About the Center
What glories August rains bring
When late summer rains come to the sanddune region, a "fifth season" occurs - a second spring full of glorious wildflowers. (See related essay.)
Click on each image to see a larger version; use your browser's "Back" button to return to this page.
One of the major symbols (or icons) of rain in West Texas are toads. Toads stay underground until it rains, then emerge and hop (up to 2 miles) to where water collects. There, thousands of toads sing for two nights, mating, and producing millions of eggs. This plains spadefoot was seeking grassland termites that make mud tubes on dead plant material. [Photograph by Mary Anne Dingus]
Much of the southern sanddune region from Crane to Jal New Mexico is oilfield country. The striking bright pink swath is a daisy called Rayed Palafox. Sunflowers, white annual buckwheat, and white heliotrope add more color to the scene.
Notice how the newest palafox blooms are dark pink, and how they slowly fade to almost white.
Where ever sandy soil is present, the silver shrub known as sandsage is found - and it provides a perfect backdrop to the palafox.
White heliotrope is only found in deep sandy soil, just like the rayed palafox.
The white heliotrope is often found in the sand dunes that are active and moving. Its short lifespan (only two to three months) allows it to grow in such conditions. In the background the 4-6 foot tall giant dropseed grass holds the sand of the dune crest in place.
White heliotrope in closeup shows the flowers to be similar to garden phlox.
In between the dunes, in soil with more organic content, the yellow lemoncillo is found. This plant smells and tastes exactly like lemon. Surrounding this lemoncillo were hundreds of heliotrope plants, and the air smelled like a high-dollar perfume (other species of heliotrope are used in perfume.)
Folks that collect plants to use as flavoring, tea, and medicine are known as wildcrafters. In this photo, the tiny yellow blossom is Navaho Tea. Used alone, it is a tasty tea, but added to lemoncillo, the tea is absolutely delightful.
The yellow daisy with the heliotrope in this scene is camphor daisy - and its crushed leaves can be used to induce the clearing of the sinuses.
The sanddunes are also home to sand sunflower, a species adapted to the high reflected light of the dunes. The leaves turn to be perpendicular to the sun, so less transpiration occurs.
Sometimes the dunes are completely covered with sand sunflower.
Even in the open dunes sunflower often can survive the shifting sands.
Notice how few leaves this 7 foot tall sunflower has - and unlike the regular sunflower, the species often have spreading branches (with a 5-6 foot spread.)
The names of both heliotrope and sunflower (whose latin genus name is helianthus) refer to the sun.
The yellow flower with the heliotrope in this picture is known as sundrops, and is a member of the evening primrose family. Unlike most of the evening primrose, this species remains in bloom all day, instead of just the evening.
Most species of sundrops are perennial and have a compact form with many stems coming out of the ground, but the species in the dunes is annual and more upright, and often just has one stem that then branches to form a small bush.
Sundrops, heliotrope, and giant dropseed often form the fall wildflower gardens south of Interstate 20.
North of I-20 (and north of Kermit) Big Bluestem becomes the more common large grass in the sanddunes. Its leaves are bluish during its growing period, but turn a beautiful orange all winter long (which indicates the plant is full of plant sugars.)
During the late 1930s and until the late 1950s many oil companies built "camps" in the oilfields for the workers developing the wells. In 2006, all that remains are the old dead Siberian elms. The large plant beyond the silver sandsage is a species of jimsonweed that was brought (as an ornamental flower) to the location by the people that lived in the camp. In the foreground is camphor daisy.
Sprinkled through out the dune region is the intricate flower known as buena mujer. It has leaves that stick to clothing (like velcro!). The name means good woman – and was so named because they stick to a man "like a good woman should."
North of Interstate 20 the spectacular long-flowered gilia (or blue trumpets) occurs sporadically - adding a surprising touch of blue to the landscape. Sometimes the species has flowers so pale they seem almost white, and the further north a person goes in the sanddunes, the paler the flowers become.
A close up of "blue trumpets." This name is not found in wildflower books of the region - but after Burr Williams heard a resident of Kermit use the name, he began using it.
The bright yellow shrub, known as jimmyweed by oldtimers and goldenrod by modern ranchers, is toxic to cattle, and is usually found in soils with a high pH, but it sometimes is found in the dunes south of Interstate 20. The grass is Arizona cottontop, which is not particular to habitat.
Beyond the jimmyweed and cottontop is a band of shinoak and even a mesquite tree on dunes that have been vegetated a long time.
Annual buckwheat rarely occurs in such masses. This dune was also south of Interstate 20 in a region of vegetated dunes. Camphor daisy is in the foreground.
Flower arrangers of west Texas often use the striking form of annual buckwheat in their arrangements. Behind the buckwheat is the brown leaves of a shinoak branch broken by a grazing cow.
Near the edge of the dune region, other species of wildflowers begin to appear, like this white sleepy daisy. Notice the mud tubes of the grassland termite encasing last year's stems of the daisy.
When a person sees the white shrub mariola and the dark green shrub greasewood, they have left the sanddune region. The mariola is also a very sweet-smelling flower.