Herbertia lahue, cows, cameras, blue fuzzy bits
Joe Shaw (Sun, 22 Apr 2007 06:45:34 PDT)

Hi Gang,

Two years ago I planned to dig plants of Herbertia lahue that were in the
path of a planned construction project. I finally drove out to the area
this weekend to check on the population and those plants are long gone.
But it was a great day for Herbertia, and the flowers were in bloom
everywhere in Austin, Colorado, and Fayette Counties. Likely, these blue
beauties are in high flower from central Texas to New Orleans this week.

In shady situations the flowers are held 8-10 inches high, but are typically
3-6 high. The plants can be found in great colonies, sometimes half a mile
in scope, or sometimes the plants are found singly. Maybe the single plants
are not really singles because, if they are out of flower, it is difficult
to locate plants among the other forbs. The foliage is grass-like.

The photo opportunities were numerous and engaging. Too bad my little
camera doesn't capture broad vistas well. The uncountable numbers of
flowers become pale-blue, fuzzy bits in some images.

Enjoy the photos but good luck with the phylogeny of this Texas and
Louisiana species. The taxonomy is confused, but even identifying currently
valid name will not solve the biological questions suggested by the
literature on this genus.

LINK 1: photo, H. lahue photo, close-up Colorado County, TX

http://opuntiads.com/other/herbertia-lahue/…

LINK 2: photo, H. lahue pasture (steer is in focus, the thousands of
Herbertia flowers comprise the fuzzy blue dots)

http://opuntiads.com/other/herbertia-lahue/…

LINK 3: photo, H. lahue lawn (imagine having this lawn in front of your
home)

http://opuntiads.com/other/herbertia-lahue/…

LINK 4: photo, H. lahue mini-colony

http://opuntiads.com/other/herbertia-lahue/…

LINK 5: info, H. lahue in Flora of North America

http://efloras.org/florataxon.aspx/…

Cordially,

Joe

Conroe TX
Pleasantly warm for a few days now, recent rains have fueled large flower
displays in the countryside