Texas Native Plant Pictures by color ( White )

Heath Aster, White Aster, Squarrose White Aster, White Wreath Aster, White Prairie Aster, Tufted White Prairie Aster (Symphyotrichum ericoides), Asteraceae Family, native, perennial, flowers late August through November

County distribution:
http://plants.usda.gov/java/county?state_name=Texas&statefips=48&symbol=SYER

It is a common somewhat sprawling white aster of dry prairies and other open places. This grayish bushy plant growis 1 to 2 feet tall, and can often be found growing in patches. The leaves are narrow, alternate, small and pointed. They are leaves are less than 3 inches long and ¼ inch wide. The heath aster appears insignificant until it blooms. The daisy-like flowerheads are about ½ inch wide and appear in dense, frequently one-sided (that is on one side of the stem) clusters. The flowers can have up to 20 white (sometimes pale pink), petal-like rays which surround a small yellow disk which turns to reddish brown to purple with age.

For more information, see its entry in the PlantFiles:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/1277/index.html

The flower ...

Heath Aster, White Aster, Squarrose White Aster, White Wreath Aster, White Prairie Aster, Tufted White Prairie Aster (Symphyotrichum ericoides)

A view of a flowering branch that provides a size perspective ...

Texas Milkweed or White Milkweed, Asclepias texana.
Native, endemic to Texas, it is a perennial milkweed. An attractive plant with clusters of white flowers, mainly found in the Edwards Plateau and in some areas of West Texas. About 6 to 18 inches tall, it grows in caliche outcrops, hillsides and grassy fields among live oaks or near creeks. It normally blooms from late spring to mid-fall. Today one still has a few blooms even after we've had some nighttime lows down into the 20's. A very rare occurrence and quite amazing! This plant deserves to be preserved and propagated.

Linda, that is really neat, and amazing that it is still in bloom. I have never seen the white milkweed. Maybe next year I can get a start from you.
Josephine.

Oh, okay, I can get you a plant! There's still a few that need to be rescued, Josephine.

Thank you Linda, I see you were up late, we went to bed about 1.30. Happy New Year 2007.
Josephine.

CSinTexas, your unidentified plant is probably in the Polypogonaceae Femily due to its bloom characteristics and may be a type of buckwheat. The one that closely resembles it is Heartsepal Buckwheat, Heartsepal Wild Buckwheat, Many Flowered Wild Buckwheat (Eriogonum multiflorum) which is an annual or biennial which blooms in the summer and fall. I have been unable to find a good photo of its foliage.

http://botany.cs.tamu.edu/FLORA/dcs420/a/hdw23109982s.jpg
http://botany.cs.tamu.edu/FLORA/dcs420/a/hdw23109983s.jpg
http://botany.cs.tamu.edu/FLORA/dcs420/a/hdw23109984s.jpg
http://botany.cs.tamu.edu/FLORA/dcs420/a/hdw23109985s.jpg
http://botany.cs.tamu.edu/FLORA/dcs420/mi13/mi13076.jpg
http://botany.cs.tamu.edu/FLORA/dcs420/mi13/mi13077.jpg

Way to go Hazel! I think you've got it! I have some cultivated buckwheat seed and am going to try to grow some this year. Interesting plants!

Yes Hazel, super job again, I wonder if he knows you found it.

LindaTX8, the buckwheat plants do look interesting ... I don't think I have seen one in person (if I did, I probably didn't know what it was at the time). I hope yours do well for you.

Josephine, I guess I had better send a D-Mail.

Ten-Petal Anemone, Tenpetal Thimbleweed, Texas Anemone, Southern Anemone, Glade Flower, Windflower (Anemone berlandieri), Ranunculaceae Family, native, perennial, blooms February through April

Texas distribution:
http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/cgi/vpt_map_name?reg=2,3,4,5,6,7,8,10&name=%3Ci%3EAnemone+berlandieri%3C/i%3E+Pritz.

