Temporal
Floristic Log
Spring
in July!
A recent email from Elizabeth Winston of Peaceable Kingdom
Farm:
Have you seen the Eustoma
near Independence? In thirty years here, I've never seen anything
like it. Take the road to William Penn.
The vista above, taken along route 390 between Independence
and William Penn (3 camcorder frames combined), shows one of many Eustoma
russellianum (Hook.) G. Don (Gentianaceae
- treated as Eustoma grandiflorum (Raf.) Shinners by Hatch et al,
1990) and known locally as: Showy prairie gentian, bluebells, lira
de san pedro) populations now (11 July 1998) in full flower. We have
seen little evidence of this species in the Navasota flora over recent
years and there has been some concern that the local populations are being
impacted by native gardeners. But, no need to worry. Many of
our showy annuals show remarkable flux in population size from year to
year and it appears that this growing season - with its record heat and
drought - has favored E. russellianum,
a species that is distributed throughout Texas and prairie areas of central
North America.
The seed bank responsible for this massive population,
which probably accumulated over many years, includes a range of genetic
variation that is signaled by the presence of rare (only two plants observed)
albinos (no corolla pigment).
See more photos
from the Vascular
Plant Image Gallery, web links for the Gentianiaceae,
and Eustoma specimen records from the Flora of Texas Consortium
(mapped
or listed).
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