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What is this plant?
What is this plant?
The ability to know, or identify, plants allows us to assess many important uses from edible, medicinal, fuel, shelter or to impress our friends! When you can identify a plant, you know where it might fit in your garden or if it's a weed. Join Tim Alderton, the JC Raulston Arboretum's horticulturist, as he shares some strategies to get you started on your plant ID journey. Plus, Tim shares all sorts of fun plant facts and so many latin names!
Levels of Classification
Levels of Classification
Is it a vascular plant or a non-vascular plant? Liverwort or fern? Start at the beginning as Tim's shows us a few higher order plant categories.
Questions to think about:
Can you find any non-vascular plants around your home? How about ferns?
What is a gymnosperm or angiosperm? Can you find examples of these around your home? What are they?
Monocot or Dicot?
Monocot or Dicot?
When identifying flowering plants (angiosperms), an easy distinction to determine is whether your plant is a monocot or dicot.
Questions to think about:
What are key characteristics of monocots and dicots?
What monocots or dicots do you have around your home?
Simple and Compound Leaves
Simple and Compound Leaves
Plant leaves come in different arrangements, shapes, sizes and margins and can be a key characteristic in helping you identify your plant.
Questions to think about:
Can you take a leaf of a plant and characterize it? Is it simple or compound? Cordate or palmate? Pinnate or tri-pinnate?
How can you grow your skill at characterizing leaves? Why might this be useful in the future?
Discovering Different Leaves
Discovering Different Leaves
Take a break and try to put your Tim knowledge to work - go out and explore your garden and around your neighborhood and do some plant discovery.
Leaf shape checklist.pdfLeaf Observation
Leaf Observation
Take this checklist and go for a hike around your neighborhood. Can you find leaves that match these characteristics? Look for shape, margin, arrangement and venation. Check off the leaves you find.
Plant Characteristic Worksheet.pdfPlant Characteristic Worksheet
Plant Characteristic Worksheet
Beautfort County 4-H Agent, Chasady Quinn, pulled together this plant characteristic worksheet to help you with your plant sleuthing.
Plant Press.pdfPlant Press
Plant Press
We have all tucked plants inside of heavy books before. This time, make a plant press that you can take on your plant collecting adventures. Make herbarium specimens for later study.
Trees are great friends, especially when you know their names. Use this interactive dichotomous key from NCSU to identify trees.
Floral Structures
Floral Structures
The flowers of a plant are a key indicator to which family they belong to. Tim walks us through different inflorescence types and examples of each.
Questions to think about:
What are the different inflorescence types? Which ones do you have in your garden?
Why are flowers in the same plant family similar? How does this help you with your identification?
flower types.pdfInflorescence Type
Inflorescence Type
Flowers come in different shapes called inflorescences. What inflorescence types can you find in your garden or around your home?
Flower Dissection Chart.pdfFlower Dissection
Flower Dissection
Go find a flower from your garden or a tree or a shrub and see if you can find all the different parts. Did you find anything that surprised you?
Identifying Characteristics
Identifying Characteristics
Sometimes plants have unique and sometimes strange structures that enable you to easily identify it. Tim will share some arboretum gems that have fuzzy leaves, spines, tendrils, rusty hairs and other cool features.
Questions to think about?
What are some interesting plant features you have found? Try looking at it under a microscope or a magnifying glass. What do these features look like now?
What do some of these characteristics do for a plant? Why might a plant have spines or dense hairs?
Photographing plants.pdfPhotographing Plants
Photographing Plants
Capturing images of plants through a film or digital camera is a wonderful tool in plant identification. Take pictures of different plant parts and the entire plant. Use the printed photos as flashcards to test your plant identification knowledge.
Sketching Plants.pdfSketching Plants
Sketching Plants
Sketching plants from a live sample, photograph or an herbarium specimen can be helpful in translating what special features you have observed about your plant onto paper.
Finding Fruits
Finding Fruits
All flowering plants form a fruit that holds the seeds. Some of these fruits are not what we typically think of when we say the word, "fruit." Join Tim as he geeks out on fruits of kissing cousins and shows us some unexpected and familiar looking fruits!
Questions to think about:
What fruits are familiar? Which fruits have you never heard of?
Why might fruits be a good way to identify plants to their families?
Different Types of Fruits
Different Types of Fruits
Take this list of fruit types and hit the plants around your home. What is fruiting? Which fruits can you find?
Use your photography or sketching skills and capture the fruits you find!
Plant Identification Resources
Plant Identification Resources
For some plant identification is a thrill and a chase. A mystery that you are trying to solve. Every good detective needs some resources. Tim shares some of his favorite compendiums on plant taxonomy.
Questions to think about:
Does your area have a local flora (survey of native plants in your area)? What plants in the flora can you find?
Why does knowing about plant taxonomy help you in horticulture?
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