Ten-petal nemone can be found growing natively on open grasslands, pastures, prairies, hillsides, openings and edges of woodlands and granite outcrops. It grows in well-drained sandy, calcareous or limestone soils of the South Texas Plains and the Edwards Plateau Regions. It is an is an upright perennial that attains a height of between 4 and 16 inches when flowering. The usually white (may be pink, blue or violet), 1 3/4 " in diameter flower head has no petals. The 10-20 sepals are petal-like. The leaves are divided into three shallowly toothed leaflets. The leaves are occasionally eaten by white-tailed deer. Ten-petal anemone is often confused with Carolina anemone (Anemone caroliniana). Some facts that may assist with distinguishing between the two follow:

Ten-petal anemone has a stem that is hairy along its entire lenght unlike Carolina anemone that is hairy to the leaves but not below them.

Ten-petal anemone has a whorl of leaves halfway up stem unlike Carolina anemone that has a whorl of leaves right below the bloom but not half way up the stem.

Ten-petal anemone has a tuber with no stolons unlike Carolina anemone that has a bulb-like tuber and has stolons or rhizomes present.

Caution: All parts of this plant are toxic when fresh (only if eaten in large amounts). Contact with fresh sap may cause inflammation and blistering.

For more information, see its entry in the PlantFiles:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/63683/index.html

A bloom at the first of April; photo shows leaves half the way up the stem ...

Ten-Petal Anemone, Tenpetal Thimbleweed, Texas Anemone, Southern Anemone, Glade Flower, Windflower (Anemone berlandieri),

A view of the leaves that are halfway up the stem ...

Ten-Petal Anemone, Tenpetal Thimbleweed, Texas Anemone, Southern Anemone, Glade Flower, Windflower (Anemone berlandieri)

The singular stem is covered with hairs along its entire length

Ten-Petal Anemone, Tenpetal Thimbleweed, Texas Anemone, Southern Anemone, Glade Flower, Windflower (Anemone berlandieri)

This cone-like structure elongates after pollination (sometimes before the sepals have fallen). The seeds are produced here and then dispersed usually by winds after they have dried (hence, the common name, "windflower".

Hazel, you have been putting in some very lovely pictures and detailed information.
Thank you very much for your care and your patience.

Josephine, thank you for your comments. Some of the plants I have found are not easily identified. Some have taken me a year or more and many, many hours of research to determine their exact identity. I hope that the information I post is useful to others so that they save time when attempting to identify a plant. I was thinking last night that maybe people would rather just see the photos and I could add them more quickly if I didn't include the details.

By the way, many of the first photos that I added to the PlantFiles were taken with a not so good camera. I lost many of them when my computer crashed. To add them here, I had to copy them from the PlantFiles to my computer. When I did this, they came out distorted for some reason. I gave up trying to figure out why. None of the photos that have reds and some colors of yellow upload accurately which I haven't determined why either. If anyone can help me determine what the problem is, please let me know.

Hazel, the details are very important because they expand on what you see in the picture and give you information that you wouldn't have otherwise.
I am sorry that the pictures are not copying right for you, I will ask my husband and see if he has any ideas.
Josephine.

Thanks, Josephine. One day I am going to buy a better Texas wildflower reference book which will help me make identifications. The ones I have are small field guides which only include the most frequently found wildflowers.

Well, I don't know if there is such a thing, there is such an amazing variety, it is near impossible to document it all.

Josephine has documented so much on a database or something of the sort. Her husband, Frank, is doing that and he carries his laptop around w/him like teenagers carry their cell phones. LOL They have so much info. Wish Josephine would write a book.

Ann

Thank you Ann, you are so sweet to say that, but I really am not a writer, what we did is gather a lot of the information already out there and put it together, but if you go to the search by name box and type in Htop, you will see a lot of Hazel's pictures that she has graciously let us use to adorn the site.
This is the link in case you want to check it out; http://www.npot.org/
Josephine.

Ann, Josephine's database has been invaluable to me as I try to identify plants. I use it all of the time to narrow down my searches. She and her husband have done a fabulous job.

