Giant Robber Fly of the Great Plains – Microstylum morosum

Early in July, while walking the Oak Motte and Deer Mouse Trails at the Ft. Worth Nature Center & Refuge, I was surprised by the largest Robber Fly that I have ever seen. I estimated at the time that it must be about 4.5 cm. I thought surely that this must be some prehistoric relic recently thawed from a glacier by the 100 degree heat…. (no, wait)….. there are no currently active glaciers near Ft. Worth, so that theory is out. This must be a living breathing extant species. The glowing emerald green eyes were mesmerizing. Luckily, I had my Canon G10 in my hand and I grabbed this one photo. I tried to move around and get a shot of the face, but he flew away, …… far far away….. <sigh of exasperation>.

I could not wait to get home and identify this beauty. First, I check my copies of Kaufman & Eaton, no luck. Then I looked in Peterson, then Lutz, and etc., etc. Then finally, before going to BugGuide on the Internet, I “Googled” up <giant robber fly, emerald eyes>, and to my surprise, I found a blog post by Ted C. MacRae at “Beetles in the Bush“. BTW, this is one of my favorite Insect and Nature Blogs. The article can be found here:  North America’s largest robber fly. Click on the link and read Ted’s excellent “adventure” article. There are not many naturalists that can make a nature walk seem like an expedition to deepest, darkest Africa. Well done, Ted. Interesting as usual.

I could not find a photo, or even a description or notation in the many insect field guides or nature references in our library. No wonder that I was not aware of this insect, and was surprised by its appearance. After discovering its species name at Ted’s site, I found it on BugGuide.com (another favorite site). At one time, this species was thought to be endemic to Texas, but in recent years has been found in many other states.

Don’t forget to click on the photos for better looks.

Microstylum morosum – Giant Robber Fly of the Great Plains

© 2010 Troy and Martha Mullens

Robber flies belong to the Family Asilidae and vary greatly in size (from 3 – 50 mm in the US), some being long and slender, and some being very robust such as Laphria and Mallophora (Bumblebee mimics). Others are slender and just look like they are built for speed. They tend to be more diverse in the central and western US. For those who are Birders, many/most robber flies act like flycatchers, perching and dashing out, to attack their prey. There are close to 1000 species in North America.

Leave a comment if you like the photo, or if you have had firsthand experience with this giant beauty of a robber fly.

For comparison, here are a few other favorite Robber Fly photos taken by Martha or me.

A Bumblebee mimic. In addition to being a reasonably good nature photo, this could be considered a good piece of art (In my humble opinion). Notice the really great bearded look. Most robber flies are bearded and have hairy “faces”.

Mallophora sp.

© 2010 Troy and Martha Mullens

Another similar looking species is the Laphria. Very cool bug. Did I mention I like robber flies. Falcons of the air.

Laphria sp.

© 2010 Troy and Martha Mullens

A more commonly seen robber fly. Probably Promachus? Any definitive ID’s would be appreciated. Leave a comment or contact me.

Update: Thanks to Bob Parks, the robber fly has been ID’d.

Trioria interrupta

© 2010 Troy and Martha Mullens

One of my favorites. A Diogmites sp. This is also known as “the hanging thief”. Many times they are seen hanging by one foot or sometimes two feet while devouring their prey.

Diogmites sp.

© 2010 Troy and Martha Mullens

A portrait photo of Diogmites, courtesy of my brother, Jimmy S. Mullens. This one has really sparse, scruffy facial hair.

Diogmites sp. up close and personal

© 2010 Jimmy S. Mullens

The next 2 photos are of Efferia sp. E. mortensoni or Pogonioefferia pogonias., a male and female respectively. Notice the bright silver band on the male, and the sharp ovipositor (for laying eggs in dry flower heads and various crevices) on the female.These were photographed early in the day on a cold October morning. It was overcast and the Sun had not warmed them for flight. These were all caught in the sleeping position. Almost all that I saw were head down. Many (most) of this Genera tend to be grayish or gray/brown. All of the male species seen in the field that day were black or very dark to the eye. The females were grayish/brown. There is no color enhancement in the photos.

