Here’s another installment of Terri’s Flower Hour ABCs. This week we are close to the end of the alphabet. My entries are pretty common in many places, but one flower is endemic to the Edwards Plateau region in central Texas. I have featured it here a few times, and I confess I’m always giddy when I spot it in the field. Let’s begin.
Scarlet Leather Flower
This is the Edwards Plateau region’s pride and joy. Scientifically known as Clematis texensis — also called Scarlet Clematis or Texas Clematis — it is endemic to the Edwards Plateau, meaning this stretch of central Texas is the only place on Earth where it grows wild. I photographed this one at the Balcones Canyonlands NWR’s Doeskin Ranch. The flower thrives here because of the soil: rocky, well-drained limestone, loam, and sand, the kind found on limestone cliffs, rocky slopes, and streamsides across the region. It’s a slightly woody vine that can climb up to 10 feet (3 m), producing its nodding, bell-shaped scarlet blooms only on new growth from March through July.
Turk’s Cap
This is a very common flower in Central Texas, with a whole list of nicknames—Wax Mallow, Red Mallow, Texas Mallow, Mexican Apple, and even Sleeping Hibiscus, since the twisted red petals never fully unfurl. Its scientific name is Malvaviscus arboreus var. drummondii. This image was captured at Berry Springs Park & Preserve in Georgetown, a wonderful place to photograph wildlife and wildflowers. Turk’s Cap adapts to sandy, loamy, clay, and limestone soils, though it does best in moist, well-drained woodland soil, and it tolerates everything from full shade to full sun. It grows as a spreading shrub, usually 2 to 3 feet (0.6–0.9 m) tall but occasionally reaching 10 feet (3 m), and blooms from May through November, with hummingbirds, butterflies, and moths all stopping by for nectar.
Upright Prairie Coneflower
Similar to the Scarlet Leather Flower, I also photographed this one on the same day I was at the Balcones Canyonlands NWR’s Doeskin Ranch. Its scientific name is Ratibida columnifera, and one common name for this flower is Mexican Hat—it’s easy to see why, with its drooping yellow-and-maroon petals hanging beneath a tall, cone-shaped center. It isn’t picky about soil, growing happily in well-drained, usually calcareous ground — limestone, caliche, clay, or sandy loam — which is part of why it turns up so reliably across Central Texas prairies and roadsides. This drought-tolerant perennial reaches up to 3 feet (0.9 m) tall and blooms from late spring through July, sometimes lingering into August or September with enough rain.
Violet Ruellia
The last flower goes by many names — Violet Ruellia, Common Wild Petunia, Violet Wild Petunia — and its scientific name is Ruellia nudiflora. I photographed it at San Gabriel Park’s Katy Crossing Trail in Georgetown, but I could have easily captured it right here beyond the fence in my backyard. It favors sandy soil and tolerates conditions from dry to moist, and light from full sun to full shade, which explains why it turns up in so many different spots. This perennial reaches about 2 feet (0.6 m) tall, blooms from April through October, and serves as a larval host for the Common Buckeye and White Peacock butterflies.
No matter which area I go to, beautiful flowers are always growing year-round. That is the story behind the shots. For more like this, enjoy these related stories: Balcones Canyonlands NWR, Berry Springs Park and Preserve, Doeskin Ranch, FlowerHour, Katy Crossing, Mexican hat, Parks, San Gabriel Park, Scarlet leather flower, Texas, Turks cap, Upright Prairie Coneflower, Violet Ruellia, and Wildflowers. Until the next shoot, keep chasing the light and the wonders it reveals.
- Posted for Terri’s Flower Hour #48.
Sources:
- Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center — Clematis texensis — https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=clte2
- Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center — Malvaviscus arboreus var. drummondii — https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=MAARD
- Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center — Ratibida columnifera — https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=raco3
- Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center — Ruellia nudiflora — https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=runu
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Terri Webster Schrandt
A STUvendous collection indeed, Egidio. Nicely done generating the header collage with Gemini! Your florals are beauties, and I’m glad to know they grow well in sandy, drier soil. That’s what we have mostly in Eastern Washington.
Egidio Leitao
Thanks for this feedback, Terri. I thought I’d give a try to Gemini to generate the collage the way I wanted. It took a couple of revisions, but my vision was met.
margaret21
These are all excitingly same-but-different from flowesr we know well here. For instance the scarlet leather flower resembles several plants we have here which are all either blue or perhaps white. Interesting stuff.
Egidio Leitao
Thanks for this very interesting feedback, Margaret. We have similar flowers to the scarlet leather flower, but in different colors, too.
pamperrault21
However did you make that collage? It’s brilliant! All your pictures are lovely and, ‘though you wrote “My entries are pretty common in many places” the only one I knew of is the coneflower. Great post, Egidio!
Egidio Leitao
First off, thanks for the comment. I generally use one of two programs to create my collages. This time, however, I asked Gemini to create the collage. I showed it the four images and gave it a prompt to do the collage. I had to refine the prompt three times because Gemini kept repeating one of the flowers. Thanks.