Range Plant ID (characteristics)

Sideoats Grams

Dead foliage will look like wood shavings at the base of the plant. Flat leaves that taper to a point. The edges of the leaves will have pimples with single hairs coming out. The rachis will be wavy with seeds drooping (usually) to one side.

Wildrye

The (glossy) leaves are 6 - 10 inches long, rather broad, and taper to a point. It has 2 purple auricles (collars) that wrap around the stem where the leaf comes off. The seed head looks like wheat or a squirrel's tail. when the seeds fall off, the seed stalk zigzags.

Post Oak

The bark is a grayish-brown. The leaves are 4 to 5 inches long, and have 5 lobes (GHOST). The leaves are shiny on top and dull on bottom. The acorns are oval.

Redbud

The bark is smooth and slate gray. The smaller branches will have a maroon color. In the spring the plant blooms pink or purple before leaves are present. The leaves are heart shaped. Also, look for seed pods.

Hackberry

The bark of this plant will appear to have have warts. The leaves are not symmetrical with one side of the leaf being larger and deeper on the stem. The veins are irregular. The tree will have hard, round berries.

Vetch

The leaves are pinnately compound. The stems of this plant will have tendrils. The flowers are generally violet or purple. The fruit will resemble a pea pod.

Sedge

The leaves come from the ground and are lime green. It is a grass-like plant. The seed stem in triangular in shape.

Prairie Coneflower/Mexican Hat

The leaves grow in odd numbers (irregular), and appear to be flipping you off. The flowers are cone shaped with purple or yellow petals.

Tumblegrass

The stem and leaves are flat at the base. The leaves pinch white, and have a small white ligule. Mature leaves will curl or corkscrew on the ends. The seed stalk resembles a Walking Stick insect.

Purpletop

The stem is oval instead of round. It has a tuft of short hairs on both sides of the stem where the leaf meets the stem (armpit hair). Leaves mirror each other at the base. The nodes turn dark with maturity. The small seeds are not shiny but are lined with fuzz, and are sticky or gummy.

Pepperweed

This annual has basal leaves generally pinnatifid to bipinnatifid, and are toothed. The seeds are flat. If blooming, the flower is white.

Sumac-Flameleaf

This bush/tree will have purple stems. The long lance-like leaves are toothed. The underside of the leaves are gray. There will be an odd number of leaflets per leaf, with 1 leaflet on the tip. The leaves turn red in the fall. The BB-like seed pods are in the top of the bush.

Bundleflower

This erect growing plant has lines (veins) running up the stems. The dead stems are maroon in color. The leaf segments are fer-like. The flat seed pods are curved and grow in a dense round cluster.

Western Ragweed

This is a rhizomatous plant, and grown in colonies. The branches come off of the stem opposite of one another. The leaves are deeply clefted. The plant is green, but turns dark gray when dead.

Plum

This is a shrub/tree that grows in a thicket. The bark is smooth and reddish in color. The leaves alternate, and look like a taco with fine serrated edges. Look for thorns on mature plants.

Western Ironweed

This plant grown 2 1/2 to 5 feet tall, and is unbranched. The long narrow leaves have serrated edges, and are soft to the touch. The inflorescence (flowers) are in the top of the plant, and are purple.

Horseweed

This plant grows 1 - 7 feet tall. It is unbranched except for the flowering stem at the apex. The leaves come off of the stem in a swirl (like Dotted Gayfeather), and are hairy.

Old World Bluestem

This plant grows 2 - 4 feet tall, with dense tufts of smooth blue-green leaves. Has a base similar to Silver Bluestem. Leaf nodes are purple-tinged, and may be smooth or with short hairs.

Buttonbush

This plant grows 8 to 12 feet tall, and near water. Will typically have 3 leaves coming off the stem at the same location. It will have a button-like seed pod.

Beebalm

This plant has a distinct mint odor. The stem is square. The leaves are opposite of one another. The purplish flowers ( 2 - 5) will each have the stem coming through the center.

Annual Sunflower

This plant has a rough stem and leaves. The leaves come off opposite, and are triangular in shape. The plant will have multiple branching. The flowers are yellow with a dark center.

Yarrow

This plant is fern-like in its appearance.

