Flora ID help

One of our members is a botanist and is willing to help when folks have plant/flower ID questions. It would help a great deal when asking for ID help if you would note the location of the subject, whether it is wild or cultivated, and the approximate size if scale is not apparent. A tip o' the cap to Don Kurz for making this offer. >=))>

Thats great! thank you Don.

Bill,

Thanks for bringing up the topic of plant/flower identification. Knowing the location of the plant photographed really helps in determining the species, i.e. something as basic as "Southern Ohio" for example. Folks also need to understand that a close-up of a flower is not always going to be easily identified. Many times the shape of the leaves and habitat in which it occurs is also important, at least to the species level. I have been glad to help out over the years and will continue to do so where I can.

There are also other NPN members out there that are knowledgeable about plants that would also appreciate whether the plant is wild or cultivated and in what region it was photographed in order to help with the i.d.

I am sorry but my knowledge of plants does not extend beyond the U.S.

Best,
Don

Thanks, Don...that's great to know!

Thank you so much Don. I have hesitated to post an "ID help" because I was afraid it would just take up space on a lovely forum and have no artistic merit at all. I have been trying for over a year to get an ID on the posted lily. None of the "garden experts" around here have any idea what the lily is. Anxiously awaiting information from an expert...(see flora forum)

Don,

My interest in plants is recent and I'd like to be able to do a better job of classifying what I see so that I can do at least some of my own id work. Can you recomend a text that would help or should I just start reading the angiosperm phylogeny group's papers and studying cladistics? Any guidance would be appreciated.

Thanks.
Pat

Hi Pat,

Rather than jumping into cladistics and angiosperm phylogeny, you may want to check into field guides with a chapter that describes key characteristics for separating out plant families. Long before I took any graduate level courses in botany, I bought the Peterson "Field Guide to Wildflowers" for a general orientation to wildflower i.d. The latest edition is available at Amazon.com.

While online, check out the state and regional wildflower guide books that are available for your area. With these reference books, your search time for identifying plants would be greatly reduced.

Also, a plant taxonomy course from a local college or university would be helpful but I think the Peterson book plus regional field guides would also be very useful and cheaper!

Best,
Don

Thanks Don,

I already have the Peterson guide and have been using it as well as several Rocky Mtn field guides. They have been very useful for wild flowers. It's the garden flowers and plants at the Denver Botanic gardens that I have trouble with.

I usually do at least one class a year. I'll find a plant taxonomy class for Spring.

Thanks for suggestion and guidance, I appreciate it.

Pat

A basic botany class would be a great help too since plant tax is part of the class, but you also learn some cool plant biology. I learned numerous plant-family IDs by looking at local species in class, and once you know how to ID the family, you at least have a good starting point for zeroing in on the species -- much better than simply knowing it's "yellow"....

As for book guides, check out "Botany In A Day" by Tom Elpel.

Will do.

Thank you very much John. I appreciate it.

Pat

Pat,

Another book you may want to consider is "Flowering Plant Families of the World" by Heywood, Brummitt and Culham. You can read about the March 2007 editon at Amazon.com. The families loosely follows Angiosperm Phylogeny Group II (2003).

Best,
Don