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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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Friday - May 30, 2008

From: Horseshoe Bay, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Herbs/Forbs
Title: Yellow-flowered Ipomopsis rubra - Standing Cypress
Answered by: Joe Marcus

QUESTION:

We have several acres of we call native plant areas, maybe unmaintained areas or natural is a better description of these areas. As we were developing these areas we sown in several different wildflower varieties, one variety that is showing especially well this year is Ipomopsis rubra. My question to you is: How common is the yellow colored flower in this species? We have a smattering of this color within thousands of the red color. Thanks for your help

ANSWER:

A smattering of yellow sounds about right.  Within most populations of the normal, orange-red colored Standing Cypress will usually be a few of the yellow-flowered variants.  While not as showy as the red-flowered form, they're eye-catching simply because their color is different.

 

From the Image Gallery


Standing cypress
Ipomopsis rubra

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