Took an 'unauthorized' special tour of kickapoo caverns today in west central Texas. Saw some neat plants. Can anoyone id them. I first thought the parastite was a juniper witches broom - looks like its some kind of mistle toe. I've never seen one on that species before. The oaks were tiny and had tiny little leaves.
Pics 4 and 6 remind me more of Ilex than Quercus, of course, if you saw acorns on all of them then I'd be wrong....
Was thinking Phoradendron juniperinum for the mistletoe, but it doesn't match google pics of that. Pics 3, 4, 6 are all oaks, not sure what species though. PS what is/are "Kickapoo Caverns"??
kickapoo caverns is a state natural area (a state natural area is basically an undeveloped state park) "Kickapoo" refers to a native American tribe that lived in the area - "caverns" is a reference to the many caves on the property - every evening thousands of bats pour out of the caves. Until this year the park has only been open for these bat watching tours. It's still not technically open for hiking yet, except by special arrangment - It's probbaly the only sizeable piece of public land in texas (6400 acres) where you can find pinus remota. The rest are on private land. BTW the park manager who caught me told me that this was the first year the pinyons produced a decent amount of viable seed in the past 8.
anyone have any ideas on the thorny berry plant? Those are some serious thorns. The plant was pretty common. any Texas /oklahoma / mexico people seen a mistletoe on an ashe juniper before? I've seen thousands of these trees and never noticed one before. I'm confident the oaks are in fact oaks and not ilex. I got acorns (some tiny) from many. I wonder if the small leaf charactertics will be genetic or environmental. In other words, will they look more like our oak trees here when they get more moisture and more fertile soil.
The leaf size in the oaks will be largey genetic, but probably not entirely - they might produce slightly larger leaves in cultivation in a moist climate, but nothing like as large as your local native species (assuming your native species are ones like Q. shumardii). Sorry, no idea on the thorny berry plant.
The park manager mentioned that some bug had been getting into the pinyon cones the past several years. I did get a picture of a pretty serious looking beetle, maybe he's the culprit. Those antennae must be 5 inches or more across! Ever seen one like this?
That's a longhorn beetle (Cerambycidae) of some sort. I'd doubt that's what's attacking the cones, it'll be after larger 'prey' such as whole dead trees. The Pinus remota cones I collected were also beetle-infested, probably a Scolytidae species; I deep froze them all for disinfestation. Larvae about 5 or 6 mm long. I wouldn't be surprised if that's the one the manager was referring to.
Did the ranger feed you any Kickapoo Joy Juice, by chance? Is this where they make it? Which plant or beetle is it made from? That would have certainly Capped what must have been a great excursion. gb
Never heard of kickapoo joy juice sorry. There are some native plants that were used as hallucinogens by native people. The Texas mountain laurel (sophora secundiflora is the botanical name I think) - produces hard red seeds which can be used to make a hallucinogenic tonic. I've heard it is very dangerous however, sometimes it just kills you. It's also called "mescal bean" That's a real common tree around here - I have a large one in my yard. I've heard the datura plant can give you a buzz. And I wouldn't be surprised if some magic mushrooms could be found in central texas......
Oof! Datura? That's more likely to kill you than anything else... Check out the Ethnobotanicals thread for the peak in scariness.
My Oh My! Am I the only one that used to enjoy Li'l Abner & the great American Al Capp? I though my reference would spark some nostalgia in older contributors. Another sad example of my wit & humour gone wrong. Don't mess with Datura (or magic mushrooms as far as I am concerned). gb
