United States Department of Agriculture
Natural Resources Conservation Service		 Texas Go to Accessibility Information
Skip to Page Content
 Texas coast



 

 

 

Showy menodora

Scientific Name:  Menodora longiflora
Common Name:  showy menodora

Morphological Characteristics:

Habit- perennial, many-branched half-shrub, up to 18 inches high with woody base; seeds, borne four to a capsule, mature and shatter throughout the summer and early fall.
Leaves – mostly opposite but upper leaves sometimes alternate, usually entire but some lower leaves 2 or 3 lobed; up to 2 inches long.
Inflorescence – panicle 1-1/4 to 6 inches long; 3/16 – ˝ inch wide; branches erect, distant, usually unbranched
Flowers – yellow with tube up to 2 inches long; 5-lobed; about 1 – 1-1/4 inches across; blooms from June to September.
Habitat and Range – dry, rocky hillsides, usually limestone but also igneous, canyons and ledges along streams in the Edwards Plateau and Trans-Pecos, southeastern New Mexico and Mexico from 1100’ to 6600’
Other – This is a species readily eaten by goats, sheep, and deer. It has been browsed out of some of its former area, but because of rocky habitat, it has persisted.

Conservation Use:

Why collect this plant? Texas Plant Materials Centers have identified this plant as having potential benefits to the following conservation practice standards: 342 Critical Area Planting; 550 Range Planting; 647 Early Successional Habitat Development/Management; 645 Upland Wildlife Habitat Management and 327 Conservation Cover; Your assistance in collecting this plant helps support the NRCS conservation practice standards which are employed daily to conserve the natural resources of Texas!

Centers Requesting Seed:

James E. “Bud” Smith Plant Materials Center

How to Collect Seed:

  1. Identify native plant stands in your area. You can go to the following websites for helpful photos http://plants.usda.gov or http://www.noble.org/webapps/plantimagegallery/ or www.wildflower.org
  2. Determine if seed is mature. Mature seed is typically dry and will easily separate from the seed head.
  3. Hand strip mature seed by grasping the bottom of the seed head then gently pulling away from the base of the plant. Deposit seed in a brown paper sack. Collect seed from a minimum of 30 to 50 plants.
  4. Label each collection as it is made so collections do not get mixed up. Information required includes: Collector’s name, number of plants collected, location (parish, city, highway, and GPS coordinates), site description (soil type, slope, and plants growing in association).
  5. Complete NRCS-ECS-580; Plant Collection Information Form and mail with collected seeds to the NRCS Plant Materials Center requesting the species.

Refer to the Plant Material Collection Guide for more information on making plant collections.

For More Information

USDA-NRCS
James E. “Bud” Smith Plant Materials Center
3776 FM 1292
Knox City, TX 79529-2514

Helpful Tips:

Look for vigorous, superior plants that display differences in color, height, and/or forage abundance and record observations. Differences in growing site or location should be made into separate collections if they are more than one mile apart.

Photos:

Showy menodora
 

This document requires Adobe Acrobat.

NRCS Species for Plant Collections 2008 - Showy menodora (PDF; 132 Kb)