Gayfeather

Description:

This perennial’s stiff, upright, unbranched stems, 1-3 ft. tall, grow in wide-spreading clumps. The tufted, purple flowers are densely congested in a long spike on the upper part of the stem. The leaves are narrow and crowded, becoming progressively smaller upward.

Habitat:

Rocky spillway at Belton Dam in Miller Springs Park. Miller Springs Park is a 360-acre park located below Belton Lake, on the Leon River, in Bell County, Texas. It contains diverse riparian terrain, including limestone bluffs, estuarial wetlands, mountain cedar hilltops, and riverside cottonwood stands. Numerous trails traverse prairie-like open spaces and forests of native cedar elm, live oak, and red oaks. Recent floods have created a new canyon that reveals numerous layers of sedimentary rock and fossils. Area wildlife includes white-tail deer, red foxes, coyotes, black squirrels, armadillos, and about 200 species of birds in the course of the year.