Texas Gardening: Texas Native Plant Pictures by color ( Other & Bicolor ), 1 by htop

htop wrote:
Basket Flower, Basketflower, American Star Thistle, American Knapweed, Thornless Thistle, Powderpuff Thistle, Cardo del Valle, Shaving Brush (Centaurea americana), Asteraceae Family, native, annual, blooms from May through August

I am always so happy to see the basket flower begin blooming. I think that the bloom buds are as beautiful as the fully opened blooms. The flower grows in sandy or clay-loam soils in edges of fields, prairies disturbed areas, over-grazed pastures, roadsides in all regions, but especially in the Edwards Plateau and South Texas Plains. It is most commonly found growing in prairies. Basket flower is the most common wildflower in the state and is considered by many as being the showiest (besides the bluebonnet, of course).

It may grow as tall as 5 or 6 feet with a 3 foot or more width, but typically reaches a height of 4 feet. It has a solitary stem that is marked by grooves or ridges. The spineless stem is thick and sturdy with many branches in the upper section. The 2.5 to 3.5 inch, alternate, stalkless leaves are lance-shaped. They may be shallowly toothed or entire. The up to 4-inch in diameter flowerhead is constructed entirely of disk flowers. Each one has an extremely long corolla. The pink to lavender, rarely white, petals look somewhat like a thistle with a cream colored center. They are held in a basket-like structure made up of distinctive green, prickled phyllaries. Itt has a basket weave pattern to it; hence, the most widely used common name of the plant. Butterflies relish the blooms and the seeds serve as food for dove and quail. The blooms are frequently used in fresh as well as dried floral arrangements.

Note: The basket flower plants near me bloomed right on time - May 1st. The plants and blooms are huge this year. It sure makes a difference when the wildflowers are blessed with lots of rain.

Distributon:
http://plants.usda.gov/java/county?state_name=Texas&statefip...

For more information, see its entry in the plantFiles:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/1626/index.html

The breathtaking bloom ...


This message was edited May 4, 2007 3:39 AM