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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Wednesday - August 06, 2014

From: Henderson, TN
Region: Southeast
Topic: Plant Identification
Title: Plant identification
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

I have a plant my kids got me, but I cant figure out what it is. It has long thick waxy leaves and instead of flowers the leaves at the top turn white. Do you know what it is?

ANSWER:

There is a native plant that occurs in Tennessee that sort of fits your description, Euphorbia marginata (Snow on the mountain), except that it does have flowers. However, I imagine that your kids bought this plant for you. If so, then it is very unlikely to be a native plant and we aren't the people to be asking about non-native plants since our focus and expertise is with plants native to North America. Your best bet to find out what your plant is would be to take photos of it and then visit our Plant Identification page where you will find links to several plant identification forums that will accept photos of plants for identification.

From the Image Gallery

Snow on the mountain
Euphorbia marginata