Tag Archives: western ironweed (Verbesina baldwinii)

The slowly opened

A song whispers on cool air with the perfume of a thousand blossoms.  Lavender and gold and crimson and white intertwine with a rainbow infinitely diverse.  They paint meadow and field in the colors of spring.

A spotted cucumber beetle (Diabrotica undecimpunctata) perched on the edge of rough gumweed (Grindelia scabra) (20080921_12634)

Each petal reaches, each rising star shines grand and new.  These bright lives climb from realms I have never traveled but which are known to me.  And they seek the sky with faces upturned.

A black and gold bumble bee (Bombus auricomus) licking tiny droplets of dew from the blossom of purple bindweed (a.k.a. cotton morning glory; Ipomoea trichocarpa) (20080921_12798)

Just as the slowly opened rise from earthen slumber, so too does an army of faithful who find in the coming warmth a dance that steps only to the music of flowers.

Syrphid flies (a.k.a. hover flies; Toxomerus marginatus) mating atop a common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) (2009_03_08_012853)

It is a love story, this song, one of powerful longings and intimate embraces.  It likewise is a chorus of endings, an operatic aria that each voice must sing only in its season.

A western honey bee (a.k.a. European honey bee; Apis mellifera) on white clover (Trifolium repens) (2009_03_21_013732)

The kaleidoscope of winter’s gray falls before the advance of these voices now filling the heavens, and russet is washed away by waves of verdant song.

A Gulf fritillary (a.k.a. passion butterfly; Agraulis vanillae) with its tongue out as it flies toward western ironweed (a.k.a. Baldwin’s ironweed; Verbesina baldwinii) (2009_07_09_026290)

With each new voice, a cacophony of dancers shakes the ground with spirited waltzes and lively tangos, for every singer demands a select audience, a diverse group of listeners who perform at the behest of their favorite soloist.

A Gulf fritillary (a.k.a. passion butterfly; Agraulis vanillae) feeding on western ironweed (a.k.a. Baldwin’s ironweed; Verbesina baldwinii) (2009_07_09_026298)

I find the silence of this song deafening, the loudest music I will never hear.

A large milkweed bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus) resting atop green antelopehorn (a.k.a. green milkweed, spider milkweed or antelope-horn milkweed; Asclepias viridis) (20080921_12670)

For now comes the time of the slowly opened and those who must needs be with them.  In all my years I have never tired of this presentation.  And in all my years, I watch for their voices and listen for the dance it portends.

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Photos (all from White Rock Lake):

[1] A spotted cucumber beetle (Diabrotica undecimpunctata) on an unidentified bloom.  The compound flower remains a mystery to me.  But I’m not the only Texan wondering what this plant is (e.g., here).  Introduced?  So easy to identify that it’s left out of all the guides we have access to?  It’s a unique plant and a unique blossom, so it’s not like I’m mistaking it for something else.  Well, I’ve said before that flowers vex me more than any other kind of life.  Hence this one goes on the diabolical challenge pile for later identification.  (And it’s probably something so evident and so common that I’ll kick myself for not recognizing it.)  [Update: I have since identified the flower as rough gumweed (Grindelia scabra).]

[2] A black and gold bumble bee (Bombus auricomus) licking dew from the blossom of purple bindweed (a.k.a. cotton morning glory; Ipomoea trichocarpa).  I’d watched the bee flit from bloom to bloom where it slipped inside for a sip of nectar and a spot of pollen.  It then paused on this flower for a few minutes.  Only when I approached did I realize it was licking tiny droplets of dew from the flower.

[3] Syrphid flies (a.k.a. hover flies; Toxomerus marginatus) mating atop a common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale).

[4] Western honey bee (a.k.a. European honey bee; Apis mellifera) visiting white clover (Trifolium repens).

[5] Gulf fritillary (a.k.a. passion butterfly; Agraulis vanillae) with its tongue hanging out as it approaches western ironweed (a.k.a. Baldwin’s ironweed; Verbesina baldwinii).

[6] The same Gulf fritillary (a.k.a. passion butterfly; Agraulis vanillae) feeding hungrily after landing on the western ironweed (a.k.a. Baldwin’s ironweed; Verbesina baldwinii).

[7] A large milkweed bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus) standing atop green antelopehorn (a.k.a. green milkweed, spider milkweed or antelope-horn milkweed; Asclepias viridis).

petals sing in shadows deep

Mexican hat (Ratibida columnaris) (2009_06_07_022705)

stealthily the little one walks upon frail gestures of earth and cold;
a flower too bright to see and too dark to remain unnoticed,
whose enormous curve of tiny flesh takes on forms perfumed
with scents found hardly in the doorways of youth

Crimsoneyed rosemallow (a.k.a. swamp-rose mallow or rose mallow; Hibiscus moscheutos) (2009_06_21_024659)

I, the fracas of an accused moon laden with lonely nights,
hear none of the cloaked visions wafting on fragranced air

Western ironweed (a.k.a. Baldwin's ironweed; Verbesina baldwinii) (2009_07_09_026280)

instead, and only because we see not in light,
him alone bequeaths a new and immense swoon
too silver to feel
and too heavy to see

Scarlet hibiscus (a.k.a. Texas star, scarlet rose mallow or summer poinsettia; Hibiscus coccineus) (2009_07_25_027810)

along the wrath of blossoms we walk
and amongst the petals who so quickly wish,
in the windows of old age,
to be more than toward us

Crimsoneyed rosemallow (a.k.a. swamp-rose mallow or rose mallow; Hibiscus moscheutos) (2009_07_25_027600)

exactly have I the answer to his question
which I have not heard

Evening rainlily (a.k.a. evening-star rain-lily or Drummond rain-lily; Cooperia drummondii [sometimes Zephyranthes drummondii]) (2009_07_26_028063)

and a frail flower walking in its silent death beseeches

— — — — — — — — — —

Photos:

[1] Mexican hat (Ratibida columnaris)

[2] Crimsoneyed rosemallow (a.k.a. swamp-rose mallow or rose mallow; Hibiscus moscheutos)

[3] Western ironweed (a.k.a. Baldwin’s ironweed; Verbesina baldwinii)

[4] Scarlet hibiscus (a.k.a. Texas star, scarlet rose mallow or summer poinsettia; Hibiscus coccineus)

[5] Crimsoneyed rosemallow (a.k.a. swamp-rose mallow or rose mallow; Hibiscus moscheutos)

[6] Evening rainlily (a.k.a. evening-star rain-lily or Drummond rain-lily; Cooperia drummondii [sometimes Zephyranthes drummondii])

[text originally posted as a song of adolescent ivory; reposted because it needed flowers]