etymology – Page 2 – a curious nature

Crazy for Locoweeds! Meet the White Point-Vetch

May 24, 2024

After a longer than planned for blog break, I’m glad to be back and sharing a few pages from my nature journal. Beginning in April, the riot of wildflowers popping up everywhere has, and still keeps me scurrying about my backyard, the “back 40,” and local hiking trails just to refresh my memory about familiar plant species while searching for new discoveries. I’ve been sketching daily, learning about new-to-me plants, and growing my knowledge about favorites.

Recording first seasonal sightings, it’s interesting to compare previous years’ emergence and abundance, and wonder why timings vary. For example, last year the white-stemmed evening primrose (Oenothera albicaulis) blanketed the hillsides with white; this year those beautiful white blooms have been scarce. Last year the tall crowded flower stems of White Point-Vetch (Oxytropis sericea) were few and far between. This year an explosion of these graceful plants that belong in the pea family (Fabaceae) began blooming in April and are still going strong!

White Point-Vetch, also called white locoweed, whitepoint crazyweed, and silky crazyweed, makes a striking bouquet that glows like a bright light as it blooms along tall flower stalks 15+ inches above bare brown ground. New stems push up through multiple dried stems packed with last year’s empty seedpods. But it’s obvious this species is an aggressive re-seeder; there are so many new plants this year where last year there were none!

It’s been a spectacular show!

Enjoying researching this species, dissecting a few fresh flowers, and searching for remnant seeds in the dried pods, kept me delving deep into the bits and pieces of what defines this group of plants. This large family, which houses well over 10,000 species world-wide, includes peas, acacias, mimosas, and licorice (see the list below for more residents).

The dried stem was drawn and shaded in graphite.

But one species at a time, please! Actually the locoweeds, which fall into the genera Oxytropis (like the White Point-Vetch) and Astragalus, contain over 600 species world-wide, 21 of which grow in the U.S. Many plants in these two genera are toxic, particularly to domestic ungulates. More about the toxin and what happens when these animals ingest even small quantities, along with other interesting facts are described on my two journal pages. ……

There is so much more to learn about this important family of plants, but I’ll save that for another post.

Thanks for stopping by and have a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend!

Thanks for stopping by …… have a safe and happy Happy Memorial Day!

Perky Sue!

May 11, 2024

It’s Spring in my neighborhood, and not a day too soon!!
Along with gusty winds carrying clouds of yellow pollen come drifts of an outrageously bright yellow ‘sunflower’ named Perky Sue.

How Perky Sue got its common name is a mystery. My best guess is this herbaceous forb, native to New Mexico, has to be the Perky-est, Happiest Spring Flower, Ever!

What is your favorite native flower signaling the arrival of Spring in your world? Does its bloom cause you to smile; perhaps you break out in your happy dance?

Thanks for stopping by …… and Happy Mother’s Day to all!

Rosemary …. Next Up in my Herb Series

April 27, 2024

When trying to pin down exactly what’s so special about Herbs, a deliciously aromatic group of plants, I was stumped. Well, maybe not stumped, exactly. There are so many reasons to fall in love with Herbs, and picking one feature or even one Herb that’s especially special is nearly impossible. Best known for their culinary flavor enhancements, can you imagine pickles without Dill, pesto without Basil, salsa without Cilantro? What’s a dark chocolate circular pattie without Peppermint, or a cookie cutter man without Ginger?

Herbs excite memories, calm the mind, reduce inflammation. Does the aroma of sage conjur thoughts of Thanksgiving? Does a sprig of lavender make you sleepy? Does bold yellow turmeric soothe arthritic joints?

And many Herbs are decorative and lovely to look at, form beautiful shrubs, have gorgeous flowers.

But I keep coming back to the aroma. It’s hard to resist crushing the leaves of herbs like thyme or mint between my fingers. The essential oils released into the air and lingering on my fingers causes me to take a deep breath, inhaling the fragrance, embedding the aroma in my brain, resulting in a memory I can recall over and over again.

Herbs are Special!

The Rosemary plant (actually a mini shrub) in my yard always invites my attention, and just this week it welcomed spring by coming into full bloom!

Who remembers this?! Now I can’t get it out of my head!

Do you have a favorite Herb? Why is it special? How do you use it?
Please share! And thanks for stopping by!

Nature Sleuthing Resumes ….. Sunflowers and Fibonacci; Natural Spirals

November 26, 2023

After a well deserved rest from Inktober and from my self-imposed pressure to create something every day from a list of random prompts, I’m happy to be out again nature sleuthing. Curiosities in nature sometimes stare us in the face. But more often than not making discoveries require keen observational skills, noticing something new to you, and an ability to look for clues to a mystery with wide open eyes.

Double page post with an extra add on; all art work done with Graphgear 1000 loaded with 0.3mm 2B lead and all inked lettering done with Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pen Fineliner, 0.3mm.

It was during a hike on an unseasonably warm day that I paused to admire the dried flower heads from one of the late blooming sunflowers. Have you ever noticed how they look like another kind of sunflower? Papery textured “petals” circle a central disk where a few weeks ago it was crammed full of puffy parachute-topped seeds. After the seeds become airborne, all that’s usually left is a slicked off surface punctuated with dots arranged in spirals radiating out from the center.

Click the link below to read more ………

Late Bloomers …. Fall’s Flowery Foothills

September 26 & 27, 2023

It’s hard now to imagine how extremely hot and dry the summer was this year. Without even a spittle of rain, the 100+ degree temps for weeks effectively suppressed the usual mid-season bloomers in and around the Albuquerque foothills/East Mountains. Even invasive plants, like goathead and tumbleweed, remained dormant or failed to germinate all together. It looked like winter browns had arrived early.

Then in less than a week, a small rain followed by several long downpours flooded the parched landscape, transforming browns to greens. You’ve heard this from me in a few earlier posts, but it was magical, and a reminder about the resiliency of desert vegetation.

Here’s a few pages highlighting a handful of the Late Bloomers I recorded in only 2 days. More than 2 dozen species had sprung back to life, setting flowers at all stages of accelerated vegetative growth. The landscape seemed wide awake. If plants could talk, I imagined them laughing while excitedly chanting, “hurry, hurry, hurry!” Only their roots prevented them from dancing!

In addition to the species on these journal pages, there are many (more) composites, native grasses, shrubs and sub shrubs, small forbs from Spring and early Summer actively growing and blooming right now, and (of course) the weedy invasives are growing and blooming with wild abandon.

Random thoughts and wonderings ….. are pollinators still hanging around …… or ….. how many of today’s bloomers are self fertile …… are local birds, insects, reptiles and mammals that depend on earlier summer pollen and/or fruit and seed production stressed with this timing change/availability of food sources … will there be noticeable shifts in species composition, including plants, insects, reptiles and animals (including birds) ….. what species can and will adapt to changes, and how quickly ….. etc. The answers to these and many more questions are probably best answered in coming years, if it’s even possible to answer them at all.

Have you observed vegetation anomalies that may be influenced by changes in climate? If so, please share your observations and where these changes are taking place. Meanwhile, keep your eyes wide open.

“Closing your eyes isn’t going to change anything. Nothing’s going to disappear just because you can’t see what’s going on. ……….. Closing your eyes and plugging up your ears won’t make time stand still.” – Haruki Murakami.

published October 2, 2023