Efferia sp. , Male

© 2010 Troy and Martha Mullens

Efferia sp. , Female

© 2010 Troy and Martha Mullens

Hope you enjoyed this little ‘Robber Fly Refresher’. Leave a comment if you liked it. What was your favorite?

Troy and Martha Mullens

The November calendar from our travels. click on the photo for a closer look at this gorgeous flower with its outstanding green foliage with slight blue tint. Also, it does not have a describable color, just a description: Magnificent.

Dwarf Fireweed
Chamerion latifolium

Photographed along a windswept ridge in a beautiful high alpine meadow. Not only was the view breathtaking, but the washed-out 4-wheel drive road added a sense of adventure. Words fail me in describing the surroundings.

Common names usually applied:
dwarf fireweed, alpine fireweed, arctic willowherb, red willow-herb

Notes from 7 different Ethnobotany books:
Leaves, rich in vitamin A and C, eaten for healthy, beautiful skin.
Flowers eaten raw as a salad.
Leaves cooked and eaten.
Flowers and leaves eaten raw with seal blubber.
Young shoots used for food.
Leaves preserved in seal oil and eaten within 48 hours with walrus blubber.
Young, tender greens, properly prepared, used as a good source of vitamin C and pro-vitamin A.

We saw several of the Dwarf Fireweed in Alaska and the Northern Yukon Territory. In previous years, we have seen it in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, and the Sierras in California. The above Fireweed photo was taken near Keno, Yukon Terr., Canada, about 185 miles south of the Arctic Circle. Here’s a photo taken near here. We talked to several of the locals and told them we were looking for wildflowers and photographic opportunities. They all saw our 4-wheel drive vehicle and told us about this 10 mile gravel and dirt mining road up above the valley. They all said “be careful”. We assured them that we were experienced off-roaders. Here’s the result.

Above Keno

U.S. and Canada Distribution Map

Lots more information on Fireweed is available in the October calendar post on Fireweed.
Click here for more information and a comparison of the two fireweeds.

Leave a comment. It doesn’t take too long, and I will know who has visited. Thanks.

Note: If you would like a digital copy suitable for printing, send me an e-mail and I will forward a high-quality .jpeg file to print. Looks best on glossy paper. Let me know your connection speed and I will compress the photo accordingly.

e-mail:

astro38@charter.net

Troy and Martha
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Halloween Pennant

It’s Halloween Night
For your viewing pleasure
the Halloween Pennant Dragonfly

Celithemis eponina

Click on the photo for a better look

Photographed at Cement Creek Pond, Meacham Airport, Ft. Worth, Texas, USA

Leave a comment if you have seen this dragonfly or if you like the photo.

Troy

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Thread-waisted Wasp – Ammophila procera

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Ammophila procera
Sleeping position
LBJ National Grasslands, NorthCentral Texas, 33° 18.468′ N, 97° 36.580′ W

It was photographed early in the morning on a cold day. Most of the insects had not started moving yet. I have photographed Solitary Bees early in the morning on flowers, in the sleeping position, usually head down, with their mandibles locked on a stem.

The ID is based on the silver thorax markings and the rust abdomen bands.
The speciman photo was compared to the specimens at “Insects of Cedar Creek”, BugGuide.net, and “Sphecid Wasps of Michigan”.

Click on the photo and then scroll up and down to see all of this handsome creature.

Ammophila procera

This wasp provisions its nest (Usually vertical or oblique burrows in sandy patches interspersed with shrubs) with sawfly or lepidopteran (notodontid) caterpillars. The adults of this family usually spend much of their time on flowers or in trees hunting caterpillars.

Leave a comment, even if you don’t admire the beauty and construction of insects.
They are fascinating creatures.

References:
INSECTS: Peterson Field Guides, Borror, Donald J., Richard E. White
Kaufman: Field Guide to Insects of North America, Eaton, Eric R., Kenn Kaufman

Internet References:
Insects of Cedar Creek
BugGuide.net
Sphecid Wasps of Michigan

Troy
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Allograpta obliqua – Hover Fly

The Common Oblique Syrphid

Success at last! I have been trying for years to photograph one of these “hover flies” on a flower or “sitting still”.

Click on the photo for a better look at this beauty.

Allograpta obliqua
Update: the flower is Verbesina encelioides.

