Wildflowers of Texas Field Guide

By Nora Bowers, Rick Bowers and Stan Tekiela

Identify Texas wildflowers with this easy-to-use field guide, organized by color and featuring full-color photographs and helpful information.

With this famous field guide by Nora Bowers, Rick Bowers, and Stan Tekiela, you can make wildflower identification simple, informative, and productive. There’s no need to look through dozens of photos of wildflowers that don’t grow in Texas. Learn about 200 of the most common and important species found in the state. They’re organized in the field guide by color and then by size for ease of use. Fact-filled information contains the particulars that you want to know, while full-page photographs provide the visual detail needed for accurate identification.

Book Features

• 200 species: Only Texas wildflowers!
• Simple color guide: See a purple flower? Go to the purple section
• Fact-filled information and stunning professional photographs
• Icons that make visual identification quick and easy
• Naturalist notes, including tidbits and facts
• Plants typical of Texas

This new edition includes updated photographs, expanded information, and even more of the authors’ expert insights. Grab Wildflowers of Texas Field Guide for your next outing—to help you positively identify the wildflowers you see.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Adventure Publications
• Release date: Mar 14, 2023
• ISBN: 9781647553838

Book preview

Flowers that are mostly blue

Roadside Blue-eyed Grass

Sisyrinchium langloisii

Notes: One of over 40 species of blue-eyed grass in North America, this plant is the most common of more than a dozen species in Texas. Frequently mistaken for a type of grass because of its leaves, Roadside Blue-eyed Grass is actually a member of the Iris family. Unlike some other irises, which spread by horizontal underground stems (rhizomes), this primitive iris has fibrous vertical roots. Like other irises, the blossoms are made up of three petal-like sepals and three petals. The flowers can be bluish violet or white, and the stems can sometimes be bluish purple. Historically, the young leaves were cooked and eaten to treat constipation.

Largeflower Baby Blue Eyes

Nemophila phacelioides

Notes: Mostly a spring bloomer, this multi-branched sprawling or upright annual does not tolerate heat well and wilts as soon as temperatures begin to rise in early summer. Usually grows in moist, shady habitats, forming quite large colonies. Although it does not thrive in dry, hot conditions, it can be found on well-drained slopes in full sun. A member of the Waterleaf family, the hairy foliage contains a clear watery sap. Plant this pretty woodland flower near water in shady garden spots. Native to Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana.

Common Blue Violet

Viola sororia

Notes: Almost 80 distinct species of violet in North America and over 900 worldwide. Many botanists now lump together numerous violet species under the single species name sororia. Looks very similar to the other blue or purple violets, and like all violets, the flower color is highly variable. Often pops up in shady gardens and in lawns. Spreads mostly by underground runners, but also by seed. Leaves are high in vitamins and have been used in salads or cooked as greens.

Whitemouth Dayflower

Commelina erecta

Notes: A widespread perennial, native to the Americas, Africa, and western Asia. Variable, it has broad or narrow leaves on upright or sprawling stems that bear a small group of buds on top, with only a single blossom open at a time. Blooms in the morning and closes early. Flowers have three petals, but only two petals are obvious and appear like ears above the third lower white petal, which is small and inconspicuous. Whitemouth refers to the lower petal. A preferred plant of White-tailed Deer; also eaten by livestock. Quail and doves eat the seeds. Can be invasive, spreading by seeds and tubers.

Garden Cornflower

Centaurea cyanus

Notes: This frequently cultivated flower is found in many wildflower seed mixes. A native of Europe, it has escaped from gardens to almost everywhere in the United States and Canada, growing wherever there are disturbed soils. Ironically, now rare and endangered in Great Britain. Also called Bachelor’s Button, referring to its use in Old England by single women to signal marital availability. Treasured for its rare pure-blue color, this pretty bloom is used in dried flower arrangements. The blue color is due to protocyanin, a pigment that is red in roses. American Goldfinches love the ripe seeds, gracing gardens with their happy activity.

