Seed ID



Agavaceae | Amaranthaceae | Anacardiaceae | Asteraceae | Cactaceae | Chenopodiaceae | Cucurbitaceae | Fabaceae | Fagaceae | Juglandaceae | Passifloraceae | Poaceae | Pinaceae | Polygonaceae | Sapindaceae | Solanaceae | Ulmaceae | Vitaceae


Plant Photo Scientific Name Common Name and Description Seed Photo
Agavaceae Back to index
Agave Plant Agave lechuguilla Common Name: Agave
Leaves: 3.5 dm long and 2-3 cm wide, linear, straight to falcate (sickle-shaped) or upcurving
Flowers: In clusters of 1-3, ovary greenish-yellow, fusiform (spindle-shaped - thickest near the middle and tapering toward each end), 12-14 mm long, tepals 12-18 mm long, spreading, linear, yellow to red or purplish
Fruit: Capsules oblong, 2-3 cm long
Habitat: Open arid calcareous rocky slopes
Range: West Texas, southern New Mexico, southeast across the Mexican highlands to State of Mexico
Group: Monocot
Family: Agavaceae
Growth Habit: Subshrub/Shrub/Forb/Herb - small widely suckering yellow-green rosettes 2.5-4 dm tall
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Native
Agave Seed
Banana yucca Yucca baccata Common Name: Banana Yucca, Blue Yucca or Datil
Leaves: Broadened toward the middle, commonly straight or incurved, occasionally twisted, rather deeply concavo-convex, quite rigid, 3-7 dm long and 3.5-5 cm wide
Flowers: Campanulate (bell-shaped), pendent, white or cream-colored, commonly tinged with purple
Fruit: 7-24 cm long 25-55 mm in diameter, symmetrical, broadly cylindrical or somewhat tapering; seeds to 11 mm flat, thick, rough, dull black
Habitat: On rocky hill and mountain slopes and plains of grasslands, juniper and oak woodlands
Range: West Edwards Plateau and Trans-Pecos, Texas to California and adjacent Mexico
Group: Monocot
Family: Agavaceae
Growth Habit: Subshrub/Shrub/Forb/Herb - clumped at ground level 1-5 m in diameter, with as many as 70 heads of leaves
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Native
Banana yucca
Amaranthaceae Back to index
Pigweed Plant Amaranthus spinosus Common Name: Spiny Amaranth or Pigweed
Leaves: Alternate, ovate-lanceolate to ovate, glabrous to sparingly pubescent (covered with short hairs - downy), 3-10 cm long
Flowers: Male and female flowers, occasional flowers perfect, spikes numerous, 5-15 cm long
Fruit: Black, nearly round, 0.7-1 mm in diameter
Habitat: In waste ground, sandy loamy soil
Range: East third of Texas, west to Dallas, Travis and Cameron counties
Group: Dicot
Family: Amaranthaceae
Growth Habit: Forb/Herb - weedy, long (to 4 dm taproot), stems stout and succulent, erect, branched, 3-12 dm tall
Duration: Annual
U.S. Nativity: Probably tropical in origin (Correll and Johnston); Native (USDA)
Pigweed Seed
Anacardiaceae Back to index
Sumac Plant Rhus glabra Common Name: Smooth Sumac or Scarlet Sumac
Leaves: Leaflets 11-31, lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, to 12 cm long, sharply serrate, glaucous beneath
Flowers: Greenish, in a large dense terminal panicle to 25 cm long, puberulous (slightly hairy)
Fruit: Scarlet, viscid-pubescent, compressed, ~4 mm in diameter
Habitat: On dry sandy hillsides and banks
Range: East Texas west to Brazos, Eastland and Armstrong counties; from New England and Quebec south to Florida, Texas, Arizona and northern Mexico
Group: Dicot
Family: Anacardiaceae
Growth Habit: Tree/Shrub - 3 m high, bright autumn foliage and scarlet fruiting panicles
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Native
Sumac Seed
Asteraceae Back to index
Giant Ragweed Ambrosia trifida Common Name: Giant Ragweed
Leaves: Alternate or opposite at the lower nodes, in some species opposite nearly throughout, entire or palmately lobed or (usually) pinnately lobed or dissected
Flowers: Ray flowers absent, lacking pappus and corolla, phyllaries fused about flowers to form a hard indehiscent nutlike receptacle
Fruit: Brown achene ~4 mm
Habitat: Abundant in seasonally moist stream bottoms and overflow areas
Range: Throughout the eastern and northern halves of Texas; the midwest, and the central United States to the Rocky Mountains and from southern Canada to northern Mexico
Group: Dicot
Family: Asteraceae