Order DIPTERA

Family SYRPHIDAE
(Hover Flies or Flower Flies)
The flower Flies very closely resemble wasps and bees. In Europe they are more commonly called Hover Flies because of this ability to hover. Despite their appearance, they are harmless (unless you are an aphid). They are also very valuable pollinators of flowers.

Subfamily SYRPHINAE
The larvae of this Subfamily are primarily aphid predators.  Adults have bare humeri (postpronotal lobes), though these are often hidden by the concave posterior of their close fitting heads.

Explanation of Name:
Allograpta obliqua
allo is Greek for other, another, different
grapt is Greek for inscribed, painted, marked with letters, written
obliqu is Latin for oblique,

Identification:

The male obliqua has pale crescent-shaped bands on third abdominal tergite. (This one is a male). 2 other male characteristics are: eyes together and a broader abdomen (Not tapering). It has transverse yellow bands on the abdomen, and two oblique yellow marks near the tip. The larvae are smooth and green, with a broad white median strip. The breathing tubes are prominent.

Size
6-7 mm (A. obliqua)

Some patterns of the Allograpta Genus

Leave a comment if (1) you have seen a hover fly, (2) you like insects, or (3) you just like the photo.

References:

Borror, Donald J. , Richard E. White, INSECTS: Peterson Field Guides
Eaton, Eric R., Kenn Kaufman, Kaufman Field Guide to the Insects
bugguide.net/node/view/15740

Troy

Fireweed – Chamerion angustifolium

Fireweed
Chamerion angustifolium (L.) Holub ssp. angustifolium

One of the really beautiful sights that we saw while driving from Fairbanks to Deadhorse and Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean was Fireweed. One of the reasons that they are ‘first colonizers’ is due to fact that they have really deep roots that are not hurt by fires, and they are able to revegitate quickly. I was talking to a Ranger at the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and he said that any parcel of land there had a high probability of being burned at least once every 300 years due to lightning strikes. The slow regrowth of trees and shrubby vegetation gives plenty of time for the Fireweed to make thick stands producing beautiful, colorful vistas.

Our October Calendar
(Click on the Calendar for a better look at the Fireweed)

Fireweed Description:
This herb is often abundant in wet calcareous to slightly acidic soils in open fields, pastures, and particularly burned-over lands; the name Fireweed derives from the species’ abundance as a colonizer on burnt sites after forest fires. Its tendency to quickly colonize open areas with little competition, such as sites of forest fires and forest clearings, makes it a clear example of a pioneer species. Plants grow and flower as long as there is open space and plenty of light, as trees and brush grow larger the plants die out, but the seeds remain viable in the soil seed bank for many years, when a new fire or other disturbance occurs that opens up the ground to light again the seeds germinate. Some areas with heavy seed counts in the soil, after burning, can be covered with pure dense stands of this species and when in flower the landscape is turned into fields of color.

The reddish stems of this herbaceous perennial are usually simple, erect, smooth, 0.5-2.5 m (1½-8 feet) high with scattered alternate leaves. The leaves are entire, lanceolate, and pinnately veined. A relative species, Dwarf Fireweed (Epilobium latifolium), grows to 0.3-0.6 m tall.

The radially symmetrical flowers have four magenta to pink petals, 2 to 3 cm in diameter. The styles have four stigmas, which occur in symmetrical terminal racemes.

The reddish-brown linear seed capsule splits from the apex. It bears many minute brown seeds, about 300 to 400 per capsule and 80,000 per plant. The seeds have silky hairs to aid wind dispersal and are very easily spread by the wind, often becoming a weed and a dominant species on disturbed ground. Once established, the plants also spread extensively by underground roots, an individual plant eventually forming a large patch.

The leaves of Fireweed are unique in that the leaf veins are circular and do not terminate on the edges of the leaf, but form circular loops and join together inside the outer leaf margins. This feature makes the plants very easy to identify in all stages of growth. When Fireweed first emerges in early spring, it can closely resemble several highly toxic members of the lily family, however, it is easily identified by its unique leaf vein structure.

