Texas Bluebonnet
Lupinus texensis
The Bluebonnet is the state flower. Did you know there are many kinds of bluebonnets in Texas?
In west Texas, the tall Big Bend bluebonnet grows up to three feet high! The shorter, more common Texas Bluebonnet grows east of a line going from northeast to southwest Texas. It grows 15 to 24 inches and blooms from early March to early May.
The flower looks like a little bonnet when you look at it closely. After it rains, look for a drop of water in each bonnet or bowl-like petal. As the Texas bluebonnet flower ages, one of the top petals turns purple-red.
- Blooms March through May.
- This flower is part of the Legume family.
Color a Bluebonnet
Challenge: What's a legume? (hint: it's related to something people eat!)
Bonus: The bluebonnet became the Texas state flower in 1901. Since this flower has look-alike "cousins," the state legislature, in 1971, named all lupine species as the official state flower.
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, 4200 Smith School Road, Austin, TX 78744