Thanks so much! This weekend I am headed to a nursery that sells native plants. To plant my hillside next to our waterfall we put in. May have to transplant this one. It really is a good size and has a lot of blooms.

hello, sent you an email. I have many milk weed seeds left over that could use a good home.

Linda contacted the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center and received this reply: ~ ~ ~ "Hi Linda, "Oh, I really like your part of Texas! I'm fascinated with the flora and ecology of those sand hills. My wife and I were just visiting your area yesterday. "I'm very pleased to hear about your success with re-establishing native flora in your deer-exclusion area. "Your mystery plant is Cardinal-feather, Acalypha radians. That species, a member of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, is dioecious. That is, it bears only either male or female flowers on a single plant. The flowers on your specimen are pistillate, and so your plant is a female. Perhaps you will find a lot of seedlings around the plant next year! It is a nice, healthy specimen for sure. Cardinal-feather native throughout South Texas and into northern Mexico." Best, Joe "Joe Marcus NPONA Program Coordinator Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center The University of Texas at Austin o:512.232.0108 | wildflower.org Inspiring the conservation of native plants" ~ ~ ~ Cardinal-feather, Acalypha radians. is a little different than Acalypha monostachya 'round copperleaf' that LBJ Wildflower Center also has listed on their site, but Jay's ID is certainly in the ball park! The big difference seems to be that 'Radians' has the scalloped leaves that Linda's plant exhibits. My question now: Even though Mr. Joe Marcus suggests that Linda might find seedlings around her female plant; would it in fact be fertile IF there were no male plants in the vicinity? Hopefully there is a male plant near by, but not in view. Thanks to everyone for your input. Much appreciated.

The flowers don't look like Spiranthes. They are bell shaped and no leaves--I dug around through the other weeds and grasses growing with it and it is just a stalk of flowers. Any other thoughts? I have tried looking this up in The Audubon Field Guide to North American Wildflowers and it looks like Colicroot but much shorter and no basil leaves so I don't think that is it.