Texas Prairie Dawn (Hymenoxys texana) | Wildflower Wednesday

Ozark Milkvetch, Astragalus distortus

Aquatic Pygmyweed, Crassula aquatica

Rose Bluet, Houstonia rosea

After more than a decade of wanting to see Texas prairie dawn (Hymenoxys texana), Chris and I were finally able to see a population of the plants in western Harris County last spring. They’ve been on our survey lists for years when we work in certain areas of the state, primarily the Houston region, but no one in our office had seen them yet. I’d been looking during my cemetery botanizing the last few years in SW Montgomery county and NW Harris county but never came up with anything. Thankfully, someone pointed us in the right direction to see some and now I have an idea of what to look for this spring when I go out searching again.

This is a G2S2 plant: Globally Imperiled and State Imperiled. Texas prairie dawn is endemic to Texas and is quite tiny. It’s very easy to miss if you don’t know what to look for and I guarantee 99.9% of the population would walk by this plant and consider it to be a worthless weed. To really see this plant you need to be on your knees or stomach, careful not to crush any other nearby plants, of course. It was listed as federally endangered by USFWS in 1986. Once you see the plant and its habitat (barrens/slightly saline soils), you quickly realize why it is endangered. It lives where people love to develop! And what suitable habitat remains, primarily the Katy Prairie, it is rapidly being built upon now.

In NE Texas there’s also pygmy prairie dawn, Hymenoxys perpygmaea, which seems to be even more rare.

In the vicinity of this small population we also found a few other cool plants I included above. Seeing the astragalus and bluet really made me miss spring and those early ephemerals. If the weather keeps up this warmth, we’ll be seeing them much sooner than usual I think.

A few links for more information:
Nature Serve
TPWD
USFWS
BONAP Ranges of other Hymenoxys species