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Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?

A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.

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Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?

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Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

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Please forgive us, but Mr. Smarty Plants has been overwhelmed by a flood of mail and must take a break for awhile to catch up. We hope to be accepting new questions again soon. Thank you!

Need help with plant identification, visit the plant identification page.

 
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Wednesday - May 14, 2008

From: Houston, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Plant Identification
Title: Tall skinny plant with tubelike flowers
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

I already posted a question regarding a skinny plant with tiny tube like flowers and you gave me 6 possibilities unfortunately it is not one of them. I happened to see the plant again in my neighborhood today and what I noticed is that it looks like tall skinny grass, the flowers are even smaller than the ones from the plants on the pictures you posted.

ANSWER:

I think we are going to need a photo to determine what you are seeing.  It is possible that it is a non-native plant because I've about exhausted the native plants that resemble your description.  Please visit the Ask Mr. Smarty Plants page and read instructions for submitting photos under "Plant Identification" in the lower right corner.   We will be happy to try and identify your plant, but it's going to take a photo for us to have any success.
 

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