Uses:
The young shoots were often collected in the spring by Native American people and mixed with other greens. They are best when young and tender; as the plant matures the leaves become tough and somewhat bitter. The southeast Native Americans use the stems in the stage. They are peeled and eaten raw. When properly prepared soon after picking they are a good source of vitamin C and pro-vitamin A. The Dena’ina add Fireweed to their dogs’ food. Fireweed is also a medicine of the Upper Inlet Dena’ina, who treat pus-filled boils or cuts by placing a piece of the raw stem on the afflicted area. This is said to draw the pus out of the cut or boil and prevents a cut with pus in it from healing over too quickly.

The root can be roasted after scraping off the outside, but often tastes bitter. To mitigate this, the root is collected before the plant flowers and the brown thread in the middle removed.

In Alaska, candies, syrups, jellies, and even ice cream are made from Fireweed. Monofloral honey made primarily from fireweed nectar has a distinctive, spiced flavor.

In Russia, its leaves were often used as tea substitute and were even exported, known in Western Europe as Kapor tea. Fireweed leaves can undergo fermentation, much like real tea. Nowadays Fireweed tea is also occasionally consumed.

Notes from Foraging in the Pacific Northwest:
* shoots are edible raw.
* young leaves are edible raw.
* flowers are edible raw.
* flower bud clusters can be cooked as vegetable.
* stem pith can be added to soups as thickener.
* grows in open, disturbed areas in foothill, montane, alpine and subalpine regions.
* warning: may act as a laxative if eaten in quantity.

Because Fireweed can colonize disturbed sites, even following an old oil spill, it is often used to reestablish vegetation. It grows in (and is native to) a variety of temperate to arctic ecosystems. Although it is also grown as an ornamental plant, some may find it too aggressive in that context.

Fireweed is the floral emblem of Yukon.

Fireweed Distribution:
United States and Canada

Line Drawing

References:
Fieldguide to Alaskan Wildflowers, A roadside Guide: Verna E Pratt
Wikipedia (verified)
Internet, ‘Foraging in the Pacific Northwest’.

We will try to get the November calendar published earlier next month.
It features the extraordinarily beautiful Dwarf Fireweed,
photographed high in the breathtaking alpine regions of Alaska’s mountains.

Please leave a comment.

Troy and Martha

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Ft. Worth Prairie, Part_2

There has been and probably always will be confusion over the names of ‘Snow on the Mountain’ vs. ‘Snow on the Prairie’. I hope this will help clear up some of the confusion about what plants were seen on the Prairie Field trip to Bear Creek.

Consider the following quotes, information, and photos from the LBJ Wildflower Center, the USDA Database, the BRIT Book on the Wildflowers of North Central Texas, pp. 606-608, and the “Wildflowers of the Texas Hill County” by Marshall Enquist.

Euphorbia marginata Pursh
Snow on the mountain, Snow-on-the-Mountain
Euphorbiaceae (Spurge Family)
USDA Symbol: EUMA8
USDA Native Status: Native to U.S.

Grown as much for its foliage as for its flowers, snow-on-the-mountain’s small but showy leaves may be light green, variegated or entirely white. They clasp erect, many-branched stems which grow 1-3 ft. tall. Tiny flowers, each with whitish, petal-like bracts, are borne in clusters atop the stems. Calcareous uplands to stream bottoms. A native of West Texas east to a line from Bell to Cooke counties (this would bisect Tarrant county, per Troy).

Note the short, wide upper leaves on the Snow-on-the-mountain plants.

Be sure to click on the photos for enlarged views.

Photo 1 from our Prairie Trip
Snow-on-the-Mountain

Photo 2 from our Prairie Trip
Snow-on-the-Mountain
See page 90 of the Hill Country Wildflower Book
for an almost identical photo.

Photo from the LBJ Wildflower Center
Snow-on-the-Mountain

Photo from the USDA Plant Database
Snow-on-the-Mountain

Distribution in Texas for
Snow-on-the-Mountain

Note that Snow-on-the-Mountain is basically a West Texas Plant.

Again, quotes from the LBJ Wildflower Center and BRIT North Central Texas Book

Euphorbia bicolor Engelm. & Gray
Snow on the prairie, Snow-on-the-prairie
Euphorbiaceae (Spurge Family)
USDA Symbol: EUBI2
USDA Native Status: Native to U.S.

