wildflowers – a curious nature

Davis Mountain Mock Vervain – Page 3 .. The 100 Day Project (2026)

March 23, 2026

Davis Mountain Mock Vervain (Glandularia wrightii)

This page shows samples from my specimen.. Although the flowers of my specimens are a purple-blue color, I chose to create the flower petals as reddish-pink; this color is also common.

This is a photo of the two flowers I sketched for my final painting.
The specimen on the left shows the upper part of the flower, the “limb” where 5 petals flair out from the throat ringed by fine hairs. The throat leads to the lower part of the flower – the floral tube (5 fused pale green petals). . Both upper and lower petals make up the flower’s corolla. Below the floral tube are 5 red tipped green sepals (collectively called a calyx) all fused into a cup shape. The specimen on the right is a dissected flower; 2 upper petals are removed, and the floral tube has been opened to reveal the reproductive parts. On the left side are 2 of the female parts of the pistil (pale green style supporting the 2-lobed stigma of the pistil; the ovary was not exposed). Two of the four stamens (male) lie in the mid- to upper right side of the opened floral tube; look for the bright yellow anthers, each sitting atop their own filament

Here’s Another Curiosity to Ponder: I wondered why this plant has 5 petals and 5 sepals but doesn’t also have 5 stamens, which is usually the norm in so many other 5-merous plant species??? Here’s what I learned:

Davis Mountain Mock Vervain (Glandularia wrightii) exhibits a common evolutionary trait in the Vervain (Verbenaceae) family where the flower displays a 5-lobed calyx of fused sepals, and 5 5-lobed petals which fuse into a tube (the corolla). This trait, commonly described as 5-merous, curiously has a reduced the number of functional stamens to four.

This reduction is due to an evolutionary transition from a 5-stamen ancestor. According to literature, the four fertile stamens I observed in my specimens are properly arranged in two pairs (didynamous), both neatly hidden in the floral tube beneath a ring of fine hairs. Also properly so, the filaments (the stalks that support the anthers) of the stamens are fused to the inside of the tube, and not easily teased free.

So apparently, many, many, many, many, Many hundreds of years ago, plants in the Vervain family “decided” having a 5th stamen was unnecessary. “We can do just fine without it, thank you.” Thru the process of evolution, that expendable #5 was ever so slowly reduced to a tiny non-functional structure (referred to as a staminode in modern botanical lingo), or was completely and totally lost, becoming only a memory.

Believe me, this species is an energetic producer of leaves, flowers and seeds. In my experience, Davis Mountain Mock Vervain seems to explode in masses of pink and purple flowers throughout spring, summer and fall, and can last thru winters that don’t freeze. It’s easy to understand why the species has no need of a 5th fertile stamen. Once the plant becomes established, it keeps growing and flowering and spreading, often to the detriment of other desirable plants. If it wasn’t so gorgeous at the height of bloom, it might be considered a weed!

But I’m reminded of the definition of a “Weed ….. a plant out of place.” So yes, you’ll find me actively weeding actively growing Davis Mountain Mock Vervain so my other native plants have a chance at life too!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Redstem Stork’s-Bill – Page 2 .. The 100 Day Project (2026)

March 20, 2o26

Redstem Stork’s-Bill (Erodium cicutarium)

An early draft of the page with actual plant parts

Constance’s Spring Parsley – Page 1 .. The 100 Day Project (2026)

March 18, 2026

Project Introduction

For the last few years my “someday” goal has been to create a nature field guide, of sorts, highlighting my many years of observations in the East Mountains of central New Mexico. Well, my “Someday” is officially here! Coinciding with the February 22, 2026 kick-off of the 100 Day Project¹ (Project), I began by committing an hour/day to developing that field guide as my project and immediately penciled out an outline and a few thumbnail sketches of a sample page. But, after retrieving my iNaturalist lists of East Mountains sightings I’ve made from home and during countless hikes, eliminating redundancies, and totaling up the individual species, my reported observations still numbered in the many hundreds. I would be working on this Project for the next five to six years!

Interlude

When we moved to the East Mountains in the summer of 2017, we quickly fell in love with the beauty of the wide open landscapes, the grasslands and woodlands habitats, the diverse populations of wildflowers and mammals, resident and migratory birds, and the insects and reptiles. So yes, nature is plentiful; species are many.

Now Back to the Project

Not to be overwhelmed (or defeated) by the potential magnitude of my Project, I decided to:

“Divide and Conquer” by focusing on a single location …. our current subdivision and surrounding area and trails; and
Prioritize quality over quantity by creating one page over two days, keeping each work session to one hour; and
Keep the Project motivating and interesting, by adding fun facts or other research tidbit about each species.

“These guidelines seemed more realistic,” I thought, with a cautiously optimistic chance of achieving my goal of creating a nature field guide.

So with that as an introduction to my Project, here’s Page 1 to “An Illustrated Guide to the Nature of Las Leyendas Subdivision & Environs, Tijeras, East Mountains, New Mexico” — with many more pages to follow. 🤞

Constance’s Spring Parsley (Vesper constancei)

An early draft of the page with live samples of this pretty wild parsley

¹ “The 100 Day Project is a free global art project that takes place online (https://www.the100dayproject.org/). Every year, thousands of people all around the world commit to 100 days of creating, and anyone can participate. The idea is simple: choose a creative project, do it every single day for 100 days, and document and share your process online. The most recent round of the Project began February 22, 2026, but any day is a great day to begin.”