Oklahoma WildflowersA little known fact is that the total number of Oklahoma wildflowers species ranks third in the nation, behind California and Texas. Biologists refer to this as plant biodiversity. Oklahoma has 13 ecotypes or ecoregions that vary from the lowland swamps in the southeast to the semi-arid high plains. I have had the pleasure of viewing wildflowers in eastern Oklahoma and also as far to the west as the panhandle. Eastern Oklahoma is known as green country due to the heavy forested rolling hills and has a great mixture of both woodland and open field flowers in many beautiful colors.
The panhandle region is in the heart of prairie country and is a joy to visit at any time of the year but during spring the hills certainly light up with super floral displays. This section of the state as you can well imagine offers unobstructed views and you can see for miles with a patch work of colors scattered throughout. I guess if you asked me what my favorite wildflower is in the part of Oklahoma where I live it would be difficult to choose just one. So I’m not going to list just one but rather two and those varieties are Indian Paint Brush and Verbena Canadensis. Both are spring bloomers with the Verbena being mostly visible along the side of our country roads where they have grown undisturbed for many years. Indian paintbrush tends to thrive in rather large groups which (pardon the pun) paint the fields in an orange-red display of color. For the better part of two decades I enjoyed the Indian paintbrush in full bloom in a good sized field. Frankly I’m not sure how large that field was but the wildflowers were beautiful. Now when I motor past that site all that I notice is a number of what I refer to as six week wonder houses. My wildflowers are a thing of the past and what man has built in their place offers little to be desired. Following is a limited selection of Oklahoma wildflowers:
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