A number of small wonders from the lovely days in Texas with my extended family, to which I introduced our readers in an earlier post. These photos were all taken on (as you may deduce) a cool, slightly-rainy morning at the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center. Above, a flower I can’t identify; below, bluebonnets many times over. 🙂
Paul The recent small wonder purple flower is spiderwort. Even though I have dozens of them in my backyard–the original came from the LadyBJ preserve) and it looked vaguely familiar, I had to ID it by trying out an electronic aid that I’ve been wondering about. Without seeing the height of the stems and the “spidery”-looking leaves, I was clueless. For about a year I have used my phone google lens app to id plants in nature and have wondered what would happen if I took a photo of a plant on the computer screen. I did! It worked! Open your phone google app and click on the little camera–top right. It opens a screen with a shutter button. If you aim properly and click, it will come up with an id. Not absolutely foolproof, but good enough. The Cherokee suggest shmushing the spiderwort leaves and using the pulp on insect bites. I might stick with lavender oil, and just enjoy the flowers.
Thanks for inspiring me to solve the lens mystery, and for the fog seminar. Fascinating.
(so much world, so little time....) 
Paul The recent small wonder purple flower is spiderwort. Even though I have dozens of them in my backyard–the original came from the LadyBJ preserve) and it looked vaguely familiar, I had to ID it by trying out an electronic aid that I’ve been wondering about. Without seeing the height of the stems and the “spidery”-looking leaves, I was clueless. For about a year I have used my phone google lens app to id plants in nature and have wondered what would happen if I took a photo of a plant on the computer screen. I did! It worked! Open your phone google app and click on the little camera–top right. It opens a screen with a shutter button. If you aim properly and click, it will come up with an id. Not absolutely foolproof, but good enough. The Cherokee suggest shmushing the spiderwort leaves and using the pulp on insect bites. I might stick with lavender oil, and just enjoy the flowers.
Thanks for inspiring me to solve the lens mystery, and for the fog seminar. Fascinating.
Hugs, Jean
April 23, 2023 at 21:55