Growth Habit: Subshrub/Forb/Herb - tall erect annual taprooted herb 1-3 meters tall, stem angled, striate and scabrous
Duration: Annual
U.S. Nativity: Native
Giant Ragweed
Sunflower Helianthus annuus Common Name: Sunflower
Leaves: Leaves always opposite at least at the base of the stems and usually alternate above, ovate, obtuse or less commonly acute and coarse-textured
Flowers: Disc 3-5 cm across, rays 21-35 are 3-5 cm long and 10-15 mm broad
Fruit: A dark achene with white stripes 4-7 mm
Habitat: Fields, borders, waste places and gardens
Range: Rare in northeast Texas; found in the east and central United States and south Canada
Group: Dicot
Family: Asteraceae
Growth Habit: Forb/Herb - taprooted annual, stems 5-25 dm tall
Duration: Annual
U.S. Nativity: Native
Sunflower
Iva annua Iva annua Common Name: Annual Marshelder or Sumpweed
Leaves: Alternate or opposite 3-12 cm long, ovate or becoming lanceolate upward
Flowers: Staminate flowers 9-17, corolla about 2.5 mm long, pistillate flowers 3-5, corollas about 1.5 mm long
Fruit: Achenes 2-4.5 mm long, brown, broadly ovate, lenticular
Habitat: Fields, borders, waste places and gardens
Range: East half of Texas, west to Wheeler, Taylor, Travis, DeWitt and Hidalgo counties; most of the eastern United States, west to Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas
Group: Dicot
Family: Asteraceae
Growth Habit: Forb/Herb - taprooted 4-20 dm tall
Duration: Annual
U.S. Nativity: Native
Sumpweed
Cactaceae Back to index
Hedgehog Cactus Echinocereus enneacanthus Common Name: Hedgehog Cactus or Pitaya
Leaves: Not discernible, 1-4 central spines per areole, 25-94 mm long; 7-10 radial spines
Flowers: On the old growth below the apex of the stem, bursting through the epidermis just abouve the spine-bearing areole; 7.5-12.5 cm in diameter
Fruit: Red flesh with deciduous areoles bearing spines, has a fragrant odor and a flavor and texture resembling the strawberry; black seeds strongly tuberculate (covered with tubercles) to pitted, 1-1.4 mm long
Habitat: Dry, sandy soils
Range: Val Verde to Kimble, Kerr and Cameron counties; also Chihuahua and Tamalupas
Group: Dicot
Family: Cactaceae
Growth Habit: Shrub/Subshrub - stems profusely branching with 120-350 forming clumps up to several dm high and 6-20 dm in diameter; stems cylindroidal
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Native
Hedgehog Cactus
Prickly Pear Opuntia Lindheimeri engelmannii Common Name: Texas Prickly Pear or Nopal Prickly Pear
Leaves: Spines in all but the lower areoles, 1-6 per areole
Flowers: 5-7.5 cm in diameter; petaloid perianth parts yellow
Fruit: Purple, fleshy, obovate or elongate 3.1-7 cm long
Habitat: On rocky hill and mountain slopes
Range: Texas, New Mexico and Mexico
Group: Dicot
Family: Cactaceae
Growth Habit: Shrub/Subshrub - 1 to 3 m high joints green or blue-green, obovate to orbiculate or rarely elongate, 15-25 cm long
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Native
Prickly Pear
Pencil Cholla Opuntia leptocaulis Common Name: Tasajillo, Christmas Cactus or Pencil Cholla
Leaves: Spines 1 per areole, 2.5-5 cm long
Flowers: Flower 1-1.5 cm in diameter; petaloid perianth parts green to yellow or bronze
Fruit: Bright red, fleshy, juicy, tuberculate, obovoid, 2 cm long
Habitat: Rocky soils of desert hillsides
Range: Southern New Mexico to Texas west of the Pecos River
Group: Dicot
Family: Cactaceae
Growth Habit: Shrub/Subshrub - small with joints of the main branches to 3-4 dm long; cylindroidal; tubercles almost lacking
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Native
Pencil Cholla
Chenopodiaceae Back to index
Goosefoot Chenopodium album Common Name: Pigweed, Goosefoot, Lamb's-Quarters, or Wild Spinach
Leaves: Oval-rhombic, rarely ovate or lanceolate, 2.5-8 cm long, usually conspicuously longer than broad, obtuse or rounded and apiculate at the apex, often shallowly 3-lobed, pale-green and glabrate above, densely farinose beneath
Flowers: Flowers in large glomerules, terminal stout erect or ascending paniculate spikes to 3 dm long, grayish-green
Fruit: Black, 1.1-1.5 mm broad, nearly smooth to minutely pitted
Habitat: Fields, fencerows and waste places.
