Ever wonder what the name of that beautiful flower on the trail is? Use this guide to help you decipher the blues from the purples and yellows from the golds. Spring and early Fall are the best seasons to go wildflowers exploring in BREC's Conservation Areas.
Hymenocallis liriosme (Raf.) Shinners is a bulb-forming herb native to Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama. It grows in ditches and along the edges of marshes,swamps and ponds. Common names include "Texas spider-lily," "Western marsh spider-lily" and "Louisiana marsh spider-lily." It is distinguished by a prominent yellow-green eye in the center of the ...more ↓
Hymenocallis littoralis or the Beach Spider Lily is a plant species of the genus Hymenocallis, with large white flowers.
Hypoxis hirsuta (common goldstar, common star-grass, eastern yellow stargrass, yellow star grass) is an ornamental plant native to the United States and Canada in the Hypoxidaceae family. Sometimes this plant is placed in the Amaryllidaceae family or the Liliaceae family.
Lilium michauxii, commonly known as the Carolina lily can be found in the Southeastern United States from West Virginia in the north to Florida in the south to Texas in the west. It is most common in the summer months of July and August but can be found blooming as late as October. It was named for the French botanist André Michaux, who travelled and did research ...more ↓
Trillium foetidissimum, common names: Fetid Trillium or Mississippi River Wakerobin, is a perennial wildflower which blooms from early March to early April. The flower is sessile, of a maroon color fading to brown with narrow lanceolate petals. It emits a smell of rotting meat to attract insect pollinators, hence the name. Its leaves are strongly mottled. The ...more ↓
Trillium gracile, common names Sabine River Wakerobin, Slender trillium or Graceful trillium, is a plant species native to the region along the Sabine River in western Louisiana and eastern Texas. It generally grows in mature pine and hardwood forests, on riverbanks, etc.
Trillium sessile (Toadshade or Sessile-flowered wake-robin) is a perennial spring wildflower native to the central part of the eastern United States and the Ozarks. It is a small trillium (rarely over 9 cm tall). Toadshade can be distinguished from other trilliums by its single foul smelling, stalkless, flower nestled in the middle of its three leaves. The three ...more ↓
Trillium viridescens, the Ozark Trillium, is a spring-flowering perennial plant found in parts of Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana. It usually grows in rich deciduous forest where the soil is clayey and calcareous. The flower usually has bi-colored petals — purplish near the base and green above — which stand upright at the junction of the three ...more ↓
Zigadenus is a genus of flowering plants now containing only one species, Zigadenus glaberrimus, the sandbog death camas, found in the southeast United States. Around 20 species were formerly included in the genus, but have now been moved to other genera.
Smilax is a genus of about 300–350 species, found in temperate zones, tropics and subtropics worldwide. In China for example about 80 are found (39 of which are endemic), while there are 20 in North America north of Mexico. They are climbing flowering plants, many of which are woody and/or thorny, in the monocotyledon family Smilacaceae, native throughout the tropical and warm ...more ↓
Smilax bona-nox, known by the common names saw greenbrier, zarzaparrilla,catbrier, bullbrier, chinabrier, and tramp's trouble, is a species of flowering plant in the Smilacaceae, or greenbrier family. The species is native to the southeastern United States as far west as Kansas and Texas, and northern Mexico.
Smilax laurifolia is a species of flowering plant in the greenbrier family known by the common names laurelleaf greenbrier, bamboo vine, and blaspheme vine. It is native to the southeastern United States, where it occurs along the Gulf and Atlantic coastal plains inland to Arkansas and Tennessee. It also occurs in Cuba and the Bahamas.
Uvularia perfoliata (known by the common name Perfoliate Bellwort) is a spring flowering perennial forb with pale yellow flowers, which is native to the eastern United States and Canada. It is listed as an endangered species by the states of Indiana and New Hampshire. It grows in habitats such as floodplain forests, but also mesic upland forests, and dry rocky woodlands, ...more ↓
Sagittaria lancifolia is a perennial, monocot plant in the family Alismataceae, genus Sagittaria, with herbaceous growth patterns. It is native to the southeastern United States and westward through Texas. It is also known as "duck potato" because of the large potato-like corms which can form underground.
