How To Save The Bluebonnet
Bastard Cabbage Threatens the Existence of Texas Wildflowers
Yea, you read that right. Our Texas bluebonnet is in trouble, and we need to save it.
It is a spring day in Texas. The sun is out, the sky is blue– but the bluebonnets are bluer. Families pile in to watch the bluebonnets wave against the field like waves across an ocean. A Texas tradition known for generations.
To the side, you notice a tall patch of yellow wildflowers containing an area to themselves. The flower must be easy to grow as you see it everywhere, on roadsides, fields, wild areas, even near an almost uninhabitable construction lot. It’s good to see native flowers occupy boring areas… Only these aren’t native wildflowers. These are bastard cabbage.
Bastard cabbage, scientifically known as Rapistrum rugosum, is an invasive species that has made its way across Texas over the last several years. This herbaceous mustard plant grows from 1 to 5 feet tall and has deep roots. “Leaves are deep green, lobed and wrinkled”. “Bastard cabbage typically flowers from early spring into summer” (Texas Invasives). This invasive plant “outcompetes our native wildflowers by blocking sun with its broad leaves” (Clippard). Leaving some fields in a complete monoculture of bastard cabbage.
The plants blooming season coincides with the Texas native wildflower season. “It looks like it might belong to our own native palette of spring flowers, with clusters of yellow-tipped blossoms swaying on long slender stalks” (Floyd). This causes many Texans to believe that bastard cabbage is just another wildflower when it is not. In fact, this is exactly the problem; bastard cabbage is an imposter that murders our beloved traditions and most Texans do not blink an eye.
So what’s the solution?
In grade school they taught me that the bluebonnet was the State flower. I was taught how to recycle. I was taught how to prevent forest fires. It only makes sense that we add knowledge about preventing this widespread invasisive species to our curriculum like anything else. The job is to large for any group of individuals. But every Texan cares about their wildflowers, they just don’t know that they need help.
We know that Texans care. Every year they visit the wildflowers, the wildflowers are reliable have always been there for Texas over generations. Just look at the photos that describe how intimate the wildflowers have been with our families for generations.
Nowadays we see these photos all over social media. This very well may be the key to saving the flowers as well. Along with foundational learning in schools, the internet may help preserve our floral friends. Social media presence has become more effective than ever before in inciting change. Social media can be the solution to raising awareness about bastard cabbage and rally Texans to rid them of this world.
The fundamental issue of this solution will be getting the ball rolling on raising awareness about the issue. It will take a lot to get the ball rolling but when it does it will be monumentally effective, we’ve seen this before with Don’t Mess With Texas and Smokey The Bear.
How to get rid of Bastard Cabbage
There are three common methods to remove bastard cabbage.
The most popular and best method to remove bastard cabbage is from its roots like a weed. Pull the plant from the base of its stem out of the ground in order to ensure the removal of the roots. This is important because the leftover remains of bastard cabbage and can continue to grow in future years. Depending on size, difficulty may vary but it shouldn’t be too challenging for an individual.
If a field of bastard cabbage has overtaken an area and you don’t have the numbers to form a pulling party– mowing or herbicides may be in order. Mowing will kill off the current bastard cabbage and help prevent the spread. This practice is not ideal because seeds of bastard cabbage still spread that will grow next year, although some is better than nothing.
Herbicides may be another alternate solution if pulling is too daunting. It is important to do your due diligence about using the herbicide as herbicides can have horrible implications on the environment if used incorrectly. In “Bullying the Bullies: The Selective Control of an Exotic, Invasive Annual by Oversowing with a Competitive Native Species”, Dr. Mark Simmons talks about how the removal of bastard cabbage has brought about a separate environmental issue involving herbicides. Various herbicides have been used to treat fields that have been infected with bastard cabbage but in turn, have caused separate problems in the environment, and are also full of potential risk.
Simmons continues to explain how these are extrinsic solutions, and how an intrinsic solution may be a better card to play. This leads to one of my favorite practices to do in order to help prevent the spread of bastard cabbage. One intrinsic solution has been found in the sowing of Indian blanket (Gaillardia pulchella). Simmons studies the solution in the field and presents evidence finding that Indian blanket suppresses the growth of bastard cabbage. Simmons argues that this may be a better solution rather than herbicide because of herbicide's variability and risk. The extrinsic solution may lead to consequences unknown. Although Simmons concludes with revealing that the Indian blanket solution is not full proof as well; claiming that there needs to be more study on the solution.
Although the proper and most efficient most solution may not be clear yet, it is still important to begin taking action as each year we exponentially lose land in a battle between wildflowers and bastard cabbage. Although pulling may not be the easiest, it is still a solution worth spreading awareness for, the same can be said for the sowing of Indian blanket as the alternative outcomes of letting bastard cabbage spread or using herbicides– is much worse.
Humans and bastard cabbage, we’re not a lot of different from each other. We are an invasive species that has brought chaos to our floral friends and are the reason bastard cabbage is here in the first place.
Texans, I want my kids to see the bluebonnets… do you?
Works Cited
Clippard, Lee. “How to Eradicate Bastard Cabbage.” Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Web. https://www.wildflower.org/learn/how-to/eradicate-bastard-cabbage
Floyd, Jacquielynn. “Love your bluebonnets? Then you’d better hate bastard cabbage.” The Dallas Morning News. 8 April 2016. https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2016/04/08/love-your-bluebonnets-then-you-d-better-hate-bastard-cabbage/
Simmons, Mark. “Bullying the Bullies: The Selective Control of an Exotic, Invasive Annual (Rapistrum Rugosum) but Oversowing with a Competitive Native Species (Gaillardia Pulchella).” Restoration Ecology, vol. 13, no. 4, Blackwell Science Inc, 21 November 2005. Web. https://search.lib.utexas.edu/permalink/01UTAU_INST/apl7st/cdi_crossref_primary_10_1111_j_1526_100X_2005_00078_x
Texas Invasives. “Rapistrum Rugosum.” Texas Invasives. 28 March 2012. Web. https://www.texasinvasives.org/plant_database/detail.php?symbol=raru
