Host an Event Volunteer Join Tickets

Support the plant database you love!

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.

Help us grow by giving to the Plant Database Fund or by becoming a member

Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?

Share

Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

Search Smarty Plants
See a list of all Smarty Plants questions

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.

 
rate this answer
Not Yet Rated

Sunday - July 18, 2010

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

QUESTION:

My daughter is working on a wildflower collection for her Biology class, we have found a flower, that, for appearances sake, is identified in books as Selfheal. This flower is taller than pictures we are seeing, it has a red/purple stem, no downy hair under leaves, does not smell of anise, and the flower coming out of the bracts is a deep purple color, not the light pink/purple color we see of the Selfheal. The only similarity to that plant is the way the flower is bract. Can you help?

ANSWER:

I have one suggestion for the description that you gave of the flower your daughter found.  It could possibly be Verbena stricta (hoary verbena).  Here are more photos from Minnesota Wildflowers, Kansas Wildflowers & Grasses, and from Nearctica.  If that isn't it, please send us photos and we will do our best to identify it.  Visit Mr. Smarty Plants' Plant Identification page for instructions for submitting photos.




 

More Plant Identification Questions

Plant in Las Vegas with fern-like foliage and yellow/orange/red flowers
August 21, 2011 - We were in North Las Vegas and saw a beautiful plant, I would love to find it. It had a fern like foliage at the bottom with long thin stems and a flower clump at the top with yellow/orange/red flower...
view the full question and answer

Shrub with thorns, black fruit and citrus fragrance in Michigan
September 19, 2014 - I'm not sure that my plant is a native, but I'm hoping to find some answer. There is a small patch of roadside shrubs on my property which I've been unable to identify. They have simple opposite ...
view the full question and answer

Houseplant identification.
February 03, 2011 - Please help me identify a houseplant that flowers a yellow flower at the base of plant. Its leaves are narrow, pointed and green on the topside and burgundy with small hairs on the underside of the l...
view the full question and answer

Plant identification
July 29, 2008 - I have found what resembles a gooseberry growing from what appears to be a grapevine trellising on a fence beside a lake in East Texas. The stems are smooth and slender, nad as I stated before vine up...
view the full question and answer

Plant identification
November 14, 2008 - On our farm we found a plant that we had never seen before. It has long stems coming from center ground level and is about 3 feet tall, looks like a fern from far off. The leaves (length of finger) ...
view the full question and answer

Support the Wildflower Center by Donating Online or Becoming a Member today.