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Category: Flower gardens | Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2011 4:06 pm

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Here in Texas we have lots of plants that have "Mexican" in their common name. Mexican honeysuckle is neither a honeysuckle, nor Mexican.


Mexican honeysuckle bloom ( photo / image / picture from marlingardener's Garden )

When it's out on the town and being fancy, it is Justicia spicigera. It makes a nice evergreen shrub, and the flowers attract hummingbirds.


Mexican Honeysuckle (Justicia spicigera) ( photo / image / picture from marlingardener's Garden )

We also have "Mexican petunia" which is ruellia, and "Mexican buckeye" which is a nice little understory tree that isn't Mexican, but does have buckeyes.
When we lived in town the people in back of us were going to a deer lease (hunting area)and offered to bring me cuttings of a "Mexican rose" that grew wild there. I got all excited--a new rose for our garden. They brought back cuttings of bougainvillea!
We have lots of Mexican imports here--produce, clothing, all sorts of things. Unfortunately, many of the supposedly Mexican plants aren't among the imports but people credit Mexico for about half our decorative plants!






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Frank wrote on Mon Jun 13, 2011 4:48 am:

What's the reasoning behind adding Mexican to the common names? Any theories?

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marlingardener wrote on Mon Jun 13, 2011 11:30 am:

Frank, the only thing I can think of is the tremendous influence Mexico has had on Texas, dating back to the 18th century. Any colorful or hardy plant seems to get the tag "Mexican".

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