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Mystery Seed of the Week 157

The plants that produce these are blossoming right now, so I don’t have any photographs of the seeds.

acgr_001_shp

Fortunately I found a photograph online by Steve Hurst @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database.

Please leave a comment if you recognize these mystery seeds.

 

Edit:  the answer is now posted.

Seed of the Week: Phaseolus sp.

Our oddly bumpy mystery seeds from last week were from a vine in the bean genus Phaseolus.

Here in the Southwest, there are a number of native vines in the genus Phaseolus that are related to the tepary bean, Phaseolus acutifolius var. tenuifolius.

phaseolus-flower

They all have lovely pink flowers that look alike.

phaseolus-leaves

They all have trifoliate leaves that can be lobed during part of the season,

phaseolus-leaves-101

or look more smoothly rounded.

phaseolus-leaf-close

This particular plant had a pair of small spines behind the center leaflet.

phaseolus-bean

As with their other beany relatives, the seeds are produced in small pods.

It appears that the taxonomy of this group is still being worked out.

Phaseolus-seeds-156

The seeds resemble the drawings of tepary beans found at wildflower.org.

Other possibilities include the Sonoran bean, Phaseolus pedicellatus.

So, it appears that the plant that we found growing in our yard is still a bit of a mystery.

Do you know what species of Phaseolus this is?

Note:  The common green bean, Phaseolus vulgaris, is also native to the U.S.

Bug of the Week: Finding Katydids

Things have been crazy here the last few weeks, but I finally had a chance to do some photography again.

little-brown-katydid-101

Looking at the hollyhocks in the back yard, I spotted this beige bug. I can tell from the long antennae and shape that it is a katydid nymph.

two-katydids

It took a bit longer, but then I noticed something else. Do you see it?

second-green-katydid

See it now? There is a second green katydid nymph on the same plant.

Wondering what is up with the different colors?

The oblong-winged katydid is known for being highly variable in color. It ranges from green to tan to orange-yellow to even bright pink! Now that would be something to see.

another-green-katydid

Once I started checking more closely, I found yet another green katydid. I guess that shows that camouflage colors might be harder to detect.

Aren’t those long hind legs something else?

Have you ever seen a katydid? What color was it?

 

 

 

 

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