This one is a wildflower and it's flowers are open only early in the morning. Leaves have a real rough texture.
2 more plants for y'all to ID, please.
This one is a vine that popped up in my front bed. It's leaves have a rough texture as well.
The first one is Stickleaf, Mentzelia oligosperma, a Texas native perennial.
http://wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=MEOL
The second one looks like Balsam Gourd, Ibervillea lindheimeri, another Texas native vine.
http://wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=IBLI
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/912
Josephine.
Josephine, thank you for the ID on the Stickleaf or Chickenthief as I will call it. I added my image to PF. There is no info in PF about this plant.
As for plant # 2, the leaves on it are more broadly webbed than the Balsam Gourd. If you look closely at the leaves, they look more like Ivy leaves, while the leaves on the Balsam Gourd look more like Wine Cup leaves. See what I mean? It would be cool if it were some kind of gourd!
Well, then maybe it is this one Wild Potato, Ipomoea pandurata.
http://wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=IPPA
I don't know.....
The vine looks very much like one I fight on my fence ever now and then.
If it lives long enough before I find it, it has tiny cream colored flowers which soon turn to berries. It hides in the English Ivy I use for a fence cover. Can grow extremely fast.
Christi
T.J. I guess you will have to wait till it blooms to be sure. Please save me some seeds of
the Stickleaf it looks very interesting.
Will do, Josephine! Thanks for the effort on plant # 2! Could it possibly be Clematis virginiana? http://wildflower.org/gallery/species.php?id_plant=CLVI5
Christi, is this what you have? http://wildflower.org/gallery/species.php?id_plant=COCA
You're just too good, TJ. You and Jo are the world's best id'ers.
LouC
T.J. I don't think it is the Clematis, but I could be wrong.
I am glad you solved Christi's puzzle.
That Mentzelia is called Stickleaf for a reason. If your clothing or tennis shoes brush up against it, the leaves will attach themselves to such a degree that it's very difficult (or perhaps sometimes impossible) to remove them. I was told years ago the best thing to do is to leave them until they're dry and crispy and then remove them.
Linda, do you know if the seeds are the same way? I mean, do they stick to clothing? I was looking the plant over the otherday, trying to find where the seeds are made. I think it must take a long time to make the seeds because I didn't find any in the faded blooms.
Not sure if this is the same one, but I have read that the gentleman who invented Velcro was made aware of this plant (or one like it) as he strolled through the field one day. It sparked and idea and our world is forever changed. What would we ever do without Velcro?
Christi
This message was edited Jul 1, 2008 3:39 PM
Did God not think of all our needs for this plant to spark His gift of Velcro in the inventor. I am so amazed when I learn something like this as Jesus even designed this plants DNA for a gift for us. Wow.
Thanks LouC for that bit of info.
Blessings,
Sandy ^8^
If I'm not mistaken the parts of the plant that contain seeds DO stick to clothing and animal fur....many plants make sure their seeds are dispersed in other areas that way. I'm fairly sure it wasn't this plant that inspired the Velcro invention, because that happened in Switzerland according to the story I found below. And Mentzelia oligosperma is only found in the U.S. Southwest.
http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa091297.htm
Thank you, Linda, for clarifying the story. I think I read a blip one time in Reader's Digest. At least the underlying thought fit.
LouC
Well, I figured out what the vine is! http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/54306/
Now that I know what it is, the problem is what to do with it. I'd like to have it growing on a fence or something, but not in my flower beds like it is now. Think it will transplant? http://wildflower.org/gallery/species.php?id_plant=MEPE3
You'll be sorry, TJ. Birds plant it everywhere and it will strangle anything it gets near. Grows a foot per day.
Christi
I've got something similar growing in my yard...I think someone called it a wild cucumber vine. But the leaf is kind of different from yours and it doesn't make a lot of stems like yours does. The fruits on mine are edible. Somebody said they had laxative effects, but when I sampled mine, they didn't.
Very interesting T.J. If you want to transplant it I would wait till October, although if it is not showy it might not be worth it.
Josephine.