Range: Newfoundland to Florida, west to Yukon and British Columbia, south to Mexico and South America, also in North Africa
Group: Dicot
Family: Chenopodiaceae
Growth Habit: Forb/Herb - pale-green, sometimes turning reddish, 6-30 dm tall
Duration: Annual
U.S. Nativity: Eurasian (Correll and Johnston); Native and Introduced (USDA)
Goosefoot
Cucurbitaceae Back to index
Watermelon Citrullus vulgaris Common Name: Watermelon
Leaves: Ovate to ovate-oblong in out line, to 2 dm long, cordate at base, pinnately deeply divided into 3 or 4 pairs of lobes and these again lobed and toothed
Flowers: Small, solitary in the axils, corolla about 4 cm across, rotate, with 5 lobes obovate and obtuse
Fruit: Globular or oblong, sometimes to 6 dm long, glabrous, with a green or variously striped hard but not durable rind and sweet juicy red, yellow or greenish flesh; seeds numerous, black, white, or reddish, flat, smooth, to 15 mm long
Habitat: Locally abundant in sandy soils in several localities, especially in east and south Texas
Range: Native of tropical and warm temerature Africa
Group: Dicot
Family: Cucurbitaceae
Growth Habit: Vine/Forb/Herb - pubescent annual with long-running prostrate leafy stems
Duration: Annual
U.S. Nativity: Introduced
Watermelon
Buffalo gourd Cucurbita foetidissima Common Name: Buffalo Gourd or Calabacilla Loca
Leaves: Coarse and thick, triangular-ovate, at most shallowly angulate-lobed, broadly rounded to cordate at base, acute to acuminate at apex, growing to at least 3 dm long, nauseously ill-smelling (especially when bruised), grayish-green, rough to touch
Flowers: Corolla to 1 dm long, flaring above the middle
Fruit: Mostly globose, green with lighter stripes, lemon-yellow when ripe, to 75 mm in diameter
Habitat: In sandy or gravelly soils in waste places, especially along roadsides
Range: Primarily in the west half of Texas; Missouri and Nebraska south to Texas, Arizona, southern California, and Mexico
Group: Dicot
Family: Cucurbitaceae
Growth Habit: Vine/Forb/Herb - rank growing and rampant, with a frequently huge fusiform perennial root producing numerous widely running stems to 6 m
Duration: Annual
U.S. Nativity: Native
Buffalo gourd
Maxima Cucurbita maxima Common Name: Winter Squash
Leaves:
Flowers: Large orange-yellow pistillate flowers in leaf axils, staminate flowers on stalks
Fruit: Large green to orange
Habitat: Well drained, fertile, frost-free soils
Range: North America and Caribbean
Group: Dicot
Family: Cucurbitaceae
Growth Habit: Vine/Forb/Herb - sprawling prickly stems, tendrils opposite large leaves
Duration: Annual
U.S. Nativity: Introduced
Maxima
Moschata Cucurbita moschata Common Name: Field Pumpkin, Butternut Squash, Seminole Pumpkin, or Crookneck Squash
Leaves:
Flowers: Large orange-yellow pistillate flowers in leaf axils, staminate flowers on stalks
Fruit: Large green to orange
Habitat: Well drained, fertile, frost-free soils
Range: North America and Caribbean
Group: Dicot
Family: Cucurbitaceae
Growth Habit: Vine/Forb/Herb -
Duration: Annual
U.S. Nativity: Introduced
Moschata
Bottle gourd Lagenaria siceraria - A monotypic genus Common Name: Bottle Gourd or White-Flowered Gourd
Leaves: Ovate to ovate-reniform and cordate-based, 15-30 cm wide, usually not lobed, margins apiculate-dentate
Flowers: On long peduncles and commonly surpassing the leaves, anthers only slightly coherent
Fruit: To 3 dm long or more, varying from disk-shaped to nearly globular and bottle-shaped, dumbell-shaped, club-shaped, crooknecked or coiled, with a hard usually greenish or tan but sometimes striped or mottled durable shell, occasionally knobby or ridged; seeds tan to brown, ridged on the margins and cornered, oblong to squarish
Habitat: In sandy or gravelly soils in waste places, especially along roadsides
Range: Old world origin, but cultivated throughout the world, sometimes spontaneous in east and south Texas
Group: Dicot
Family: Cucurbitaceae
Growth Habit: Vine/Forb/Herb - musky-scented soft viscid-pubescent monoecous (staminate and pistillate flowers on same plant) or rarely dioecious (staminate and pistillate flowers on different plant) annual vine with branched tendrils