Josephine, I really like that I am able to search for my photos on the database. Sometimes I forget the names of some of the plants I have photographed and this feature will assist me with finding some of them.

Excellent, it makes us feel so good that we can be of help, your pictures are all beautiful and a great asset to the site.

Ten-Petal Anemone, Tenpetal Thimbleweed, Texas Anemone, Southern Anemone, Glade Flower, Windflower (Anemone berlandieri)

Another bloom ...

Ten-Petal Anemone, Tenpetal Thimbleweed, Texas Anemone, Southern Anemone, Glade Flower, Windflower (Anemone berlandieri)

Very tiny, flat seeds being dispersed from the "thimble" ...

Ten-Petal Anemone, Tenpetal Thimbleweed, Texas Anemone, Southern Anemone, Glade Flower, Windflower (Anemone berlandieri)

A very, very close view of achenes bursting forth from their chambers - They are held in the "thimble" by the green structures as well as a clear, shiny membrane (but my eyes could be deceiving me). The elliptical, flat, curve-beaked , 2.7-3.5 × 2.2-2.5 mm seeds themselves are not shiny (being covered in fine hairs).

For identification purposes:

Note: Anemone edwardsiana var. petraea is endemic and found on the Edwards Plateau. Its 0.5-1 mm flat achenes are varnished, glabrous (no hairs) and have a straight beak..

Note: Anemone edwardsiana var. edwardsiana 0.5-1 mm achenes are woolly with a tuft of hair at the base (do not have a plume of hairs) and have a straight beak.

Texas Prickly Poppy, Texas Pricklypoppy, Hill Prickly Poppy (Argemone aurantiaca), endemic Texas native, Papaveraceae Family, annual/biennial, blooms spring through summer, considered a weed by many

Texas prickly poppy is found natively growing in fields, pastures, on hills and other disturbed sites as well as in transition zones between lowlands and plateau areas in various parts of central Texas. In particilar, it is frequently found in these counties: Bandera, Bell, Bexar, Blanco, Brown, Comal, Gillespie, Hays, Kerr, Maverick, McLennan, Menard, Mitchell, Schleicher, Taylor, Travis and Uvalde. I could not find very much information about this plant. It is similar in appearance to Argemone albiflora ssp. texana. They differ in the amount of thorns that are present on the plant. The main diffrence is the shape of their seed capsules and their bloom buds. Argemone aurantiaca's bloom buds are oblong. Argemone albiflora ssp. texana bloom buds are subglobose (not quite having the shape of a sphere or ball or nearly orbicular in shape) to broadly ellipsoid (the shape of a compressed or somewhat flattened sphere). In other words, Argemone albiflora ssp. texana's are somewhat "squatter" than Argemone aurantiaca's. The seeds are held in capsules which, when dried, have holes in the top from which the seeds pour out like salt shaker (as do other poppy family species).

Distribution Map 1: (this map does not include Bexar County - this plant has been documented in Bexar County by several sources)
http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/cgi/endemics_map_page2?code=K4280400

Distribution Map 2: http://plants.usda.gov/java/county?state_name=Texas&statefips=48&symbol=ARAU2

For more information, see its entry in the PlantFiles:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/114901/index.html

A bloom blowing in a brisk April wind which assists with pollen dispersal:

Texas Prickly Poppy, Texas Pricklypoppy, Hill Prickly Poppy (Argemone aurantiaca)

A closer view of the pollen laden bloom center ...

Rock Lettuce, White Dandelion, White Rock-lettuce, Pink Dandelion (Pinaropappus roseus), Asteraceae Family, Texas native, perennial, blooms March through August

Rock lettuce is an upright plant that attains a height of between six and eighteen inches. It natively grows in dry gravelly or calcareous soils on hillsides, rock ledges, gravel deposits and rock outcrops and the edges of thickets, gravelly creekbeds and woodlands. The alternate 2 to 4 inch long leaves are very narrow and lobed. They are crowded at the base and farther up, are very narrow and shallowly lobed or entire. The stem may have no upper leaves. The beautiful blooms are between 1 and 2 inches across and have no disk flowers. The upper side of blooms are yellowish to white and the underside may be pink to dark rose-lavendar. Interestingly, the bloom starts out rolled lengthwise and forms a narrow tube which slowly expands and flattens as the bloom opens.

