L is for....

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   This flower is called "Living Rock Cactus" or Ariocarpus fissuratus . This plant grows in the dry Big Bend area of west Texas. It blooms in late summer and fall.

Picture from University of Texas Plant Resource Center

   In this picture you can see why it is called a rock cactus... how many do you see?

(Hint ... not all of them are blooming.)

Picture from Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Want more information check out The Lacy Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and The Plant Resource Center at University of Texas Libraries.

K is for...

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   Today's wildflower is the "Kansas Gayfeather"   Liatris pycnostachya. I get a kick out of one of its other names "Hairy Button-snakeroot", but I already had an H. This is a tall drink of water, growing 2-5 feet high. It is also very showy, half of the height is covered in blooms. There are 14 other gayfeather plants found in Texas, but this one prefers the wetlands or damp sand. The others prefer more dry areas. Part of the name of this plant comes from the Greek word for crowded. That perfectly describes the flowers on this plant, that bloom from the top down. Kansas likes to show off it's blooms from June all the way through October. This plant is another favorite of the bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. 

t

Picture from University of Texas Plant Resource Guide

J is for...

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   To days flower has a name I love "Jack in the Pulpit" Arisaema triphyllum. This really likes wet feet and is found in the deep forests and bogs of east Texas (and most of the eastern United States it looks like). This plant has both male and female flowers on the same spike of the plant. The male at the top and the female at the bottom (hmm, maybe someone needs to talk to the female flowers) 

  The plant can be easly identified by its three leaves leaflets as well as it's spiked flowers. Jack blooms in the spring from April to June. In the fall red berries about 1/3 of an inch round will be found on the plant in a conical shape up to 3 inches long. This is a member of the herb family and the root can be eaten, but only after being boiled several times. The root has an extremely sharp taste and irritates the mouth tissue other wise.

Picture from University of Texas Plant Resource Guide

I is for ....

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   For today's letter I found a really unique flower..."Indian Pipe" Monotropa uniflora . This little flower is white because it has no chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is what makes plants green. The flower does not produce its own food, like other plants. It actually lives off the fungus on the forest floor in the deep woods of East Texas. This flower blooms from April through October.

Picture from University of Texas Plant Resource Guide

   I think I will take a walk in the woods and look for these little flowers myself. I have seen quite a lot of colorful mushrooms and fungus but not these, yet.

   Another very popular plant in Texas is the Indian Paintbrush, but did you know there are eight different types. Here are 2 of them, may I present to you the "Texas Paintbrush" Castilleja indivisa  and the "Prairie Paintbrush" Castilleja purpurea  var.  purpurea.

Picture from University of Texas Plant Resource Guide

   The "Texas Paintbrush" is the one on the left. It is actually composed of numerous flowers. But what makes this flower such a stand out is not the flowers... it is the red tipped bracts that grow underneath each flower. This flower is also sown through out the state by the highway department. It is native to the sandy prairies of East Texas. The "Prairie Paintbrush" grows in the rocky calcareous prairies of Central and North-Central Texas. Like its cousin, its color also depends on the colored bracts under the flowers. Both bloom in the spring from March through May with the "Texas Paintbrush" lasting into June as well.

   There is a fact both Indian plants on today's post share. The Indian Paintbrushes, while producing some of their food through photosynthesis, tap into their neighboring plants root systems for food as well.

H is for....

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   Hope everyone had a Happy Easter yesterday. Here in Texas one of today's flowers played an important role at a lot of dinners. 

   Today I present the "Honey Mesquite" Prosopis glandulosa. I know it is more of a wild tree than flower but I couldn't resist. This is one of the best known plants of Texas. It ranges in size from small to large gnarly trees. Mesquite can found everywhere through out Texas, except in the far East part of the state. It is also a very versatile plant. Humans have been using Mesquite seeds for food, the flowers for honey and the extremely hard dark wood for floors and furniture. But of course one of the most popular uses of the wood is to smoke meat for bar-b-q. If you have never had brisket slow smoked over mesquite coals, you don't know what you are missing.

   The Honey Mesquite blooms from June to August.

 

Picture from University of Texas Plant Resource Guide

   I had to add this rare little beauty also.  "Half Flower"  Scaevola plumieri. This little plant is so rare in Texas now that most botanist have never seen it. There was once a large area of the plant on a barrier island off the Gulf coast but then Hurricane Carla came in 1961 and wiped it out. In some of the other tropical states of the U.S., this little jewel can still be found. The half flower blooms can be seen year round. So if you are at the beach watch out for this rare beauty, and consider yourself luck to have seen it.

Picture from University of Texas Plant Resource Guide