Pavonia gets its name from the botanist, J. Pavon, who worked particularly with South American plants. Several South American species are in cultivation. The Texas pavonia is being introduced in gardens and rivals the shrubby althea as a summer bloomer, but the plants and flowers are much smaller.
VIOLET FAMILY (Violaceae)
MISSOURI VIOLET LANCE-LEAVED VIOLET
Small or leafy stipules on leaves; sepals 5; petals 5, the lower usually larger and spurred; flowers often cleistogamous; fruit usually a capsule.
Missouri Violet (Viola missouriensis) grows in low grounds and moist woods from Missouri to Louisiana and Texas, the flowers blooming in Texas in March and April. They are very much like the common cultivated violet (Viola odorata) introduced from Europe.
Water or Lance-Leaved Violet (Viola lanceolata) is a small violet found in swampy places in East Texas and north to Nova Scotia. It resembles the white violet, Viola vittata, so abundant on the Coastal Plain, which has narrower leaves and is taller.
About twenty different violets have been reported from the state, mostly from the eastern part. The bird’s-foot violet (Viola pedata) comes into East Texas. It has large flowers, 1-1¾ in. across, the 3 lower petals much lighter than the dark purple upper ones. It resembles the cultivated pansy, which, however, has been derived from Viola tricolor of Great Britain. The native violets bloom from February to May.
LOASA FAMILY (Loasaceae)
