Pocket Prairie Home Companion

The Natives are Wild

Every year about this time, I'm amazed at the profusion of wildflowers which populate the residential Texas parcel of land on which we built our homestead. Though I sowed buffalograss (the only native Texas turf grass) and supplemented that with a bit of buffalograass sod, the wildflowers pop up every year in different profuse configurations. Buffalograss does not require moving, so there's little debate about mowing the flowers, especially after visiting the National Wildflower Research Center last year and seeing the plants which grow voluntarily in my yard being cultivated in beds at a multi-million-dollar non-profit facility.

Over the past couple of years, I have identified dozens of native wildflowers where before I knew how to recognize about four. My previous yards had been established monocultures of imported Asian lawn grasses which required the monotonous and resource-intensive process of fertilizing, mowing, weeding, and watering. I realize now that some of the plants I called weeds then were simply wildflowers trying to grow where they had grown for thousands of years.

For those interested, here is a list of what I've identified so far, as well as those which we purchased from a nursery specializing in native plants. (There are still a dozen or so blooms which illude positive identification, but I don't think that makes them any less valid or legitimate than the others.)

American germander Teucrium canadense

American Mistletoe Phoradendron flavescens

Antelope-horns Asclepias asperula

Baby´s breath aster Aster subulatus

Barbara´s buttons Mashallia caespitosa var. caespitosa

Basket flower Centaurea americana

Beebalm / Cambridge scarlet monarda Monarda didyma

Black-eyed Susan Rudbekia hirta (introduced)

Blue-eyed grass Sisyrinchium angustiflorum

Blue flax Linum lewisii

Brown-eyed Susan Rudbekia hirta var. augustifolia

Buffalograss Buchloë dactyloides (2 varieties introduced)

Calylophus Calylophus spp.

Common sunflower Helianthus annuus

Common yarrow Achillea millifolium

Coral / Trumpet Honeysuckle Lonicera sempervirens (introduced)

Curry Helichysum augustifolium (introduced)

Cutleaf daisy / Engelmann daisy Engelmannia pinnatifida

Devil’s claw Proboscidea lousianica

Dewberries (wild blackberries)

Downy goldenrod Solidago petiolaris

"Easter" rose Rosa spp.

Engelmann evening primrose Oenothera engelmannii

Engelmann sage Salvia engelmannii

Eryngo Eryngium leavenworthii

Four-nerve daisy Hymenoxys scaposa

Fringed puccoon Lithopermum incisum

Gayfeather Liantris mucronata

Goat’s-rue / Cat-gut / Devil’s shoestring Tephrosia virginiana

Golden wave / Plains coreopsis Coreopsis tinctoria

Muscadine Grapes Vitis spp.

Greenthread Thelesperma filifolium

Horsemint / Lemon mint Monarda citridora

Indian blanket Gaillardia pulchella

Japanese honeysuckle Lonicera japonica

Lisianthus / Texas bluebell Eustoma grandiflorum

Mexican Petunia Ruellia “Katy” (introduced)

Morning glory Ipomoea spp.

Oxeye daisy Chrysanthemum leucanthemum (introduced)

Partridge pea Cassia fasciculata

Pink evening / showy primrose Oenothera speciosa

Plains fleabane Erigeron modestus

Prickly pear Opuntia spp.

Purple-head sneezeweed Helenium flexuosum

Purple paintbrush Castilleja purpurea

Sensitive brier Shrankia uncinata

Sharp-pod morning glory Ipomoea trihocarpa

Silver-leaf nightshade Solanum elaeagfolium

Snake-herb Pyschoriste linearis

Snow On The Prairie Euphorbia bicolor

Spotted beebalm Monarda punctata

Stiff-stem flax Linum rigidum var. berlandieri

Sweet William / Rose vervain Verbena canadensis

Texas bluebonnet Lupinus texensis

Texas dandelion Pyrrhopappus multicaulis

Texas sage Leucophyllum frutescens (introduced)

Texas stork´s-bill Erodium texanum

Texas thistle Cirsium texanum

Texas yellow star Lindheimera texana

Violet ruellia Ruellia nudiflora

White clover Trifolium repens

Wild foxglove Penstemon cobaea

Winecup Callirhoe involucrata

Yellow Prairie Flax Linum sulcatum

I am not a purist. I "weed" out some plants. The Sensitive Brier, whose leaves close when touched, produces a spiney pod which is very painful on bare feet. There are a couple of unidentified dandelion varieties which are prickly or gangly that I don´t find very attractive. But most of these plants have interesting folklore and Native American uses associated with them.

Wildflowers of Texas by Geyata Ajilvski, Shearer Publishing, Fredericksburg, Texas.

Requiem for a Lawnmower by Sally Wasowski, Taylor Publishing Company, Dallas, Texas.

Native Texas Plants by Sally Wasowski, Gulf Publishing Company, Houston, Texas

National Wildflower Research Center

Texas Parks & Wildlife Department


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