Ruellia humilis

Ruellia humilis, at the same roadside prairie remnant in Benton County as the leadplant in the previous post.  Picture taken July 20, 2012.

Link to Ruellia humilis:

Link to Ruellia humilis:

Leadplant

Leadplant (Amorpha canescens).  Only remnants remain of the vast prairie that stretched westward into Illinois.  This leadplant persists with other prairie vegetation along a narrow strip of land in Benton County between US Highway 52 and the railroad tracks parallel to it.  This spot is somewhere west of Otterbein. Picture taken July 20, 2012.

Link to Amorpha canescens:

Link to Amorpha canescens:

Link to Amorpha canescens:

Blue Vervain

Blue vervain (Verbena hastata) grows at the edge of the north wetland at Celery Bog Park.  The standing water has receded from the edge of the wetland due to the dry season but the soil here is still moist.

Pictures taken July 15, 2012.

Link to Verbena hastata:

Link to Verbena hastata:

Tulip tree response to drought

As the summer goes on with much less rain than normal, the tulip trees lose many of their leaves.  This tulip tree on the Purdue campus has lost most of its leaves, which lie dead and brown scattered on the ground under the tree.  The leaves that are left on the tree are new leaves at the ends of the twigs.

Picture taken July 10, 2012.

Link to another post on Liriodendron tulipifera:

Purple loosestrife

Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) makes an appearance in a ditch just south of the McAllister Park golf course in Lafayette.  This is in the flood plain of the Wabash River, so it is at risk to spread elsewhere in the river system.  Or maybe it's in other places along the Wabash already.  This is the first time I've seen it here or anywhere close to the Wabash River.

Link to Lythrum salicaria:

Link to Lythrum salicaria:

A closer look at the Lythrum salicaria, with bumblebees.(Bombus).

Link to bumblebees:

Another surprise here, Desmanthus illinoensis, also in the ditch near the purple loosestrife.  This is a native prairie plant but not one I'd expect at this formerly heavily ecologically degraded site.

Link to previous post on Desmanthus illinoensis:

All pictures taken July 8, 2012.

Coot Slough in a drought season

The standing water has disappeared at the south end of the slough at Celery Bog Park.  This is a view looking north from Lindberg Road.  You can still see some standing water off in the distance.  A thick growth of smartweed has emerged at the edge of the slough.  Without standing water this is ideal habitat for this kind of smartweed which quickly takes over the new land, still with plenty of water in the rich mucky soil.  This picture was taken July 8, 2012.

Not sure what kind of smartweed it is, it could be this kind:, here is a link:

Here is a view of the slough looking north from Lindberg Road, June 30, 2012.

Link to a previous post to a view of the slough Oct. 25, 2010:

Link to a previous post to a view of the slough July 26, 2009:

Verbena bracteata

Verbena bracteata, along the Wabash Heritage Trail, on the Lafayette side, between the pedestrian bridge and the power substation.  You see Verbena bracteata often at the edge of roads and sidewalks, spreading out over the pavement.  Picture taken July 8, 2012.

Link to Verbena bracteata:

Link to Verbena bracteata: 

Link to Verbena:

Link to another kind of Vervain:

Link to another kind of Vervain: