1 Jul 2026

Berlandier’s Beguiling Blooms

Lens-Artists Challenge #404: Subjects that begin with the letter B

A side-by-side collage of two bright yellow Texas wildflowers — a large, ruffled sundrops bloom on the left and a smaller, delicate flax flower with an orange-red center on the right.
Buttery Blooms, Side by Side

When Beth issued this week’s photo challenge, I went looking for a single subject that could carry the letter B. “Let’s have a little fun and feature subjects that begin with the letter B,” she wrote. “What subjects can you find that start with the letter B? You can choose several different subjects and share one image of each.” Be sure to visit her post for more ideas and her excellent photography. I didn’t have to look far. Growing in the same patch of Texas wildflowers, almost side by side, were two blooms that share something rarer than a first letter — they share a namesake.

Both flowers carry the name of Jean-Louis Berlandier (circa 1805–1851), a French-Swiss botanist, naturalist, and physician. He was sent to Mexico in 1826 to collect plant specimens. Then, in the fall of 1828, he traveled into Texas, collecting plants and recording some of the earliest written observations of the region’s Plains tribes. His later years were spent in Mexico, where he drowned in the San Fernando River near Matamoros in 1851. His name lives on across the Texas landscape, including in the two blooms pictured here.

Close-up of a large, four-petaled yellow sundrops flower with crinkled, papery petals, growing among narrow, spiny-toothed green leaves, with a fading orange bloom and red buds beside it.
Brilliant Buttercup Burst

The first bloom I feature is Berlandier’s Sundrops (previously Calylophus berlandieri, but now Oenothera berlandieri), a low, bushy perennial that grows 4 to 20 inches (10 to 51 cm) tall in the grasslands, rocky slopes, and sandy soils of Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and northern Mexico.

A small dark beetle nestled in the center of a bright yellow sundrops flower, surrounded by dry grass and seed pods.
A Bug’s Big Breakfast
Two spotted beetles perched together on the petals of a bright yellow sundrops flower, surrounded by green serrated leaves.
Beetle’s Banquet for Two

Its showy yellow flowers, up to 2 inches (5 cm) across, have four broad, crinkled petals with a delicate, crepe-paper texture — and a curious habit: each bloom opens bright yellow and gradually fades to orange or pink with age, so a single plant can show flowers in several shades at once. Sundrops bloom from March through September and are a regular stop for bees, butterflies, and the occasional wandering beetle.

A fresh yellow sundrops flower in full bloom beside a second bloom that has faded to deep orange, both growing on the same spiny-leaved stem.
Born Yellow, Blushing Orange
Three golden-yellow flax flowers with orange centers blooming together on slender stems amid dry grass and scattered wildflowers.
A Bevy of Blossoms

The second featured bloom is Berlandier’s Yellow Flax (Linum berlandieri), a slender, wiry-stemmed wildflower that reaches up to 16 inches (41 cm) tall, though it’s often shorter. Its flowers are smaller and more delicate than the sundrops’ — up to 1.2 inches (3 cm) across — with five golden-orange petals that deepen to a rich red-orange at the center, opening in loose clusters at the tips of branching stems.

It favors the same sandy and gravelly prairies as its B-named neighbor and blooms from April through August across most of Texas.

A single Texas yellow flax flower with five golden petals streaked with orange-red at the center, growing on a slender green stem.
A Blaze of Butterscotch

Two blooms, one botanist, and a string of B’s I didn’t have to go looking for. Thanks again to Beth for the nudge to look a little closer at what’s growing right under our boots.

Your responses to John’s compositional challenge last week were outstanding. I hope you will join this week’s challenge, too. Please don’t forget to use the “lens-artists” hashtag in your posts to help people find your wonderful challenge entries.

The Lens-Artists team will be taking a break for the next two weeks. Anne-Christine will be hosting the next challenge when we return on July 18. The challenge will go live at noon EST in the USA. Tune in to find out more about the challenge then. Please see this page for more information about the Lens-Artists Challenge and its history. If you don’t want to miss any future challenges, please consider subscribing to the team members’ websites. Here they are:

That is the story behind the shots. If you liked this post, you may also be interested in others featuring Berlandier’s Sundrops, Berlandier’s Yellow Flax, FlowerHour, Lens-Artists, Texas, and Wildflowers. Until the next time, keep clicking and capturing the beauty your eyes find.

Posted for Terri’s Flower Hour #37.

