WILDFLOWERS: MEXICAN HATS AND SCARLET LEATHERFLOWERS

From the common to the rare, this year has been a banner one for Texas wildflowers. While bluebonnets and those DYFs may take center stage for photographs during the blooming season, the Mexican Hat, or Prairie Coneflower, and the uncommon Scarlet Leatherflower deserve their moment in the spotlight.

Have you noticed yellow stains on the lower legs of your pants after walking your property?  Have you also noticed a brightly colored yellow and red flower in your fields?  For many Texans, blame for the clothing coloration can be placed squarely on the shoulders of the Mexican Hat (Ratibida columnaris) and more specifically, the pollen of this hardy native.  Ranging from 1' to 4' in height, this bushy wildflower is poised for a great year due to adequate spring and summer rains. Mexican Hat derives its name from the flower itself which resembles a Mexican sombrero.  While not a preferred food item for deer or cattle, the nectar of this colorful prairie wildflower is utilized by a variety of insects. You can expect to see this plant blooming over the next couple of months. Next time it looks like someone dyed your pants yellow, you'll know the culprit.  - Keith Olenick, Plateau Senior Wildlife Biologist

Chalk it up to Texan pride, but one of my favorite things about this job and where I live is the chance to see things that can be seen nowhere else in the world, or to see things that give a hint of the tremendous potential diversity of life that can occur on well-managed land. While on a property in Kerr County recently, I happened upon a beautiful little plant that occurs in only a handful of counties in Texas and nowhere else in the world...Scarlet Leatherflower (Clematis texensis). It has a couple of more common relatives, Purple Leatherflower and Old Man's Beard, that may be familiar to you. The latter can be easily identified along fence lines all over south-central Texas when the "beards" appear in the late summer and fall. Scarlet Leatherflower is an uncommon little vine that sports fantastic, leathery-red flowers that almost seem too bulky for the delicate stems. It is typically found near streams in moist canyons and is just another one of the many beautiful plants and animals that you might find in healthy riparian or canyon woodland habitats. These are often special and sensitive habitats that may harbor species you never knew your land could support, and they deserve special attention when formulating your land management plans. - Shane Kiefer, Plateau Senior Wildlife Biologist