Texas Flowers in Natural Colors

Part 1

TEXAS FLOWERS IN NATURAL COLORS

BY EULA WHITEHOUSE

Illustrations by the Author

Published by EULA WHITEHOUSE Dallas, Texas

Copyright 1936 and 1948, by

Eula Whitehouse Box 739, Southern Methodist University Dallas 5, Texas

Printed and bound in the United States of America

First Edition 1936 Second Edition 1948

TEXAS WILDFLOWERS

From the pine woods to the prairies, From the Panhandle to the sea, You’ll find the Texas wildflowers In marvelous carpetry.

Such magic tints of colors, Pale pinks and dainty blues, No artist’s palette can match them In all their radiant hues.

The Texas sun has kissed them; To Heaven they lift their eyes; Beauty and Peace it brings them, And Freedom under Texas skies.

—Gertrude Whitehouse

PREFACE

For more than a century the wild flowers of Texas have been a source of study and pleasure to scientists and flower lovers. The state can boast of a varied and interesting flora which has attracted numerous plant collectors since the first specimens were collected in the Texas Panhandle by Dr. Edwin James, naturalist accompanying the Long Expedition in 1820. Dr. Louis Berlandier, a French botanist, endured the hardships of the Teran Expedition for the exploration of the boundary region between Texas and Mexico between 1826 and 1834 in order to collect plants in Texas.

Berlandier’s first collection was instrumental, a few years later, in arousing the interest of Thomas Drummond, a Scotch botanist and collector. In 1833-34 Drummond visited Southeast Texas and collected 700 species of plants. In 1836, Ferdinand Lindheimer, a German botanist, moved to Texas and began his noteworthy study and collection of Texas plants. Charles Wright, a Yale graduate, came to Texas in 1837, first collecting plants in East Texas and later making important additions in Southwest Texas. Since the work of these early pioneers, many scientists have visited nearly all parts of the state and have added many new names to the list of native plants.

Today nearly five thousand species of flowering plants have been reported from the state. About half of these have showy, conspicuous flowers, and many of them are very limited in their distribution in Texas. If the reader will keep these figures in mind, perhaps he will not be disappointed at not finding some of his favorite flowers in the following pages. As such a limited number could be included, it was thought best to use those widely distributed throughout the state, omitting some of the well-known plants which have been frequently illustrated in previous publications.

The present manual is not intended as a guide to the flora of the state, but it is hoped that it will prove helpful in identifying some of the common flowers. A few rare and beautiful flowers have been included so that they may be recognized and protected. In order to include representatives of the more important plant families, it was impossible because of lack of space to add many widely distributed members of other families represented. For example, the pea family, which has about 300 showy members in Texas, had to be limited to ten representatives.

The water color paintings on which the manual is based were made by the author. In nearly all cases they were made from fresh specimens carefully checked with verified material in the University of Texas Herbarium; a few which could not be painted at the time of collecting were later drawn from pressed specimens and colored from notes and memory.

The flowers of Texas have been so very abundant that only recently has it been considered necessary to protect them. The Legislature of 1933 passed a law forbidding the picking of flowers and injury to trees and shrubs along highways. Even this protection is not sufficient for some plants. A few years ago the writer happened to visit the shop of a cactus fancier just after he had returned from a collecting trip and saw with amazement the large tow-sacks filled with rare and highly prized cacti. Wagon loads of the large and vivid-blooming ribbed cacti have been observed as they were brought in for market. The bluebell, or purple gentian, is in need of protection since florists have been buying them up in such large quantities. The picturesque bunches of sotol are being rapidly destroyed, as ranchmen are stripping them of their saw-toothed leaves and feeding the stalks to their cattle. Yaupon and American holly, both slow-growing plants, are being destroyed to supply the market with Christmas greens.

A few flower sanctuaries have been established in recent years, but many others are needed. The decrease in our native flowers is primarily due to increase in population with the accompanying increases in homesteads and acres in cultivation, over-grazing, and improved facilities of travel. The limestone hill region was formerly a flower paradise but has been so heavily over-grazed by sheep in recent years that now the only flowers to be found are the unattractive rabbit-tobacco, horehound, and queen’s delight, or goatweed, so called because sheep and goats will not eat it.

Grateful acknowledgment is made to the many friends who have assisted me in the preparation of this volume. I deeply regret that it has been necessary to increase the list price of this edition. The first edition of three thousand copies did not pay for the cost of publication. That deficit, added to the increased costs of printing and paper, have made an increase imperative.

