Thursday Thirteen #34

Oklahoma Wildflowers

1. Small Bindweed (Hedge Bells, Corn Lily, Corn Bind, Bear Bind) - These pinkish-white flowers have long stems that bind to and climb up nearby tall crops. I think they look pretty out in the fields, adding a bit of color to the wheat, but I know they're not something a farmer wants filling his field.

2. Wild Rose (Prairie Rose, Climbing Rose, Rose Blush) - The long stems of this plant are prickly, but if women are roses, then these pink flowers remind me very much of pioneer women. They're beautiful, but simply made, and you can tell by looking at them that they haven't had the luxury of care and cultivation. They grow where they are and make the best out of bad soil.

3. Queen Ann's Thistle (Musk Thistle, Plumeless Thistle, Bank Thistle) - It's a big no-no to have thistle in the fields around here. Farmers get fined if they have a certain kind that is particularly big and nasty. I don't know if it's this specific one or not, but I happen to like thistles. They're incredibly prickly, but I have just enough Scottish blood to think they're beautiful.

4. Antelope Horns (Creeping Milkweed) - The flower part of this plant are greenish clusters with little white tips. The inside of the stems are full of a thick, white, milky substance that I think looks and acts more like Elmer's Glue than milk.

5. Devil's Claw (Proboscis Flower, Ram's Horn, Unicorn Plant, Elephant's Trunk, Double Claw) - I can't say I've ever noticed the actual plant, but the big claw shaped seed pods are unmistakable. I remember these in West Texas too.

6. Purple Coneflower - I can't say I've ever really liked coneflowers. I can't describe why, I just don't. There's just something rude about them. At least the purple ones have some nice color to commend them.

7. Bluebonnet (Texas Lupine) - Ok, so these are mostly in Texas, but we have a few here, and I've always loved them. (Having been born in Texas)

8. Common Sunflower (Comb Flower, Larea Bell, Golden Bell) - These tall wild sunflowers grow everywhere. In big scrap piles, in the fields. They're very resilient.

9. Blue Morning Glory - It always makes me feel good to know that there are flowers that are early birds too. These are pretty bluish purple flowers in the shapes of trumpets (without all the keys and tubes, you know).

10. Large-flowered Tickseed - Despite the name, these are actually pretty little yellow flowers, and they will grow in rocky and dry soil where precious little else will grown.

11. Water Lily (Yellow Nelumbo, Pond Nut, Wonkapin, American Lotus) - These only grow in those dark murky lakes that give me the willies. I love the Lilies, but the lakes I've seen them growing in made me shiver. Ick.

12. Bear Grass (Soap Weed, Adam's Needle, Palmillo) - These tall thick petaled plants are very distinctive, growing along the highways and out in rocky places. They are a dessert plant, or at least look like one, and belong to the Yucca family.

13. Henbit (Dead Nettle) - Despite the unflattering names, this tiny little plant is actually one of my favorites. It grows in the yards of those of us who don't baby and fertilize our grass. They come out in the spring before the Bermuda Grass, so while everyone elses lawn is dead and boring, mine has this lovely purple flush to it, and green leaves.


These flowers were all found in the book Oklahoma Wildflowers by Doyle McCoy.

I'm in a hurry, so if there are typos and things that offend anyone's grammar sensibilities, please forgive me. I'm already late for something.