March 2013 20
bred separately to create specific flower colors, but these are not genetically modified, just selectively bred.
In Texas there are also a number of species of legumes that look similar to bluebonnets. The scurfy peas (or scurfpeas) in particular have similar fingered leaves and bluish flower spikes. But while their rosettes may be confused with bluebonnets, their flowers just don’t look the same. When I first found a lone scurfy pea rosette on my Central Texas property, I assumed it was a bluebonnet with large leaves, and later when it bloomed I thought it must be a mutant
Scurfy Pea
-Susan Decker
bluebonnet—its flowers were more closed and purple and on a bare stalk. When I found a second one I realized that I had a completely different genus of flowers.
This spring if you are roaming anywhere in Texas and see a mass of pretty blue spikes with fingery leaves and bonnet-shaped flowers, you can say you saw the state flower of Texas. But don’t bother calling ahead and asking when they will be blooming, because no one knows ahead of time—it all depends on the weather. If you can, wait till someone in Texas can report that they are already blooming, because they stick around for several weeks. Try not to get into an argument about which ones are the real state flower, though—if pressed you can just claim “They all are.”
-Susan Decker