With the weather heating up and many of us getting ready to head back outdoors here is a small reminder of things to be on the lookout for.
Bull Nettles
Texas Bull Nettle is usually 1 1/2-3 feet high with several stems from the same taproot system that enables the plant to thrive even in the hottest part of the summer. Leaves are alternate, 2-4 inches long, typically 5-lobed, crinkled in appearance and covered with stinging hairs. If one brushes against the leaves, one will feel the “sting” for 30-45 minutes. If any part of the stem is broken, a milky sap appears, and some people are allergic to this as well as the “sting” of the hairs. The flower consists of 5-7 white, petal-like sepals, united below; there are no petals. There are 10 or more stamens and a 3-lobed pistil. The seeds are clustered in 3 separate compartments held tightly together by the tough, almost round seedpod. It, too, is covered with stinging hairs. When the seeds mature, the outside “fleshy” part shrinks and exposes the durable shell that holds the 3 seed compartments.
Copperhead Snake
Copperheads have chestnut or reddish-brown crossbands on a lighter colored body. These snakes are found in rocky areas and wooded bottomlands and are rare in dry areas. In the spring they can be found along streams and rivers, as well as in weed-covered vacant lots. There are three subspecies of Copperheads in Texas; Southern copperhead (A.c. contortrix), 20-30 inches long and found in the eastern one-third of the state; Broadbanded copperhead (A.c. laticinctus), about two feet long, widely scattered in central and western Texas; and the Trans-Pecos copperhead (A.c. pictigaster), 20-30 inches in length and found near springs in the southern part of the Trans-Pecos.
Cottonmouth (Water Moccasins)
The Latin name piscivorous means ‘fish eating,’ indicating its dietary characteristics. Also known as ‘water moccasins’, only one recognized supspecies is found in Texas; Western cottonmouth (A.p. leucostoma). Cottonmouths can be dark brown, olive-brown, olive green or almost solid black. They are marked with wide, dark bands, which are more distinct in some individuals than in others. Juvenile snakes are more brilliantly marked. The cottonmouth gets its name from the white tissue inside its mouth, which it displays when threatened. This heavy-bodied snake, which averages about 3-1/2 feet in length, is found over the eastern half of the state in swamps and sluggish waterways, coastal marshes, rivers, ponds and streams.
Of course, there are other things to keep a lookout for like poison ivy and poison oak as well as spiders and other snakes, Just be careful out there and remember we are visitors in their areas.