Native Plants
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Ask Mr. Smarty Plants
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
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Sunday - August 05, 2007
From: Mamaroneck, NY
Region: Northeast
Topic: Plant Identification
Title: Botanical name for \
Answered by: Nan Hampton
QUESTION:
A friend gave me a garden flower plant called "clown face". What is the botanical name and where can I get info about it?ANSWER:
According to the Garden Detective of sacbee.com (the web page of the Sacramento Bee, Sacramento, California) "Clown Face" is Mimulus x hybridus, a hybrid of M. luteus (a native of South America, but naturalized in Britain) and M. guttatus (a native of North America). (A synonym for M. x hybridus is M. tigrinus and another common name is "monkey flower".) In addition to the information from the Garden Detective of the Sacramento Bee, you can find more information about caring for M. x hybridus from the National Home Gardening Club.More Plant Identification Questions
Assistance in photographing Turnera diffusa in Rio Grande Valley
March 20, 2006 - Do you know where I can photograph a specimen of Turnera diffusa Willd. ex J.A. Schultes var. aphrodisiaca? I'll be in Texas in May and it is on my list to try and locate. I understand it grows in ...
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Identity of tree with fragrant yellow flowers and thorns
June 06, 2013 - I'm not sure if this is a native plant. It's a tree, around 15" tall. The leaves are in bunches with 3-4 very sharp small spines at each bunch. Flowers are small, yellow, hang down from the leaf...
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Mystery flower in Mesquite NY
April 17, 2010 - My sister recently told me a story, that one day in the Mesquite, NV area she liked a white wildflower on the side of the road, so she went to smell it, and a car stopped and told her not to touch it,...
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Searching for a dye made from a French weed
June 09, 2009 - Dear Mr smarty plants, I watched a gardening show on cable and they talked about a place in France where they use a weed called Wod to make dye and dye fabric and several other items to sell. It was ...
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Identity of yellow thistle-like plant
June 01, 2011 - Dear Mr.Smarty Plants,
I see this flower along the road but I can't seem to find it on your website. It looks like a yellow thistle and it is a panicle and a head. It is about a foot tall. Do you kn...
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