Part 4

Thurow’s Blue-Eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium thurowi) is a very small plant with small yellow flowers found in the southeastern part of the state in damp places. Spring.

Giant Blue-Flag or Iris (Iris giganticaerulea) is a tall iris found in swampy places in East Texas and Louisiana, blooming in late April and May. The color of this iris is quite variable, ranging from dark violet to lavender and white. The recurved spreading sepals are 3-4 inches long, and the petals are shorter and erect. The capsules are 3-4 in. long with 6 rounded ridges.

Narrow Blue-Flag (Iris virginica) has been confused with the Carolina iris, according to Dr. Small of the New York Botanical Garden, who has recently described many new irises from Louisiana. The narrow blue-flag is colored similarly to the giant iris, but has shorter 3-angled capsules, very narrow leaves, and zig-zag stems. It is abundant on the Coastal Plain in early spring.

Red-Brown Flag (Iris fulva) is also found in the swamps in East Texas.

ORCHID FAMILY (Orchidaceae)

Air plants or tuberous-rooted; leaves alternate, undivided; sepals 3; petals 3, the middle one, or “lip,” often complex in structure; stamens 2 or 1, united to pistil; ovary below the perianth.

Slender Ladies’-Tresses (Ibidium gracile) is also called twisted-stalk or corkscrew-plant because of the twisting of the flower-stalk. The stems, which are 8 in. to 2 ft. high, grow from a cluster of tuberous roots and have two broad leaves at the base. This flower ranges from Texas to Nova Scotia.

Rose Pogonia. Snake-Mouth (Pogonia ophioglossoides) grows in swampy places from Texas to Newfoundland. Pogonia is from the Greek, meaning “bearded” and refers to the bearded lip.

Grass-Pink (Limodorum tuberosum) is a pink-flowered orchid of East Texas and the Eastern States similar to the rose pogonia, but does not have the short clasping leaf on the stem.

The orchid family is a large group of more than 15,000 species. Some orchids are air-plants, attaching themselves to tree-trunks, but none of these are found among the 25 orchids growing in Texas. Perhaps the handsomest orchid in the state is the red-flowered flame orchid (Stenorrhynchus cinnabarinus) found in the mountains of the Big Bend. All the Texas orchids are rare enough to need protection.

BUCKWHEAT FAMILY (Polygonaceae)

Leaves usually alternate; sepals 3-6, sometimes petal-like; petals absent; stamens usually 6-9; ovary 1-celled.

Many-Flowered Buckwheat (Eriogonum multiflorum) is also called umbrella-plant because of its spreading clusters at the top of the stem. It grows about 2 ft. high, being very abundant in sandy soil from South-central Texas to Arkansas and Louisiana in the late summer and fall. The name means “woolly knees,” referring to the jointed stems.

Buckwheat flour is made from the seeds of Fagopyrum esculentum, a closely related plant, similar in size, white-flowered, and with large 3-angled seeds. Queen’s crown or wreath (Antigonon leptopus), a lovely pink-flowered vine widely cultivated in Texas, is a member of the buckwheat family.

Annual Buckwheat (Eriogonum annuum), similar to the many-flowered buckwheat, but with leaves white-woolly on both sides and narrowed at the base, is very abundant in the northwestern part into New Mexico and Mexico. Acre after acre along the highways is often covered with it. Many other white-, yellow-, and red-flowered buckwheats are found in the mountains of West Texas.

Southern Smartweed (Persicaria longistyla), ranging from Mississippi to New Mexico is also called gander-grass or knotweed. It grows in wet places throughout the state and blooms in the late summer and fall. The dense spikes of small pink flowers are very attractive, the flowers having 5 pink sepals but no petals. The seeds are lens-shaped and covered with a black shining coat. The seeds of many of the smartweeds are considered good food for ducks.

Dotted Smartweed (Persicaria punctata) has scattered greenish-white flowers and 3-angled seeds. The leaves are much narrower than those of the Southern smartweed. Many other smartweeds are found in the state.

Curly-Leaved Dock (Rumex crispus), as well as several other docks, is common in the state. The leaves of some of them are used for greens. Canaigre is the dock of Western Texas and New Mexico, the roots of which have furnished tannin for commercial purposes.

FOUR-O’CLOCK FAMILY (Nyctaginaceae)

Leaves opposite or alternate; flowers often surrounded by colored bracts; calyx tubular, often petal-like; petals absent; stamens 1 to many; ovary 1-celled.

Gray’s Umbrella-Wort. Pink Four-O’clock (Allionia grayana) has delicate pink flowers which have no petals, but the 5 united sepals are petal-like in appearance. The flowers are spreading or funnel-shaped and open in the afternoon. Several flowers are borne together and are surrounded at their bases by 5 short united floral leaves, forming a pale green veiny involucre which is sometimes mistaken for the flower. The clusters terminate the branches on a widely spreading plant about 2 ft. high.

Small-Flowered Four-O’clock (Allionia incarnata) is very abundant in Southwestern Texas to Arizona and South America. It forms a low, spreading plant, which is profusely covered with small pink blooms less than half an inch broad.

Narrow-Leaved Sand-Verbena (Abronia angustifolia) is a low plant with a dense head of pink flowers which are so fragrant that one plant will perfume the air for some distance. In favorable seasons the hills around El Paso are pink with the lovely blooms. It is called sand-verbena because of the verbena-like clusters.

Devil’s Bouquet (Nyctaginia capitata) is also called skunk flower because of its heavy, disagreeable odor. The head-like clusters of scarlet flowers are very showy, being 2-3 in. broad. The 5-lobed flowers resemble those of the umbrella-worts and likewise open in the afternoons. The plants are low and scattered, but are quite common from Central and Southern Texas to Mexico and New Mexico from May to October.

Angel’s Trumpet (Acleisanthes longiflora) grows from long spreading stems with the long-tubed flowers sharply erect. The flowers are over an inch broad with a tube 4-6 in. long. It is most abundant in the spring, but may be found until October in the same range as the devil’s bouquet. Jimson-weed (Datura) is also called angel’s trumpet.

Bougainvillea is a member of this family frequently cultivated in the southern part of the state. The common four-o’clock is often seen in gardens and in some places has escaped cultivation.

POKEWEED FAMILY (Phytolaccaceae)

Leaves alternate, entire; sepals 4-5; petals absent; stamens 3 to many, sometimes united at the base; ovary with 1 to many distinct or united carpels.