Tag: inaturalist

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02/03/2024 Lexington WMA walk

Briar the german shepherd dog solemnly waits in the car for her adventure to begin as I load the car.
Ready to go!
Briar the german shepherd dog smiles up at me, wearing her orange safety vest, from a wash filleed with brushy and little bluestem. the dam of Lake Dahlgren is in the distance.
We looked around behind Lake Dahlgren. Here is all I put on iNaturalist. I put a few of the prettiest ones here in the post directly too.
I'm holding the dried stem of the plant "seedbox". Its two visible seed pods are a distinctive cubic shape with a hint of roundness on each side, and a hole in the middle top.
I recognized Seedbox (Ludwigia alternifolia) from its fun pods! We have some in our garden.
Briar the german shepherd, wearing a blue harness and a bright hunter-orange safety vest smiles down from a ravine top at me.
liverwort leaves on damp brown sand
Liverworts!
I point at a tiny green patch of moss on sandstone while Briar sits baffled but smiling nearby.
Dog for scale next to moss.
Briar the german shepherd dog stands in her orange safety vest on a big exposed ridge of sandstone, with bluestem grass and cedars and oaks in the background. she is looking out of frame and smiling.
The clouds came and went. It was cool and breezy but I did okay with just one layer of long sleeves.
Splitbeard bluestem seed tufts lit up by sunshine against red sandstone
Splitbeard bluestem is so pretty with its tufts. I think this picture would be a fun puzzle.
eroded red sandstone leaving nodules. bluestem and goldenrod and other dead plants at the top of the eroding edge
Nodule habitat
round red and dark brown sandstone nodules in softer sand
Close up
I found some nodules in the sandstone!
a blackberry stem and leaf, the stem has whitish speckles
Blackberry stem
close-up of blackberry stem and a bud, showing the white patches with dark centers
Maybe not lichen
I thought this blackberry stem had lichens, which would have been unusual, but I think maybe it was a fungus.

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11/04/2023 saffron season

A big fuzzy bumblebee visits the purple streaked petals and yellow and red center of a saffron flower.
The original saffron patch after being divided this spring has three plants big enough to flower! A bumblebee was visiting one!
A cluster of several saffron plants with two buds and one open flower
I didn’t divide this patch very well oops.
I hold a single saffron plant with two green leaves coming out of the ground with a slight pale sheath around the base near the soil
In the front yard, I had planted three patches the last two seasons. So far only one is up and no visible flowers. someone else here near Norman had several at this stage. I think the smaller bulbs don’t flower the first season and need to grow more.
Half a dozen saffron plants with long thin green leaves in a clay pot, from above. The middle plant has a fully open flower.
Judy reports one flower from her bulbs planted in the spring after the division! Hers are in a pot.
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05/21/2023 weird surprise plant

This interesting flower was blooming by the garage and rain barrel corner. iNaturalist suggested Houttuynia.
This could be here on its own dispersal as it’s known to be invasive, but it is also apparently known as “fish mint” and used in some cuisines. The chefs were not interested after smelling it so we will probably remove it so it doesn’t get out and disturb any local ecosystems more than they already are.