Native Plants
Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?
A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.
Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?
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.
rate this answer
Monday - October 01, 2007
From: Lawton, OK
Region: Southwest
Topic: Plant Identification
Title: Fungi in the flower bed
Answered by: Joe Marcus
QUESTION:
Found a strange thing in my flower bed, while tilling. It was egg shape, white, with a little purple, soft but tough like leather on the outside, with a small 2 inch root. Curiosity got me so I cut it open. Full of clear gel very slimmy and a hard brownish green center ball. Cut hard center open brown on inside with black dot in center. Looked more like some embryo than plant. Any idea. Thank you.ANSWER:
From your description, it sounds like you've found a developing puffball fungus. Since fungi are non-vascular plants, they are outside our area of expertise. However, they are fascinating. A good place to start an investigation of fungi would be on the Wikipedia site. You will probably find Tom Volk's Fungi website particularly useful.More Plant Identification Questions
Identification of orange hydrangea-like flower
April 19, 2008 - I am trying to identify a tree...It is a tree like bush if that makes any sense...It has tree limbs and it is bushy like a bush...I thought it might be a hydrangea bush that grows straight up instead ...
view the full question and answer
Plant identification request from Wales, United Kingdom
November 17, 2011 - I have a plant that has green and pink leaves and the flowers are dry but are like fingers on a hand. The leaves drop down when it needs watering, which is every other day, and the finger shaped clust...
view the full question and answer
Plant Identification from Lebanon CT
August 25, 2009 - What is that plant-- a wildflower --large thick stalk--flowers can be purple, pink, and very light pink. 3 branches off of stalk--flowers growing up each branch. Flowers smell similar to peonies.Leave...
view the full question and answer
Plant Identification
August 13, 2008 - I have a plant that shoots seeds out of pods in late summer and grows like crazy. The stem looks like a rhubarb plant. It has multiple leaves, and beautiful flowers that look like orchids. I was wo...
view the full question and answer
Plant identification
November 18, 2007 - We were at some friends' ranch in Bandera Co. last week and found a plant with 1 inch pea-like pods of a matchstick girth with square black seeds. There were no leaves left only smooth green stems w...
view the full question and answer
| Support the Wildflower Center by Donating Online or Becoming a Member today. |