Dec 29, possibly my last hike of the year? If so it was a good day to go out. Temps in the upper 40’s had melted most of the snow from the big winter storm that hit just before Christmas. I was expecting that the soggy conditions and warmer temps would combine to perk up the Lichens along the Tolleston Dunes trail. I maintain that if you want to see the true colors of nature, vibrant and vivid, there is no better weather than when it is overcast and damp outside.
There’s lots of white, cottony bits of fluff floating around the park these days. All those seeds being carried by the wind.
This specimen beautifully illustrates both halves of the flowering cycle. On the left side the pods are still intact, a couple weeks ago all of these plants looked like the left half of this one. The right half shows the pods bursting open and releasing the seeds. On this visit more than half of the plants had already shed their seeds.
I love the delicate structure of Dandelions. This one has a nearly perfect oval symmetry.