July 2024 • Nebraskaland 43
Finally, consider the fl owering
heads that emerge in June as dense
clumps that gradually unfold into agile
arches resembling a scorpion's tail.
The individual fl owers consist of fi ve
hairy, greenish, sharp-pointed sepals
surrounding fi ve whitish-green petals
fused into a tube. Protruding from
this tube is a long stinger-like style
that persists well after the petals have
fallen. Styles are the stalks on which
the pollen-collecting stigma sits.
While the fl owers are rather drab, I
view the spiraled fl ower heads, with
their arrangement of sharp sepals,
tubular petals and projecting spiky
styles, as abstract fl oral art, as if nature
used geometry, rather than colorful,
showy petals, to create beauty. Nature
is strange that way.
After heaping all this praise on
marbleseed, I might have convinced
myself it's my favorite plant. But
honestly, I admire all the native plants
that grace Nebraska's landscapes —
even the ones with boring names.
N
A robust marbleseed plant grows in a prairie restoration along the
Platte River of Hall County. CHRIS HELZER, THE NATURE CONSERVANCY
A controlled prairie fi re cleared away the thatch, exposing a cache of marbleseed seeds hidden by a rodent.
The heat from the fi re also caused the seeds to darken from white to tan. CHRIS HELZER, THE NATURE CONSERVANCY
