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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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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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Saturday - September 29, 2007

From: Ash Ville, NC
Region: Southeast
Topic: Non-Natives
Title: Seeking information on Crateeva asiatica, non-native herbal medicine
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

Dear Mr. Smarty Plants, I had a look at your website in hope of finding information about the plant Crateeva asiatica. Could you kindly help me to locate the information for the same?

ANSWER:

The reason you didn't find information about Crateeva asiatica in our Native Plant Database is because our database is restricted only to plants native to North America and C. asiatica is not native to North America.  You could try doing a search on the Internet, although there doesn't seem to be much information there.  From the small amount of information I found on the Internet, it sounds as if this plant is considered to have medicinal properties.  Your best bet might be to search for herbal medicine sites on the web and make inquiry through them.
 

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