Everything Plants Series: VIII. How to Identify A Plant

To me the most important key to identifying plants is recording information. It's as simple as that. Write down every detail you can see about the plant -- later you'll be able to look it up easily in a reference book or something similar. Before I bothered to do this my reference books seemed to be written in some frustrating foreign langauge and it was rare that I actually found the thing I was looking for. XD

If you don't have any plant identification resources, or need a different one, try going to the nearest public library. They will almost always have something on hand!

Start with the leaves. Write down everything you can think of that you observe. Are they smooth, toothed, waxy, hairy, prickly, grooved, etc? Are they opposite or alternating on their stems? Are their stems at all? What is the shape of the leaf? Oval, round, elongated, narrow, heart-shaped, lobed? How many lobes does each one seem to have? You can keep going if you want.

Then move on to the stems. Hollow? Do they exude a latex? What color are they? Smooth, thick, stingers, hairs? Most identification texts will list many of these things, if not more.

One of the best ways to narrow down your search for a certain flower is to identify its color. Many flower resources are separated by color. After that, move on the the shape and number of petals. One of the most important things in identifying flowers is their bracts; those small pieces that hang down underneath the flower itself. Some flowers don't have these. A couple more things: what is the number of flowers on a stem, are the flowers along the stem or at the top, are they alternating or opposite?

Remember that a flower isn't necessarily a type of plant. A flower is a part of a plant; most plants have them. Don't forget that the leaves, stems, and even roots can be just as important for identification!

As for the roots, there are several different kinds and those kinds have their own kinds. It gets really confusing, at least for me. Roots are one of the most difficult things for me to identify. But here is some terminology that could be very helpful:

Adventitious – roots that form from other than the hypocotyl or from other roots. Roots forming on the stem are adventitious.
Aerial – roots growing in the air.
Crown – the place where the roots and stem meet, which may or may not be clearly visible.[2]
Fibrous – describes roots are thread-like and normally tough.
Fleshy – describes roots are relatively thick and soft, normally made up of storage tissue. Roots are typically long and thick but not thickly rounded in shape.
Haustorial – specialized roots that invade other plants and absorb nutrients from those plants.
Lignotuber – root tissue that allows plants to regenerate after fire or other damage.
Primary – roots that develops from the radicle of the embryo, normally the first root to emerge from the seed as it germinates.
Root Hairs – very small roots, often one cell wide, that do most of the water and nutrient absorption.
Secondary – roots forming off of the primary root, often called branch roots.
Taproot – a primary root that more or less enlarges and grows downward into the soil.
Tuberous – describes roots that are thick and soft, with storage tissue. Typically thick round in shape.

---

Now that you get the gist of identifying a plant -- it's really not that hard -- here's a test! See if you can correctly identify the plant below. It'll be more difficult because it's just a picture... but comment the right name and you'll get super awesome brownie points! :)

* But take it seriously all the same. If you're identifying any plant for foraging purposes, the wrong answer could be the difference between food and a really bad tummy ache.

Image

---

Citation:
http://wildobs.com/about
http://plants.ifas.ufl.edu/education/glossary.html
http://www.discoverplants.com/plant-terminology.php
http://wc.pima.edu/Bfiero/tucsonecology/plants/plants_terms.htm
http://www.florabymax.net/FLORAbyMAX/PlantTerms.pdf
August 3rd, 2012 at 09:08pm