Duration: Annual
U.S. Nativity: Introduced
Bottle gourd
Fabaceae Back to index
Acacia Acacia greggii Common Name: Catclaw Acacia, Catclaw, Devilsclaw, Gregg Catclaw, or Texas Catclaw
Leaves: Pinnae 1-3 pairs; leaflets 3 to 7 pairs, mostly 3-6 mm long, obovate to narrowly oblong, usually pallid-green, obtuse
Flowers: Creamy-white, in spikes about 1 cm thick and 2-6 times as long as thick;
Fruit: Pods flat, thin, usually falcate 5-8 cm long, 15-20 mm broad, only very late becoming rigid, brownish; seeds small and flat, not causing the pod to bulge
Habitat: Frequent in brushy vegetation
Range: Trans-Pecos and Rio Grande Plains, northeast as far as Taylor and Coleman counties; southern United States and northern Mexico
Group: Dicot
Family: Fabaceae
Growth Habit: Tree/Shrub - usually not more than 1-2 m tall, rounded and muched branched, formidably armed with recurved catclaw-like prickles
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Native
Acacia
Alfalfa Medicago sativa Common Name: Alfalfa
Leaves: Leaflets 1-3 cm long 3-8 mm broad, obovate to oblong or oblanceolate
Flowers: Racemes crowded, 1-4 cm long, 1-2 cm thick, with 10 to 20 flowers; petals 7-12 mm long, violet-blue
Fruit: Pod loosely and spirally coiled in 1 or 2 turns, the coils about 4-5 mm in diameter, prickless
Habitat: Widespread as an escape along roadsides and in abandoned fields
Range: In Texas absent in only the Rio Grande Plains and Coastal Bend regions; very widely distributed as a forage crop and as a weed
Group: Dicot
Family: Fabaceae
Growth Habit: Forb/Herb - 3 to 10 dm tall
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Introduced
Alfalfa
Tepary bean Phaseolus acutifolius Common Name: Tepary Bean
Leaves: Leaflets linear to lanceolate, sharply acute, 3-8 times as long as broad, rarely or perhaps never lobed
Flowers: 2 to 4 (sometimes 1) per inflorescence, 8-10 mm long at anthesis; calyx pubescent, about 4 mm long subequally 5-lobed, corolla creamy-blue to lavender;
Fruit: Pods curvilinear, 4-7 cm long
Habitat: Rare in canyons, Trans-Pecos mountains, 4,000-6,000 feet in elevation
Range: Texas, New Mexico, Arizona
Group: Dicot
Family: Fabaceae
Growth Habit: Vine/Forb/Herb - slender taproot
Duration: Annual
U.S. Nativity: Native
Tepary bean
Common bean Phaseolus vulgaris Common Name: Navy or Pea Bean, Red Kidney, Pinto, Great Northern, Marrow, and Yellow Eye Bean
Leaves: Alternate, petiolate, and once-pinnately-trifoliate
Flowers: Racemes axillary, ascending, long-pedunculate
Fruit: Linear, slightly laterally compressed
Habitat:
Range: North America and Caribbean
Group: Dicot
Family: Fabaceae
Growth Habit: Vine/Forb/Herb
Duration: Annual
U.S. Nativity: Introduced
Common bean
Mesquite Prosopis juliflora Common Name: Mesquite
Leaves: Pinnae usually 1 pair per leaf, leaflets widely spaced, usually 6-15 pairs per pinna, foliage usually glabrous
Flowers: In spikes or heads, yellow or creamy-white
Fruit: Essentially straight, several seeded pod, nearly as thick as broad 7-20 cm long; seeds partitioned from each other and essentially embedded in fleshy parenchyma; probably the commonest "legume" in Texas
Habitat: Especially abundant on disturbed grasslands
Range: Abundant in the Rio Grande Plains, parts of north-central and southeast Texas, and Plains Country, scattered in the Trans-Pecos, east Texas and Edwards Plateau; in Kansas, Oklahoma, and east New Mexico, south into Mexico
Group: Dicot
Family: Fabaceae
Growth Habit: Tree/Shrub - small
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Introduced
Mesquite
Velvet Prosopis velutina Common Name: Velvet Mesquite
Leaves: Leaflets are generally short, hairy, and closely spaced; as opposed to those of honey mesquite which are long, linear, glabrous and widely spaced;
Flowers: In spikes or heads, yellow or creamy-white
Fruit: seeds are glossy brown, oval, 5-7 (mm0.2 to 0.28 inch) long and 4-5 (mm0.12 to 0.2 inch) wide
Habitat: Velvet mesquite occurs in low elevation vegetation area, in desert grasslands, along major water coarses and their tributaries, deciduous woodlands or "bosques" are often dominated by velvet mesquite