This plant grows 1–4 feet tall. Its slender upper leaves, 2–4 inches long, are green, edged with a narrow band of white. The lower leaves are alternate, grow close to the stem, and lack the white edging. They are 1–1 1/4 inches long. The numerous, inconspicuous flowers grow in terminal clusters. They are white, have no petals, and are either staminate (1 stamen) or pistillate (1 pistil). Clusters group together to form larger clusters surrounded by numerous leaflike bracts which are conspicuously white-margined, 1 1/8–2 1/8 inches long and about 1/4 inch wide. When the stem is broken it exudes a white, milky sap that is irritating to the skin of some persons.

E. bicolor (Snow on the Prairie) is often confused with a similar species, E. marginata (Snow on the Mountain) which has shorter, wider bracts.

Mainly in East Texas west to the Blackland Prairie and Grand Prairie, also in Montague Co. sw to Johnson Co., where the ranges overlap and to complicate matters, intermediates may be found.

Notice the much longer, narrow upper leaves on Snow-on-the-Prairie.

Photo from the LBJ Wildflower Center
Snow-on-the-Prairie

Photo from the USDA Plant Database
Snow-on-the-Prairie

Photographed in NE Tarrant County
by Martha Mullens ©2009
Snow-on-the-Prairie

Distribution in Texas for
Snow-on-the-Prairie

Note that Snow-on-the-Prairie is basically an East Texas Plant.

I hope this helps.

Leave a comment, Please.

Troy and Martha

Ft. Worth Prairie, Part_1

Yesterday (Oct. 10, 2009), our Cross Timbers Master Naturalist Class went on a ‘Prairie Field Trip’. The prairie was located on the 2200 acre Bear Creek Ranch in southeast Parker county, Texas.
Location – 32° 37.5′ N,  97° 37.5′ W.

Dr. Tony Burgess, Professor, TCU Environmental Science Department characterizes the local prairie here in an excerpt from his paper, The Fort Worth Prairie: An Introduction.

“In north-central Texas the boundaries between grassland, savanna, and woodland are somewhat unstable, because the local climate could support several different types of plant growth forms.  The regional landscapes have a fairly complicated patchwork of different vegetation.  In this climatic context, differences in soil texture, slope, and position within the landscape may create highly contrasting plant communities (Diggs et al. 1999, Hill 1887).  Deep, sandy soil favors post oaks and sticky clay often grows open prairies. The Fort Worth Prairie, or Grand Prairie, was described by Hill (1901) and Dyksterhuis (1946), who recognized the association between open grasslands and limestone geology. The Fort Worth Prairie is different from Midwest prairies in that its geology includes layers of hard limestone that resist weathering into deep soil. These hard strata have been exposed by erosion, forming ridgetops and cuestas separated by valleys where softer rock has worn away (Hill 1901, Diggs et al. 1999).”

Next post I will discuss the three major types of herbaceous vegetation that can be distinguished within these banded prairie landscapes and more on the Bear Creek Ranch.

Note: This post will be updated later with information on the photos, but for now, here are some of the photos.

Be sure to click on the photos for enlarged views.

Indian Grass
Sorghastrum nutans
One of the Big Three Grasses

Sorghastrum nutans ( L). Nash. Indian Grass, is a native, perennial, warm-season grass, and a major component of the tall grass vegetation which once dominated the prairies of the central and eastern United States.  Indian Grass grows 3 to 5 feet tall.  Even as a young plant, it can be distinguished from other native grass species by the “rifle-sight” ligule at the point where the leaf attaches to the stem.  The leaf blade also narrows at the point of attachment.  The seed head is a single, narrow, plume-like panicle of a golden brown color.  The seed is light and fluffy with small awns attached.  There are about 175,000 seeds per pound.

Following A Seep

Seep Muhly
Muhlenbergia reverchonii

Grass Family (Poaceae).  Seep Muhly is a native, warm season, perennial bunch grass.  The height ranges from 1 to 3 feet.  The leaf blade is narrow, 6 to 10 inches long.  The upper blades are shorter than lower ones, mostly twisting and sharp pointed.  The leaf sheath is mostly basal and longer than the internodes.  The seedhead is an open panicle about 10 inches long with branchlets 1 to 2 inches long and 1 to 8 spikelets each.  There is a short awn on the lemma of each spikelet.
Because seep muhly is tough and wiry, it is grazed mostly during the winter.  Where adapted, tt is a good conservation plant on steep highly erodible soils.