Blue Waterleaf

Hydrolea ovata

Notes: An upright or sprawling perennial with spiny stems that branch in the upper portions. One of the showiest of the late summer wildflowers in wet habitats such as stream edges or roadside ditches. Frequently found in stands near livestock ponds. Occurs in large patches, spreading from thick underground stems (rhizomes) that can tolerate being underwater for long periods of time. Cultivated in bog or water gardens for the bright-blue flowers and used by preserve managers in restoring wetlands. Ranges from Texas northeast to Missouri and Kentucky, and throughout the Southeast.

Common Selfheal

Prunella vulgaris

Notes: Also known as Heal-all. It is used in folk medicine by many cultures throughout the world. Most commonly used in throat remedies, but little evidence of its effectiveness exists. Preferring light shade, Common Selfheal will grow in large patches in lawns and adapt to being mowed to a height of 2 inches (5 cm). Like most other members of the Mint family, Common Selfheal has a square stem; opposing leaves; and emits a faint, minty aroma when crushed. The lower lip of the flower acts as a landing platform for insects.

Prairie Spiderwort

Tradescantia occidentalis

Notes: Unusual-looking plant with exotic-looking flowers. Flowers open in the morning and often wilt by noon on hot days. Spider comes from several characteristics unique to the plant. One is the angular leaf attachment, suggestive of the legs of a sitting spider; another is the stringy, mucilaginous sap that strings out like a spider’s web when the leaf is torn apart. Wort is derived from wyrt, an Old English word for plant. Flowers change from blue to purple when exposed to air pollution, thus it has recently been used as a natural barometer for air quality.

Showy Prairie Gentian

Eustoma exaltatum

Notes: Sometimes called Catchfly Prairie Gentian or Texas Bluebells. Ranges from Texas north through the Great Plains to Montana and from California east to Florida. Also extends farther south through the West Indies and Mexico to South America. Eustoma, from the Greek eu for good and stoma for mouth, refers to the wide throat formed by the fused petals. Exaltatum means tall. A very popular wildflower in cultivation, especially in Japan, where varieties of different colors have been bred for the past 70 years. Please don’t pick from the wild–there is seed available for purchase.

Prairie Pleatleaf

Nemastylis geminiflora

Notes: A perennial with beautiful delicate flowers blooming briefly in spring. Like the common garden iris, this native sprouts from a bulb. It doesn’t have the irregular-shaped flower of garden iris, but rather has 6 pointed, similar-looking petals. Opens before noon and fades in late afternoon. Can form colorful dense colonies when growing in the rich black soils of prairies. Pleatleaf is for the folded or pleated grass-like leaf. Also known as Prairie Celestial Lily or Prairie Iris. Cultivate in wildflower meadows from bulbs purchased from garden centers selling native

Reviews for Wildflowers of Texas Field Guide

[devil_llama · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An excellent guide to Texas wildflowers, able to be used by the layman or the expert, though geared more to the layman. I particularly liked the pictograms to quickly figure out leaf attachment, shape, etc, but for a lay person, they might be misleading, since all pods had a single pictogram, for instance, while not all pods look alike. It was also pleasant in a small way to realize I have pictures of many of the same flowers, taken in Texas, and my pictures are often better than theirs. I got to feel smug, and being able to feel smug while reading a text has a certain satisfying feeling. The main thing I wish it had that it didn't was range maps. Sometimes they told you when a species occurred outside Texas, and where, and sometimes they did not. Someone not familiar with the plants might not realize these could be found elsewhere. Recommended.

[jean_sexton-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I got this book because it is arranged by color. Later I added Texas Wildflowers: A Field Guide because the second edition is also arranged by color. While there is some overlap, I like having both. Wildflowers of Texas shines in an urban setting. Many of the flowers I see on my walks are considered to be weeds and this one has them, from henbit to dandelions to bindweed. Texas Wildflowers is more technical and has more flowers. There is a map in the back that shows the different ecosystems in Texas. I find more flowering cacti in it. The only flower I wasn't able to find in either book was goatsbeard. For that I had to go to my trusty Audubon guide.If you live in a city and take casual notice of wildflowers, this would be my suggestion for a "go to" book.