Saturday, July 18, 2009

Buffalo Gourd Portrait


Buffalo Gourd (Cucurbita foetidissima)
West Odessa, Texas


One of the most common wild plants here is the buffalo gourd which produces a baseball size fruit and as the Latin name indicates is pretty darn stinky (think B.O.). Today I learned that a plant can live to be up to 40 years old and its large taproot can weigh as much as 100 pounds!

For all that, though, looking at the bloom and leaf closely suddenly the stinky, old gal looks awfully pretty to me.

5 comments:

Irene said...

This photo is a piece of art, no kidding. Wow!

lebanesa said...

wow - great pic

judith said...

You do such a great job portraying the beauty of plants I grew up not caring for. I see them in a whole new light.

(have you ever tried to dig one of these up??? They just keep coming back over and over.)

nelda said...

Lovely. Reminds me of a Georgia O'Keefe print.

Bobbie said...

I just got a fresh look from your monthly thumbnails and now I think it looks like one of those water washed rocks from the Grand Canyon. Beautiful!