September 1, 1948 Eula Whitehouse

CONTENTS

PAGE Texas Wildflowers v Preface vii Reference Books on Texas Flowers xi Plant Parts and Plant Names xiii Plant Distribution xvi Description of Plants 2 Finding Lists 194 Index 204

REFERENCE BOOKS ON TEXAS FLOWERS

For more detailed descriptions, description of other plants, flower uses, and flower legends and history, the following books will prove helpful:

Bailey, L. H., The Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. Benson, L. and Darrow, R. A., A Manual of Southwestern Desert Trees and Shrubs. Britton, N. L. and Brown, H. A., An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions. Cory, V. L. and Parks, H. B., Catalogue of the Flora of Texas. Coulter, John M., Cop. Botany of Western Texas (U. S. Nat. Herb. Contr., 1892, out of print). Dorman, Caroline E., Wild Flowers of Louisiana. Fassett, N. C., A Manual of Aquatic Plants. Geiser, S. W., Naturalists of the Frontier. Southwest Press, Dallas. Jaeger, E. C., Desert Wild Flowers. Kearney, T. H. and Peebles, R. H., Flowering Plants and Ferns of Arizona. Parks, H. B., Valuable Plants Native to Texas. Preston, R. J., Rocky Mountain Trees. Quillan, Ellen Schulz, Texas Wild Flowers. Ranson, Nancy R., Texas Wild Flower Legends. Reeves, R. G., and Bain, D. C., Flora of South-Central Texas. Rydberg, P. A., Flora of the Prairies and Plains of Central N. A. (out of print). Silveus, W. A., Texas Grasses. Slater, Elsie M., A Hundred Flowers of the Mexican Border at El Paso. Small, John K., Flora of the Southeastern United States, out of print; Manual of the Southeastern Flora. Standley, P. C., Trees and Shrubs of Mexico (U. S. Nat Herb. Contr., 19—, out of print). Stemen, T. B. and Myers, W. S., Oklahoma Flora. Wooton, E. O. and Standley, P. C., Flora of New Mexico (U. S. Nat. Herb. Contr. Vol. 19, out of print).

Part 2

COROLLA LOBES SEPARATE STIGMA STAMEN PETAL SEPAL FLOWER-STALK (PEDUNCLE) COROLLA LOBES UNITED COROLLA LOBE STAMEN ANTHER (POLLEN-SAC) FILAMENT SEPAL PISTIL STIGMA STYLE OVARY CALYX-TUBE SEED STIGMA STAMEN SEPAL CALYX-TUBE CAPSULE BELL-SHAPE CALYX-TUBE TUBULAR FUNNEL FORM COMPOSITE FLOWER HEADS INVOLUCRE STIGMA STYLE STAMEN TUBE DISK COROLLA RAY COROLLA DISK FRUIT BRACT (FLORAL LEAF) FLORAL LEAF (BRACT) LEAF BLADE MIDRIB LEAF-STALK (PETIOLE) IRREGULAR LOBES FRUIT OF COMPOSITE (ACHENE) BRISTLES (PAPPUS) SEED SIMPLE LEAVES LINEAR LANCE-SHAPE OBLONG LANCE-OBLONG OVATE COMPOUND LEAVES ONCE-DIVIDED PALMATE or DIGITATE SHARPLY TOOTHED LEAFLETS LEAF-STALK (PETIOLE) STEM PINNATE TWICE-DIVIDED LEAFLET LEAF-STALK

PLANT PARTS AND PLANT NAMES

The diagram on the opposite page carries illustrations of most of the terms used in the following descriptions of plants. As it was intended that this manual should serve as a means of plant identification from illustrations, the descriptions have been made very brief. If the reader is interested in a more detailed description, technical books should be consulted. Some botanical terms are rather loosely used in the effort to avoid technical expressions; for example, the fruit of a daisy flower is known popularly as a seed but is an achene, a seed closely covered by the wall of the ovary.

The conspicuous parts of the flower commonly make up the corolla, each part being known as a petal; however, in some flowers the showy part is actually the calyx, as the outer whorl of parts around the stamens and pistil is always called. The divisions of the calyx are known as sepals. The stamens are made up of two parts—the anthers or small sacs which bear the pollen grains, a necessary part to fertilization, and the filaments or stalks which elevate the anthers so that the pollen grains can be scattered. The ovules which develop into seeds after fertilization are borne in the ovary, a part of the pistil. The pollen is deposited on the stigma and carried down the style to the ovule. Showy flower parts, nectar, and other devices attract insect visitors which aid in the transfer of pollen from one flower to another.

Continue reading Texas Flowers in Natural Colors free in the Wunder reader →