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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.

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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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Please forgive us, but Mr. Smarty Plants has been overwhelmed by a flood of mail and must take a break for awhile to catch up. We hope to be accepting new questions again soon. Thank you!

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Friday - October 19, 2012

From: Austin, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: General Botany, Herbs/Forbs
Title: Information about Turk's Cap for school project
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

Hello, my name is Veronica. I am doing a Species Study on Turk's Cap at Clint Small Middle School in the Green Tech Academy. I would like to learn more on my Native Texas Species. I am contacting you because I would like to be an expert on the plant that I chose. I would like to learn more about my species. I was hoping you could email me back to give me some cool facts about my plant. Thanks!

ANSWER:

It is easy for you to do your very own research on our webpage for your project.  First, visit our Native Plant Database and enter "Turk's cap" into the Name slot under Search native plant database:   This will lead you to the species page for Malvaviscus arboreus var. drummondii (Turk's cap or turkscap) that has a lot of information about Turk's cap such as the plant's characteristics, its distribution and growing conditions and much more.  If you scroll down the bottom of the page, you will find a heading called ADDITIONAL RESOURCES.  If you click on the link for the USDA, you will go to the page for Turk's cap in the USDA Plants Database to see what information they have.  If you click on the link for FNA (Flora of North America), you will find that Turk's cap isn't yet included in the FNA online. If you click on the Google link, you will find many articles about Turk's cap from other webpages such as the Archive of Central Texas Plants from the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Texas.  Good luck with your report!

 

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