Chittamwood

This spiny shrub or tree has tear drop shaped leaves that come off in a whorl around a thorn. The underside of the leaf is a light green color, and fuzzy.

Broomsedge Bluestem

Usually some hair on at least some parts of the sheaths and blades. Sheaths are usually broader than the blades. The base is flat and mirror-like. The seed head is bushy in appearance. The old growth is golden yellow. This plant grows near water.

Silverleaf Nightshade

Leaves are simple, rather narrow and grow 3 to 5 inches long. They are not lobed but wavy. The leaves and stem are grayish-green in color, and have short spines or stickers. It is a single-stalked plant. The flowers have purple petals and yellow centers. It produces a round seed ball like a green tomato.

Wax Goldenweed

Looks like Curlycup, but normally a wider leaf that's rounded at the end. The leaf has pointy edges. This is an annual plant. It has a yellow on yellow flower.

Texas Grama

Most of the leaves are at the base of this plant, and taper to a point. It is similar to Sideoats Grama. The leaves are quite hairy. The bell-shaped seed clusters are attached directly to the upper 1 - 2 inches of a rather naked stem.

Bermudagrass

Numerous stolons (runners) and rhizomes. The leaf sheath partially covers the runners. The seedhead consists of several racemes coming out at the same place (windmill).

Scurfpea

Is commonly mistaken for Bluebonnet. Usually 5 leaves coming off at the same place, but may be 3 - 7 leaves. The flower is purplish.

Engelmann Daisy

It has deeply clefted leaves (lobed) growing from the base and along the stems. The leaf is fuzzy or hairy, and has a white midrib down the center of the leaf. The flowers are yellow on yellow.

Antelopehorn Milkweed

It usually lays along the ground with 3 - 5 inch narrow leaves that come to a point. The flower pod is round like a ball.

Splitbeard Bluestem

A bunchgrass that can be confuses with Silver Bluestem. It grows in sandy soil. It has hair at the base of the plant. It has a cottony seed head that makes a fork.

Weeping Lovegrass

A bunchgrass with with long, narrow, rough leaves that upon maturity curve from an upright position back to the ground. It has naked seedstalks with naked kernels that look like small, brown fleas.

Silver Bluestem

A bunchgrass that bends (dog-legs) at the nodes near the ground. A pale green leaf color that may be purple on the tips. The seed head fuzzy and white.

Sand Lovegrass

A bunchgrass that usually grows in sandy soil. It has a half hula shirt of hair at nodes. The plant's color is usually lime green. The open panicle seed heads are stacks of V's.

Texas Wintergrass

A cool season plant that is dark green in color. The leaves are rough on both surfaces, and covered with short bristly hairs. There is a ring of short fuzz on the nodes. The seeds have long twisted awns.

Texas Bluegrass

A cool season plant. The leaves are long, and resemble the keel of a canoe. It has a solitary seed stalk with thick stacks of fuzzy V's.

Elm

A deeply furrowed ashen-gray bark. The leaves alternate on the stem or branch. They have tooth-like edges, and prominent veins (backbone/ribs).

Little Bluestem

A dense bunchgrass. The leaves are flat at the base and J shaped. They are narrow (1/8 - 1/4" wide and taper to a point. In summer the plant is blue-green, and red in the winter. The seed are small and fuzzy.

Perennial Threeawn

A densely tufted grass with very narrow (round), pointed leaves 6 - 10 inches long. Look for dead and new growth in this plant at the base. It does not branch at the nodes. Each seed has 3 distinct awns.

Perennial Dropseed

A distinct bunchgrass that usually grows 3 - 4 feet tall. The leaves are rather rough. The seedheads are branched with the seeds partially enclosed in a sheath or shuck that appears like a flag.

Switchgrass

A plant that grows 4 - 6 feet tall and produces scaly rhizomes. The wide leaves taper to a point. There is hair in the throat of the plant. The stem is hollow. It has a panicle type seed head. When the seeds fall out, it leaves the appearance of bird's beaks.

Maximilian Sunflower

A plant that grows in a colony. The stem and leaves are rough to the touch. The leaves alternate, and appear to be diving. A flower will grow at the stem/leaf juncture, and is yellow on yellow.

