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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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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Sunday - April 04, 2010

From: Tyler, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Plant Identification
Title: Plant identification
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

There's a wildflower growing on my patio its leaves look like the leaves of a lute leaf sage, it has a flower stalk with yellow flowers. The stalk is about a one foot high. What is the name of it?

ANSWER:

In general, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to identify a plant by a description alone. There is one flower that comes to mind from your description, however. This is Packera obovata (roundleaf ragwort). It has yellow flowers on a stalk that is about 1 foot tall and its leaves resemble somewhat those of Salvia lyrata (lyreleaf sage). If, however, this is not the plant on your patio, please take photos and send them to us and we will do our best to identify your plant. Please visit Mr. Smarty Plants' Plant Identification page and carefully follow the instructions there for submitting photos.