Host an Event Volunteer Join Tickets

Support the plant database you love!

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.

Help us grow by giving to the Plant Database Fund or by becoming a member

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

Share

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.

Search Smarty Plants
See a list of all Smarty Plants questions

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.

 
rate this answer
1 rating

Tuesday - June 05, 2012

From: Houston, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Edible Plants, Medicinal Plants
Title: Texas plants useful to early settlers
Answered by: Guy Thompson

QUESTION:

I'm working on some interpretation for a prairie heritage trail in SE TX (near Houston). I'd like to know where I can find some good information on plant remedies which might have been used by early settlers to this part of Texas? Preferably with any documented information on how these remedies might have been prepared (i.e., poultices, salves etc). Thanks so much Amanda Hughes-Horan, Interpretive Insights

ANSWER:

 

By far the most detailed account of medicinal plants is found in "The Useful Wild Plants of Texas, the Southestern and Southwestern United States, the Southern Plains, and Northern Mexico", by Scooter Cheatham, Marshall Johnston, and Lynn Marshall.  Unfortunately, only the first three volumes of a projected fifteen volume set have been published.  The series is arranged alphabetically by genus name, so if you have plants  whose botanical genus name begins with A or C (through Celtis), you are in luck.  The volumes are large and expensive, so you may have to look in a large library to find them.  Perhaps the Rice University library?

A second recommendation is "Remarkable Plants of Texas: Uncommon Accounts of Our Common Natives", by Matt Warnock Turner. This 2009 book is more readily available, through Amazon.com, for example.

A third, and somewhat less appropriate volume is "Edible and Useful Plants of Texas and the Southwest", by Delena Tull.  Also available at Amazon.com.

Good luck in your research!

 

More Medicinal Plants Questions

Information on herbs for Northeast Ohio
May 03, 2006 - Hello there, I am writing you seeking some information on Northeast Ohio's native plants. This has been rather difficult to find—specific native plants that can be used as herbs. If you could h...
view the full question and answer

Herbal properties of Dicentra formosa
January 23, 2016 - I would like to get some information on the Dicentra formosa plant such as the benefits of the plant. Is it poisonous? Can it be infused in an oil?
view the full question and answer

List of plants native to the Abilene, Texas area
September 15, 2011 - Am looking for direction to a complete list of plants native to the Abilene, Taylor County, Texas area (trees, shrubs, grasses, cacti and other plants that grew here before cultivation, eradication or...
view the full question and answer

Edible and Medicinal Plant Resources for West Texas
March 02, 2013 - I am a teacher of gifted and talented students in Paint Rock, Texas. We were looking for a reliable book or website for edible and medicinal plants in West Texas.
view the full question and answer

Question about Allamanda cathartica
July 29, 2008 - how would i prove that allamanda cathartica is an antidote for anti-tetanus in a cheaper way?
view the full question and answer

Support the Wildflower Center by Donating Online or Becoming a Member today.