Range: A small, isolated population occurs in the Rio Grande Valley, near El Paso, Texas, thought to be introduced; the main distribution is confined to central and southern Arizona, extreme southwestern New Mexico, and adjacent northern Mexico; the Continental Divide forms a natural boundary between populations of velvet mesquite and honey mesquite; in California, velvet mesquite is represented by only a few individuals that occur in Imperial, Riverside, and Kern counties and is believed to be from human introductions
Group: Dicot
Family: Fabaceae
Growth Habit: Tree/Shrub - a deciduous, thorny shrub or small tree, may grow into single-stemmed trees up to 15 m (50 feet) tall with a trunk diameter up to about 61 cm (2 feet) or they may develop into an erect, multistemmed bush
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Native
Velvet
Rattle box Sesbania drummondii Common Name: Rattlebush, Poison Bean, or Coffee Bean
Leaves: Mostly 1-2 dm long; leaflets 20-50 mostly 15-35 mm long and 4-7 mm broad
Flowers: 13-16 mm long yellow, often with red lines
Fruit: 5-6 cm long about 1 cm broad; the seeds are loose in the mature pods which rattle when the bush is in motion; known to be poisonous to sheep and goats
Habitat: In disturbed areas and wastelands
Range: Coastal Plain inland to Denton, Williamson, Travis, Comal, Wilson, McMullen and Starr counties in Texas; Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Arkansas
Group: Dicot
Family: Fabaceae
Growth Habit: Subshrub/Shrub - in the northern regions the branches often die back during the winter, only the lowest part of the plant remaining alive and becoming woody, 4-30 dm tall
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Native
Rattle box
Mountain laurel Sophora secundiflora Common Name: Texas Mountain Laurel, Mescal Bean or Frijolillo
Leaves: Leaflets very firm, 5 to 11 per leaf, often 17 mm broad or broader and glabrous above
Flowers: Racemes 5-15 cm long and 5-10 cm broad, bluish-purple and very showy, the individual flowers 1-2 cm long
Fruit: Woody pods 2-12 cm long and 1 mm thick or thicker, moderately constricted between the seeds; seeds red
Habitat: Frequent in brushy vegetation
Range: South edge of Edwards Plateau north to Travis county and in the caliche areas in the Rio Grande Plains, scattered in west part of Edwards Plateau and Trans-Pecos mountains in Texas; west to New Mexico
Group: Dicot
Family: Fabaceae
Growth Habit: Tree/Shrub - evergreen, 5-35 dm tall, usually with dense glossy foliage
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Native
Mountain laurel
Fagaceae Back to index
Post oak Quercus stellata Common Name: Post Oak
Leaves: Deciduous, thick, hard and membranous, usually about 8 cm long and 6 cm broad, obovate to elliptic or obtriangular in outline apices rounded, bases cuneate to cordate, undulately or deeply 2-4 lobed on each side, upper surface is lustrous and glabrous except for the sprinkling of minute stellate hairs, lower surface dull, more densely stellate-pubescent or glabrate, quite glaucous
Flowers: Staminate catkins 5-8 cm long, rather loosely flowered; pistillate catkins 3-10 cm long
Fruit: Solitary or paired, moderate size or rarely large, cups 12-25 mm broad and 18 mm high, cup-shaped or sometimes goblet-shaped, cup scales oblong to triangular-ovate; acorns to 3 cm long and 18 mm broad
Habitat: Dry upland woods, frequently on sandy soil
Range: Central Texas; and north to Kansas, and most of the eastern United States
Group: Dicot
Family: Fagaceae
Growth Habit: Tree - moderate size tree
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Native
Post oak
Juglandaceae Back to index
Pecan Carya illinoinensis Common Name: Pecan
Leaves: Leaves to 5 dm long, leaflets 9-17, oblong-lanceolate to lanceolate, the margin coarsely and often doubly serrate, to 2 dm long and 75 mm wide, dark yellow-green and glabrous above and pale and glabrous or pubescent beneath, the terminal leaflet only slightly broader than uperr lateral ones
Flowers: Staminate
Fruit: Clusters of 3-11, ovoid to ellipsoid, pointed at apex, rounded at the base
Habitat: Low rich grounds along streams, bottomlands and moist open woodlands
