Living Off The Land by Dr. Bob Williams: The Prairie Nymph: Now you see me, now you don't

I had spotted this delightful flower last year, and before I could study the plant, it came no more. This year I was ready, and like all the other plants of this Guadalupe River bottom, the flowers are much more abundant. Not many, but more. I decided to make the plant, also known as Herbertia (Herbertia lahue), into this week’s article.

So this past weekend, Nicole and Greg Little were out doing a story on the RV park people. I asked Nicole to get a picture of the plant. We walked back to the location and no flowers were open, when, just a couple of hours before, I had walked past them in bloom. WOW! Try to explain that to a non-botanist.

Checking the wildflower book told me lots. Each single flower blooms in just one day. From further observation, I find that they open about 10 a.m. and close before 6 p.m. of the same day.

One article that I found on the Internet tells of entire fields of the plant. I can then imagine what the field might look like. Glancing out over the slope one would have a time-lapse view of a short grass prairie slowing turning from green to a bluish hue, and slowly with the setting sun, returning to green. A walk through this pasture would offer tiny half-centimeter spots of blue on the ends of thin slender but short stalks. In this hectic world, missing that event would be easy.

The Prairie Nymph is a member of the Iris family, so it can be grown much like any iris. The books say that it is easy to grow, as it makes a clump of narrow foliage 5 to 7 centimeters tall.The blue-lavender flowers are composed of three large oblong petals surrounding a white eye. The plant looks to me like an airplane propeller blade on the end of a long staff.

The leaves and stem are not obvious unless the flower is attached. The blooming season is short, probably lasting only 2 to 3 weeks. Mine seem to be at full strength right now, so I will not see them next week. But next year, I will know what to expect.

To get them started in your yard, you will have to find the plants in the open prairie and mark them for later collection. Once the bloom is gone and the seed is ready, collect that, then dig up the bulb. The seeds are supposedly easy to grow and the bulbs react like any iris. Depending on how long it has been at the location, you will find multiple bulbs.

An interesting side note is that this Iris can be found only on a narrow belt on short prairies across the southern U.S. from Florida to Texas. Then the same species is found on a narrow belt of land across South America in Brazil, Argentina and Chile. One can order seeds from Chile. See that information below. I would assume that the prairies in South America are not as filled with people as they are here, so the Prairie Nymph has a better chance to grow and reproduce.

More information on Herbertia: http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=HELAC

http://www.wildflower.org/gallery/species.php?id_plant=HELA6

To learn about planting in your yard: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/101489/

http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/Herbertia

http://www.chileflora.com/Florachilena/FloraEnglish/ESeeds.htm?G_START=24

Dr. Bob Williams, from the banks of the Guadalupe River east of Belmont, can be reached at DrBobsTXPlace@yahoo.com.

"What this country needs is dirtier finger nails?and cleaner minds."

—Will Rogers

"The best things in life are nearest: Breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, ?flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just before you.?Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life's plain, common work as it comes,?certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life."

—Robert Louis Stevenson