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.
Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?
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.
rate this answer
Saturday - July 24, 2010
From: Kingsland, GA
Region: Southeast
Topic: Plant Identification
Title: Plant identification
Answered by: Nan Hampton
QUESTION:
Purchased foliage plant - no one knows its name. Leaves (stems) are bright green and 10" tall. Has "babies" like a spider plant but leaves (stems) are wider and thicker. Has a "rib" to them in the center of the stem.ANSWER:
Our focus and expertise at the Wildflower Center are with plants native to North America. A purchased foliage plant that has babies that look like a spider plant doesn't sound like any North American native plant that I can think of. If you really think it is a North American native, you can send us photos and we will do our very best to identify it. Please visit Mr. Smarty Plants' Plant Identification page for instructions on submitting photos. Otherwise, your best bet for having your plant identified is to submit photos to the UBC Botanical Garden Plant Identification Forum. They do an excellent job identifying non-native plants.More Plant Identification Questions
Plant identification
July 28, 2012 - I have a plant that looks like a suculent tree with a canopy like an umbrella. It grows every summer & is no more than 5 ft tall. It has tiny spines on it's trunk, which has white spots on it. the en...
view the full question and answer
Plant identification
June 19, 2011 - I am trying to identify a flowering plant I saw today in Houston. Its leaves are green and it produces beautiful flowers with 4 petals that kind of remind me of a pinwheel. The petals are about 2 inch...
view the full question and answer
Identity of plant friend bought at plant sale
June 20, 2015 - Can you Please Identify this plant? A friend had bought it at a plant sale and she thinks it was called a money tree. I am curios as to what it really is because it has jagged edges on the leaves and ...
view the full question and answer
Plant called beargrass from Granbury, TX
September 24, 2011 - I am not a native Texan. We have a clump of what my husband (from Big Spring) calls "Bear Grass." It is over to the side of our yard and we have always enjoyed it (moved here in 1982). It blooms ...
view the full question and answer
Smarty Plants on epiphyllums
March 25, 2005 - I don't have a digital cameria, but I hope you can identify my plants
easily by description. I believe they are called something similar to the
word "epithelium". They look like a "mother-in-la...
view the full question and answer
| Support the Wildflower Center by Donating Online or Becoming a Member today. |