One Hundred Species is Back!

NEARLY WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Although the weather lately is acting like the Monsoon a month early,

the ubiquitous "they" say that there is

not enough moisture in the atmosphere for it.

Instead, we have an "entrenched depression pattern." Whatever "it" is, we have been getting rain nearly every day for the past week, and we are expected to get seven more days of it.

This is unusual, but we'll take it!
With the flowers blooming and the plants loving it, it's time again for the One Hundred Species Challenge.


30. Oenothera missouriensis: Missouri Evening Primrose.
This showy flower is not a primrose, and it opens in the morning, fading in the hot New Mexico afternoons. It is growing among:

31: Stipa tennuissima: Thread grass.

And here is another false primrose:

31: Oenothera albicaulus: Prairie Evening Primrose. On the blooms in silhouette, you can see the very inferior ovary (way below the calyx) these plants have. This one does seem to open in the evening, after the heat of the day.

Last, we have a non-native ornamental, growing in front of the native Opuntia (Cholla), that was counted last summer on Ragamuffin studies.

32: Aloe aristatus: One of approximately 500 different aloes, this one hales from somewhere in the Pacific regions.








If I am ever going to identify up to 100, I think I need to look at animals as well!