Strange and Unusual Part 2

Today I'll feature a few more strange and unusual plants you can find in the Edwards Plateau Area. The first two plants below are both members in the Milkweed family and have similarities especially in their strange seed pods.  Milkweeds are the main food source for Monarch butterfly caterpillars. You can see a photo of the Monarch caterpillars feeding on Antelope Horns on April 26th post.  Milkweed plants produce alkaloids and other toxic chemicals that get eaten and stored in the caterpillars which in turn make the caterpillars and adult Monarch butterflies poisonous to potential predators.  A really strange growth habit of antelope horns is the way the seed pod forms.  Many flowers make up a ball shaped bundle at the end of each stem, but few of  these flowers mature into the large horn-shaped seed pod that curves as it grows and dries out to look like the antelope horns it's named after.  When the pod dries completely it opens and releases seeds attached to downy plumes that can be carried off by the wind

Antelope Horns, Spider Milkweed

Pearl Milkweed Vine, Netted Milkvine (named for the netted pattern on the flowers)  Notice the shiny pearl-like button 

in the center of each flower.  It is formed from fused stamen and pistil parts.

Seed pod of Pearl Milkweed Vine

Pearl Milkweed Vine

Heller's Marbleseed flowers

Heller's Marbleseed with white seeds

Heller's Marbleseed (above two photos) is a rare and unusual plant.  The flowers never open all the way, and the seeds look like tiny white marbles.  This plant is endemic to Texas, meaning it is found growing only in Texas, in fact only in three counties of Texas and Travis is one of them.  There are quite a few native plants of the Edwards plateau because of it's unique geology of plateau interspersed with canyons. and also because of it's location between major eastern and western regions of plant life.  Although this plant is rare and endemic to Texas it can be plentiful where it is found.

Oak Dodder, Tree Dodder

Oak Dodder is a parasitic flowering plant that grows on several native trees, including Plateau Live Oak, Ashe Juniper (Cedar) and Prairie Flameleaf Sumac. It is classified as a rare plant and seems to be uncommon in our area (the two don't always go together).  I don't see it growing every year, and haven't seen it yet this year.  I saw it two years ago when we had much more spring and summer rain.  This plant grows from seeds in the ground, then grows vines and tendrils up into trees and pierces their stems to obtain water and nutrients. The original connection to the ground dies off and only the vines in the trees remain.  Much more common Dodder species, that are much smaller and more delicate grows on herbaceous (not woody as in trees or shrubs) plants in our area and one was included in the April 9th post.. There it is growing on bluebonnets.