Todd, What a thrill that you posted here! I am not sure, it looks like Verbena halei, but there are more flowers on the stem and they are also larger, I don't know what it is, but I bet Hazel does, she lives farther south than I, and the wildflowers vary a lot int the different zones in Texas.
It is really beautiful, did you get a shot of the foliage?
I hope you had a great visiting in Texas.
Josephine.
Texas Native Plant Pictures by color ( Purple )
I found a picture of Verbena halei in the plants files ;
http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/35614/
Josephine.
I saw those Verbena...this one has much larger flowers.
I was on a trip to Texas for 10 days looking at birds and wildflowers...had a great time!
Todd, I thought I had it identified, but the plant (below) that I thought it was does not grow in Corpus Christie. Sorry .... Does it look similar to this? The blooms on your plant appear to have a more "open" shape.
Verbena neomexicana var. neomexicana
http://uvalde.tamu.edu/herbarium/vene.htm
This message was edited Apr 7, 2007 10:01 AM
The flowers seem larger than V. neomexicana and the plant was not leafy-stalked, rather more rosetted. It was specifically growing at Lake Corpus Christi.
Okay, thanks for the information, Todd. After I put my tropicals and other containered plants in my greenhouse and cover other plants because we're goiing to have a freeze, I'll get back to searching.
How about another of your natives, Gulf vervain or Verbena xutha?
http://www.sbs.utexas.edu/bio406d/images/pics/vrb/verbena_xutha.htm
~'spin!~
Editing to add USDA county map:
http://plants.usda.gov/java/county?state_name=Texas&statefips=48&symbol=VEXU
This message was edited Apr 7, 2007 6:43 PM
Good to hear from you, crystalspiin. I looked ay some images of gulf vervain and thought that the blooms were too small in relationship to the stem to be Todd's plant. But, Todd needs to check it out. Thanks for your help.
http://www.sbs.utexas.edu/bio406d/images/pics/vrb/verbena_xutha.htm
It seemed the only one with the "denseness" of blooms along the stalk (but yes, the pics on the utexas site showed what seemed to be a fatter stalk in comparison).
Most of the wild verbenas/vervains seem much smaller bloom'ed -- almost like this was an escaped cultivar!
~'spin!~
I have been thinking that it may not be a verbena/vervain, but it sure resembles one. We have had some sleet. Thank goodness it is holding at 35 degrees so far. I am really worried about the angel trumpets that are in the ground and I did not have time to cover.
This message was edited Apr 7, 2007 11:03 PM
Wow, I cannot believe the snow/sleet/freezing in Texas -- Michigan is one thing, but Texas! in APRIL! -- it's supposed to be spring!
~'s!~
The flowers on my mystery were much larger than the gulf vervain...the individual flowers were about an inch across.
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=2,3,4,5,6,7,8,10&name=%3Ci%3EErodium+texanum%3C/i%3E+Gray
For more information, see its entry in the PlantFiles:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/77415/index.html
An opened bloom with 2 bloom buds ...
Texas Storksbill, Texas Stork's Bill, Texas Heronbill, Desert Stork's-Bill, Texas Filaree (Erodium texanum)
Booms clusters appear from the leaf axils with usually 1 or 2 blooms open at a time ... It is difficult to capture the true color of the blooms with my digital camera.
Texas Storksbill, Texas Stork's Bill, Texas Heronbill, Desert Stork's-Bill, Texas Filaree (Erodium texanum)
Blooms opening which gives a close look at the reproductive parts ...
Texas Storksbill, Texas Stork's Bill, Texas Heronbill, Desert Stork's-Bill, Texas Filaree (Erodium texanum)
Blooms blowing in the wind ...
Texas Storksbill, Texas Stork's Bill, Texas Heronbill, Desert Stork's-Bill, Texas Filaree (Erodium texanum)
3 inch fruit (schizocarps) which form from a long thin pistil - They resemble a stork's or heron's beak and are usually in a group of 3 (corresponding to the number of blooms in a cluster). One has been broken off here. For more photos go to its PnatFiles entry.
Beautiful Hazel!
Would love to have this one... What interresting stamens!!
Deb
Thanks, Deb. The blooms are small, but there are 3 in each bloom cluster so they make more of an impact. They are only open at certain times of the day.
Winecup, Tall Winecup, Cowboy Rose, Poppy Mallow, Tall Poppy Mallow (Callirhoe leiocarpa)
This photo shows the ways the color of the petals appear in different light situations due to the shadow to the right and the bright afternoon sunlight to the left.
Winecup, Tall Winecup, Cowboy Rose, Poppy Mallow, Tall Poppy Mallow (Callirhoe leiocarpa)
A bloom viewed from the side showing that it does not have an epicalyx (a whorl of small bracts just below the calyx) which distinguishes it from Winecup (Callirhoe involucrata) which does have an epicalyx. Of course, C. leiocarpais is much taller as well.
