Prairie Brazoria

A few days ago, I spotted these pretty little purple blooms along Greenlawn Parkway and in the ditch. A new-to-me species! What were they? 

In the meantime, I dug up a couple and transplanted them into our Wildscape this afternoon. One of my goals is to have native species that still exist in undeveloped areas of our neighborhood represented in our gardens. Eventually, they'll all be lost to pavement and cement, I'm sure. 

Like the small white asters that I found growing along the edges of Greenlawn Parkway last summer. I picked some seeds and tossed them in the Meadow. Look! We've got at least three asters growing of our own.

Back to those purple flowers....I just now nailed the ID. They are an annual called prairie brazoria (Brazoria scutellarioides), according to the Wildflowers of the Texas Hill Country by Marshall Enquist. BUT WAIT! The genus has since changed! They are now named Warnockia scutellarioides in honor of the late West Texas botanist Barton Warnock, according to Wildflower.org. The species name scutellarioides refers to how this plant resembles skullcaps. They definitely remind me of Wright's skullcap, which grows in our Meadow.