Ok, to be frank, this is kind of a weird post.  For some reason, during the last month or so, my brain has paid attention to spines and thorns as I’ve walked through prairies.  Given the relative scarcity of other photographic subjects, I’ve taken pictures of spines and thorns.  As a result, you get to see pictures of spines and thorns too.  I’m sorry.  To make it up to you, I added a couple more Plant Game questions to the end of the post because people seemed to enjoy them last time.  I still haven’t come up with the perfect name for the Plant Game, though I did appreciate the suggestions many of you provided.

While spines and thorns might seem like odd photo subjects, I’m hoping you’ll see some of the beauty I saw.  Plants employ them to help prevent herbivory, but if you look closely, those sharp pointy things are kind of pretty too.

Osage orange (Maclura pomifera) thorns. Hamilton County, Nebraska.

Buffalo bur (Solanum rostratum) seed pods. Hamilton County, Nebraska.

Honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos) thorn.

Woods rose (Rosa woodsii). Hall County, Nebraska.

Well, there you go.  Spines and thorns.

Now…

PLANT GAME!

The rules are simple.  Just pick the fake plant name from each list.  Three of the names are official names of plants found in Nebraska.  The other is one that I made up.  Should be easy, right? GOOD LUCK.