Orange to Blues

From orange to Blues:
When I was in 5th grade, I received my first set of Crayola colored pencils, a set of 8 colors. There, in that plastic case, were the colors of the rainbow and I could not stop looking at these incredible colors. They were also my tools for creating beautiful pictures. To this day, I want to capture the rainbow colors everytime I see them, only now, I try to do this with the camera.

Subconsciously, this love of color, is the reason why I started taking photos of flowers on this Texas trip. I saw the oranges first but the color that captured my eyes everytime, were the blues. When I was doing my identification research for these photos, I noticed that Texas thinks it owns this blue color. 5 of these flowers are named Texas something. I looked in my Michigan wildflower book, and there are only 2 pages with blue flowers. So I guess Texas does have something to brag about and the blue color of the spiderwort is incredible.

Yellow Flax - Linum rigidum (Flax Family - Linaceae)

Blue-Eyed Grass - Sisyrinchium dimorphum (Iris Family - Iradaceae)
This vivid blue catches your eyes everytime, everywhere

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Texas Spiderwort - Tradescantia humilis (Spiderwort Family - Commelinaceae)
What a beautiful color!

Texas Vervain - Verbena halei (Verbena Family -
Verbenaceae)

Guayacan or Soapbush or Texas lignumvitae - Guajacum angustifolium (Creosote-Bush Family - Zygophyllaceae)

Texas Baby Blue Eyes - Nemophila phacelioides (Waterleaf Family - Hydrophyllaceae)

Purple Dalea - Dalea lasiathera (Pea Family - Fabaceae)

Blue curls - Phacelia congesta (Waterleaf Family - Hydrophyllaceae)

Berlandier Lobelia - Lobelia berlandieri (Bellflower Family - Campanulaceae)

Texas Bluebonnet - Lupinus texensis (Pea Family - Fabaceae)

Scarlet Pimpernel - Anagallis avernsis (Primrose Family - Primulaceae)
Blue-flowered form of Scarlet flower.
Also known as Poor Man's Weather Glass because the flowers close
when rain is approaching.

Stay tuned for the final color, yellow, in this wildflower series.
(PS I still own a set of Crayola colored pencils today.)


The references I used for this research are:
Texas Wildflowers by Campbell and Lynn Loughmiller
Michigan Wildflowers in Color by Harry C. Lund
Peterson Field Guides: Southwestern and Texas Wildflowers
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Native Plants of South Texas

Orange to Pinks, Purples

From Orange to Pinks and Purples: Most of these flowers I have never seen. The pink and purple colors are just stunning.

Velvet Lantana - Lantana velutina (Verbena Family - Verbnaceae)
The flowers start as white with a yellow throat and
then turn lavender or pink as they age. (aging beautifully!)

Scarlet Beeblossom - Gaura coccinea (Evening-Primrose Family - Onagraceae)
Flowers are white in the evening and darken to pink and, finally,
to scarlet by noon on the next day. (Guess what time I saw them?)

Pink Evening Primrose - Oenothera speciosa (Evening-Primrose Family - Onagraceae)
Another evening-primrose that varies from white to pink

Pink Wood Sorrel - Oxalis corymbosa (Wood Sorrel Family - Oxalidaceae)

Globemallow (Mallow Family - Malvaceae)

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Drummond Phlox - Phlox drummondii (Phlox Family - Polemoniaceae)

Wine Cup - Callirhoe involucrata (Mallow Family - Malvaceae)
I am driving along the road and see a few flowers in this incredible
purplish color. The flower petals can be harvested to produce a bright red dye.

Meadow Pink - Sabatia campestris (Gentian Family - Gentianaceae)

Bull Thistle - Cirsium horridulum (Aster Family - Asteraceae)
You won't believe it until you see this flower,
but it is more than 3" in diameter.
Insects love the nectar and flowers will bend
to a light touch like from a bee.
Large animals will eat the flower if they can avoid the spines.

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Cenizo - Leucophyllum frutescens (Figwort Family - Scrophulariaceae)
This was taken mid-afternoon just after the rain quit.
(In Texas that rain was just a fine mist)

Purple Ground Cherry - Quincula lobata (Potato Family - Solanaceae)
The yellow fruit of this plant is edible and used to make preserves.

Rough Nama, Sand Bells - Nama hispidum (Waterleaf Family - Hydrophyllaceae)

The references I used for this post are:
Texas Wildflowers by Campbell and Lynn Loughmiller
Peterson Field Guides: Southwestern and Texas Wildflowers
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Native Plants of South Texas

Orange to Whites

From orange to whites -- I did not notice the white flowers as much as the reds or blues (probably because white is not a color). When I did, most often, it was a flower where some feature caught my eye, and it always was one that I had never seen (except yucca and pricklypoppy). Even the names of these flowers are new to me. (You would think that I would recognize all the names from all those westerns I have read.)

Plains Blackfoot - Melampodium leucanthum (Aster Family - Asteraceae)

White Pricklypoppy - Argemone albiflora (Poppy Family - Papaveraceae)
The white-colored sap from this plant is poisonous, so livestock will leave this plant standing and eat everything around it.

Lyreleaf Parthenium - Parthenium confertum (Aster Family - Asteraceae)

Crow Poison, Yellow False Garlic - Nothoscordum bivalve (Lily Family - Liliaceae)
This flower grows from a bulb.

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Texas Bullnettle - Cnidoscolus texanus (Spurge Family - Euphorbiaceae)
Some people are allergic to the milky sap from the stems
and to the stinging of the hairs.
(take pictures and don't touch)

Salt Pennywort - Hydrocotyle bonariensis (Parsley Family - Umbelliferae)
This plant has interesting leaves and grew at the edge
of my campsite at Galveston State Park.

Anacahuita, Mexican Olive - Cordia boissieri (Borage (herb) Family - Boraginaceae)
The fruit is edible and is used to make jelly
and a cough medicine in Mexico.

Guajillo or Thornless Catclaw - Acacia berlandieri (Pea Family - Fabaceae)
with a butterfly - Hackberry Emperor - Asterocampa celtis
Too much of the leaves and fruit is toxic to livestock and causes
"guajillo wobbles" in the legs of sheep and goats.

Torrey Yucca - Yucca torreyi (Century-Plant Family - Agavaceae)
This has to be one of the most interesting plants in the south,
because I take pictures of it everytime I see it.

The references I used for this post are:
Texas Wildflowers by Campbell and Lynn Loughmiller
Peterson Field Guides: Southwestern and Texas Wildflowers
Kaufman Focus Guides: Butterflies of North America by Brock and Kaufman
Butterflies through Binoculars: The East by Jeffrey Glassberg
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Native Plants of South Texas

Stay tuned for doses of pinks and purples soon.