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