Range: Central and northwest Texas; and most of the eastern United States
Group: Dicot
Family: Juglandaceae
Growth Habit: Tree - about 50 m high, with a massive trunk to 2 m in diameter that is often enlarged and buttressed at the base
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Native
Pecan
Passifloraceae Back to index
Passion vine Passiflora affinis Common Name: Passion Vine
Leaves: Glabrous; 2-10 cm long and 3-14 cm wide, usually lobed from a half to two thirds their length, cordulate or subtruncate at base, 3-nerved
Flowers: Calyx tube campanulate to cylindric; corona of 1 to several series of distinct or more or less united filaments rarely tubular
Fruit: Subglobose, glabrous, 8-10 mm long, purplish-black; seeds numerous, obcordate, about 3 mm long and 2 mm wide, transversely sucate, the grooves 6 or 7
Habitat: Limestone areas
Range: Edwards Plateau in Texas and northern Mexico
Group: Dicot
Family: Passifloraceae
Growth Habit: Vine/Forb/Herb
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Native
Passion vine
Poaceae Back to index
Oats Avena sativa Common Name: Oats, Wild Oats, Oatgrass
Leaves: Short awns and hairy lemmas
Flowers: Spikelets slightly laterally compressed with 2 perfect florets
Fruit: Grain
Habitat: Disturbed areas
Range: East, southeast and north-central Texas, also the Edwards Plateau; North America
Group: Monocot
Family: Poaceae
Growth Habit: Graminoid - tufted, culms 40-75 mm long, panicles open and diffuse 15-25 cm long and 3-10 cm broad
Duration: Annual
U.S. Nativity: Introduced
Oats
Teosinte Zea diploperennis Common Name: Teosinte or Diploperennial Teosinte
Leaves: Broad flat leaves
Flowers: Both pistillate and staminate spikelets borne on the same plant
Fruit: Grain
Habitat:
Range: In very limited regions of highlands of Western Mexico
Group: Monocot
Family: Poaceae
Growth Habit: Graminoid
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Introduced
Teosinte

Teosinte Cob
Indian corn Zea mays Common Name: Indian Corn
Leaves: Broad flat leaves
Flowers: Pistillate spikelets borne in several rows on a much-thickened cylindrical rachis (cob), the whole inflorescence covered with usually modified leaves (shucks) and the entire "ear" marked at the end by the termini of elongated styles (silk); Staminate spikelets borne in pairs on the spike-like racemes at the top of the plant
Fruit: Grain
Habitat: Incapable of survival outside of cultivation
Range: Texas, and much of the United States
Group: Monocot
Family: Poaceae
Growth Habit: Graminoid - Robust annual
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Introduced
Indian corn
Pinaceae Back to index
Pinon Pinus cembroides Common Name: Mexican Piņon Pine
Leaves: Needles 3, sometimes 2, in a bundle, 25-45 mm long slender, dark-bluish green; bundle sheath about 5 mm long
Flowers: Staminate flowers
Fruit: Cones ovoid, 2.5-4 cm long, reddish-brown, with thick blunt scales; seeds brown, hard shelled, usually about 1 cm long
Habitat: Mesas and mountain slopes
Range: South half of Trans Pecos, Texas; west to southeast Arizona and New Mexico
Group: Gymnosperm
Family: Pinaceae
Growth Habit: Tree - to 10 m or more tall, with a trunk 5 dm or more in diameter
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity:
Native
Pinon
Polygonaceae Back to index
Buckwheat Fagopyrum esculentum Common Name: Buckwheat
Leaves:
Flowers:
Fruit:
Habitat:
Range:
Group: Dicot
Family: Polygonaceae
Growth Habit: Forb/Herb
Duration: Annual
U.S. Nativity: Introduced
Buckwheat
Dock Rumex occidentalis Common Name: Dock
Leaves: Alternate, flat undulate or crisped, narrowed to cordate or auricled at base
Flowers: Greenish on pedicels that are jointed to and terminate short peduncles
Fruit: Greatly increasing in size compared to their size at anthesis and erect and usually loosely coherent to the achene; ovary sessile; achene trigonous
Habitat:
Range: North America
Group: Dicot
Family: Polygonaceae
Growth Habit: Forb/Herb -
Duration: Annual
U.S. Nativity: Introduced
Dock
Sapindaceae Back to index
Heartseed Cardiospermum halicacabum Common Name: Heartseed or Balloon Vine
