extending into adjacent mostly unmowed or coarsely mowed tract on south side of road. One of only two spots that I have seen these in Williamson county, both along CR490. It would not surprise me if other populations exist in this part of the county, but if so they don't seem to be visible from local roads or cemeteries.

Lee County, Texas; Copperas cemetery
2/19/2024
Anemone berlandieri

Seemed uncommon here from what I can remember, but I was probably more focused on the A. caroliniana as I did not take many pics of A. berlandieri during the day.

Lee County, Texas; Mesquite cemetery
2/19/2024
Abdra brachycarpa

Patchy along a row of stones on the northwest(?) side of cemetery. Only this smallest specimen (4.5cm tall) seemed to still have open flowers in this patch, though I would later find a somewhat larger one in the mowed area outside the cemetery that was in flower. None were as large as the fully fruiting specimen I saw at the Copperas cemetery earlier in the day.

Lee County, Texas; Lawhon Springs cemetery
Draba cuneifolia
2/19/2024

Mostly prevalent around and on the soil pile at the back of the cemetery. Scattered, very small specimens found occassionally on the rest of the grounds.

Lee County, Texas; Lawhon Springs cemetery
Houstonia micrantha
2/19/2024

Patchy, possibly common, in maintained cemetery. Easily overlooked. I initially dismissed these as small Houstonia pusilla, until it became clear that they appeared significiantly smaller than the abundant Houstonia pusilla. I then thought they might be Houstonia parviflora which also has small white flowers and occurs in the region and I did not realize until I got home that the leaves were more consistent with H. micrantha. I only took two measurements in the field, the flower width of about 5mm and stem length of about 2.8cm. However, from the width, I could estimate that the corolla tube was probably around 2mm (from the profile photo), more consistent with H. micrantha than H. pusilla.

Lee County, Texas; Lawhon Springs cemetery
Anemone caroliniana
2/19/2024

Common in front part of maintained cemetery.

It was my first time seeing this species, even though I had made a few deliberate attempts to find it in areas of east of Williamson county in past years. It was a nice surprise.

Burnet county, Texas; Intersection of Highway 29 and Park Road 4
2/15/2024
Draba platycarpa

Patchy on upper part of southwest corner closer to tree line. Stem photos between upper leaf and lowest fruit showing mix of simple and branched hairs.

I spent the afternoon in the Inks Lake area searching out the elusive Tomostima reptans, for which there appears to be only one collection record from Burnet county (C.M. Rogers 6652, TEX) that dates from 1949 and collected "...near State Hiway 29. 4 miles east of Llano co. line." To be honest, the record could be T. reptans, but might also perhaps be T. cuneifolia as it is difficult to tell from the images. Highway 29 in the area is quite curvy and hilly with few places if any to botanize safely on the side of the road, so I chose to look a little further west in the Inks Lake Area and on either end of the 6 mile no parking area on Park Road 4. It was a warm, overcast winter day, and at the end of the day I had no luck after a couple of stops on Park Road 4(Hwy 29, Clay Young Road) and several miles of hiking along the green and blue trails at Inks Lake State Park. What I did find were occasional patches of Tomostima platycarpa in all stages of development and numerous patches of small Lepidiums and Valerianellas that from eye level looked like they warranted investigation due to having similar sized small white flowers. I hope T. reptans occurs out there, but I suspect I'll have to wait another year to look again.

Williamson county, Texas; Lake Georgetown Overlook
2/2/2024
Draba cuneifolia

A nice misty cool winter day for looking at small flowering plants.

Some small patches from here to the trail along limestone outcrop. This is the furthest from the trail I have seen them and they are really hit and miss from year to year along this outcrop, sometimes subject to herbivory though I don't know by what. In this patch, most plants were only about to 3cm tall, but some closer to the trail were taller.