Texas Gardening: Texas Native Plant Pictures by color ( Purple ), 0 by htop

htop wrote:
Texas Storksbill, Texas Stork's Bill, Texas Heronbill, Desert Stork's-Bill, Texas Filaree (Erodium texanum), Geraniaceae Family, Texas native, annual/biennial, blooms February through April

Texas storksbill can be found growing natively on sandy or rocky calcareous soils of disturbed areas, hillsides, prairies and other open areas in the South Texas Plains and Edwards Plateau Regions. The plant forms a low growing winter rosette and then may reach a mature height of about 2 feet. In times of drought, it does not reach that height. The herb branches from the base and it often has reddish stems. The leaves are scalloped, pinnately tri-lobed with a large middle lobe, deeply veined and are about 2 inches long. Texas Storksbill produces a cluster of three 5-petaled, up to 1.2 inches in diameter blooms from the leaf axils. The petals are veined and can be flat or wide spreading. The color of the blooms is difficult to describe and varies according to the maturity of the bloom and the weather conditions. I would say that they are reddish--purple, magenta-purple, pinkish-purple, rose purple or some variation thereof. Each bloom, which typically lasts one day, opens late in the day and closes in the morning.

The fruits (schizocarps) which stand erect are long, slender and resemble a stork's or heron's beak. Each consists of 5 seed bearing carpels. The carpels each have their own styles resembling little spears. When the carpels have matured and the seeds in them are ripe, they separate from the schizocarp. As the styles uncoil, the carpels are often forcibly ejected. After they have separated, the corkscrew-shaped styles twist around, contracting when dry and expanding when wet. In this manner, they can dig into the soil burying the seed conatining capel. So, they actually can plant their own seeds.

Distribution:
http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/cgi/vpt_map_name?reg=2,3,4,5,...

For more information, see its entry in the PlantFiles:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/77415/index.html

An opened bloom with 2 bloom buds ...