On a photo safari in the spring of 2019, I had the opportunity to see a close relative of the Fringed Puccoon. Lithospermum caroliniense, the Carolina Puccoon is found growing in sandy soils of grassland or open woodland in many parts of Texas. You can learn more about them, here and here.

Anytime I see a narrow leaved wildflower with yellow tubular flowers, I tend to think of the Fringed Puccoon. The plant pictured here had the fuzzy, narrow, stalkless leaves like the Fringed Puccoon but the fringes of the five flower petals and the length of the tubular flowers were wrong for that species. Lots of things can account for flower malformations like poor growing conditions, insect damage, and genetic mutation. This time it was the delight of seeing a species unknown to me. (This is akin to the elation you feel when you hunted and found easter eggs. At my age, I am continually reminded that I haven’t seen it all, just barely scratched the surface. Hurray!)

Here you can see the fuzzy surfaces of the sepals and the leaves as well as the long tube of a flower past its prime. Close inspection will also reveal unopened flower buds which means that these guys flower progressively which prolongs the beauty of the plant during the spring.

The puccoons belong to the forget-me-not family (Boraginaceae) and their genus name means stone seed. If you visit inaturalist.org, you can see many good pictures of the Carolina Puccoon. Beauty is where you find it, get out and look, you’ll be surprised what you find.

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I like Fringed Puccoons. They are a delight in the spring when things are perking up from their winter sleep and not much color is available for photographs. These fuzzy green plants with the ruffled yellow flowers belong to the Forget-Me-Not family Boraginaceae.

Depending on where you find them, you will see some variations in the way they look due to differences in growth conditions and possibly genetics. Notice here the long tubular flowers which terminate in petals that look like French Ruffles seen on shirts popular in the 1970’s and further back in time.

This image shows the fuzzy surface of their leaves and stems. Also, the tiny bee and the little black ant on the perimeter of an upper flower indicates that these flowers are a needed food source for many insects.

Sometimes, you will find Fringed Puccoons that aren’t as ruffled on the edges of their flowers as other examples. This is when your experience with many of these flowers pays off. You can notice the fuzzy surfaced leaves, clustering of the flowers near the top of the stem, and the five petals on the tubular flowers with some wrinkles on their edges. Also notice on the lower flower, the end of the pistil coming out of the center. Compare this to other images in this post and see if you can find any more like that.

Here is another individual that illustrates the arrangement of the flowers in Lithospermum incisum.

This specimen has a more open arrangement of its flowers, but still has the typical characters of Fringed Puccoon.

I have found this species in grassland environments in the Fort Worth area, and in West Texas where these were photographed.

Sometimes, you are treated to a situation where the light is right, the subject is gorgeous and a click of the shutter captures a moment of beauty.

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