Native Plants

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Wednesday - April 20, 2011

From: Grandview, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Plant Identification
Title: Identification of purple flower near Ft. Worth
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

I'm doing a Flower Project for my Biology class. My partner and I have found a flower that we cannot identify and neither can our teacher. I found it on Interstate 35 going through Ft. Worth, Texas. It doesn't really have petals, but what you would consider "petals" are shaped like musical horns. There's usually ten on one flower and they are purple and at the top. This counts for a major part of our Sophomore year grade. If you could help, it would be greatly appreciated.

ANSWER:

Mr. Smarty Plants has thought about your identifiation request a lot and a little more information (size of plant, type of foliage, etc.) would have been helpful. However, here are a few possibilities for your flower. The first two are not native North American flowers but they have become widespread since their introduction and do occur in Tarrant County, Texas:

Lamium amplexicaule (henbit) from Eurasia and Africa. Here are more photos.
Vicia villosa (hairy vetch), an introduced species from Europe. Here are more photos and information.

There are several plants that are native to Texas and the Fort Worth area that sound a bit like your description:

Prunella vulgaris (Common selfheal) and here are more photos.
Dalea purpurea (Purple prairie clover) and here are more photos.
Dalea pogonathera (Bearded dalea) and here are photos and more photos of this plant.
Nuttallanthus texanus (Texas toad-flax) and here are more photos.
Salvia engelmannii (Engelmann's sage) and here are more photos.
Scutellaria drummondii (Drummond's skullcap) and here are more photos.
Physostegia pulchella (Beautiful false dragon-head)
Salvia lyrata (Lyreleaf sage) and here are more photos.

If none of these is the plant you found, please send us more information (e.g., size, foliage type, etc.) and we will give it another try.

Here are photos from our Image Gallery of some of the native plants listed above:

Prunella vulgaris

Dalea purpurea

Nuttallanthus texanus

Salvia engelmannii

Scutellaria drummondii