A Friday at Crownridge Canyon Natural Area

Friday, April 19, 2013

Crownridge Canyon Natural Area, Red Oak Loop Trail

Today's photos:

One of the primary reasons for beginning the While on a Walk blog following my retirement was to have a way to keep myself physically active. I have no intention of abandoning the blog, but increasingly, my walks are becoming a second time around a trail I have walked previously the same day either as a class activity or as a docent leading a tour.

Today I walked the Red Oak Loop Trail at Crownridge Canyon Natural Area in the afternoon after spending the morning along the trail learning about the various grasses growing in this natural area.

• The first photo is a close up of a Pink Mimosa.
• The second photo is a Pincushion Daisy flower. These flowers are close cousins of the Firewheel. The Pincushion Daisy typically has few, or totally lacks, ray flowers around the outer margin, so it looks as if something pulled or ate all the outer "petals" off of a Firewheel.
• The third photo is a Sleepy Orange butterfly.
• The fourth photo is the flower head on a Texas Yellow Buckeye.
• The fifth photo is Sensitive Briar flowers. Note there is a Spotted Cucumber Beetle on the stalk just below the flower on the left.
• The sixth photo is a cluster of Blackfoot Daisies.
• The seventh photo is a flower cluster on a Wafer Ash. Note the ovaries of these three flowers are just beginning to mature and are beginning to take on the characteristic "wafer" appearance.
• The eighth and ninth photos are a Spiderwort in the genus Tradescantia. There are several species of Tradescantia that grow in this area. I'm not certain which one this is, but I think it is the Giant Spiderwort.
• The tenth and eleventh photos are flower buds on Prickly Pear cactus (genus Opuntia).
• The twelfth photo is an overview looking down the canyon. The Live Oak tree in the center of the photo is typical of the beautiful trees in the Crownridge Canyon NA.
• The thirteenth through the seventeenth photos are Rosettegrass (Dicanthelium acuminatum). There are several varieties of Rosettegrass that grow in Bexar County including Dicanthelium acuminatum var. lindheimeri, but I'd be getting in way over my head if I tried to identify the variety shown in these photos.
• The eighteenth photo is a Juniper Hairstreak butterfly on Catclaw Acacia.
• The nineteenth photo is a close up of the claw shaped prickles from which the Catclaw Acacia gets its name.