Part 17

The purple horsemint is common on plains from Mexico to Missouri and Kansas and ranges eastward to Florida. It blooms from May to August but is most profuse in June.

The monardas are North American plants named in honor of Nicolas Monardes, a Spanish physician and botanist. Some are valued for their perfume oils, and some have a slight medicinal value. The purple horsemint is rich in nectar, but the honey produced is not of the first quality. The dried plants are used in hens’ nests to drive off mites and fleas.

Plains Lemon Monarda (Monarda pectinata) is the common horsemint on the dry western plains in the state and ranges to Arizona and Nebraska. The flowers are pink or white but are not spotted with purple. The floral leaves are lance-shaped.

Prairie Sage (Salvia pitcheri) grows in scattered clumps throughout the central prairie region from Texas to Illinois and Minnesota. Because of its sky-blue, tubular, 2-lipped flowers, it is one of the plants most easily identified. The gray-green leaves have the characteristic sage odor and can be used for sage tea. The plants are two to three feet high and bloom from late spring to November.

Red Sage or Salvia. Indian Fire (Salvia coccinea) is a hardy plant in cultivation and blooms nearly all the year. It is native to the Gulf States, in Texas growing in woods near the coast. The red flowers are nearly an inch long.

There are nearly five hundred salvias known. Three European species are cultivated for their leaves, and many others are grown for ornamental purposes. The common bedding salvia is Salvia splendens, native of Brazil. The handsomest flower in the state is the red-flowered Salvia regla, found in a few mountain canyons in West Texas. Cancer weed (Salvia lyrata) is the common salvia of East Texas woods.

Blue Sage. Blue Salvia (Salvia farinacea) is a lovely plant which is native and abundant in the limestone regions of the state. It has long been known in cultivation, being especially adapted for rock gardens and highway plantings. It blooms with renewed activity after every rain from April to November. The corollas are usually purple but vary to blue and white. They have a narrow upper lip which is velvety with violet hairs on its outer surface. The calyx is velvety with violet-gray hairs. The stems grow from perennial roots and form clumps two to three feet high.

Texas Salvia. Texas Sage (Salviastrum texanum) blooms from March to May, growing in a low bushy clump 12-18 inches high on limestone hillsides from Central Texas to New Mexico. The spikes are densely covered with lavender flowers about an inch long. Unlike the true salvias, it has a flaring calyx which is densely bearded in the throat.

POTATO FAMILY (Solanaceae)

Leaves alternate; calyx 4-6-lobed; petals united, 5; stamens 5, on corolla-tube, anthers often opening by apical pores; ovary 2-celled; fruit a capsule or berry.

Purple Nightshade (Solanum elaeagnifolium) is sometimes called silver-leaved nightshade or “trompillo.” Although bearing lovely star-shaped lavender flowers, the purple nightshade is considered a pernicious weed in fields and gardens. It grows from deep, woody perennial roots and blooms profusely even in seasons of drouth from May to October. It is found on plains from Missouri to Texas and Arizona. The branched plants grow 1-3 ft. high and are more or less covered with prickles. The yellow fruits resemble small tomatoes and remain on the old stalks for months. They are said to be poisonous.

Torrey’s Nightshade (Solanum torreyi) is a plant similar to the purple nightshade, but it has broader, irregularly-toothed leaves and larger flowers and seldom grows as high.

The solanum group comprises nearly a thousand species and includes many well-known plants, among which are the Irish potato and the egg-plant. Bitter-sweet and Jerusalem cherry are cultivated for their showy fruits. Several members of the group are said to be very poisonous.

Buffalo-Bur. Yellow Nightshade (Solanum rostratum) is a common weed in waste places and on prairies from Tennessee to Mexico, but the spreading plants are often covered with their yellow star blossoms. Children call them sticker-weeds because of the vicious prickles on the foliage. They are also called tread-softly, Texas nettle, prickly potato, and bumble-bee bush, the latter name being given because of the numerous bee visitors. The name of buffalo-bur dates back to the days when buffaloes roamed the plains, the prickly fruits clinging to the shaggy coats of the huge beasts.

The yellow flowers which bloom from May to October resemble those of the purple nightshade in shape and size. The stamens of the nightshades shed their pollen through small openings at the top of the pollen-sac. The buffalo-bur has one stamen very much larger than the other four. The leaves are once or twice divided into broad rounded segments. The berries are enclosed in the enlarged and spiny calyx.

