Texas Bluebonnet

Description:

It is a biennial plant which begins its life as a small gravel-like seed. The seed has a hard seed coat that must be penetrated by wind, rain and weather over the course of a few months (but sometimes several years). In the fall the bluebonnets emerge as small seedings with two cotyledons, and later a rosette of leaves that are palmately compound with 5-7 leaflets 3-6 cm long, green with a faint white edge and hair. Growth continues over the mild winter months and then in the spring will take off and rapidly grow larger before sending up a 20-40 cm tall plume of blue flowers (with bits of white and occasionally a tinge of pinkish-red).

Habitat:

A texas wildlife habitat garden. Lupinus texensis (common name Texas Bluebonnet) is a species of lupine which is endemic to Texas. It is the state flower.

Notes:

All the flowers start out with a white or pale yellow spot. By the fifth day after the flower opens, the spot begins to turn pinkish and by the sixth day, the spot is completely purple. Bees will choose flowers based on the color of the spot. It appears that bees will limit their visits almost exclusively to white-spotted flowers. Pollen from new white-spotted flowers is sticky and makes a nice ball. As the pollen ages, it is less sticky and gets powdery–and the flower spot begins to darken. It turns out that the color of the spot is a pretty good indicator for the bees.