See detailed discussion re differences in leaves of T. cuneifolia vs. T platycarpa as shown here.
Also, I am posting my detailed description of differences in other aspects of these two species, with emphasis on trichomes.
Finally, I am also posting here my data on the comparative height of these two species.
This single plant was the target of our quest today. And finding it was extremely...EXTREMELY surprising. This plant (i.e. a stem from apparently the same underground rhizome) was first discovered in March 1984 by me. At the time, I tentatively identified it as Trillium gracile, a species of southeast Texas and eastward. The ID has been debated and the remarkable occurrence of the plant at this location is very curious (long story). I had rechecked this plant probably 15 years ago and it was still present, and now--some 35 years after its first discovery, it is still putting up a flower in a lonely attempt to propagate. (There is, and has always only been, just the one plant here.) All of us, including eminent botanist Bill Carr (4th image) and Dr. George Yatskievych (U.T. Herbarium, 5th image, kneeling to photograph the plant) were just floored that we could refind the plant.
The plant is found in a mesic shaded canyon head at a permanent spring. The plant is in moist silty loam at the base of a bluff adjacent to the springhead pool, with abundant leaf litter, under mature oak-ash-elm-juniper woodland. Aside from a wealth of recent invasives (Japanese Honeysuckle, Glossy Privet, etc.), the site includes several relictual species of very local occurrence in Travis County, including:
-- Spicebush (Lindera benzoin)
-- Cross Vine (Bignonia capreolata)
-- Bristly Greenbrier (Smilax tamnoides [= S. hispida])
-- Eastern Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)
The 6 plants we found in the area were just 7-9 cm tall. Larger leaves were 7-10 mm long. I've never seen S. campestris examples so small, so wonder if there was influence from another Sabatia species. Those strongly winged calyx tubes and leaves with rounded bases clasping do confirm this is predominantly Sabatia campestris.
Atta texana nest of a population at the eastern range limit of this species in Evangeline Parish, Louisiana. Sandy soil. Mounds of Atta texana in this population are very large/old, and a retired local resident told me that texana colonies were abundant in the area as far back as the resident could remember. This is another population of Atta texana that is thriving at the range limit, like populations that I know in northern Louisiana and northern Texas.
I believe this is the first report of Atta texana for Evangeline Parish. I post this observation to help define the range limits of Atta texana.
observation UGM201105-04
elevation 39 meter
Multiple mounds seen extending in a line in either direction. Numerous mounds in area.
Lady Beetle on the nose of a northern elephant seal