Eastern Gamagrass

A rhizomatous plant growing in large clumps. The leaves are broad, up to an inch wide with a white midrib. The leaves are sharp on the edges. The seed head resembles the tassel of a corn plant.

Hairy Tridens

A short grass that grows less than 1 foot tall. Most of the leaves (2 - 3" long) are clustered at the base, and covered with hairs. There is a white border of the edge of the leaf. There is a single dense (V's) seed head at the tip of a rather naked seed stalk.

Red Grama

A short grass with leaves mostly at the base 2 - 3 inches long. A very fine stem with red nodes. A small (fuzzy) eyelash type seed head that is red in color.

Buffalograss

A short sod forming grass with numerous stolons (runners) that are often red or purple in color. A dioecious plant (female - sticker like seedhead) and (male - flag). The dead leaves tend to curl up.

Croton

A single stalked plant with fuzz on the stem. It will branch in the upper portion. The leaves are a grayish color. The leaves have smooth margins. The fruit is a three-lobed capsule covered with a grayish-white mat of hairs.

Common Broomweed

A single stalked plant, and will branch like an umbrella. The leaves of a young plant will look like a baseball bat. The small flowers are yellow.

Snow-on-the-Mountain

A single stemmed plant that branches in the top. The leaves are round to oval, and are rubbery to the touch. if the stem is broken, it will ooze white sap. The flowers are variegated (green & white).

Slender Dalia

A single stemmed plant. There is no secondary growth. The leaflets are narrow. The individual flowers (white) grow in clusters around a cylinder-like cone.

Sand Dropseed

A slender bunchgrass 1 1/2 - 3 feet tall. Few basal leaves. It has a ring of hair at the nodes. A long seed head usually partially enclosed by an elongated upper sheath. It usually has a shredded Flag leaf.

Fragrant Sumac/Skunkbush

A small bush. The leaves come off in groups of 3's, and resemble a puppy dog's or rabbit's foot. The plant has a strong odor if the leaves are crushed. It will grow fuzzy berries (green) that turn red with maturity.

Cedar

A small evergreen with rounded or oval dense canopies. The leaves are scales, and very aromatic. The fruit (berries) may be either red or blue.

Annual Threeawn

A very fine grass with narrow needle like leaves. It branches at the nodes, and the seed has three uniform awns about 1 inch long.

Western Wheatgrass

A very obvious blue-green color. The leaves have very prominent veins running the length of each leaf. The leaf taper to a point. The seeds alternate up the seed stalk.

Greenbriar

A woody vine with thorns that will have tendrils. The glossy leaves are heart shaped (or snake's head) with white-gray splotches.

Giant Ragweed

An annual plant that is 3 - 12 feet tall. The branches come off opposite. The green stems are covered with hairs. The leaves are lobed (3, 5, or 7), and look like duck feet.

Live Oak

An evergreen. it has small, oval shaped leaves that are glossy on top, and dull on bottom. Immature leaves can have points on their edges. Look for acorns on mature trees.

Curly Mesquite

It produces runners (smallest) that have a ring of hairs at the nodes (joints). All leaves are covered in short hairs. The seed head is crankshaft in appearance.

Dotted Gayfeather

May or may not have multiple stems coming from a bulb. The narrow simple leaves whorl as they grow up the stem, and looks like a Christmas tree. The small flowers are purple.

Blue Grama

Most of the short leaves are at the base of the plant. The center of the plant often dies out. A small tuft of hair opposite the leaf on green growth. The seed head usually contains 2 racemes coming out at different places on the seed stem. The seeds resemble an eye brow.

Prickly Pear Cactus

Broad, flat, fleshy rounded leaves (sow's ear) covered with thorns. It is the only cactus on the list.

Yellow Neptune

Grows primarily around water. Lays on the ground like Catclaw. It has a pink stem with short fuzz. The leaves are sensitive to the touch. It has a yellowish "Highlighter" line down the middle of the two sets of leaflets. The flower is yellow.

Big Bluestem

Hairy sheaths and leaves, 8 - 12 inches long. The base is hairy, and often purplish in color. The seed head usually consists of 3 racemes (turkey foot), and seeds each have twisting awns.

Fall Witchgrass

Has short stubby leaves, and one edge of the leaf is wavy or wrinkled. The old growth is gray, with one curled leaf at the top of the plant. The seed head had numerous egg-shaped seeds on the tips of pedicels.

