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Saturday, July 19, 2008

Name That Wildflower


A morning hike on the western flank of Tortugas Mountain this morning provided Research Associate Becca and me some food for thought. We came upon some wildflowers we couldn't identify, so we photographed them and came back to COC to consult our research resources. This first picture is, we believe, a plant called Range Ratany (Krameria erecta), which blossoms shortly after rain (we had three-hours worth yesterday).
This second photo shows a plant we were able to identify in the field--the cresote bush with its yellow flowers. On either side of it are Viscid Acacia specimens.
This next pic shows a Nerisyrenia Comporum (aka Bicolor Fanmustard).
The last picture is of a--what? Little help, please. Anyone out there know? We could not find this in our books nor on any internet resources. We're not sure if the bulbs are part of the plant (though they look to be) or some type of parasite. (Note: Wynn Anderson, the Botanical Curator of the Chihuahuan Desert Gardens of the Centennial Museum at UTEP [University of Texas-El Paso] informs me that this is the same Rain Lily [Zephranthes longifolia] that I photographed for an earlier post. After flowering the plant forms a three-chamber seed pod.)

1 comment:

Dr. K said...

Could that last plant be some type of an onion?

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