Eagle Mountain Lake

One of my wife's sisters lives on a high hill over looking Eagle Mountain Lake North of Fort Worth at the edge of the rapidly expanding metroplex.  Across from her property are a few hills that appear to me to be relatively undisturbed and are full of all kinds of vanishing botanical treasures.

Silphium albiflorum (White Rosinweed) - These hand like leaves indicate the top of the plant that detaches and turns into a kind of tumbleweed during the winter.  Underneath the ground is a tough survivor that endures desert like conditions in the toughest limestone soils.  Scientist have shown that the roots of this perennial, in the sunflower family, has roots that go down 15 feet or more.  Unfortunately the plants are incredibly hard for people to grow, they grow incredibly slow and are the preferred food for rabbits and deer, several of the large plants I saw are possibly 50 years old or older.  For more on the Silphium see Last Silphium by Aldo Leopold