''Leucophyllum frutescens'' is an

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

in the

figwort The genus ''Scrophularia'' of the family Scrophulariaceae comprises about 200 species of herbaceous flowering plants commonly known as figworts. Species of ''Scrophularia'' all share square stems, opposite leaves and open two-lipped flowers for ...

family,

Scrophulariaceae The Scrophulariaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the figwort family. The plants are annual and perennial herbs, as well as shrubs. Flowers have bilateral (zygomorphic) or rarely radial (actinomorphic) symmetry. The Scr ...

, native to the U.S. state of

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, where it is the official "State Native Shrub of Texas", and to the states of

Coahuila Coahuila, formally Coahuila de Zaragoza, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Coahuila de Zaragoza, is one of the 31 states of Mexico. The largest city and State Capital is the city of Saltillo; the second largest is Torreón and the thi ...

Nuevo León Nuevo León, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Nuevo León, is a Administrative divisions of Mexico, state in northeastern Mexico. The state borders the Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, Zacatecas, and San Luis Potosí, San Luis ...

, and

Tamaulipas Tamaulipas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tamaulipas, is a state in Mexico; one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into 43 municipalities. It is located in nor ...

in northern Mexico. Although commonly known as Texas sage, it is not a true sage and is distinct from the genus ''

Salvia ''Salvia'' () is the largest genus of plants in the sage family Lamiaceae, with just under 1,000 species of shrubs, Herbaceous plant, herbaceous Perennial plant, perennials, and Annual plant, annuals. Within the Lamiaceae, ''Salvia'' is part o ...

''. The species is also called Texas Ranger, Texas rain sage, ''cenizo'', Texas silverleaf, Texas barometerbush, ash-bush, wild lilac, purple sage, ''senisa'', ''cenicilla'', ''palo cenizo'', or ''hierba del cenizo''.

Description

The solitary axillary flowers are bell- or funnel-shaped, with five lobes and two lips. This species is found in rocky,

calcareous Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime (mineral), lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of Science, scientific disciplines. In zoology ''Calcare ...

soils.

Cultivation

Texas sage is a popular

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or ''garden plants'' are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars th ...

, commonly used for edge and area plantings in warmer and drier areas; it requires minimal water, is easily shaped into

hedge A hedge or hedgerow is a line of closely spaced (3 feet or closer) shrubs and sometimes trees, planted and trained to form a barrier or to mark the boundary of an area, such as between neighbouring properties. Hedges that are used to separate ...

s, and blooms over the entire surface. It is available in a variety of

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

s, including 'Green Cloud', 'White Cloud', 'Compacta', 'Convent', and 'Bert-Star'.

Ecology

''Leucophyllum frutescens'' is a host plant for the

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...

s of the theona checkerspot (''

Chlosyne theona ''Chlosyne theona'', the theona checkerspot, is a species checkerspots in the butterfly family Nymphalidae found in North America. The MONA or Hodges number for ''C. theona'' is 4508. Subspecies These three subspecies belong to the species '' ...

'') and calleta silkmoth ('' Eupackardia calleta'').

Barometer bush

Texas sage is nicknamed the "barometer bush" due to a commonly held belief that it can predict the rain. According to folklore, the plant goes into bloom in anticipation of upcoming rain. It appears that the plant sometimes blooms because of humidity or low atmospheric pressure, which can occur before or after rain.

References

Constantly blooming plants frutescens Flora of Texas Flora of Northeastern Mexico Flora of Coahuila Flora of Nuevo León Flora of Tamaulipas Plants described in 1924 Garden plants of North America Drought-tolerant plants Symbols of Texas {{Scrophulariaceae-stub