PRAIRIE LOBELIA TEXAS HAREBELL
Texas Harebell. Bluebell (Campanula reverchonii) is one of the rarer plants in the state, and care should be taken to preserve it. It is lovely against the granite rocks and boulders of Central Texas. The dainty, slender plants are often much branched and have blue flowers about half an inch long. The bluebell of Scotland is a renowned member of the group; Canterbury bells and the balloon-flower are well-known in gardens.
LOBELIA FAMILY (Lobeliaceae)
Juice often milky; sepals 5; corolla 1-2-lipped, united; stamens 5, anthers joined into a tube.
Prairie Lobelia (Lobelia brachypoda) grows on sandy prairies in Southern Texas and the adjacent part of Mexico. It is very abundant west of Falfurrias in March. The Texas lobelias may usually be recognized by the five united stamens which have gray anthers bearded at the top. The plants often have a milky sap containing a poisonous alkaloid which is used in medicine. The red cardinal flower (Lobelia splendens) is rather widely scattered in moist places throughout the state but is rare enough to need protection.
COMPOSITE FAMILY (Compositae)
BALDWIN’S IRONWEED
Flowers crowded into heads surrounded by bracts; outer flowers often strap-shaped and are called ray flowers; inner flowers are tubular and are called disk flowers; sometimes flowers are all of one type; calyx usually modified into bristles or awns (pappus); petals united, tubular, 4-5-lobed; stamens 5, anthers united into a tube; styles 2-lobed; ovary 1-celled, inferior. (See [p. xii].)