Native Plants
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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Ask Mr. Smarty Plants
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Thursday - September 23, 2004
From: Dumfries, VA
Region: Mid-Atlantic
Topic: Plant Identification
Title: Smarty Plants on wildflower identification
Answered by: Stephen Brueggerhoff
QUESTION:
Can you recommend a good CD-ROM on wildflower identification? I live in Virginia and am constantly frustrated trying to identify the myriad wildflowers I encounter as I move around the state.ANSWER:
I am not familiar with existing CD-ROM "field guides" for native plant identification currently available on the market. Research in internet, or web-based, interfaces, combined with technological advances in hand-held units (PDA's), appear to be the latest development in e-tronic field guides. The closest I could come to CD-ROM technology is a resources entitled Woody Plants of North America. We provide a robust info on plants native to North America through our Native Plant Database, where you can research info on plants by name, vegetative or habit characteristics, even by region or state. Also, I recommend getting in contact with your state native plant society, where the kind folks at VNPS might be able to provide you with additional resources that will accomodate your need.More Plant Identification Questions
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March 23, 2007 - I am doing a school project and found a native plant on the native plant information network image gallery. It is plant NPIN Image Id 524. What is it's name?
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March 13, 2013 - It's thistle time already. There are many plants in the aster family with thistle in their common name. Are "real" thistles only those in the genus Cirsium, or are there others as well? We are tryi...
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Plant identification
September 12, 2009 - I am looking for the name of plant my Grandma used to own. She always referred to it as a spider plant. The green part of the plant looked very similar to a spider plant but growing around the base of...
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Smarty Plants on forbs
October 16, 2005 - What kind of plant is a forb? I see the term used frequently in reference to grasses (I think), but I can't figure out exactly what a forb is.
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Identification of willow-like tree
April 22, 2012 - Hi. My daughter is trying to identify a native tree that is like a "scrub" tree here in pastures in Austin, Texas (for a school project). It sort of looks like weeping willow, but most aren't very ...
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