Leaves: Alternate, biternate; leaflets ovate-lanceolate to rhombic-lanceolate or narrowly lanceolate, acuminate at apex, incisely lobed and toothed, to about 8 cm long and 3 cm wide
Flowers: About 4 mm long; petals obovate yellowish or whitish, racemose-paniculate or corymbose clusters
Fruit: Membranaceous 3-lobed 3-celled inflated pod 3-4.5 cm in diameter; seeds black, 5 mm in diameter, cordate scar gives this plant its name
Habitat: Sprawling over ground and trailing over weeds and bushes in open waste ground or brushy areas in northeast, central, and south Texas; widespread in warmer regions of the Western Hemisphere
Range: Texas; most of the eastern United States
Group: Dicot
Family: Sapindaceae
Growth Habit: Vine/Subshrub/Forb/Herb - stem wiry, several-ribbed
Duration: Annual/Biennial/Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Native
Heartseed
Buckeye Ungnadia speciosa Common Name: Mexican Buckeye or Texas Buckeye
Leaves: Leaflets 3-7, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, serrate, to 12 cm long and 4 cm wide, pubescent beneath when young but soon glabrate
Flowers: Lateral fascicles, appearing before or with the leaves from the axils of the preceding season, pink to purplish-pink, fragrant; calyx deeply 5-lobed; petals 4 or 5, obovate, 7-10 cherry red stamens
Fruit: Large somewhat woody stipitate 3-lobed smoothish pod, pale-green, often suffused with red, 3.5-5 cm thick; seeds spherical, 1-1.5 cm in diameter, dark-brown to blackish, poisonous
Habitat: In rocky areas in canyons and on slopes and ridges
Range: in south, central, and west Texas, east to Dallas county; in New Mexico and Mexico
Group: Dicot
Family: Sapindaceae
Growth Habit: Tree - rarely 10 m high with a trunk 2 dm in diameter
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Native
Buckeye
Solanaceae Back to index
Pepper Capsicum annuum Common Name: Chile Pepper or Cayenne Pepper
Leaves: Alternate, ovate to elliptic-lanceolate or lanceolate, acute to acuminate to 6 cm long and 3 cm wide
Flowers: Corolla stellate, whitish, about 7 mm wide
Fruit: Berry is ovoid to nearly globose, persistent, red or yellowish, to about 15 mm long pungently aromatic
Habitat: On ledges along rivers, in thickets, groves and along arroyos
Range: Edwards Plateau to south Texas; east to Florida and west to Arizona; throughout tropical America
Group: Dicot
Family: Solanaceae
Growth Habit: SubShurb/Shrub/Forb/Herb - slender divergent brittle green branches to 3 m high
Duration: Annual/Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Native/Introduced
Pepper
Datura Datura stramonium Common Name: Jimsonweed, Jamestown Weed or Datura
Leaves: Ovate to elliptic, to 2 dm long sinuately to lanciniately lobed
Flowers: Calyx 35-45 mm long the unequeal teeth 5-10 mm long, corolla white, commonly timged with lavender, 6-8 cm long
Fruit: Capsule erect, ovaoid 3.5-5 cm long usually armed with spines mostly less than 5 mm long finely and sparsely puberulent to glabrate; seeds black, rugulose and finely pitted
Habitat: In cultivated areas and waste places throughout Texas; widely distributed through the world
Range: United States except Alaska and Wyoming
Group: Dicot
Family: Solancacea
Growth Habit: Forb/Herb/Subshrub - simple to spreading branched erect to 15 dm high, with green sparsely puberulent to glabrate stems and foliage
Duration: Annual
U.S. Nativity: Introduced
Datura
Tobacco Nicotiana rustica Common Name: Aztec tobacco or Wild Tobacco
Leaves: Entire or sometimes repand or panduriform
Flowers: Racemes or panicles; calyx tubular-campanulate, 5-cleft; corolla funnelform or salverform, usually with a long tube
Fruit: Capsule ovoid to narrowly ellipsoid, acute or blunt 2-celled, 2-4 valved from the apex; seeds numerous and minute
Habitat:
Range:
Group: Dicot
Family: Solanaceae
Growth Habit: Forb/Herb - narcotic-poisonous and heavy-scented, usually viscid-pubescent
Duration: Annual
U.S. Nativity: Probably Introduced
Tobacco
tomato Solanum lycopersicum formerly Lycopersicon esculentus Common Name: Tomato
Leaves: Odd-pinnate, with small interstitial petiolulate leaflets, to about 4 dm long; primary leaflets 5-9, stalked, ovate to oblong, to 75 mm long, acuminate, irregularly incised or toothed, the margins tending to roll inward
