Lens-Artists Challenge #404: Subjects that begin with the letter B
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.
The first bloom I feature is Berlandier’s Sundrops (Calylophus 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.
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.
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.
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:
- Tina of Travels and Trifles.
- Patti of P.A. Moed.
- Ann-Christine of Leya.
- John of Journeys with Johnbo.
- Anne of Slow Shutter Speed.
- Sofia of Photographias.
- Egídio of Through Brazilian Eyes.
- Ritva of Ritva Sillanmäki Photography.
- Beth of Wandering Dawgs.
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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Terri Webster Schrandt
Nicely done on the double-dip for the challenges, Egidio. Both Berlandier blooms are beautiful! 😁Love the golden yellows!
margaret21
Beguiling indeed. I sometimes think that yellow is the perfect flower colour: bright, fresh, cheerful. What’s not to like?
Wandering Dawgs
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!