Verbena halei

Common name: Texas Vervain, Slender Vervain

Family: Verbenaceae

Size: Up to 75 cm tall

Description: Upright, smooth, delicate, slender-branched

Habitat: Various soils

Flower:

• Petals bluish lavender, lilac or white, united basally
• Lobes flaring or spreading flat
• Flowers numerous, forming a long, slender spikes, terminal or from leaf axils

Stem and leaves:

• Leaves 2-10 cm long
• Opposite, stalked
• Blade varying from deeply to shallow cut or lobed in lower portion of plant to toothed 
• Stems one to several from base, squared, grooved, branched in upper portions

Lippia nodiflora

Common name: Texas Frog-fruit

Family: Verbenaceae

Size: Up to 30 cm tall

Description: Low, creeping or trailing

Habitat: Several soils, loves sun

Flower:

• 5 petals, white of pale lavender with yellow in the center
• United, tubular, somewhat 2-lipped
• Flowers many clustered  in small globelike, terminal spike

Stem and leaves:

• 1.6 cm wide, opposite, stalkless or almost so
• blade thick
• Margins toothed from middle to tip of blade
• Sharp-pointed or rounded at tip
• Stems numerous, squared, often reddish purple

Gaillardia pulchella

Common name: Blanketflower, Indian Blanket, Showy Gaillardia

Family: Asteraceae

Size: Up to 60 cm tall

Description: Upright to sprawling, hairy

Habitat: Several soils, likes sun and shade

Flower:

• 4-5.5 cm across
• Ray flowers 6-15, red with yellow tips,
• 3-lobed at tip, wide-spreading
• Disk flowers numerous, red or brown
• Heads solitary at tips of long slender stalks

Leaves and stem:

• Leaves 2-8.5 cm long
• Wide, alternate, short-stalked or stalkless
• Clasping basally
• Margins entire to toothed or lobed
• Stems usually much-branched, becoming woody at base late in season

Thelesperma filifolium

Common name: Stiff Greenthread, Greenthread
Family: Asteraceae
Size: Up to 75 cm tall
Description: Upright, smooth, slender
Habitat: Several soils, loves sun

Flower:

• 3.8-5 cm across
• Ray flowers usually 8, yellow 
• 3 lobed at tip
• Disk flowers numerous, yellow or brown
• Heads solitary, terminal on slender, leafless stalk
• Nodding in bud

Stem and leaves:

• Leaves up to 10 cm long
• Opposite
• Blades divided into very narrow segments
• Stem solitary, usually branched at base, the branching again in upper portion

Glandularia bipinnatifida

Common name: Dakota Vervain, Purple prairie Verbena
Family: Verbenaceae
Size: Up to 30 cm tall
Description:  Low, trailing, or creeping, hairy, matlike colonies
Habitat:  Various soils, love sun

Flower:

• 1 cm across
• 5 petals, purple or lavender to rose-pink
• United basally
• Flowers numerous in rounded, terminal clusters

Stem and leaves:

• Leaves 2-6.3 cm long
• Opposite, stalked
• Blade, lobed into numerous narrow segments
• Stem, squared, branching from base

Lonicera albiflora

Common name: Texas honeysuckle, White honeysuckle
Family: Caprifoliaceae- Honeysuckle family
Size: Up to 1.21 meters
Description:  Shrub, vine
Habitat: Several soils, loves sun

Flower:

• white, two lipped in clusters

Stem and leaves:

• Leaves opposite, oval,
• Margin entire

Salvia roemeriana

Common name: Cedar sage
Family: Lamiaceae - Mint family
Size: Up to 61cm tall
Description: Strictly upright, hairy, stem squared
Habitat: Several soils, like shade

Flower:

• 2.5 cm long
• 5 petals, bright red, united basally, 2 lipped
• Flowers in clusters or whorls, somewhat stalkless, slender raceme

Stem and leaves:

