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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Saturday - September 04, 2010

From: Kemp, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Plant Identification
Title: Plant identification
Answered by: Nan Hampton and Anne Bossart

QUESTION:

Please identify this tree: has leaves like a catalpa, blue/lavender flowers on a long flower spike at the end of the limb, green fruit/seed about the size of a pecan it is fuzzy like a peach with a hard shell underneath the fuzz. There is a star shaped cap where the fruit attaches to the stem and the other end of the fruit is very pointed. I have seen it in a commercial landscape and at a residence.

ANSWER:

This sounds like Paulownia tomentosa (princesstree), an invasive species from China. Here is a link to more photos. If this isn't the tree you saw, try to get photos of it and send them to us and we will do our best to identify it. Visit Mr. Smarty Plants' Plant Identification page to read instructions for submitting photos.

However, if this does appear to be the tree you saw and you were considering purchasing and planting one, we would urge you to please reconsider and plant, instead, one of the beautiful trees that are native to your area, such as:

Cercis canadensis (eastern redbud)

Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)

Sassafras albidum (sassafras)

Catalpa speciosa (northern catalpa)

Here are photos from our Image Gallery: