Native Plants

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Wednesday - April 10, 2013

From: Denton, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: General Botany
Title: Fragrant Texas wildflowers
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

Hello! I am researching native Texas wildflowers and I am looking specifically for flowers with a pleasing aroma. Is there anyone who has made a list that includes how the flowers smell? Do you know of any flowers that have a particularly nice scent? Thank you for your assistance!

ANSWER:

You can find a list of Fragrant Texas Natives on The Fragrant Garden website. It includes trees, shrubs, perennials and vines.

Here are those on the list with a link to information and photos on our Native Plant Database.

TREES

SHRUBS

PERENNIALS

VINES

You can also find more plants listed on the Recommended Native Plants for Landscaping in the Texas Hill Country from the Kerrville Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas (NPSOT). Do a search using "fragrant" on the page to find them. Here are a few that appear on that list that don't appear on the Fragrant Texas Natives list above.

Acacia farnesiana (Huisache) tree/shrub
Malus ioensis (Prairie crabapple) tree/shrub
Gaillardia suavis (Perfumeballs) perennial
Ipomoea lindheimeri (Lindheimer's morning-glory) vine

Many of the members of the Family Lamiaceae (Mint Family) are aromatic. Here are a few that are Texas natives:

Here are a couple of other fragrant wildflowers:

Spiranthes odorata (Marsh lady's tresses) orchid. Here is more information from Missouri Botanical Garden.
Lupinus texensis (Texas bluebonnet) annual.

There are others that I haven't found, I'm sure. We have been asked this question before so please read the answers to previous questions (4813, 4522 and 7259) to learn a few more.

Perhaps you could do more research on Texas natives with fragrance and write the definitive book on the subject!