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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!

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Friday - January 04, 2013

From: Austin, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Non-Natives, User Comments, Vines
Title: Mexican species Orbexilum melanocarpum.
Answered by: Joe Marcus

QUESTION:

This is not a question; just a note to supplement a previous MSP post answering a query about a source for Orbexilum. The "mountain pea" that the original questioner was asking about is the evergreen North American Native Orbexilum melanocarpum found native in the Sierras of northeastern Mexico, hence the name "mountain pea". If you wish to add this plant to your database the relevant botanical literature is by Billie L. Turner in LUNDELLIA 11:1–7. 2008 and is posted on the internet. BTW it's a great landscape plant in Austin and the eastern half of Texas, as are most natives from mid elevation in the Sierra Madre Oriental.

ANSWER:

Thank you for the amplifying information!  It will be useful to our readers.

For technical reasons, we do not include information on strictly Mexican species in our database and thus, sometimes overlook them in our research.

 

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