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 is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
rate this answer
Saturday - May 18, 2013
From: New Boston, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Plant Identification
Title: Unknown blue flower growing in New Boston, TX
Answered by: Nan Hampton
QUESTION:
A light blue wildflower, similar to a cosmos, appeared in one of my beds this spring. I've never grown this flower and would like to identify it. The flower also has similarities to a passion flower but the leaves are entirely different. I've checked your plant ID base and could not locate it.ANSWER:
Here are some native "blue" flowers that occur in Bowie County that are similar to your description:
Eustoma exaltatum (Catchfly prairie gentian)
Nemastylis geminiflora (Prairie celestials)
Nemophila phacelioides (Baby blue-eyes)
Ruellia caroliniensis (Carolina wild petunia)
Ruellia drummondiana (Drummond's ruellia)
Ruellia nudiflora (Violet ruellia)
Ruellia strepens (Limestone ruellia)
One non-native flower (from southern Europe, north Africa and southwest Asia) that somewhat resembles a passion flower and is a garden favorite is Nigella damascena (Love-in-a-mist). Here are more photos.
If none of these are the flower in your flowerbed and you taken photographs of it, please visit our Plant Identification page to find links to several plant identification forums that will accept photos of plants for identification.
From the Image Gallery
More Plant Identification Questions
Identification of seedlings
December 20, 2014 - So..last spring I spread out a bag of random Texas wildflower seed I bought at Home Depot. Bautiful things happened. Since that time I've collected seeds while out camping etc and just been chunking ...
view the full question and answer
Pink flower in South Carolina, perhaps poisonous
July 09, 2008 - I saw a beautiful plant while touring Charleston, SC. I do not remember the name - the tour guide talked about a long time ago women giving it to their husband's in tea (maybe?) to kill them. Of co...
view the full question and answer
Identification of maypop north of Houston
March 08, 2008 - I have some land in the country an hour north of Houston, Texas. There is a wild plant which grows in clusters from 10' to 20' wide. These plants grow about 6" or 12" apart.They are approx. one fo...
view the full question and answer
Plant Identification
October 30, 2008 - Hi. I took a picture of a plant/wildflower at Reimer's Ranch near Dripping SPrings and have been unable to identify it. I searched through the plant database but am having difficulty. Can I send y...
view the full question and answer
Identification of wildflowers in Wyoming
July 15, 2007 - I have taken some photos of wildflowers in Wyoming and although I have looked in several books and this website, I am still unable to identify a few. 1) very small white and lt. blue flower with 5 sep...
view the full question and answer
Support the Wildflower Center by Donating Online or Becoming a Member today. |