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.

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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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Wednesday - May 22, 2013

From: Houston, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Diseases and Disorders, Trees
Title: Need to identify leaf extensions on the leaves of an elm sapling in Houston, Tx.
Answered by: Jimmy Mills

QUESTION:

I have an elm sapling which grows strange leave extensions on its leaves. Can I send you a picture? Tree looks healthy

ANSWER:

I am not envisioning what kind of extension you are talking about, so a picture would certainly helpful. However, we no longer accept photographs of plants for identification because we did not have enough staff or volunteers to handle the volume of photos we received. We do, however, show links on our Plant Identification page to several plant identification forums that will accept photos for identification.

Here’s a stab in the dark; I just answered a question about insect induced galls on plant leaves, and some could be described as leaf extensions. Check out the images at this website to see if any thing looks familiar.
Another example