Texas Anemone Grand Slam
At long last, I've accomplished the Texas Anemone Grand Slam. I finally got a chance to see Anemone edwardsiana in the wild--atop Lover's Leap near Junction. With this observation, I have seen all five (or six) species--and all within one week. At Lover's Leap, A. edwardsiana is sympatric with A. okennonii and A. berlandieri (all three of which were suffering greatly from the dry conditions here). This is the only location I know of where three species occur sympatrically. On the way back home, we stopped at O. H. Ivie Reservoir (Riverside WMA) and found A. okennonii and A. berlandieri in abundance and doing well (more rainfall here). Nowhere else have I seen A. okennonii in such abundance--there were millions of them in full bloom. The day before, I had seen A. caroliniana in Comanche Co. and the prior weekend we had seen A. tuberosa at Hueco Tanks State Park, A. okennonii near Carlsbad, NM, and the putative new species near Seymour, TX.
All five (or six) species--and all within one week! I'm the first member of the human species to have accomplished this feat (my wife missed out by not having seen A. caroliniana this year--but she has seen all the species, just not all within one week).
What an adventure for an Anemonophile!
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Congrats! A "Grand Slam" on any substantial genus in Texas is quite an accomplishment, especially for a tough-to-identify group like these.
@silversea_starsong and I are going on a quest to find Anemone edwardsiana in the Barton Creek Wilderness Park this morning, along with several other Hill Country specialties.
Awesome! Congratulations!
How exciting! Your hard work has reaped its rewards. Thanks for sharing with us. I look forward to seeing your photos.
fantastic!
Great work Russell! Lover's Leap is a great spot. I love Kimble county and the things that live there.
Wow! What a great week! We looked in Foard and Hardeman county, but didn’t see them this time. Wish we had more time to look. It starting snowing on us in our survey.
It still seems very dry in these counties.
Is the window to see them closing or will there still be time?
The ones at Lake Arrowhead State Park were blooming.
@rlseman, on the rolling plains, these anemones seem to be impacted greatly by moisture. They can emerge in January, then die back by early March even without blooming if it's really dry. In Seymour, they seem to be doing pretty well and should continue to bloom for another two weeks or so. Nothing like looking for wildflowers in a snow flurry! Thanks for keeping an eye out for them.
Well done @pfau_tarleton Glad you finally had the opportunity to see an Anemone edwardsiana in the wild.
I'm thoroughly jealous. I'm enjoying the heck out of the A. caroliniana again this year. They seemed to have disappeared last year, but apparently we got enough rain this year to have them back!
I wasn't aware of the potential new plains species and someone posted about it on Instagram so I came to deep dive Anemones and have been looking at some of your journal entries. Congrats on the Grand Slam! Hope to finally meet you and many others at the Powderhorn Bio Blitz in May.
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