• Why look at legumes?
• Why focus on natives?
• Then why naturalized legumes?
• Where do these herbaceous legumes fit?

Legumes fix atmospheric nitrogen through a symbiotic relationship with bacteria (Rhizobia) housed in their roots; plants provide the partnership with carbon-based food fixed from the atmosphere while the bacteria provide nitrogen to the plant.

We are interested in legumes for forage and range because they are generally high in digestible nutrients, especially nitrogen, which is low in most other plants. Ruminants such as goats or white-tailed deer selectively browse herbaceous legumes because they can provide concentrated nutrients.

Some herbaceous legumes have potential as ornamentals. For example, scarlet pea (pictured right) is a tenacious warm-season perennial that forms attractive mats of green and pink from April through October.

We encourage the propagation of natives because they are already adapted to local growing conditions. They also "belong" in Texas and will not likely be classified as invasive exotics whose introduction into our ecosystems can sometimes be ecologically disruptive.

Need a good taxonomic reference for herbaceous plants in the Cross Timbers? Try Shinner & Mahler´s Flora of North Central Texas, authored by George M. Diggs, Jr., Barney L Lipscomb and Robert J. O´Kennon and published by the Botanical Institute of Texas, Fort Worth in 1999.

Diverse plant communities, whether natural or man-made, are more stable and long-lasting than mono-specific pastures.

Many native birds and mammals are dependent on plant diversity for their survival. Native plants, in diverse, stable native communities, can provide cover, nesting, and feed (leaves, seeds and insects).