Touring Texas
Timeless Texas Beauty
By U.S. Sen. John Cornyn
Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote that the “earth
laughs in flowers.” If that is true, springtime in
Texas must be the happiest place on earth. Texas
hosts more than 5,000 species of native wildflowers
and plants.
The Texas Department of Transportation tends
about 800,000 acres of roadside, and wildflowers
will cover much of it in well into May. You can
visit various Texas hamlets named in honor of our
wildflower glory, such as Primrose, Flora,
Bloomfield, Flowery Mountain and Shooting Star.
Desert marigolds and cacti will bloom in the Big
Bend, and both Indian paintbrush and winecups will
peak out from native grasses in Central Texas.
Lantana will thrive in the heat of our Texas summer,
and children will tickle their noses with pink
buttercups. Golden yellow coreopsis, used by early
settlers to ward off ticks, will carpet fields and
roadsides. Lemonmint, once used to brew cough
medicine, will flourish through much of the state,
attracting bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.
We should never take these glorious natural and
native wonders for granted. The Lady Bird Johnson
Wildflower Center at the University of Texas at
Austin is helping make sure we don’t.
Last November, the Houston Endowment foundation
provided a $200,000 grant to the Wildflower Center
to support its part in the “Millennium Seed Bank
Project,” a $120 million global plant conservation
effort. The Wildflower Center is one of five
American non-profit organizations participating in a
global seed conservation effort. Its role is to
collect 10,000 to 20,000 seeds from most of the
state’s native wildflowers and plants. Any number of
factors (hurricane, soil contamination,
overdevelopment and “over-collection” by plant
enthusiasts or nurseries) can wipe out a plant
species. The Wildflower Center will gather and
conserve seeds of native plants from an
8,000-square-mile region in the Houston area and
East Texas, which contain nearly 70 percent of all
native Texas species, ensuring the plants can be
restored.
Preserving all plants is the goal, but native
Texan seeds with a “restoration value” are first
among equals in their importance to the conservation
effort. For instance, the native persimmon tree is a
food source. The purple coneflower, from which
Echinacea is produced, has a medicinal value.
Researchers are ensuring that Texas wildflowers
will be as resplendent and plentiful in the future
as they will be in coming weeks.
The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is the
official host of the 118th State of Texas Arbor Day
Observance on Friday, April 27, 2007. State Forester
James B. Hull will preside at the official Arbor Day
ceremony from 10 am to noon. The event will include
music, speakers, and a tree dedication.
In May the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
will host Free Wildflower Identification Tours.
Stephen Brueggerhoff will explain plant
characteristics, uses, legends and lore. The tours
will be held Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 4:00 to
7:00 p.m, on May 8,10, 22 and 24, 2007. Pre-register
at 512.292.4200 x 112. |