Plains Yucca

Have spine-like leaves that grow from the ground (basal). They are narrow, long, and come to a point. The green seed pods grow on long wooden stalks, and turn brown when mature. The flowers are white.

Halfshrub Sundrop

This plant has a woody base. The leaves are narrow with saw-tooth edges. The flowers are buttery yellow. The pod will have 4 sides.

Prairie Clover

This plant has odd numbered leaves. It has secondary growth where the branch meets the stem. The flowers (seedpod) is cone shaped. The flowers may be purple or white.

Johnsongrass

This plant has rhizomes. The base on young plants may be purple. The leaves are long and wide with a large white midrib. They may also have purple or black splotches. The seeds (with awns) are shiny green and turn dark with maturity.

Compass Plant

Very rough textured leaves (like sandpaper). Midrib runs through every lobe of the leaf. The lower half of the plant is a single, straight hard stem before branching. The leaves are deeply lobed, and point upwards. The flowers may be white or yellow on yellow.

Soapberry

The branch has triangular shaped markings on the tree branch. There will be a little dot, just above the triangle. The leaves are pinnately-compound, and lanceolate. The fruit is opaque yellow with a hard seed inside. This tree grown in colonies, and generally in sandy soils.

Vine Mesquite

The grass is a blue-green color. The center of each leaf is marked white (chalky). The runners will V and are woolly. The seeds are egg-shaped, slick, and on columns about 2 inches long.

Curlycup Gumweed

The leaves are attached singly to the stems. They have serrations that point back, and are sticky to the touch. The plant is generally multiple branching. The flower is yellow on yellow, and forms a cup-like seed head.

Indiangrass

The leaves are wide and hairless with a prominent white midrib. They taper to a point. Prominent ligules are two-toothed, giving the appearance of rabbit ears. The yellow seed head is plume-like and yellow. Each seed has a twisted awn.

Daisy Fleabane

The stem is not perfectly round (hexagon). If the stem is broken, it will have a white dot in the center.It has a black dot at the end of the leaf. A daisy-like flower.

Windmillgrass

The stems and leaves are flat. The leaves come off at a 45 degree angle. It pinches white at the leaf/sheath junction. The seeds are awned, and may appear like a windmill depending on the type.

Blackjack Oak

The tree has very rough, dark bark. The leaves are 4 to 8 inches long, and have three lobes with awns on the ends of each leaf. The leaf is shiny on top and bottom.

Sagewort

The upright plant is silvery-gray on top, and greenish-gray on the underside. the leaves are cleft (lobed) similar to Western Ragweed, but the leaves come off alternate instead of opposite. It grown in colonies.

Annual Brome

Short fuzz at base of the plant. Large white ligule where leaf meets the stem. The inflorescences are generally dense-drooping with long, often purple branches. The seeds may or may not have awns.

Hairy Grama

Short leaves are at the base. The leaves are narrow and have short hairs coming off of the side of the leaves. The seed heads are about 12 inches high. It has an eye-lash seedhead with a stinger.

Scribner Panicum

Short, but wide leaves with a crinkle on one side. The leaves are usually at the top of the stem on old growth. One egg-shaped seed grows from the end of the seed head branches.

Heath Aster

Similar to Dotted Gayfeather. It is about 2 feet tall, branching occasionally to create a bushy appearance. The flower has white pedals with a yellow center.

Little Barley

Stems are usually crooked at the base. A fairly short grass. The top leaf comes off the stem at a 45 degree angle. The small seed head looks like a squirrel tail.

Mesquite

Stems bearing leaves tend to zigzag. Have a pair of sharp spines (thorns) at each leaf bud and at other points on stems. Leaves are twice compound on a single leaf branch. Their color is a light green. The plant may also have bean pods.

Eastern Cottonwood

The bark of this tree is light in color. The leaves are triangular to heart-shaped that comes to a point. The leaf edges are tooth-like. This tree likes to grow near water or moisture.

Catclaw Sensitivebriar

This plant grows horizontally (prostrate). The stems have short curved claws. The leaf segments are fern-like and will fold up to the touch. The flowers are pink/purple filament-like balls. The seed pods are 2 - 4 inches long with a thorny covering.