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Travis county, Texas; Austin, Decker Tallgrass Prairie Bioblitz
5/21/2022
Zeltnera texensis

Common in some of the shorter grassy areas. This specimen was one of the taller ones I saw on the day, actually exhibiting a fair amount of unbranched stem basally, unlike many specimens of this species.

The technical way of differentiating Zeltneras from Centauriums is by the shape and amount of separation of the stigma lobes. These details are unfortunately difficult to photograph, especially on Zeltneras where they are typically smaller. These were taken with a 100mm macro at 1:1 and cropped 50%. I actually couldn't tell if they were in focus when taking the photographs. Many were not.

Edwards county, Texas; Indian Creek Ranch Bioblitz
5/8/2022
Argemone aurantiaca

One, or few, along main road.

Based on the orange latex, mentioned in the Flora of North Central Texas. The FNA does not mention latex color at all, and depends on various qualities of the surfaces of the leaves, stems and capsules, all of which were difficult to apply here. The leaf surfaces did not seem prickly or hispid between the veins, but they may have been minutely hispid (difficult to photograph). There were no capsules yet. The stems did seem somewhat densely prickley, but I don't know if that is distinguishing enough.

[for class example:] herb, leaves compound & opposite to alternate, margins entire, no stipules; we learned this in class as dogfennel, an Asteraceae (involucrate heads) with compound leaves that have thread-like leaflets and a distinctive smell