Central Texas has some pretty strange looking flowering plants that are growing and/or blooming this time of year. But you may have to take a closer look to find them or search off the beaten path. Many of these have green or inconspicuous flowers and some are rare plant species.
These first two are Ball Moss and Spanish Moss. They are not true mosses, but flowering plants. They are members of the Bromeliad (Airplant) Family. Their flowers are small and inconspicuous, but if you look carefully you can see some hanging down in the first photo. Both of these plants are epiphytes, meaning they use the trees they grow on just for hanging onto, and in no way harm or parasitize the tree. Ball Moss is common in our area and found on our live oak trees, While spanish moss is not so common and is found more often on trees growing in deep canyons.
More of these strange plants will be featured in my next post including two more rare plants in Central Texas.
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Spanish Moss (not a moss either but
a flowering plant) |
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| Ball Moss (not a real moss) |
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| Green Dragon |
Yes, that really is this unusual and
rare plants common name. Green Dragon's botanical name is
Arisaema dracontium and the dragon reference comes from their strange looking flowers that have a long green spike arising from a hooded structure that reminded someone of a dragon's tongue. I've never personally seen the flowers, but you can look at a photo of them on the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center's
Native Plant Data Base. The middle leaf group in the above photo is actually just one leaf that's oddly branched and divided. This plant is listed as rare in our area and threatened or endangered in some states.
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| Velvet-leaf Gaura or Lizard-tail - a very tall weedy plant |
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Indigo Bush - member of the pea family as is
Texas Mountain Laurel and Bluebonnets |
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| Snapdragon Vine, with bud and forming seedpod |
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| Snapdragon Vine with flowers |
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