Native Plants

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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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!

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Wednesday - July 09, 2014

From: LOS ANGELES, CA
Region: California
Topic: Plant Identification, Vines
Title: Identity of vine with orangish flowers
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

I am looking to ID what I believe is a vine growing plant that blooms orangish flowers. I have pictures of the plant, and have attempted to use multiple plant ID websites. But have been unsuccessful. Would it all be possible to submit the photo I have for ID? Thanks for your time and consideration.

ANSWER:

Mr. Smarty Plants assumes that the vine is growing in California since you didn't indicate otherwise. You can do a COMBINATION SEARCH in our Native Plant Database by selecting California from the Select State or Province slot, "Vine" from Habit (general appearance) and "red" and "orange" for Bloom Color. This will give 3 results for native vines that grow in California. In those 3 there are Lonicera ciliosa (Orange honeysuckle) with orange flowers and Lathyrus splendens (Pride of california) with orangish-red flowers.

It is entirely possible that the vine you describe is not a North American native plant. Our focus and expertise here at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center are with plants native to North America so we aren't going to be very helpful in identifying non-native plants but we will suggest a couple that I found by Googling "California vine orange flowers":

Bignonia buccinatoria (trumpet vine), native to Central America.

Bomarea multiflora (Climbing alstroemeria), native to Columbia.

We are sorry but we no longer accept photos of plants for identification; however, please visit our Plant Identification page to find links to plant identification forums that will accept photos of plants for identification.

From the Image Gallery

Orange honeysuckle
Lonicera ciliosa

Pride of california
Lathyrus splendens