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
Tuesday - September 21, 2010
From: Middleburg, FL
Region: Southeast
Topic: Plant Identification
Title: Plant identification
Answered by: Nan Hampton
QUESTION:
Dear Mr. Smarty Pants, Hopefully you can help identify the following plant. I've had a bush type of weed growing near my hay feeder for the cows this year that's about 2' tall has massive spikes on the stalk, it has fruits growing on it that are about the size of a large marble or slightly larger than a cherry tomato but looks like a miniature watermelon. If you need a photo of it to better identify it I can take one but I pulled it out so the leaves will be pretty dried out and distorted. Thanks,ANSWER:
It's Mr. Smarty PLANTS, not PANTS, although some might say both are appropriate names. As someone (origin somewhat uncertain) once said "A picture is worth a thousand words." It is usually difficult to identify a plant by description alone and sometimes difficult even with a photo, but we will do our very best to identify your plant if you will send us photos. Please visit Mr. Smarty Plants' Plant Identification page to read instructions for submitting photos. Please follow the instructions carefully and make sure that your photos are in good focus.
More Plant Identification Questions
Identification of a plant that looks like a watermelon.
May 21, 2012 - A wild plant came up in my bed that looked like a watermelon plant. It had small yellow blooms and then marble balls formed with prickly thorns. The balls were in clusters. What kind of plant is i...
view the full question and answer
Plant identification
September 29, 2008 - My parents have a plant growing that we can not identify. Fast growing to 6 ft in 6 weeks. theleaves look like a fern with little sweet pea looking yellow blooms. The plants leaves fold up at dusk tig...
view the full question and answer
Identification of plants from India
April 20, 2011 - Where can I find identification of a plant that is from India. It climbs up trees and has beautiful small orchid type flowers.
view the full question and answer
Identification of a cucumber-like vine with fruit
November 16, 2011 - We found tiny, grape-size white melon-like fruit on a vine, with tomato-like/cucumber-like seeds. The leaves on the vine were similar to grape or cucumber leaves, but not spiny. They were behind our...
view the full question and answer
Identification of plant, possibly giant ragweed (Ambrosia trifida)
January 30, 2008 - I am trying to identify a weed that was prevalant where I grew up in North Central Texas. It grows in low spots and along creeks. It has woody stalks with short spines, grows 3'- 6' tall, the leaves...
view the full question and answer
| Support the Wildflower Center by Donating Online or Becoming a Member today. |