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.
Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
rate this answer
Friday - April 22, 2005
From: cincinnati, OH
Region: Midwest
Topic: Plant Identification
Title: Keys for identification of native plants in Ohio
Answered by: Nan Hampton
QUESTION:
Do you know of any good web sites that provide keys for the identification of native plants? I'm conducting a wetland plant inventory in southwestern Ohio.ANSWER:
North Carolina State University has a web site Wetland Plant Identification with dichotomous keys for woody vines, parallel-veined plants, gymnosperms, and trees and shrubs. The web page also offers the option to search by plant characterisitics such as leaf arrangement, leaf structure, axillary bud type, etc.From the Univeristy of Wisconsin Herbarium at the Cofrin Center for Biodiversity there is a web page, Wetland Plants of Wisconsin, with pictures of leaves, flowers, fruiting heads and more for approximately 110 common wetland species.
From Washington State Department of Ecology there is An On-Line Version of an Aquatic Plant Identification Manual for Washington's Freshwater Plants.
There is a sample of an interactive software program to purchase for PCs using Windows 95 or higher to help in identifying 1,000 Weeds of North America
The University of Florida has a web page Aquatic and Wetland Plants and Invasive Plants with photographs and descriptions that can be searched by scientific name, common name or plant type category (grasses, ferns, sedges, rushes, etc.).
Virginia Tech has a Weed Identification Guide with a Grass Weed Identification Key.
Recommended available print sources are Wetland Plants and Plant Communities of Minnesota and Wisconsin from the Army Core of Engineers, A Great Lakes Wetland Flora for a field guide to vascular plants of the wetlands of the Upper Midwest, and Aquatic Plant Identification Cards from the University of Florida.
More Plant Identification Questions
Plant Identification in Tennessee
September 02, 2008 - I live in upper East Tennessee and all my life I have seen a flowering bush we call a Bubbie (or Bubby). It grows to an average approximate height of 6 feet and blooms in the early summer. The blooms ...
view the full question and answer
Plant identification
July 10, 2014 - I am trying to identify a wildflower that has popped up after a big rain. It is under a foot tall---blooms a yellow bloom in the evenings. It has long narrow leaves sort of like a rosemary. It grows f...
view the full question and answer
Moonnflower native to North America
June 30, 2008 - Is the plant called moon flower a native plant to North America?
view the full question and answer
Identification of volunteer tree
April 28, 2011 - I have a volunteer tree in my yard that has a mixture of serrated, non-serrated, and partially-serrated leaves on it. My tree identification guides all assume either serrated or non-serrated. How do...
view the full question and answer
Plant identification
April 07, 2011 - Comal County, Texas.
Trying to identify a plant found growing in Comal Co. It was growing along the ground, with long, spiky leaves, and a ball of green flowers with a dark purple/brown 5 pointed sta...
view the full question and answer
| Support the Wildflower Center by Donating Online or Becoming a Member today. |