• Leaves rounded scalloped 
• Up to 4 cm wide
• Stem 4-angled

Calylophus berlandieri

Common name: Square-bud Day Primrose, Sundrops
Family: Onagraceae 
Size: Up to 50 cm tall
Description: Upright to somewhat sprawling or reclining 
Habitat: Sandy or rocky soils, love sun

Flower:

• 5 cm across
• 4 petals, yellow, wrinkled
• stigma exserted beyond anthers
• Flowers several, borne in upper leaf axils
• Remain open during the day

Stem and leaves:

• Leaves up to 8 cm long
• wide, alternate, stalkless
• Margins entire to spiny-toothed
• Stems one to several and forming clumps
• Semi-woody

Asclepias asperula

Common name: Antelope horn
Family: Asclepiadaceae - Milkweed family
Size: Up to 60 cm tall
Description: Low, upright to sprawling, contains a milky sap
Habitat: Several soils, loves sun

Flower:

• 1.3 cm across
• 5 petals, pale greenish cream united at base, widespreading
• Flowers numerous and crowded on a solitary, terminal clusters

Leaves and stem:

• Leaves up to 20 cm long
• Opposite, short stalked, edges folded together
• Stem several from base, unbranched

Valerianella woodsiana

Common name: Woods corn salad

Family: Valerianaceae - Valerian Family

Size: Up to 50 cm tall

Description:  Low, upright,

Habitat: Various soils

Note: It is very difficult to distinguish the various species of Corn salads, fruit shape being the most definitive characteristic.

Flower:

• 1.5 cm across
• 5 petals, minute, white, 
• Stamens projecting beyond petals
• Flowers numerous in flat-topped terminal cluster
• Clusters stalked, opposite

Leaves and stem:

• 6 cm long
• Narrow, opposite, margins hairy
• Lower leaves entire, upper leaves often toothed near base

Sisyrinchium rosulatum

Common name: Annual blue-eyed rosulatum
Family: Iridaceae
Size: 36 cm tall
Description: Upright to sprawling, clumped
Habitat: Several soils, likes sun

Note: The taxonomy of this genera is confusing. According to Wikipedia, "such as Sisyrinchium angustifolium, form complexes with many variants named as species. More genetic research and cladistic analysis need to be performed to sort out the relationships between the species."

Flower:

• 6 petals, white with yellow and purple in the center
• Wide spread
• 3 yellow stamens
• Solitary or in cluster at the tip of stem

Leaves and stem:

• Leaves 23 cm long
• Wide, basal, grasslike
• Stem unbranched, slender, flattened

Sisyrinchium pruinosum

Or Sisyrinchium angustifolium
Common name: Dotted Blue-eyed grass

Family: Iridaceae - Iris family

Size: Up to 30 cm tall

Description: Upright or sprawling, delicate and smooth

Habitat:  Various soils, likes sun

Note: The taxonomy of this genera is confusing. According to Wikipedia, "such as Sisyrinchium angustifolium, form complexes with many variants named as species. More genetic research and cladistic analysis need to be performed to sort out the relationships between the species."

Flower:

• 2.5 cm across
• 6 petals
• Violet purple to purple blue color, with yellow in the center
• Wide spread
• 3 yellow stamens
• Solitary or in cluster at the tip of stem
• Close at night

Leaves and stem:

• Leaves 23 cm long
• Wide, basal, grasslike
• Stem unbranched, slender, flattened

Tetraneuris linearfolia

Common name: Plains Yellow Daisy, Four Nerve Daisy, Bitterweed

Family: Asteraceae

Size: Up to 40 cm tall

Description: Low, upright, silvery, hairy

Habitat: Various soils, loves sun

Flower head:

• 4.5 cm across
• Yellow ray flowers 3 toothed at tip of petal
• Disk flowers yellow
• Heads solitary terminal on long leafless stalk
• Stalk hairy

Leaves and stem:

• Leaves 7.5 cm long
• most stalkless, crowded at the base
• margins entire or lobed
• Stem much branched at the base, bitter odor