[Illustration: SOUTHERN ANEMONE]
Perennials, annuals, or climbing soft-wooded plants; sepals 3 to many;
petals few to many; stamens and carpels usually many.
Southern Anemone or Windflower (_Anemone decapetala_) has 10-20 sepals
which resemble petals, varying from a greenish white and pink to the
common pale purplish-blue. The plants are commonly low, about 6 in. high
in flower, with a few leaves growing from a tuberous root. The leaves
are 3-parted, the segments lobed and toothed. The anemone is the Texas
harbinger of spring, appearing in late January, February, or March on
plains and prairies, and in the chaparral. It ranges from the Southern
United States to South America. The Carolina anemone, with bluer flowers
and more finely-divided leaves, is abundant in the woods of East Texas.
The crowfoot or real buttercup family (the yellow evening primrose is
also called buttercup) is considered by most botanists as the plant
family from which other plants have been derived. In many the fruits
look very much like the fruit head of the arrowleaf. The columbine is a
member of this family frequently cultivated in the gardens of the state,
but the few native ones are not very abundant.
[Illustration: WHITE LARKSPUR CAROLINA LARKSPUR]
White Larkspur (_Delphinium albescens_) is the common larkspur of
prairies and plains of Texas and ranges to Southern Canada. In Texas it
blooms most abundantly in May. The white flowers resemble rabbit faces
and are tinged with green and purple. It is the bane of ranchmen, for it
is poisonous to cattle.
Carolina Larkspur (_Delphinium carolinianum_) commonly has lovely deep
blue flowers, though white forms may be found. It is very abundant in
East Texas in March and April, growing 1½-2 ft. high. The plants have
few leaves, and these are 3-5 parted, each part being divided into
narrow linear lobes. It is very much like the Texas larkspur
(_Delphinium vimineum_), which has blue or white flowers, grows taller,
and is more leafy than the Carolina larkspur.
“Delphinium” is derived from the Latin meaning “dolphin,” so-called
because of the resemblance of the spurred flowers to a dolphin. The
common garden larkspur is native to Southern Europe. Some of the
larkspurs furnish drugs.
[Illustration: LARGE BUTTERCUP]
Large Buttercup (_Ranunculus macranthus_) has handsome, golden-yellow
flowers about 2 in. broad. There are 10-15 broad yellow petals which are
longer than the sepals and have a nectar pit at their base. The leaves
are mainly basal, long-stalked, and divided into wedge-shaped lobes. It
ranges from Central to Southwestern Texas and is most abundant in April.
It is a plant which does well in cultivation but requires plenty of
water; it blooms in the shade better than most garden plants.
Many of the buttercups grow in marshy places, a fact which is
responsible for the old Latin name meaning “little frog.” Many different
kinds are found along roadside ditches and in marshy places in East
Texas. Some members of the crowfoot family, including the wood-anemone
and the marsh marigold, common in the Northern States but not native to
Texas, yield poisonous honey.
[Illustration: OLD MAN’S BEARD]
Drummond’s Virgin’s Bower. Old Man’s Beard (_Clematis drummondii_) is a
vine growing in great profusion, covering shrubs and fences from Central
Texas to Arizona and Mexico. The 4 petal-like sepals are pale
greenish-yellow, almost white, narrow and thin with margins somewhat
crinkled, about ½ in. long. The flowers bloom in the summer, being
inconspicuous among the branching leafy stems. The stamen-bearing
flowers are on a separate vine from the seed-producing flowers. The
seeds mature in a few weeks, and soon the vine is covered with
iridescent masses of silky, feathery plumes, 2-4 in. long, which grow
out from the seed cover. These plumes are elongated, persistent styles
and are responsible for many common names given to the vine, including
grandfather’s beard, gray beard, goat’s beard, and love-in-the-mist.
Western Virgin’s Bower (_Clematis ligusticifolia_), with white flowers
and leaves with 5-7 leaflets, has been reported from the mountains of
West Texas.
[Illustration: SCARLET CLEMATIS PURPLE LEATHER FLOWER]
Texas Leather Flower. Scarlet Clematis (_Clematis texensis_) has maroon
or scarlet bell-shaped flowers about 1 in. long. It is a climbing vine
found along streams in Central Texas, growing 6-10 or more feet high.
The leaves are thickened, entire or lobed, ovate to rounded. This
clematis is a hardy climber, well known in cultivation, giving rise to
many hybrids when crossed with the marsh leather flower (_Clematis
crispa_), which is a low climber, 3-4 ft. high, with lavender
bell-shaped flowers. The leather flowers have no petals, the showy bells
being made up of 4 thickened sepals. The flattened fruits grow in
head-like clusters about an inch thick and have plumose tails 1-2 in.
long.
Purple Leather Flower (_Clematis pitcheri_), together with the marsh
leather flower, is often called blue bell. Except in color, the flower
is very much like the scarlet clematis. The leaflets are more frequently
3-lobed, and the tails on the fruits are silky but not plumose. It grows
in damp woods from Indiana to Mexico, beginning to bloom in Texas in
April and continuing into the summer.