Yellow Puff

Description:

Yellow-puff, is a trailing, vine-like perennial plant of the legume family Fabaeceae. Its stems are covered with soft spines, but is not nearly as prickly as its cousin, the Sensitive Brier (Mimosa nuttallii). Each individual flower has five minute pedals and ten stamens. When the flowers open, the inflorescence looks like a puffy yellow ball, with usually only the long yellow stamens visible. The inflorescence rests solitary at the end of a slender stalk.

Habitat:

This was in section 39 of the LBJ Grasslands. It was a dry prairie area or mesa. The soil had ocean fossils showing. Parts of this area of Texas have Crustaceous era ocean bottom exposed.

Notes:

Lyndon B. Johnson Grasslands is 20,313 acres located in north-central Texas. Before the federal government purchased them back in the late 1930s, the grasslands were mostly abandoned farms and ranches suffering from severe soil errosion from poor agricultural practices.