Flowers of Fall

We come past the Fall Equinox, considered the beginning of Autumn. Flowers of Spring--crocus, snow drops, daffodils--are famous. This time of year a new group of plants flower, less famous plants than those of Spring. They deserve more acknowledgement. These are the last plants to flower. Their blooms announce the very end of the growing season. 

Battered butterfly on rabbitbrush (Ericameria) flowers

Plant Story--Virginia Creeper and Woodbine, Parthenocissus

woodbine, Parthenocissus vitacea

They are big vines, common and hardy. I want to talk about the native American plants in the genus Parthenocissus. The best-known is Virginia creeper, Parthenocissus quinquefolia. It is native to eastern North America (Virginia!) but was long ago planted as a landscape plant, so it can be found from England to Australia. In the U.S., where it is found west of eastern Nebraska and in Canada, it is considered escape from cultivation.

Remembering Summer Hikes

Summer is ending, in fact, has ended for many people. Here are photos of the summer past, in the Rocky Mountains:

From meadows with knee-high grasses

The trail led upward

Plant Story -- Common Mallow, Malva neglecta, Edible Minor Weed

 You stop for a moment: what is that pretty white flower? 

common mallow, Malva neglecta

Then you look down and think, "oh just a weed."

Variegated Plants

Plant leaves are green, we all agree, maybe turning yellow or red in fall. But, in fact, you can grow plants with jewel-tone leaves. 

Plant Story--Purple Locoweeds, Astragalus and Oxytropis, Doubly Poisonous

That flash of magenta in the meadow 

A closer loook shows its a legume, pea family, Fabaceae. In the Colorado Front Range, only locoweeds, milk vetches and vetches are that color. The vetches, genus Vicia, are small and vining, with tendrils. That's not what I have here.

The locoweeds, genus Oxytropis, and the milk vetches, also called locoweeds, genus Astragalus, are quite similar. Locoweeds have flowers with pointed tips on the central fused petals (keel), pointed leaves, and virtually no stems. Milkvetches have blunt keels, less pointy leaves, hairy leaves and stems and leaves on flower stems. 

Photos and Pictures, Ever Better

When I started doing field work, about 1972, the cameras available with good enough lenses to take photos of plants or insects were big heavy single lens reflex cameras. My camera was so unwieldy that I only took it with me about once a week, and on that one day got whatever photos I wanted. 

Photography wasn't easy. The macro lens unbalanced the camera, so it was hard to keep it stable. Worse, I had to get pretty close to the subject to focus, so the insects I wanted to photograph saw the big dark macro lens and moved to the other side of the stem or leaf. 

shieldbug with prey (ant) on Ipomoea carnea leaf,
  Guanacaste, Costa Rica, 1972.
Maybe the bug thought it was hiding in the leaf or just wasn't afraid, since
 brightly colored predatory bugs generally bite, sting, or taste awful.