What are the names of these plants? Image 1: The top plant in this photograph is a portion from a plant that is about 9 feet tall (I've seen the same plant much shorter, though); the bottom plant is the whole plant. Image 2: This is a portion of a plant that is about 9 feet tall. Image 3: This is the whole plant; it's covered with thin, painful thorns.
The top specimen on the left is a Callicarpa - "Beauty Berry". American Beauty Berry perhaps - Callicarpa americana
Thanks, Weekend Gardener and Michael F. Hopefully, someone will know the names of the other two, the legume (2nd picture) and the white-flowered, darkish-green-leafed, thorny plant (3rd picture).
The white-flowered one looks like Bull Nettle, Cnidoscolus texanus Spurge Family - Euphorbiaceae If it is, it has stinging hairs that really hurt, and edible nuts. I had a student once who told me that if you bite your tongue while you pick the nuts that you would not get stung. If you do get stung, then urine is supposed to relieve the stinging. I have never tried either one.
Cnidoscolus texanus does resemble it, but I don't think it's it, and unfortuniately, I've been unable to locate another of the plant for closer examination. Additionally, according to the USDA's profile of Cnidoscolus texanus, it's only present in Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas (I live in Florida). It might be Cnidoscolus urens; I've not been able to locate a decent picture of this species, though. Have you read Edible and Useful Plants of Texas and the Southwest by Delena Tull? I ran into it while doing a search for Cnidoscolus texanus; the book features the plant. Thanks, tipularia.
I have that book. It tells how to extract the nuts, hopefully without getting stung. I have one growing next to my barn, so I might try it, but I have memories of being stung, when I was a kid, and of plucking out those painful hairs. One time we were playing football in a field, and a kid fell on one. We spent about thirty minutes picking those very fine stinging hairs out of his rear. One thing I have always noticed when photographing this plant is how white the flowers are and how much the exposure has to be reduced to keep from washing them out. A C. texanus could have strayed down your way. Here are some photos I found of C. stimulosus, which is supposed to be a synonym of C. urens. The leaves are more narrowed than C. texanus, and it doesn't look as hairy. http://www.alabamaplants.com/Whitealt/Cnidoscolus_stimulosus_page.html
