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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Tuesday - May 31, 2011

From: Albuquerque, NM
Region: Southwest
Topic: Plant Identification
Title: Ivy with holes in its leaves
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

Mr. Smarty Pants, Please help me, I was given an ivy (origin unknown). It is peculiar. It has holes in the leaves, not from bugs or from bacteria, etc. It is natural, the holes develop in some type of semi scattered pattern. There are holes all over each leaf but the holes tend to be pretty standard in size (varying little). Could you please tell me what kind of ivy this is????? I would be happy to provide pictures if that would help. Thank you.

ANSWER:

Your ivy sounds very interesting but it doesn't sound like any ivy native to North America that I can think of. What we are all about here at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is studying, protecting and promoting the conservation and use of North American native plants and landscapes. You can see more than sixty native vines that occur in New Mexico by doing a COMBINATION SEARCH in our Native Plant Database and selecting New Mexico in the Select State or Province slot and "Vine" under Habit (general appearance). I didn't see any vines in these 60+ species that matched your description. You can visit our Plant Identification page to find links to several plant identification forums that allow you to submit photos of plants for identification and these forums are not limited to North American natives.

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Tuesday - May 31, 2011

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