Flowers: 3-7 nodding, to about 2 cm across or more, on jointed pedicels that are reflexed in fruit; calyx 5-parted to base, the lanceolate lobes to 1 cm long; corolla yellow, the 5 lanceolate lobes recurved-reflexed, a little more than 1 cm long
Fruit: Pulpy berry, red or yellow, usually flattend at the ends, to 75 mm across, the sides often furrowed or angled; seeds numerous
Habitat:
Range: Native of western South America; cultivated elsewhere for it's fruit
Group: Dicot
Family: Solanaceae
Growth Habit: Forb/Herb - spreading hairy-pubescence and more or less glandular and strong-smelling, to 15 dm high or more, the young growth on mature plants erect
Duration: Annual/Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Introduced - Native to the warmer parts of AMerica
Tomato
Ulmaceae Back to index
Hackberry Celtis laevigata var. Texana Common Name: Texan Sugarberry, Hackberry, or Palo Blanco
Leaves: Entire to somewhat serrate, thin and membranaceous to coriaceous, uniformly pale-green on both surfaces, with conspicuous veins, lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate or sometimes ovate-lanceolate, typically long-acuminate apex commonly prolonged and curving at the tip, leaves of fruiting branches less than half as broad as long, 4-10 cm long 15-45 mm broad
Flowers: Appearing with the leaves on the young branchlets; staminate flowers in fascicles towards the base; perfect flowers above, solitary in the axils of the leaves; calyx 5-lobed
Fruit: Drupes subspherical, 5-8 mm in diameter, beakless, orange to brown or red, on pedicels 6-15 mm long; stone 4.5-7 mm long and 5-6 mm broad
Habitat: Sandy loam, rocky soil or alluvial soil along streams in woodlands, palm groves and thickets
Range: In the east two thirds of Texas, west to Hardeman, King and Val Verde counties, south to Cameron county; from Florida to Oklahoma and north to Virginia, Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas; also in northeast Mexico
Group: Dicot
Family: Ulmaceae
Growth Habit: Tree/Shrub - to 30 m high, with spreading often pendulous branches to form a broad crown
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Native
Hackberry
Vitaceae Back to index
Grape Vitis mustangensis Common Name: Mustang Grape
Leaves: Broadly triangular-ovate to ovate-reniform, subacute to obtuse at apex, 6-14 cm long from top of petiole, about as wide as - or wider than - long, white-tomentose (felty) on both sides when young, later dark-green and glabrous or somewhat floccose on upper side and permanently white-tomentose on lower surface
Flowers: Thyrse 5-12 cm long
Fruit: 1.5-2 cm, thick, purple black, tough skin, fiery disagreeable taste, 2 celled with 2-4 seeds; seeds are 6-7 mm long and 6-7 mm broad, usually pyriform (pear-shaped) with a beaklike base and 2 grooves on the ventral side
Habitat: Along stream bottoms, thickets, fence rows, edges of woods, sandy slopes
Range: East half of Texas; Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama
Group: Dicot
Family: Vitaceae
Growth Habit: Vine
Duration: Perennial - shrubs or vines with watery acid juice, usually climbing by tendrils opposite the leaves
U.S. Nativity: Native
mustangensis

vinifera


References:

Thumbnails of the plant photos were copied from those photos produced by the Texas A&M Bioinformatics Working Group which can be found at the Vascular Plant Image Gallery in the Flowering Gateway. When clicking on the thumbnail your are taken to their originals.

Thumbnails and enlargements of seed photos are from my own personal collection.

Some plant information has been taken from these sources:

  • Manual of the Vascular Plants of Texas, Donovan S. Correll and Marshall C. Johnston, University of Texas at Dallas, 1979.

  • USDA, NRCS. 2001. The PLANTS Database, Version 3.1. National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

  • Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines of the Southwest: A guide for the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, Robert A. Vines, University of Texas Press, 1994.