Winecup, Tall Winecup, Cowboy Rose, Poppy Mallow, Tall Poppy Mallow (Callirhoe leiocarpa)
This photo includes one of my fingers holding the flower stem to provide a size perspective. The bloom stems are very long and are blown easily by the wind which was quite strong on this day as shown in the photo. (A very difficult bloom to photograph even in a slight breeze, have found it difficult to capture its true color with a digital camera)
Pointed Phlox (Phlox cuspidate)
Phlox Family (Polemoniaceae)
Blooms February-May. Delicate annual 2 ¼-6 in. high: stem slender, usually branched in upper portion. Flower is ½ - 3/4 in. across, light to rosy pink or purplish, sweetly fragrant, trumpet shaped, 5-lobed at rim, the lobes spreading flat, narrowed at base, wider and sharp-pointed at tip. Flowers numerous or with only few opening at one time, forming terminal clusters. Leaves to 1 1/4 in. long, ¼ in wide, stalkless, opposite in lower portion of plant, becoming alternate and narrower in upper portion; margins entire.
Habitat is sandy or loamy soils in grasslands, prairies and open oak woodlands. It reseeds readily & usually forms extensive colonies. It is frequently found growing with sandwort, blue-eyed grass, Indian paintbrush and yellow star-grass.
I have tons of this growing on my acreage here just a few miles south of San Antonio and the butterflies love it. It was the first show of color here. This photo and info are from the Texas Native Wildflowers book (my mom has). I will have to take a couple photos tomorrow & post one or two, so you can really see the effect of them in mass.
Judy
Yes Judy, please show us your beautiful wildflowers.
Josephine.
Here's a couple that were taken back in early March. OK, I have to admit, I lied, lied, lied. Thought these guys were Pointed phlox. I'm a dummy as when I was taking some photos today, I noticed mine are not pointed. Can anyone ID these? Someone on another TX Gardening site said they might be Woodsorrel, but I knew better. When I first laid eyes on them, I thought of wild phlox. I did collect some flowers into a paer bag hoping to get seeds.
More photos to follow.
Judy
Close-up of the flowers. The leaves and stems in the description of the Pointed phlox seem to be like these little babies.
Butterfly on a single bloom
Oh, also, they are now about 12" in high. I left a large patch out front of them. I also have loads of Indian Paintbrushes out front near road, so I can't mow there yet either.
I have no idea why you might want to mow, let them grow please.
Josephine.
Well, I had to mow. You see we moved here in Dec and since I let everything grow till the bluebonnets could go to seed, now I had weeds and wildflowers up over my knees in some places. I mean, even out my back & front doors. I also have grassburrs coming up everywhere and there is a big problem in this area with snakes (copper heads, rattlers and coral snakes). I have two grandsons, dogs, cats, chickens and I raise Holland Lop bunnies and don't wish to make any of those a meal for the snakes. I did leave a patch out front away from the house of wildflowers and the whole front near the road is still tall cause there are Indian Paintbrushes blooming there. I'm trying to establish a little yard area here near the house. Believe me, there are plenty of these flowers on all the surrounding land here nearby where no one lives. I will keep seeds for planting in specific areas, but can't deal with weeds up to my behind where I have to walk. That is not safe. I enjoy the wildflowers so much, but everyone's safety comes first.
Judy
As I said in my earlier post with the pictures, they are NOT Pointed Phlox, althought the stems and leaves are similair. Does anyone know what they might be???
Judy
It could be this one Phlox pilosa, there are many that are similar, but this one looks close
http://wildflower.utexas.edu/plants/result.php?id_plant=PHPI
I hope it helps.
It was a good idea for you to mow, I didn't knoe the plants were right up to your door.
Josephine.
Josephine,
Thank you for the info. I do believe you are right there. The photos on that website are just like my flowerws here. BTW, I have the Gyp Blue Curls (lots of them) in a med size paper bag. Hope I get seeds form them to pass around. They are so pretty when clumped in a large mass. I've taken some photos of them where they are growing in a large clump out back. Will post one of those later (haven't downloaded the pics from camera yet). I really love blue and purple colored flowers best.
Judy
This appears to be Snake Herb, Dyschoriste linearis. It's a perennial, spreading native ground cover with lavendar flowers, attached close to the plant stem. Flowers from mid-spring to mid-summer. Prefers fairly dry, sandy, rocky or calcareous soils. I've even seen it in lawns on rare occasions.
I just found another one, called Dyschoriste decumbens, at a nursery. Apparently, it's more of a low, sprawling plant.
Herbert's Iris, Propeller Plant, PrairieNymph (Herbertia lahue subsp. caerulea), Iridaceae Family, perennial, blooms from March through May
DMJ1218 (Debbie) has already posted information about Prairie Nymphs (Herbertia lahue) above.