Red-eared Slider
Trachemys scripta elegans
Red-eared Slider information, Click Here !

Red Harvester Ant Bed

Closeup
Pogonomyrmex barbatus
Help Save the Texas Horned Lizard

The Texas horned lizard is a protected threatened species. It is commonly called “horny toad.”

Full-grown lizards are normally 2 1/2 to 4 1/4 inches from the snout to the tip of the tail, although some grow larger. They have broad, flattened bodies and bear a crown of spines at the back of the head. Their color varies by the background color of the habitat in which they live.

Populations of the horned lizard and the harvester ant, on which it predominantly feeds, have declined in the eastern part of Texas. There are several possible factors contributing to the decline of these species.
* Red imported fire ants are believed to eliminate harvester ants and prevent new colonies from forming by preying on mated queen harvester ants.
* Red imported fire ants may prey directly on lizards or on hatching eggs of lizards.
* Many insecticides used to control or eliminate the red imported fire ant are toxic to the harvester ant, and eliminate the harvester ant more efficiently than they eliminate fire ants. Broadcast applications of fire ant bait products should be avoided in areas where harvester ants are found.
* Horned lizards normally inhabit flat, open, dry country with little cover. Urbanization, mowing, shredding, shallow discing and other land use practices can eliminate or reduce the production of weed seeds on which harvester ants feed. Harvester ants and horned lizards, which are dependent upon this ant species, cannot survive in these disturbed habitats.

Three-Banded Grasshopper
Hadrotettix trifasciatus

According to the ‘Wyoming Agricultrial Experiment Station Bulletin 912,

“The Three-banded Grasshopper ranges widely in the grasslands of the West in the middle third of the continent. It is a common species of the shortgrass, desert, and mixedgrass prairies. It is less abundant in other prairies and is rare in grass-shrub communities of the intermountain basins. In the tallgrass prairie it occupies areas of sparse vegetation on gravelly hilltops and slopes. This particular species is not considered a serious agricultural pest.

Its feeding on good forage grasses would tend to give it pest status, but research has shown that it feeds more heavily on poor forage plants and plants poisonous to livestock (death camus, milkweeds, some milkvetches, and others). It feeds on grasses, forbs, sedges, dead and weakened insects, plant litter, and dry cattle dung. It feeds chiefly on forbs, with as many as 40 species recorded from analyses of crop contents and direct observations in nature. Examination of 152 specimens collected from several habitats near North Platte, Nebraska revealed that 75 percent of crop contents consisted of forbs, 21 percent grasses and sedge, and 4 percent arthropod parts.”

Big Blue Sage
Salvia azurea var. grandiflora

Makes a good plant for cultivation in Native Gardens.

Salvia azurea Michx. ex Lam. var. grandiflora Benth.
Pitcher sage, Big blue sage, Azure sage, Giant blue sage, Blue sage
Lamiaceae (Mint Family)
USDA Symbol: SAAZG
USDA Native Status: Native to U.S.

A tall, delicate plant with large, 2-lipped, blue flowers, whorled around the square stem and forming a terminal spike-like cluster.

A widespread perennial of the grasslands, it also extends east to the Carolinas. It begins to flower early and may continue until fall, or into early winter in Florida.

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions. Vol. 3: 129.

Iron Weed
Vernonia baldwinii

Western ironweed’s 3-5 ft. stems occur singly or in clumps, and are stout and hairy. Wide clusters of vibrant, red-violet flowers form at the ends of short branches near the top of the plant. Because the flowers are all of the disk variety, the 6 in. wide flower cluster has a fuzzy appearance. Long, lance-shaped leaves line the stems.

This plant aggressively colonizes by rhizomes once established so place accordingly if used in a Native Garden. Its bloom period lasts until frost.

We saw a lot of dried Basket Flower heads. For those asking how a Basket Flower received its name, here is a photo I made at the Ft. Worth Nature Center earlier in the year.

