Natural History Wanderings

I was recently asked by another photographer “What do I use for ID-ing plants?”  I thought my answer might make a worthwhile post.

There is no one easy answer to this.  I have gone on many wildflower walks, taken many plant classes, use local plant lists and field guides or floras, and am married to a docent from the Tilden Regional Parks Botanic Garden.  For my recent trip to Abbott’s Lagoon I used the Pt Reyes plant list that is sold at the visitors center and a CNPS plant list that is specifically for Abbott’s Lagoon that you can find at  http://www.marin.edu/cnps/MarinCNPS_Plant_Lists.htm by using a local plant list I have greatly limited my choices.

When I get home if I am not sure check out my best guesses by checking images or going to UC Berkeley’s CalPhotos website: http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/ which has good pictures to compare with mine.   I also use the CalFlora site: http://www.calflora.org/ , which gives you plant photos (often from Calphotos), plant distribution maps (so you can see if the plant grows in the area you are in) and other useful information.  You can also Google a plant name and ask Google to give you images.  The problem with Google is there is no quality control and plants may be labeled incorrectly.  If you are having trouble identifying a plant in the field, I would suggest taking both a close-up picture of the flower head and a larger photo that includes the leaves, plant size and growth style (e.g. vine versus upright, single flower head or multiple flower heads, etc) as this will be useful when you work on identification at home.

A final way to identify the plant is with a dichotomous plant key but that often requires a fair amount of skill, having the right plant floras and patience (I am very much a beginner in both the skill and patience aspect of this).  Hope this helpful and not too overwhelming.