Sources

  • Texas State Historical Association, Handbook of Texas — Jean Louis Berlandier — https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/berlandier-jean-louis
  • Wikipedia — Jean-Louis Berlandier — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Louis_Berlandier
  • Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center — Calylophus berlandieri (Berlandier’s Sundrops) — https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=CABEB2
  • Dallas County Master Gardeners — Calylophus berlandieri, Berlandier’s Sundrops — https://dallascountymastergardeners.org/calylophus-berlandieri-berlandiers-sundrops/
  • Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center — Linum berlandieri var. berlandieri (Berlandier’s Yellow Flax) — https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=libeb2
  • Wildflowers of the Southwest USA — Berlandier’s Yellow Flax, Linum berlandieri — https://www.americansouthwest.net/plants/wildflowers/linum-berlandieri.html

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36 Responses

  1. restlessjo
    | Reply

    Fabulous captures! xx

  2. Rebecca Cuningham
    | Reply

    Wonderfully erudite B photos, taken masterfully.

  3. Tina Schell
    | Reply

    LOL for “right at our boots” Egidio! Loved your post as always, and your knowledge about your subjects continues to amaze me!

    • Egidio Leitao
      | Reply

      The knowledge comes with each new post. As I have to research about the topic, I am also learning new things. Thanks for writing, Tina.

  4. photobyjohnbo
    | Reply

    So many wonderful alliterations, Egidio! Great choice to cover a specific blossom also named with a “B”.

  5. Leya
    | Reply

    Love your buttery blooms Egidio!

  6. Steve Schwartzman
    | Reply

    The best known B.B. of my early years was Brigitte Bardot, whom I looked for in vain in your photographs. You did well to take advantage of the sundrops’ change from yellow to orange by getting both colors in your first photograph.

    DNA research has led to the genus Calylophus, like Gaura and Stenosiphon, getting folded into Oenothera, so that Calylophus berlandieri has become Oenothera berlandieri. Not all websites have caught up with the change, but Wikipedia has (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oenothera_berlandieri).

    • Egidio Leitao
      | Reply

      Thanks, Steve. I’m not a good portrait photographer. So, no BB or other well-known figure. Also, thanks for the name correction.

  7. Pepper
    | Reply

    These are beautiful, Egidio. 😊

  8. Rupali
    | Reply

    Lovely flowers!

  9. PR
    | Reply

    Lovely yellows!

  10. Toonsarah
    | Reply

    I very much enjoyed this post 🙂 Both flowers are beautiful and you’ve so cleverly worked a large number of Bs into your captions!

    • Egidio Leitao
      | Reply

      Thanks, Sarah. I had some AI help for the captions.

  11. Anita
    | Reply

    A lovely duo of Berlandier blossoms, Egidio. The colors and textures really show in your excellent close‑ups.

  12. klh048
    | Reply

    B flowers and bugs! I love the Flax. The Berlandier’s Sundrops is documented as growing in every surrounding NM county but not in mine (Sandoval). I’ll have to look for it.

    • Egidio Leitao
      | Reply

      I hope you find the flower there. It’s odd that it’d be around but would skip your county. Thanks for the comment.

  13. shoreacres
    | Reply

    The first time I came across Berlandier’s sundrops, I found some with black rather than yellow stigmas; the combination of black and yellow was quite striking. I’ve only seen those in the hill country, but the flax does grow in my area. Your photos of both are lovely!

    • Egidio Leitao
      | Reply

      What a great find, Linda! I bet that was truly beautiful. Thanks for the compliment on the photos.

  14. Anne Sandler
    | Reply

    Beautiful blossoms Egidio, and a lot of “B” fun!

    • Egidio Leitao
      | Reply

      Thanks, Anne. This was a very fun challenge.

  15. Terri Webster Schrandt
    | Reply

    Nicely done on the double-dip for the challenges, Egidio. Both Berlandier blooms are beautiful! 😁Love the golden yellows!

    • Egidio Leitao
      | Reply

      Thanks, Terri. I’m beginning to worry I’m following too many challenges. So, double dipping may happen more frequently. 🙂

      • Terri Webster Schrandt
        | Reply

        I do it all the time, I don’t want to post more than 2x per week. Makes it exciting, for sure!

  16. margaret21
    | Reply

    Beguiling indeed. I sometimes think that yellow is the perfect flower colour: bright, fresh, cheerful. What’s not to like?

    • Egidio Leitao
      | Reply

      First off, many thanks, Margaret. I do agree with you about yellow as a flower color. It’s so cheerful and invigorating.

  17. Wandering Dawgs
    | Reply

    Egidio, I love yellow flowers and your buttery blooms are beautiful. Thanks for taking time away from the World Cup for this challenge. I watched part of the Brazil/Japan match. Congratulations on moving on to the next round!

    • Egidio Leitao
      | Reply

      Thanks for all your remarks. This was such a fun challenge.

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