Mountain View Lodge Nature Trail
Welcome to the Mountain View Nature Trail. It's a short walk-shorter than a trip around a city block. But it passes through representatives of many of the habitats of the Texas Hill Country, from dry rock slopes down into cooler moister ravines, and as a result many of the region's interesting native plants can be seen here in a small area. Numbered signs refer mostly to trees and shrubs mentioned in this guide. Almost all of the dozens of wildflowers that can be seen along the trail can be identified in the "Wildflowers of the Texas Hill Country," by Marshall Enquist. A copy is available on loan from the front desk. For a map of the Nature Trail for printing click here and then click on map and print.
The following is a list of the many plants that are here on the Nature Trail for all our guest to enjoy.
1)
Several succulent plants of the Lily Family are common on these dry rock
slopes. The term "succulent" is a vague term applied to any plant with
tough or thick and fleshy leaves that allow little water loss; such
plants are well adapted to desert and semi-arid environments. To the
left of the trail is sotol (Dasyliriontexanum). It is easily recognized
by its huge clump of long thick flat narrow leaves with sharp, widely
spaced teeth. In midsummer, sotol produces a woody flowering stalk that
can be ten feet tall. Sotol is most common in desert areas of the west
Texas and northern Mexico, and here at Mountain View it is at the
eastern edge of its distribution.
1a)
Not all the plants at Mountain View are typical of desert regions. Some
species, such as the grass called big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii),
are plants that typically inhabit tallgrass prairies of the Midwest.
Such species are at the southern or western edges of their ranges. On
the right side of the trail is a large clump of big bluestem, but unless
you're visiting in late summer or fall when it's flowering it might look
like any other grass.
2)
Another locally common succulent is twistleaf yucca (Yucca rupicola).
Its stiff rigid leaves have a sharp point at the tip. Twist leaf yucca
is one of several plant species you might see along the trail that are
endemic to the Texas Hill Country, i.e., found nowhere else in the
world.
3)Probably
the most characteristic plant species of the Hill Country is Ashe
juniper (Juniperus ashei), more commonly known simply as cedar. This
conifer covers dry rocky hillsides over much of the Edwards Plateau,
usually in association with a few oaks and several smaller shrubs.