The Colors of Texas Project
The Colors of Texas celebrates the remarkable biodiversity of our state through color — inspired by the endangered plants that still brighten our landscapes. Each hue represents a living piece of our natural heritage, and the width of each stripe reflects the estimated population of the species, reminding us how vibrant life can be when ecosystems thrive.
– Juliet
PS. Scroll down to see each plant’s full color palette and iNat links to actual sightings in nature.
| 25 Endangered Plants & Palettes |
Common Name & Link to iNat Observations |
Scientific Name | Global Rank | State Rank | State Status |
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Ashy dogweed | Thymophylla tephroleuca | G2 | S2 | E |
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Black lace cactus | Echinocereus reichenbachii var. albertii | G5T1Q | S1 | E |
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Davis' green pitaya | Echinocereus davisii | G5T1 | S1 | E |
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Guadalupe fescue | Festuca ligulata | G1 | S1 | E |
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Large-fruited sand-verbena | Abronia macrocarpa | G2? | S2? | E |
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Little Aguja pondweed | Potamogeton clystocarpus | G1 | S1 | E |
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Navasota ladies'-tresses | Spiranthes parksii | G3 | S3 | E |
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Nellie's cory cactus | Escobaria minima | G1 | S1 | E |
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Prostrate Milkweed | Asclepias prostrata | G1 | S1 | E |
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Slender rush-pea | Hoffmannseggia tenella | G1 | S1 | E |
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Sneed's pincushion cactus | Escobaria sneedii var. sneedii | G2G3QT2Q | S2 | E |
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South Llano River Moss | Donrichardsia macroneuron | G1 | S1 | E |
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South Texas ambrosia | Ambrosia cheiranthifolia | G2 | S1 | E |
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Star cactus | Astrophytum asterias | G1G2 | S1 | E |
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Terlingua Creek cat's-eye | Cryptantha crassipes | G1 | S1 | E |
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Texas ayenia | Ayenia limitaris | G2 | S1 | E |
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Texas golden gladecress | Leavenworthia texana | G1 | S1 | E |
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Texas poppy-mallow | Callirhoe scabriuscula | G2 | S2 | E |
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Texas prairie dawn | Hymenoxys texana | G2 | S2 | E |
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Texas snowbells | Styrax platanifolius ssp. texanus | G3T1 | S1 | E |
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Texas trailing phlox | Phlox nivalis ssp. texensis | G4T2 | S2 | E |
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Texas wild-rice | Zizania texana | G1 | S1 | E |
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Walker's manioc | Manihot walkerae | G2 | S1 | E |
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white bladderpod | Physaria pallida | G1 | S1 | E |
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Zapata bladderpod | Physaria thamnophila | G1G2 | S1S2 | E |
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE STATE & GLOBAL RANKS:
https://tpwd.texas.gov/landwater/land/tcap/documen...
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_____________________________
Artist Juliet Whitsett has been learning, creating art about and partnering with leading experts in order to share the importance of our world’s biodiversity. Her digital, acrylic, and experiential audio art pieces aim to bring awareness to our rarest + most at risk species - those who obviously have no means of advocating for themselves.
The colors in this were sampled from crowd-sourced images of the species.
Information sourced from :
https://tpwd.texas.gov/gis/rtest/
https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/wildlife_dive...
This list was last updated Octover 2025 by Artist Juliet Whitsett