As I pointed out in "The Water's Edge," some plants have to live where their roots are always moist or even wet. Other plants can only live where their roots stay fairly dry, only getting wet for a short period of time after it rains. These are the upland plants.
Along the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River, the upland plants will generally be found high up the slope of the channel well above the riverbank. One upland plant commonly found here is Velvet-leaf Mallow.
The common name for many plants, such as Frogfruit, makes one wonder about the origin of the name. There is no mystery at all about the origin of the name for this mallow. Its leaves are as soft as a velvet blanket. When asked what the Velvet-Leaf Mallow's leaf felt like, one young elementary school student replied, "That's as soft as my softest sweatshirt."
This set of photographs was taken on the hillside at Confluence Park along the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River on Monday, October 7, 2013.
Looking at this series of photographs, one might reasonably get the impression their story is about the Bordered Patch butterfly. In fact, the Morning Glory flower is incidental and this butterfly is only a part of the story. The Bordered Patch is enjoying the nectar from the flowers of another one of the apparently insignificant, but essential ground cover plants commonly growing in South Texas.
As, with Tube-tongue, Texas Frogfruit (Phyla nodiflora) is a flowering plant easily overlooked. Frogfruit normally blooms from mid-Spring to mid-Autumn, so it is getting near the end of its flowering season. Butterflies are highly attracted to its nectar and it is the larval host plant for the Phaon Crescent butterfly. While often considered a weed in a traditional landscape, this is one of the ecologically critical ground covers in this region:
This series of photographs was taken on the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River on Monday, October 7, 2013.
The basic infrastructure of the Mission Reach is complete, but much work is ongoing along this section of the San Antonio River. SARA and Bexar County have begun retrofitting the weirs and riffles from the San Antonio River / San Pedro Creek confluence to just below the Mission Rd trailhead with kayak chutes. This project will add about two more miles to the Mission Reach Paddling Trail.
The weirs in this section of the river will remain substantially the same as they were originally constructed except for the relatively small portion that will be modified to incorporate the kayak chute. The rock riffles were damaged by the May 25th flood and are being reconstructed and configured for the paddling trail.
As I briefly mentioned in the footnote in the September 15th post, the wildlife is constantly adapting and adjusting to the ecosystem as it is being modified. In this case, the Snowy Egret, normally a very active and aggressive hunter, realized fairly quickly all it had to do was stand on the rock and wait for dinner to wash or swim across the weir:
This set of photographs was taken on the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River at the first weir downstream from the San Antonio River / San Pedro Creek confluence on Monday, October 7, 2013.
Midday Monday, the sky was the purest deep blue that I have seen here in San Antonio in a long time. The intense blue of the calm river water is a reflection of the sky. The slider turtles were out taking full advantage of the bright sun shining through the clear sky. Turtles, like most other reptiles, take advantage of the sun to help regulate their body temperature:
If we could communicate with turtles, I suspect we would learn much about life. They spend a lot of their time silently observing all that occurs around them. From the personal experience of having shared my backyard with a Red-eared Slider Turtle for twenty some odd years, I know firsthand just how observant and surprisingly intelligent these turtles are.
This set of photographs was taken on the Mission Reach at the confluence of the San Antonio River and San Pedro Creek on Monday, October 7, 2013.
The Corona de Cristo (Passiflora foetida) is an incredibly beautiful flower in the Passifloraceae (Passion-Flower) Family:
The Passion-Flower vine is a larval host for Gulf Fritillary butterflies. I know I have written about it previously, but it bears repeating: if there are no Passion-Flower vines, there will be no Gulf Fritillaries. Period.
This set of photographs was taken on the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River between the Concepcíon Park and Confluence Park trailheads on Monday, October 7, 2013.
This butterfly, flower combination may not be as poetic as Queen and Purple Mist, but these small Dainty Sulphurs appear to be the perfect butterfly to visually compliment the Spiny Aster flowers:
Numerous species of butterflies were active today (Monday, October 7, 2013) as I walked the San Antonio River Mission Reach trail between the Concepcíon Park and Confluence Park trailheads. The Dainty Sulphur were particularly attracted to the numerous Spiny Aster (Chloracantha spinosa) flowers.
The Spiny Aster looks weak and straggly. Its leaves quickly drop off as they mature leaving the spindly bare stems. Their appearance, however, is misleading. This is a very important riparian plant, perfect for an environment that periodically floods. Above ground, the leafless stems provide very little resistance to the flood water. Below ground, its extensive root and rhizome system provides excellent erosion protection. It has a very high root stability rating of 8.
The Spiny Aster isn't specifically listed as a larval host for the Dainty Sulphur, but it is likely one possible host as this butterfly has a predilection for plants in the Asteraceae Family.
Wildflowers attract all the attention, but there are numerous grass flowers that are quite stunning, especially when seen close-up. Sideoats Grama (Bouteloua curtipendula) (the State Grass of Texas) is one currently blooming:
This set of photographs was taken on the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River on Monday, September 30, 2013.