Basket Flower
Centaurea americana

American basket-flower is a 1 1/2-5 ft. annual with a stout, leafy, much-branched stem and lavender-pink, filamentous flower heads with cream-colored centers. The flower heads are 4-5 in. wide and are subtended by fringed bracts. The plant looks similar to the thistles but lacks their prickly characteristics

The name basket flower refers to the stiff, straw-colored bracts just beneath the flower head, which are divided at the tip into long, sharp teeth.

Leave a comment.

What’s your favorite photograph?

Troy and Martha
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All Photos:  Canon G10

References:

Dr. Tony Burgess, Professor, TCU Environmental Science Department, The Fort Worth Prairie: An Introduction.

Hatch, S.L., K.N. Gandhi, and L.E. Brown. 1990. Checklist of the vascular plants of Texas (MP-1655). Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, College Station.

USDA, NRCS. 2009. The PLANTS Database (14 September 2009). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

Sesbane or Hemp Sesbania

Synonyms:
Sesbania herbacea (Mill.) McVaugh – Sesbane
Sesbania exaltata (Raf.) Rydb. ex A.W. Hill – Hemp Sesbania
Sesbania macrocarpa Muhl. ex Raf.

Photos, range map, and a line drawing are below.
Click on the photos for closer looks

“Sesbane” is an annual herb in the Fabaceae (pea) family, openly branched, 10-12 feet tall. Also known as Bladderpod, Bigpod Sesbania, Bagpod, Sesbane, Coffee-bean, Bequilla, Colorado Riverhemp, Siene Weed, and Zacata de Agua. The genus name, Sesbania, is the latinized verson of the old Adansonian name, Sesban, which is presumably of Arabic origin. Herbacea refers to herb-like. The alternate species name, exaltata, refers to tall or lofty.

The leaves are alternate, pinnately compound, with numerous leaflets (30-70), and 5-16 inches in length.

The yellow flowers are in axillary racemes. 1-6 flowered. Stamens 10 (9 joined, 1 free<see line drawing>)

Blooms

New Leaf and bloom

The legume fruit is linear, slender, somewhat curved, 6-12 inches long, 1/6 inch wide. 30-40 seed per fruit. July-October.

Legume seed pods

It is found in damp soils and disturbed areas from East-SE Texas to the West Cross Timbers and Edwards Plateau. Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Grayson, Kaufman, and Tarrant counties.

Many authors place this plant in the shrub category. The old dead stems are persistant with dry remenants of the legumes. Native Americans used the fibers to make a fine strong thread for fishing lines and nets. (I’ll have to try that). When growing in the water, the submerged portion of the stem develops a thickened spongy aerenchyma (an airy tissue found in roots of plants, which allows exchange of gases between the shoot and the root. It contains large air-filled cavities, which provide a low-resistance internal pathway for the exchange of gases such as oxygen and ethylene between the plant parts above the water and the submerged tissues). Click here for a Wikipedia discussion of arenchyma (really interesting, really!).

The seeds are known to be eaten by some birds including quail. However, the seeds and leaves are considered to be poisonous by many authors.

Compare the current photo above to an earlier photo below posted at our other site, Texas Travelers, back in August during the drought.

The drought is over but Mother Nature has played a harsh trick on the best-laid plans of men. Much of the boardwalk area for viewing fish, turtles and lily pads is now surrounded by this fast-growing Sesbane. Such is Nature.

Line drawing of sesbania herbaces
Note the 10 stamens on the bottom right, 9 joined, 1 free.
What’s up with that? Very cool !
Note: I colored the flowers yellow
and the bean green for easy identification

U.S. Distribution

References:

USDA, NRCS. 2009. The PLANTS Database (14 September 2009). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Native Plant Database.

Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines of the Southwest. Robert A. Vines. pp 546-547. A Guide for the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.

Line drawing reference:

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions. Vol. 2: 376.

Please leave a comment and let us know what invasive or exotic plant is bugging you.

Troy

Fall Gallups In

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When Martha made this photo
I said it looked like Giraffe legs.

She replied…..

Whose knees are these
With their heads out of sight
Above the trees

Click on the calendar
and scroll around,
Maybe you can find the Giraffe.

Photo and verse by Martha
Calendar by Troy

If you like the calendar and/or photo, leave a comment.

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