Low Ground Cherry (Physalis mollis) is a common weed throughout the state and ranges to Arkansas, Mexico, and California. The flowers and fruits are usually hidden beneath the leaves. The fruit, a berry very much like a small tomato, is enclosed in the enlarged sac-like calyx. The scientific name is from the Greek word meaning “bladder” and refers to the inflated calyx. Some ground cherries are cultivated for their fruits which are edible and are used for making preserves and pies.

Purple Ground Cherry (Physalis lobata) flaunts its gay purple flowers for all to see. The plant has low, spreading branches which are covered with purple blooms, one inch broad. It ranges from Mexico to Kansas and California, blooming in Texas from spring to fall.

The potato family includes the tomato and tobacco plants. Wild tobacco (Nicotiana repanda) is very abundant in the southern part of the state. The white flowers resemble those of the cultivated petunia, which also belongs to this family.

FIGWORT FAMILY (Scrophulariaceae)

Leaves alternate, opposite, or whorled; sepals, 4-5; corolla tubular, 4-5-lobed, 2-lipped; stamens often 4, in pairs on corolla-tube, sterile stamen often present; ovary 2-celled, superior.

Purple Paint-Brush (Castilleja purpurea) grows on limestone slopes and rocky prairies in North-central Texas. The low stems grow from a woody perennial root. The flowers and floral leaves are both conspicuously colored, varying from rose to purple. The divided leaves are a lovely ashy-gray.

Leucophyllum. White Leaf. Cenizo (Leucophyllum texanum) covers hillsides in the southern and southwestern parts of the state. The low bushes seldom grow more than three or four feet high. It is a startling and lovely sight to see a hillside which was a mass of gray transformed overnight into a delicate hue of lavender. This happens shortly after heavy rains, and for this reason the plant is sometimes called barometer bush. Leucophyllum has been widely introduced as a shrub in Texas gardens, where the ashy-gray leaves are quite effective against dark green shrubbery. The name is Greek and means “white leaf.”

Scarlet Paint-Brush (Castilleja indivisa) is also called Indian paint-brush, painted-cup, entire-leaved paint brush, and Indian pink. One of the most inspiring landscape displays of native flowers is formed by the scarlet paint-brush. It is found in sandy soil from the northeastern to southwestern parts of the state and blooms from March to May but is at its best in April. The paint-brush display of red is equalled or excelled only by that of two other wild-flower favorites—the red Drummond’s phlox in south-central sandy regions and the beautiful gaillardia of black land prairies.

The intense scarlet-red is due to the coloring of the broadened floral leaves (bracts) at the tip of the stem. These bracts almost hide the inconspicuous cream-colored flowers which are about an inch long. The bracts are oblong, the tips being broader than the base and deeply stained with scarlet.

The scarlet paint-brush is an annual plant, commonly six to twelve inches high, and is sometimes branched at the base. The leaves are rough-nerved and wavy-margined. Occasionally the leaves have two linear basal lobes somewhat like those of the eastern or swamp scarlet paint-brush (Castilleja coccinea), which has similar flower clusters but grows in swampy places.

The castillejas are mostly Western American plants, some being parasitic on the roots of other plants. They are named in honor of D. Castillejo, a Spanish botanist. In addition to the scarlet and purple paint-brushes, several other castillejas are found in the state. Lindheimer’s paint-brush (Castilleja lindheimeri) is very much like the purple paint-brush, but it has red or orange bracts. It is a perennial plant which grows on limestone hillsides of Southwest-central Texas. The woolly-stemmed paint-brush (Castilleja lanata) has woolly-gray stems and leaves and red flower clusters. It may be noticed in chaparral thickets and canyons in West Texas.

Small-Flowered Pentstemonor or Beard-Tongue (Pentstemon laxiflorus) grows in the sandy soil of post oak woods in Central and East Texas. The slender stems are 1-2 ft. high and are topped by slender-stalked flower clusters. The corollas are a pale lavender, about an inch long. This is a very common plant in the state and has been given various names by botanists, the latest one being laxiflorus. It is a close relative, probably a variety, of the slender beard-tongue (Pentstemon gracilis) of moist prairies from Minnesota to Oklahoma.

Texas Toad-Flax (Linaria texana) has pale blue flowers similar to those of the Canada toad-flax. The corollas have a slender spur about half an inch long. The slender stems are 1-2 feet high, growing from a cluster of basal leaves which are finely divided into somewhat rounded segments. It is widespread in sandy soil from Florida to California and blooms early in the spring.