Rhus aromatica
Fragrant sumac is an irregular, spreading, deciduous shrub, 6-12 ft. tall, with velvety twigs and lower branches turned up at the tips. Glossy, somewhat blue-green, coarsely toothed, trifoliate leaves turn orange, red, purple and yellow in the fall. Yellowish catkin-like flowers precede dark-red berries which persist into March. A sprawling, small to medium-size shrub with […]
Yucca rupicola
Texas yucca or twisted-leaf yucca foliage stays under 2 ft. tall, is edged with white or red. New leaves are straight but become twisted with age. Flowering stalks often over 5 feet tall, bearing a cluster of bell-shaped, white flowers with petals up to 2 1/2 inches long and an inch wide, appearing from April […]
Penstemon cobaea
When in bloom, large, tubular flowers line at least half of Cobaea Beardtongue’s 1-3 ft. stems. The flowers are white to violet with dark purple lines inside the floral tube. One to three stout stems rise from a woody rhizome and bear thick, paired leaves which become smaller up the stem. The lower leaves have […]
Parthenocissus heptaphylla
Resembling Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) but much less common, limited to the Edwards Plateau and Lampasas Cut Plain of Central Texas, where it is endemic; tendrils without discs, leaflets narrower, thicker, and shorter than in Virginia Creeper, up to 2 1/2 inches long, and turning color later in the fall. Leaflets usually 7 in number, […]
Frangula caroliniana
This small, deciduous tree or shrub, usually 12-15 ft. tall, can reach 30 ft. in height with leaves that stay green into late fall. Leaves up to 5 inches long, with a petiole as much as 1/2 inch long; blade ovate to elliptic, sometimes narrow, pointed at the tip and tapered or rounded at the […]
Catalpa speciosa
Northern catalpa is a 75-100 ft., deciduous tree with a narrow, oval crown. The rugged winter outline is striking. Grayish- to reddish-brown bark breaks into thick scales. Leaves heart shaped with a drawn out tip and usually smooth, sometimes shallowly lobed, margins, petioles up to 8 inches long and blades to 12 inches long by […]
Amorpha fruticosa
False indigo-bush is a 6-12 ft., loose, airy shrub which often forms dense thickets. Plants develop a leggy character with the majority of their pinnately compound, fine-textured foliage on the upper third of the plant. Leaflets velvety on the lower surface, margins frequently almost parallel, often abruptly rounded at both ends and with a notch […]