Shorter Days

It is still summer with high temperatures and little rain, but the days keep getting shorter and the sunlight is drifting toward the South. The plants that respond to shorter days are drooping, but they still indicate they know the days are shorter. Nature really is a miraculous symphony.

Around town in August and September there are pastures where a three to four foot tall plant stands out because it is white and light green. This is Snowon-the-Mountain (Euphorbia marginata). The Latin name refers to the white margins on the leaves near the small white flowers. It is the white margins on the leaves that make it highly visible from the roadside. Poinsettias are also Euphorbia whose leaves turn colors when the days are short.

Euphorbia plants have poisonous, milky, white, latex -like sap that becomes apparent when the stem is

cut. Mammals (including humans) have a reaction to this sap and it is the reason the deer do not eat it.

We also have a small (less than a foot tall) native Euphorbia commonly found in our yards commonly called Wild Poinsettia (Euphorbia cyathophora). It will get a small pinkish red spot on its leaves as the days shorten. All of these Euphorbia plants I have mentioned will grow in full sun.

Other indications that the days are shorter include the berries are on my Beauty Berry are starting to turn purple, my Kidney Wood tree is starting to bloom, the buds on the asters are preparing to burst open, and the humans are getting impatient with the lingering hot dry days.

Written by Jackie Mattice, Hays County Master Naturalist