I drove to Joy's yesterday on 290 and the bluebonnets, paintbrush, lyre leaf sage, coreopsis were stunning. There was another wildflower I did not recognize. The blossoms are tiny and spaced all along the somewhat long branches. All the branches ggrow to the same length as the stem. The foliage is tiny also and spaced along the stems. The color yellow is more lemon yellow than the butter gold yellow of coreopsis. overall it is about 2 feet tall. Does anyone know it's name? I looked thru the sticky and did not see anything that looks like it. I googled and still nothing.
Wildflowers along the highway
I think it is the invasive flower that gained a lot of attention last year, bastard cabbage.
www.wildflower.org/howto/show.php?id=48
Known as bastard cabbage (Rapistrum rugosum) it forms large masses several feet tall of small, highlighter yellow flowers.
No, Joy that is not it. The flowers are much smaller and the yellow is more greenish. It looks like when it dies it could become a tumbleweed.
It could be Broomweed there are a few species of those, check this link
http://www.wildflower.org/plants/search.php?search_field=Broomweed&newsearch=true&family=Acanthaceae
No, that is not it, Jo. The flowers are not on the tips but all along the stem like a Forsythia blooms. It is obvious that the state planted these. It was not an isolated plant.
What did the foliage look like? Maybe it was Yellow Standing Cypress?
http://www.wildflower.org/gallery/result.php?id_image=14090
Does this help? It is dried and shriveled. I should have taken a photo before it dried but I thought since it was so prolific, you guys would not need a photo. I got it Saturday and I cut off the top part and put the bottom to root. I just now went out to the compost pile and retrieved the branches. The four branches did so about 3 inches from the ground.
Here you go, I snapped these on the way out today. One is a close up of the purplish stem and few leaves. This one was easily 2 1/2' tall.
Joy, that's not the same plant. These are delicate looking like a mist from a distance.
I can think of different things, but the yellow color, throws me off.
These do look like mist from a distance. Those flower clusters are penny sized. They wave in the breeze like there is no weight to them. I just got out and took a close up.
I mispoke. the plant branched from the ground. It has a carrot-like root big thick. the flowers are not as large as a penny. I reconstituted one of the leaves in water and got pix. Josephine, you had asked what the foliage looks like. This is a typical leaf. They are small. I am attempting to reconstitute a flower and will get pix if possible.
Here is the pix of the bottom of the plant showing what I got of the root. Then the tiny flower two shots and then the whole thing that I cut off the plant to root or plant.
Wow that really looks like Rapistrum rugosum aka 'Bastard cabbage' to me as well. Especially when I look along the stems in pics 2&3 of your last set. If you look close they have these pods (I use this term loosely as I am no botanist) along the stem that taper into long points at their tips. They can be seen a little better in this pic I found on google (pic 1).
Also with the pinnatisect leaf shape, makes me think if it's not rapistrum rugosum, it's sure to be in the brassicaceae family as well.
That does look like it. Why in the name of sam would Texas plant that along our highways? My apologies to Joy. It looks like it was planted along with all the other wildflowers.
In Joy's photo, the plant did not have those little "pods". The stems were smooth and the leaves were big like thistles. Also, when I collected the plant, there was no basal rosette. The photo you posted, SPWD, looks a lot like the plant I collected. what would the littel "pods" be? Are they seed capsules and a flower once was there?
I apologize to everyone for the wild goose chase! I just learned from google that the way we get the plant is in contaminated seed mixes. That would explain why it looks to me like it was broadcast along with all the other beautiful wildflowers. Joy an especial apology to you. You nailed it right off the bat and I said, nooooooooooo, that's not it. Mea culpa. I owe you all a cuppa your favorite beverage.
It also plants itself quite well, it is one of the most invasive plants right now.
Steadycam, I think the pods contain a few smaller seeds within. I'm just glad you know what it is before helping it along in its quest for plant-world domination! LOL! The only reason I knew it is because it already has taken over a few strips of 1-20 where there used to be beautiful bluebonnets.. Very sad :(
It started growing across the road from my house last year, if it comes back this year I will try to eradicate it. Anyone have a good method? Do they pull up easily if I spot them early?
Of course I dont know... since I did not even know what it was. I saw it last Spring on I-45 between Houston and Dallas, not as much as there is between Houston and Hempstead. No wonder I could not find it in any of my wild flower books!!!!
The best eradication is to pull, remove and burn. Mowing and spraying just spreads seeds. It is very sad. I have never tried to pull it, but I will stop on the way out and remove the one plant that has crept onto my road to keep it from spreading I hope.
The exit for Hempstead/College Station used to have the overpass covered in wildflowers, all kinds. Yesterday I noticed that it was mostly BC. Perhaps I can do the same there.
No harm no foul Marty, it is difficult this time of year to decide what yellow flower is the one that someone is talking about. I took pictures of seven different ones yesterday in case the ones I posted weren't what you were talking about.
Pulling is the best way, other than that mowing before it sets seed is second best.
We are trying diligently to keep it out of our natural areas, but we can do nothing about the highways.
wow ! i just drove down to College City and the wildflowers were stunning ... actually AMAZING !
What are the flat little pale pink flowers that sometimes grow among BBs? I haven't looked along highways; I'm only wandering in our little development in HEB where obviously all the soil is disturbed and the bluebonnets are human-planted. These little pink things were not in a planted area, but also not mowed (or shorter than the mower).
Sorry if this is something everybody already knows about!
Ck for oxalis carrie, your pic is blurred. pink shamrock. It grows free down here..
Thanks, Kittriana, that's probably it.