Centaurea americana
American basket-flower is a 1-1/2 to 6 ft. annual with a stout, leafy, much-branched stem and lavender-pink, filamentous flower heads with cream-colored centers. The flower heads are 4-5 in. wide and are subtended by fringed bracts. The plant looks similar to the thistles but lacks their prickly characteristics The name “basket flower” refers to the […]
Chrysactinia mexicana
Damianita is a 1-2 ft., bushy, low-growing, aromatic, evergreen shrub with stems rising in a mounded or bouquet form from a woody base. Leaves crowded on the twigs, dark green, up to 3/8 inch long by 1/16 inch or less wide, covered with green to black glandular dots visible under a 10x hand lens. This […]
Clematis texensis
Scarlet Leather-flower or Scarlet Clematis is an herbaceous to slightly woody vine, climbing to 10 ft. Bell-shaped flowers, blooming only on new growth, are held in axillary clusters of one to seven. The flower petals are actually thick, leather-like, scarlet-colored sepals. A feathery ball of plumed seeds follows the floral display. Stems are bare for […]
Cotinus obovatus
American smoketree is an upright, small tree or multi-trunked shrub, growing 15-30 ft. tall. Has a short trunk, open crown of spreading branches, resinous sap with a strong odor, and deep orange-yellow heartwood. Six to ten inch flower panicles develop long, red or purple, hairlike petioles that, in the crowded flower clusters, create a smoky […]
Cooperia pedunculata
Rain lilies pop up and bloom two or three days after good rains in the spring and early summer. They begin to open slowly about dusk and are fully opened the next morning. Flowers are trumpet-shaped for a few hours after opening, but the 3 petals and 3 sepals, all white, spread widely to 2 […]
Dalea frutescens
Thornless shrub up to 3 feet tall; stems gray to light brown, leaf bearing twigs thin, reddish brown. Occasional on shallow soil over limestone in unshaded upland situations. Leaves up to 1 inch long, divided into as many as 8 pairs of small leaflets and a terminal one on a central axis, leaflets 5 1/16 […]
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 […]
Calylophus berlandieri ssp. pinifolius
Named for French-Swiss physician Jean Louis Berlandier (1805-1851) who collected plants in Texas and northern Mexico.
Callicarpa americana
American beauty-berry most often grows 3-5 ft. tall and usually just as wide, It can reach 9 ft. in height in favorable soil and moisture conditions. It has long, arching branches and yellow-green fall foliage, but its most striking feature is the clusters of glossy, iridescent-purple fruit (sometimes white) which hug the branches at leaf […]
Bouteloua hirsuta
The dense clumps of this perennial are made up of 6-30 in., erect, leafy based stems. Oat-like seeds are borne in a curved seedhead with a pointed tip.Never found naturally in pure stands