Above, you can see a Pearl Crescent butterfly probing a disk flower of White Prairie Aster with its proboscis. The flowers are about an inch in diameter and the butterfly is slightly larger. It was a breezy day as I watched these small creatures struggle to hang on while they fed. Something marvelous that you don’t see everyday.

Pearl Crescents prefer open grassland habitats and can be found throughout southern Canada, and the Plains, Midwestern and Eastern Seaboard States of the U.S. They prefer to feed on aster wildflowers. In this image, you can see the lighter, checkered underside of their wings. This is also a defining character of these members of the Nymphalidae (Brushfoot butterflies)

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Euptoieta claudia, the Variegated Fritillary, is a medium sized butterfly with muted orange and black markings. This specimen is feeding on White Prairie Aster blooms which is a challenge considering their relative sizes.

Variegated Fritillaries belong the the brushfoot butterfly family, Nymphalidae. This species ranges over most of the U. S. and Canada feeding on a wide variety of wildflowers and grassland plants. They are found as far south as Argentina in South America but apparently not in the Pacific Northwest of the U. S. Notice the cream colored band on the underside of the wing. This is an identifying characteristic of this species.

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This member of the Primrose family (Onagraceae) is now known as Scarlet Beeblossom (Oenothera suffrutescens) but used to be called Scarlet Gaura (Gaura coccinea). Also, White Gaura (Gaura lindheimeri) is now called Oenothera lindheimeri and has a new common name: Lindheimer’s Beeblossom. I relate all this because anyone using old field guides will struggle with identifying these plants because of the reclassification.

The plant pictured is most likely O. suffrutescens. However, be warned that white and scarlet gaura look basically the same, their flowers go through the same stages and their ranges overlap in Texas. White gaura is found in Texas and Lousiana while scarlet gaura goes all over the central US and into Canada. The reddish brown anthers on the tips of the 8 stamens indicates that the pictured plant is the scarlet gaura or Scarlet Beeblossom. If you had yellow anthers, you might have Lindheimer’ beeblossom. I invite you to visit NPIN and USDA websites to see their photos.

The flowers of these plants are short lived and their petals begin as white on the first day, pink on the second, and wither to scarlet on the third. So whatever color bloom you see, check the anthers; if they are reddish brown, you might have Scarlet Beeblossom.

These plants are found in grasslands or open woodlands and are often disguised by tall grasses or other wildflowers. They are perennial so you can return and see them at the same location each year if you’re so inclined.

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This perennial member of the Asteraceae or sunflower and daisy family is an odd looking plant because it looks like a white daisy on steroids. Silphium albiflorum has large 2-3 inch diameter flowers and can be as tall as 40 inches. Their leaves can reach 12 inches in length and are deeply lobed making them appear pinnately compound. The robust stems and the surfaces of the leaves are rough and covered in sticky hair. They bloom from late spring to mid-summer in central Texas grasslands where they are found in calcareous, sandy or gravelly soils.

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These plants are Cooperia drummondii in the family Liliaceae.
They are called rain lilies because they appear after an extended rain. These pictures were taken on an overcast days at 6pm one evening in early September and 11am the next morning. The blooms last for only 4 days before withering to a pinkish color, like the right-most bloom in the pictures. These were found in a large grassy area under large oak and Pecan trees. This species produces flower stalks about 12 inches long from underground bulbs. After flowering, they produce grasslike gray green leaves and become practically invisible in a short grass environment like the one pictured here. I was suprised to find these popping up all over the grassy parkland which was regularly mowed. An interesting life-cycle, and arid adaptations.

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