I was walking my dogs in the late afternoon between rain episodes when I saw one beautiful lavender bloom at the edge of a sidewalk in a neighbor's yard. His grass had died during the drought last year. I stopped and looked at it I was so happy when I realized that it was a prairie nymph. I remembered Debbie's photo above. I rushed to get my camera because this was its last bloom and the blooms close in the afternoon. By the time I got back to the plant (3 houses down), it had already started to close. I asked my neighbor if I could dig it up and pot it for him because it had been mowed down a few times. He said I could have it. :o)
I tried finding the differences between Herbertia lahue and Herbertia lahue subsp. caerulea; however, I did not have much luck. Then, I came across some references that state that the differences are so miniscule that they should be combined into one. Because all 3 of my native Texas wildflowers books only list Herbertia lahue subsp. caerulea and the blooms look the same so that's what I have identified it as. Herbertia lahue is listed as being in Bexar County according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. In other distribution maps, it is not shown as being documented in Bexar County. Distribution maps differ widely. The maps below for both species are the same.
Distribution - Herbertia lahue ssp. caerulea :
http://plants.usda.gov/java/county?state_name=Texas&statefips=48&symbol=HELAC
http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/cgi/endemics_map_page2?code=K3450600
Distribution - Herbertia lahue :
http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/cgi/endemics_map_page2?code=K3450600
http://plants.usda.gov/java/county?state_name=Texas&statefips=48&symbol=HELA6
For more infformation, see its entry in the PlantFiles (2 entries):
Herbert's Iris, Propeller Plant, PrairieNymph (Herbertia lahue subsp. caerulea)
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/101489/index.html
Herbert's Iris, Prairie Nymphs (Herbertia lahue)
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/132027/index.html
Bloom starting to close in the afternoon with cloudy, overcast lighting
Herbert's Iris, Propeller Plant, PrairieNymph (Herbertia lahue subsp. caerulea)
Bloom continuing to close as a minute or 2 of sunlight peered through the clouds. The colors are more true in this photo.
Herbert's Iris, Propeller Plant, PrairieNymph (Herbertia lahue subsp. caerulea)
Thin pleated leaf which is grass-like and can be up to 12 inchs long. The leaves were not standing up. They had been mowed a few times.
Herbert's Iris, Propeller Plant, PrairieNymph (Herbertia lahue subsp. caerulea)
A fruit (capsule) which, when mature, is about 15-20 mm long. It dehisces at the apex only.
Hazel--I have both of these "forms" of Herbertia lahue and am researching to publish in an upcoming article in 'Plant Science' from Botany.org:
http://www.botany.org/
a study on some of the bulbs such as Herbertia lahue and Habranthus tubispathus (and a few other obscure to the general public; Calydorea's, etc) bulbs that occur in both North and South America with no central American or Mexican counterpoints. It combines bulbs and Geology--my 2 passions. Its the age old taxonomy argument about lumpers and splitters (I'm a lumper by the way--lol). Most of the newer journal publications and scientific publications (JSTAR, etc) have the pendulum swinging back towards lumping rather than splitting. For instance (since you probably have both of these books), Dr. Thad Howard is a splitter (e.g. the TX native Allium fraseri page 20, Bulbs for Warm Climates) and in MCGary's 'Bulbs of North America' its Allium canadense var fraseri (which I happen to agree with). Its the age old broad or narrow view. I've seen really nice blue (not purple) variations of Herbertia Lahue from S America and from Texas. I don't think color variations or other minor morphological differences should justify calling something a new species or even a subspecies.
Here's a pretend story to illustrate my point. Pretend island X is 500 miles long. Chris Columbus gets off his boat and sees gorgeous blue Herbertia lahue's. He takes samples, gets in his boat and sails 500 miles south. Gets out of the boat, sees gorgeous purple H lahues. Wow, he says, and takes more samples. Later on the conquistadors come along and literally walk that 500 miles and see the very gradual change that occurs in the H lahues over that 500 mile spread. Is it really a new species or even a subspecies? Is it not possible to have natural variations within a population of the same species due to perhaps micro-climatic, soil micro-nutrient, rainfall, who knows the reason? Maybe a volcano XYZ splits island X in half or tectonic forces eventually divide the island into 2. What shall we call our different colored H lahues now?
By the way--google books is a great way for anyone to access this info nowadays without the book, enjoy the ride for however long it might last:
http://books.google.com/books?id=32O856W66n0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=bulbs+of+North+America&sig=WmlZBDWBPP8M2drgG-fH9qJY-G0
use the search for in this book tab on the right to find exactly what you need.
Thanks for listening ya'll and I'll get off my taxonomy soapbox now and go type up some invoices (which is what I need to be doing--lol). By the way, I have some more info on some TX native alliums to update from last year as soon as I can.
Debbie
=)
Debbie, I have very few books to which to refer and neither of the ones you mention. most of my research comes from searching the internet. I use the google books a lot. I have many photos of Texas native plants that I am unable to post because there is such conflicting information as to their IDs. The other difficult part is that some plants' scientific names have been changed back and forth especially after botanists are doing genetic testing. I have spent months researching some of the plants that I have posted. I sure know of what you speak. I wish I could register to be able to use JSTAR and see the complete papers. Are you able to do so? The one Herbertia lahue plant that I had dug up from a neighbor's yard last year came up; however when I visited my daughter for 10 days in Allen, Tx., my husband did not notice the small container in which the plant resides and did not water it. I think it died. I hope it comes back after I watered it. Let me know when your article is published. I would love to read it.