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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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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.

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Please forgive us, but Mr. Smarty Plants has been overwhelmed by a flood of mail and must take a break for awhile to catch up. We hope to be accepting new questions again soon. Thank you!

Need help with plant identification, visit the plant identification page.

 
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Monday - July 05, 2010

From: Griffin, GA
Region: Southeast
Topic: Plant Identification
Title: Plant identification from Griffin, GA
Answered by: Joe Marcus

QUESTION:

We live in Georgia and we found a mystery plant growing next to our garage. It is a short tree with non-waxy, oblong, dark green leaves. The fruit or berries are not clustered and start out green but turn a bright orange. The fruit/berry is 1/2" in size. Got any ideas? Sorry but I don't have a picture.

ANSWER:

We can occasionally identify plants from descriptions, but far more often we need a picture.  If there is a way (relative, neighbor, friend) to get a digital image of your mystery plant, you can send us photos and we will do our best to identify it,  If it is not native to North America, your best would be to photograph it and submit the photos to the UBC Botanical Gardens Plant Identification Forum.
 

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