Sagittaria latifolia is a plant found in shallow wetlands and is sometimes known as broadleaf arrowhead, duck potato, Indian potato, or wapato. This plant produces edible tubers that were extensively used by the Indigenous peoples of the Americas.
Colocasia is a genus of 25 or more species of flowering plants in the family Araceae, native to tropical Polynesia and southeastern Asia. Common names include Elephant-ear, Taro, Cocoyam, Dasheen, Chembu, and Eddoe. Elephant-ear and Cocoyam are also used for some other large-leaved genera in the Araceae, notably Xanthosoma and ...more ↓
Arisaema dracontium (Dragon-root, Green dragon) is a herbaceous perennial plant in the genus Arisaema and the family Araceae. It is native to North America from Quebec to Minnesota South to Florida and Texas, where it is found growing in damp woods. Plants grow 20–50 centimetres (7.9–20 in) tall when in bloom and after flowering reach 100 centimetres ...more ↓
Arisaema triphyllum (jack-in-the-pulpit, bog onion, brown dragon, Indian turnip, American wake robin, or wild turnip) is a herbaceous perennial plant growing from a corm. It is a highly variable species typically growing from 30–65 centimetres (12–26 in) in height with three parted leaves and flowers contained in a spadix that is covered ...more ↓
Orontium aquaticum /ɒˈrɒntiəm/, sometimes called Golden-club, is a species of flowering plants in the Araceae family. It is the single living species in the genus Orontium, which also contains several extinct species described from fossils.O. aquaticum is endemic to eastern North America and is found growing in ponds, streams, and shallow lakes. It prefers ...more ↓
Peltandra virginica is a plant of the Araceae family known by the common names green arrow arum and tuckahoe. It is widely distributed in wetlands in eastern North America. It is common in central Florida including the Everglades and along the Gulf Coast. Its rhizomes are tolerant to low oxygen levels found in wetland soils. It can be found elsewhere in North ...more ↓
Pistia is a genus of aquatic plant in the arum family, Araceae. The single species it comprises, Pistia stratiotes, is often called water cabbage, water lettuce, Nile cabbage, or shellflower. Its native distribution is uncertain, but probably pantropical; it was first discovered from the Nile near Lake Victoria in Africa. It is now ...more ↓
Canna flaccida Salisb. is a species of the Canna genus, a member of the family Cannaceae. Indigenous to the wetlands of south-eastern USA. It was a parent to many of the early-hybridised cannas originally known as orchid flowered cannas, but now correctly named as Italian Group cannas. It grows well as a water canna. Originally described by the early American ...more ↓
Sabal minor, commonly known as the Dwarf Palmetto or Bush palmetto, is one of about 14 species of palmetto palm (Arecaceae, genus Sabal). It is native to the southeastern United States. In former times, it was said to be native as far north as southeastern Virginia, but its current known range begins about 10 miles south of the Virginia border on Monkey ...more ↓
Tradescantia virginiana (Virginia spiderwort) is a species of Tradescantia (spiderwort) native to the eastern United States. Spiderwort is commonly grown in gardens and many garden spiderworts seem to be hybrids of T. virginiana and other Tradescantia species.
Commelina erecta, commonly known as the white mouth dayflower or slender dayflower, is a perennial herb native throughout the Americas, Africa and western Asia. It is considered to be the most variable species of Commelina in North America. Fernald recognized three varieties, but Robert B. Faden has questioned their significance.
Pontederia cordata, common name pickerelweed (USA) or pickerel weed (UK), is a monocotyledonous aquatic plant native to the American continent. It grows in a variety of wetlands, including pond and lake margins across an extremely large range from eastern Canada south to Argentina. A few examples include northern rivers, the Everglades and Louisiana.
Eichhornia crassipes, commonly known as (common) water hyacinth, is an aquatic plant native to the Amazon basin, and is often considered a highly problematic invasive species outside its native range.