Texas distribution:
http://plants.usda.gov/java/county?state_name=Texas&statefips=48&symbol=PIRO

For more information, see its entry in the PlantFiles:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/58252/index.html

A bloom ...

Rock Lettuce, White Dandelion, White Rock-lettuce, Pink Dandelion (Pinaropappus roseus)

A bloom bud ...

Rock Lettuce, White Dandelion, White Rock-lettuce, Pink Dandelion (Pinaropappus roseus)

Leaves ...

Southern pepperwort, southern pepperweed, southern peppergrass (Lepidium austrinum), Brassicaceae Family, native, annual.biennial, blooms from February through May

The southern pepperwort (Lepidium austrinum) is also known as southern pepperweed and southern peppergrass. An erect plant which attains a mature height of about twenty inches, it grows in loamy or sandy soils of the South Texas Plains and Edwards Plateau Regions. The stem is hairy and the leaves are toothed. They vary in size as they go up the stem. The basal leaves reach a length of 3 1/2 inches and upper leaves reach about 3/4 of an inch. It produces small white flowers from February to May and is considered a cool weather plant.

Distribution:
http://plants.usda.gov/java/county?state_name=Texas&statefips=48&symbol=LEAU3

Distribution by vegetative regions:
http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/cgi/vpt_map_name?reg=2,4,5,6,7,8&name=%3Ci%3ELepidium+austrinum%3C/i%3E+Small

For more information, see its entry in the PlantFiles:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/82931/index.html

Just starting to bloom as seen as the sun is setting behind it:..One can clearly see the rays of sunlight illuminating it as well as other plants in the background.

Peppergrass, pennycress (Lepidium montanum) Brassica (cabbage) family, (formerly Cruciferae)
It has many spreading branches with round clusters of white flowers at the end of the stems. With the long narrow leaves swaying in the breeze give a delicate lacy effect. The pods are flat.
Central and West Texas. March-June. Annual.

This message was edited Apr 24, 2007 10:21 AM

The flower clusters of peppergrass appear at the end of the stem, with many individual flowers, which are 1/4 inch across.

Texas Bluebonnet, (Lupinus texensis), Legume family, (Fabaceae) annual, native plant endemic to Texas, bloom period, March---May

An uncommon white bloomer ...

Ladino Clover, White Clover, White Dutch Clover (Trifolium repens), Papilionaceae Family, introduced, perennial, blooms April through September

This plant roots at the nodes and can form large mats up to 2m in diameter. It is found in the Pineywoods, Gulf Prairies and Marshes, Post Oak Savannahs, Blackland Prairies, Cross Timbers and Prairies, South Texas Plains and Edwards Plateau Regions. White clover grows in crops, turfgrass and landscapes in a wide range of environments. White clover can tolerate close mowing. It can grow on many different types and pHs of soil. Its foliage appears in 3 leaflet groups. The leaflets are ovate to orbicular with striate veins and have inverted splotches. The corolla is whitish and fades to tan or pink. It is purposefully planted together with grasses to enrich pastures for cattle, horses, sheep, or goats as well as cultivated in poor soil during crop rotations. Clovers assist with setting nitrogen; therefore a season of clover dominance will improve commerical crops for years into the future.

For more information, see its entry in the PlantFiles:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/54471/index.html

Bloom clusters

Ladino Clover, White Clover, White Dutch Clover (Trifolium repens)

Bloom clusters that have a touch of pink

Ladino Clover, White Clover, White Dutch Clover (Trifolium repens)

Spent blooms add interest

Ladino Clover, White Clover, White Dutch Clover (Trifolium repens)

Leaves with their nice markings

Ladino Clover, White Clover, White Dutch Clover (Trifolium repens)

A mat of vegetation