I'm too new to a lot of stuff you have here, so a lot of names I think I should know get lost in the tons of new information I've picked up lately.
What is this? This is just a small branch off a so far knee high bush on the edge of our woods.
Dorothy
PS Darn, why didn't it load the picture???
This message was edited May 7, 2009 3:23 PM
help to identify please?
Yea, did it. Of course, it helps to read directions. . . .
is that a yellow baptisia?
I think that might be it! Thank you. Though this one, actually 2 of them, are of the 'wild' undomesticated version and thus don't have such an incredible flower display as most pictures you see when you 'google' it.
But, they are pea type flowers and are yellow and the leaves are in groups of 3 on the stems.
well check out plant delights nursery on this yellow one. supposedly the only place they grew was in hunt co. texas. they have since hybridized other colors. solar flare, twilight prairie blues, a white, a pale lavender and a pale yellow. yours almost looks like the pale yellow.
It looks like Green Wild Indigo, Baptisia sphaerocarpa
http://home.att.net/~waltersextra/flowcc.html
There are several Baptisia genera.
http://botany.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/cgi/gallery_query?q=Fabaceae
What I find fascinating about the species found around here is they all die at the same time regardless of their location.
http://www.bio.utexas.edu/courses/bio406d/images/pics/fab/baptisia_bracteata.htm
not die. they go dormant, right?
never heard of green wild....have to go read about it. it looked like a groundcover in that picture.
bettydee, the 2nd link was a great link showing many different kinds that i didn't know about. ambersas, which kind do you think you have? i love baptisia.
I have the B. bracteata. You're right about the dormancy. I should have said the tops die down at the same time. The flower clusters look like yellow wisteria clusters.
bettydee, how tall does that one get? have you ever dug a baptisia?
I'd say a healthy one gets about 18" tall. I've not tried to dig one up. Do they have a taproot or a tuber? I don't know how easy they are to transplant especially while in active growth and trying to mark a plant's location is difficult with cattle in a pasture. They are very curious and tend to knock markers over.
well dawnintx and i have dug several and it has to be in the spring but here's the problem...........the roots appear to go from plant to plant or maybe they just go on forever. they also seem to just twist and torture themselves around. hard to describe but you'll get it when you try to dig one. MOST IMPORTANT TOOL YOU WILL NEED...... when you try to pull the root you will strip it if you don't have a razor sharp shovel to cut it with.
dawn and i were trespassing on some old texas property a few years ago and walked into a clearing and our jaws dropped upon seeing blue baptisia everywhere. what a sight that was i am telling you. not many places like that left you know.
if you get the root out undamaged i'd say transplants do o.k. dawn and i have had quite a few to live.
I'll have to try transplanting some early next spring. It's way too hot to try it now. They wouldn't be able to get well extablished this late. Thanks for the great information! :-)
mammajack, from bettydee's second link I would say its a baptisia nuttalliana. It does not have flower stalks but individual pea-like light yellow flowers. Nicely shaped for growing wild. Love pleasant surprises like this one.
well i want one of each of your baptisias. are there any smaller plants nearby the mamas? you both ought to dig me one. lol