Native Plants

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Thursday - March 10, 2005

From: Euless, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Ferns
Title: Identification of vine with red flowers, fern-like leaves
Answered by: Nan Hampton and Joe Marcus

QUESTION:

Last year I saw a plant at the State Fair. It had small fern like leaves to it with beautiful little red flowers. It was a vine plant of some sort. They told me that it was native to the Hill Country of Texas. Any ideas what plant this was? Thank you!

ANSWER:

We have come up with four possibilities, none of which matches your description exactly.

1. Trumpet-creeper (Campsis radicans) is a vine native to the Texas Hill Country with large red flowers and fern-like leaves. You can see additional pictures of the trumpet creeper.

2. Scarlet Leatherflower (Clematis texensis) is a vine native to the Texas Hill Country with red flowers but the leaves are not exactly fern-like, unless you're thinking of cliffbrake ferns. There are more images of the Scarlet Leatherflower.

3. Standing Cypress (Ipomopsis rubra) is a native to the Texas Hill Country with red flowers and fern-like, but it is not a vine. There are other photos of Standing Cypress.

4. Cypressvine (Ipomoea quamoclit) is a vine with fern-like leaves and red flowers but it is not native to Texas. It is an introduced species from Mexico and tropical America.

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Thursday - March 10, 2005

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