I live in Houston, TX. A few days ago, two interesting looking shoots
came up together in my back yard. The stems are hollow, and they
currently don't seem to have any leaves. What they do have is flowers
(they bloomed today). The flowers are red, six of them, arranged in a
hexagon on the top of each stem. Each flower has six slightly curled
petals, four above and two below the opening of the flower. From the
openings of each flower there are seven crazy-long stamens, also red,
each tipped with a small ball of pollen. Tiny ants are busily climbing
up and down these plants, so I assume there is nectar of some kind.
What are these things? Any clue?