["Followup-To:" header set to rec.gardens.]
On Tue, 25 Jun 2013 21:25:37 +0000 (UTC), Danny D. wrote:
On Tue, 25 Jun 2013 15:42:03 +0000, Kay Lancaster wrote:
it is indeed a member of the mustard family...
4 separate sepals, 4 separate petals, 6 stamens
(often 2 short and 4 long) and a two-chambered ovary.
http://waynesword.palomar.edu/images/silique1.gif
Thanks for the helpful identification.
What I see clearly (and which matches the wild mustard ID) a
- 4 unveined yellow petals (aka sepals)
Turn the flower upside down and you'll find there are 4 green sepals, then the
four yellow petals.
- 6 long things (aka stamens), 2 of which are shorter
- One thing in the middle (aka pistil)
http://www3.picturepush.com/photo/a/...g/13410171.jpg
Yup. Also called the gynoecium. The end of the pistil is the
stigma (where the pollen lands and germinates), then there's a constricted
region just below that, the style (pollen tubes germinate on the stigma
and grow down through the style, and eventually fertilize the ovules in the
thicker, basal part, the ovary or gynoecium.
And, now I recognize there a
- Lots of seed pods (aka immature siliques)
http://www3.picturepush.com/photo/a/...g/13410166.jpg
And:
- Lobate leaves which radiate out of the ground:
http://www1.picturepush.com/photo/a/...g/13410179.jpg
Plus:
- Hairy stems
http://www1.picturepush.com/photo/a/...g/13410169.jpg
And, most unusual, that it "takes over (my) wasteland":
http://www2.picturepush.com/photo/a/...g/13410185.jpg
Nah, not unusual at all. "Natura abhorret a vacuo" -- "Nature abhors
a vacuum. You've got a whole lot of open ground there with bare soil.
You've got 50 or 100 years worth of seeds sitting dormant in the soil,
ready to grow as soon as they get their chance -- you're not supplying
enough water for the plants you want to grow to grow well and fill
in the soil, so weed seeds that can take the conditions that are on offer
grow instead. "Canopy closure" -- growing enough plants to completely
shade the soil -- is one of the major ways of controlling weeds (which
are generally plants that do well in disturbed soils). In arid lands,
there's not enough soil moisture to support a true canopy most of the time,
so the spacing of plants is defined by how big an area they need to get enough
moisture from the soil. I presume you normally grow a lawn in this area,
probably something pretty unsuitable for the amount of natural rain
in the area, like Kentucky bluegrass. It dies, and gives the weedy mustard
a chance to grow. In other words, your soil is telling you to grow native
plants, or at least plants adapted to the area, instead of ones adapted
to England.
Oh yes, one other gardening proverb to consider "One season's seeding is
5 season's weeding." Except that it's really more like "One season's seeding
is 50+ years weeding.
If you're interested, here's some background reading for you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_seed_bank
http://www.amazon.com/Natural-Histor...history+guides
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/weeds_intro.html
Kay
One remaining question:
Q: How does it know "my" yard is currently a wasteland?
PS: The sprinkler system is partially broken; there's an electrical
problem in some of the zones in that they don't work electrically
but they work mechanically if I turn them on at the box in the ground.