Annual pennyroyal

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Even if you walked through natural areas in central Texas with your eyes closed—a dangerous proposition, I admit—you’d usually know when you had passed close to annual pennyroyal, Hedeoma acinoides. The slender flowers, barely half an inch long at their longest, have no appreciable scent, but the little plant’s foliage smells like lemon, especially when trodden upon or otherwise crushed.

I took this picture of annual pennyroyal, which is making its first appearance in these pages, on August 8 in my Great Hills neighborhood of Austin.

© 2012 Steven Schwartzman