Texas Flowers in Natural Colors

by Eula Whitehouse

EVENING-PRIMROSE FAMILY (Epilobiaceae)

ERECT EVENING-PRIMROSE

Calyx joined to ovary and often produced beyond it; petals usually 4; stamens usually 4 or 8; ovary inferior; seeds numerous.

Erect Evening-Primrose (Œnothera heterophylla) grows in sandy soil in Florida and on the edge of post oak woods in South-central Texas. The plants bloom in April and May. It is very much like the rhombic evening-primrose (Œnothera rhombipetala) but has slenderer, shorter stems and is not often branched. The petals are similar, and their rhombic shape easily distinguishes both of these plants from other evening-primroses. The rhombic primrose grows 2-3 feet high and is very abundant throughout the sandy area of North-central Texas to Minnesota and Indiana.

There are many yellow evening-primroses very much alike in flower which are usually called buttercups, a name first applied to the crowfoots. The flowers usually have four showy petals which last only a day, opening in the late afternoons and closing in the heat of the following day. The seed capsules are usually long and narrow and are borne below the petals. The fireweed is a well-known member of this group. The water evening-primrose (Jussiæa diffusa) is abundant in ponds in Central and East Texas.

PINK EVENING-PRIMROSE

Pink Evening-Primrose. Pink Buttercup (Hartmannia tetraptera) blooms best in April, but a few scattered plants may continue to bloom through the summer months. It is a perennial plant which does well in cultivation. White, pink, blush, and other shades were introduced by Childs in 1892 from seeds collected in Texas and were known as the Mexican evening-primrose.

The earlier flowers are usually much larger than those which bloom late in the season. The flowers are cup-shaped, 2-4 inches broad, with 4 broad petals marked with deeper-colored veining and greenish-yellow at the base. The sepals are united into a narrow tube above the seed capsule and below the petals. This tube is about as long as the capsule, sometimes a little shorter. The sepals do not overlap, are slow about splitting, and are pushed to one side of the flower by the opening petals. The seeds are borne in a club-shaped capsule which is prominently ridged, the slender base being as long as the enlarged seed-bearing portion.

The stems are usually trailing and branched at the base, sometimes forming clumps two or more feet broad. The leaves are quite variable in shape but are generally oblong and narrowed at the base, with margins ranging from entire to deeply lobed and divided.

The group name honors Emanuel Hartmann of Louisiana; “tetraptera” is from the Greek meaning “four-winged” and refers to the shape of the seed-capsule. The plants in this group are sometimes placed with the yellow evening-primroses of the Œnothera group, but characteristics other than color separate them.

Showy Primrose (Hartmannia speciosa) is a large-flowered white primrose found on plains and prairies from North Texas to Missouri. The seed-capsules are narrowed at the base but are not stalked, and the calyx tube is longer than the capsule.

Rose Primrose (Hartmannia rosea) is a small-flowered primrose found in Southern and Southwestern Texas and Mexico. The flowers are small, an inch or more broad, with rounded deep-pink petals. The calyx tube is much shorter than the long-stalked capsule.

FLUTTER-MILL

Missouri Primrose. Flutter-Mill. Broad-Winged Evening-Primrose (Megapterium missouriense) clings to the side of a gravelly cliff or grows on rocky limestone hillsides from Missouri to Colorado and Texas. The flowers bloom in Texas in April and May, opening in the afternoon and closing the next morning. The plants grow in low clumps about a foot high. Numerous flowers are borne on the stem along with the slender leaves. Four broad yellow petals make up the cup-shaped portion of the flower above the slender calyx-tube, which is 4-6 in. long. The seed-capsules at the base of the flower develop four broad papery wings and reach at maturity a width of 3 in. These broad wings are responsible for the scientific name of the plant. The capsules are easily blown about by the wind, and the seeds are widely scattered.

The evening-primroses usually produce large, thready masses of pollen. Every child is initiated into a buttercup fraternity at some period in his life by being invited to smell of the flower and having his nose smeared with the profuse pollen.

SQUARE-BUD PRIMROSE

Square-Bud Primrose. Day Primrose. Creamcups (Meriolix spinulosa) has yellow cup-shaped flowers which last only twenty-four hours but which are open during the day. It may readily be distinguished from other evening-primroses by the slender woody stems which soon become reddish or straw-colored. The stems grow 1-1½ ft. high with clusters of flowers at the top. The flowers are nearly two inches broad and have four petals. The short, broad sepals are winged on the back and make the buds appear square and pointed.

Another distinguishing feature is the disk-shaped stigma which is sometimes yellow and sometimes black or dark brown. In the evening-primroses previously mentioned, the stigma is divided into four narrow lobes. The plants grow on gravelly hillsides from Arkansas to Mexico. The slender capsules are over an inch long. Several other day primroses are found in the state. They are all sometimes grouped with the œnotheras.

LARGE-FLOWERED GAURA WILD HONEYSUCKLE

Large-Flowered or Lindheimer’s Gaura (Gaura lindheimeri) is, like other members of this group, called kisses and wild honeysuckle because of its sweet fragrance. Most of them produce an abundance of nectar and make excellent honey plants. This is the handsomest member of the group in Texas and is known in cultivation as a hardy plant. It is native to the prairies of Southeast Texas and Louisiana and blooms from March to May.

The four white petals have the group characteristic of turning fan-wise toward the upper side of the flower, and the 8 long stamens and the long style hang toward the lower part. Only a few flowers open at one time around the spike, but numerous buds are densely crowded above the open flowers. This plant has erect-ascending branches and grows 2-5 feet high.

Prairie Gaura. Wild Honeysuckle (Gaura brachycarpa) sometimes grows 2-3 feet high, but is usually much lower. With favorable rains, the flowering spikes grow quite long. This gaura may be recognized by its stalkless 4-angled seed capsules. It blooms on Texas prairies in April and May. Many other gauras are found in the state.