Soft-Hair Marbleseed

Not very ornamental. Is native around San Antonio, Tx. Leaves add a bit of interest in winter and spring. The basal and lower leaves a...Read Morere lanceolate to oblanceolate-spatulate, to 13 cm. long and 14 mm. wide, appressed-pubescent and strongly 5 to 7-nerved. The nerves are prominent and depressed, giving the leaf a distinct texture. Flowers are not conspicuous. I allow it to grow in the wilder parts of the garden. Plants become scraggly by mid to late summer. Should be cut back (all the foliage and the old bloom stalks) in late fall or early winter. Caution, the dry stems especially have prickly hairs that cause irritation and can feel like you have small cactus thorns stuck in you. Forms small hard seeds about the size of a BB, hence one of the common names - Marble-seed. Onosmodium Helleri is very similar in appearance, though much rarer. It has a more restricted range. The leaves on O. Helleri are broader (broadly oblong-elliptic) and usually a bit shorter.