Texas star is a small annual wildflower of the gentian family, native to prairies and woodland edges of the south-central and central U.S. It is grown in gardens for its pink, yellow-centered flowers and does best in moist soil with full or partial sun.
Family
Gentianaceae (Gentian family)
Grows as
Annual
Light
Full sun
Water
Keep soil moist, especially during establishment, and avoid drying out.
Soil
Moist, well-drained sandy or loamy soil.
Temperature
Hardy in temperate climates; tolerates cool springs and summer heat typical of its native prairies.
How easy
Easy
Native range
C. & EC. U.S.A.
Climate
temperate
About
Sabatia campestris (Texas star; also prairie rose-gentian, prairie sabatia, meadow pink) is a species of Sabatia, native to the south-central United States, from Texas east to Mississippi and north to Iowa and Illinois. It is also locally naturalized in New England.
Sabatia campestris is an annual plant growing to 15–25 cm (6–10 in) tall with pairs of opposite leaves 8–40 mm long and 5–20 mm wide. The flowers are produced in open, long-stalked cymes at the top of the stems; the flower corolla is about 40 mm diameter, with five pink (rarely white) lobes with bluntly acute apices, and a contrasting bright yellow central 'eye'; they are hermaphrodite (contain both male and female organs). The fruit is a capsule containing numerous small seeds.
How to grow it
Sabatia campestris is cultivated as an ornamental plant in gardens, where it requires moist soil and partial to full sun.
It can be used for medical purposes as an anti-periodic and tonic. It is also possible to obtain a herbal tea from the plant.
Where it grows
Its natural habitats are sandy prairies, woodland edges, and stream banks.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Sabatia campestris by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.