St. Andrew State Park and Environs

HDR images

Llano Estacado

Canyons that look like gentle hills when flying 35,000 feet overhead are, in fact, beautiful when seen up close while camping and hiking. These scenes are in the Llano Escatado of west Texas, April 2008.

Bob Woodruff Park…end of summer

More Spring Images

New catkins and leaves color the forest…..American Elm appears yellowish green, oaks lime green, Eastern Red Cedar dark green with tinges of orange (male plant with pollen), Mexican Plum (white) and Redbud.  Second row sunset images….

Signs of Spring

Lime green leaves emerge and more plants begin to bloom….a few images as winters dies out and spring emerges, moving about 25 – 30 miles per day from south to north (so they say)…

Park Dogs

Colorful canines dot the park and woods trails along with their owners…here are just a few images:

Late Winter Afternoon Two

No effusive commentary here…just random images I shot from the north side of Spring Creek recently.

Left to Right: reflection from Spring Creek, bark beetle tunnels, sunset, poison ivy on hackberry tree, fossil-bearing strata along the creek, raccoon tracks.

More Trout Lilies

These images of Trout Lilies (Erythronium albidum) were taken on private property from Feb. 24-Feb. 28, a undisclosed location north of Spring Creek Preserve. The rich woodland habitat for these beauties needs to be saved for future generation from development as well as invasive species located not too far from them. Alien species such as japanese honeysuckle, japanese privet, english ivy, nandina, and monkey grass threaten woodland habitat as well as native plants and animals.

Winter Afternoon Light

This time of year the late afternoon sun shines unimpeded through a leafless forest onto a vertical stream bank and backlights the current with a golden reflection …. (Canon Powershot A-80)

Trout Lilies and Ants…

University of Arkansas
Division of Agriculture

Trout lily seeds contain a structure on the outside of the seed coat called an elaiosome that

acts like catnip for various species of ants. About a third of our woodland wildflowers are

dispersed by ants.

Art Guppy, an Erythronium expert and close observer of ants, thinks that ants may not actually

get much out of the exchange when they disperse trout lily seed. He thinks the elaisome produces

a volatile pheromone that triggers something called the “dead corpse response.”

He observed that ants excitedly grab fresh trout lily seeds and carry them away. But, before they

get to their nests, they loose interest in the seed and drop it. Other ants pass by and pay it no

attention.

According to Guppy’s thinking, this chemical signal tricks the ant into moving the seed away from

the parent plant, but not to take it as far as the nest where conditions might be less favorable

for its germination and subsequent development.

By: Gerald Klingaman, retired
Extension Horticulturist – Ornamentals
Extension News – March 31, 2006