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Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?

A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.

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Sunday - February 22, 2009

From: PORT HEDLAND, SD
Region: Other
Topic: Non-Natives
Title: Native plants of Rome
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

I am researching the native plants of Rome but I can't get anything get anything else besides olives. Can you help me to find some more?

ANSWER:

Sorry, the experience and expertise of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and Mr. Smarty Plants is with plants native to North America. However, a similar question was answered by our team in 2005. This will at least give you some websites to look at. We checked all the links to make sure they were still active.

"You can find a list of web sites that show Italian flora in various regions of Italy in the "Links" on the Flora of Varesotto web page. From the The Department of Biology of the University of Trieste you can find Illustrated Keys to the Italian flora on line. These are interactive keys for plants in several areas of Northern Italy. You can find a description of the natural environment, the vascular plants, and the fungi of Sicily from the University of Catania.

Most of the internet sites shown above are in Italian, although some have English versions. The botanical names in Latin remain the same, of course.

If you are looking for checklists for a particular area, you might also try contacting someone doing research into the flora of Italy, such as the faculty at the Department of Biology at the University of Trieste."

 

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