Six wild plants to be identified

Discussion in 'Plants: Identification' started by snusos, Nov 6, 2006.

  1. snusos

    snusos Member

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    Six different plants, which are represented by two pictures each except for the last; all of which were photographed in central Florida. I assume the last plant wasn't planted and is wild; it looks like a species Yucca L., but I'm not sure. The next to last plant looks like a species of Helianthus L., but again I'm not sure.
     

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  2. TonyR

    TonyR Active Member

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    The first one is Ipomoea quamoclit.

    Snusos, why do you find it necessary to give author citations with all your botanical names, even genera? Does it add anything useful?
     
  3. tipularia

    tipularia Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    #2 & 3 Froelichia gracilis or F. floridana
    Family Amaranthaceae
     
    Last edited: Nov 6, 2006
  4. tipularia

    tipularia Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    #5 might be a Heterotheca maybe H. pilosa
     
  5. tipularia

    tipularia Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Judging from the rough, glandular looking stem #10 might be a Silphium.
     
  6. tipularia

    tipularia Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Last one Yucca filamentosa
     
  7. tipularia

    tipularia Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    [FONT=arial,sans-serif][SIZE=-1]That cypress vine grows very quickly. There is one on a fence near my house that was just one small vine a couple of months ago. Now it covers two sections of fence.[/SIZE][/FONT]
     
  8. David in L A

    David in L A Active Member 10 Years

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    The second pair could be Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium.
     
  9. David in L A

    David in L A Active Member 10 Years

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    4th pair Hypericum hypericoides
     
  10. tipularia

    tipularia Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    I agree on #2. Probably a cudweed and not snake cotton. Gnaphalium or Pseudognaphalium
     
  11. tipularia

    tipularia Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    #4 does look like a Hypericum, but I don't believe it is St. Andrew's Cross, H. hypericoides, which grows in my yard. The leaves and stem are different and so is the flower. There are not very many Hypericum that have four petals, but I found one in Florida that might be it. Hypericum tetrapetalum
     
  12. snusos

    snusos Member

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    Thanks, TonyR, tipularia, and David in L A for your help. :)

    I just attached two pictures of a plant; I meant to attach it with the others, but forgot. It has pleasant flowers.

    I feel it gives a bit of insight to the history of the plants' binomial nomenclature and to the person or persons who named them. The Flora of North America and the USDA Plants web sites also do this. Do you find my practice annoying?

    Quite similar. Froelichia gracilis (Nutt.) Moq., which looks quite similar, has questionable distribution on USDA Plants for my area; Froelichia floridana (Nutt.) Moq. looks a bit different.

    I don't believe that the Heterotheca Cass. genus is correct, for the only species of it whose distribution coincides with my location is Heterotheca subaxillaris (Lam.) Britt. & Rusby, and thereby if you recall, that cannot be it.

    Still looking through species of this; will reply when done.

    This is the species I suspected.

    I agree. Very much alike and the distribution on USDA Plants matches with my general location.

    This species looks very close, but its leaves and flowers look slightly different.

    Yes. Hypericum tetrapetalum Lam. looks exactly like it. :)
     

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  13. tipularia

    tipularia Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Erigeron?
     
  14. tipularia

    tipularia Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Heterotheca is sometimes called Chrysopsis maybe C. pilosa
     
  15. snusos

    snusos Member

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    Species of Erigeron L. and Chrysopsis (Nutt.) Ell. are very similar to the pictures I posted, but I'm not yet confident in a positive identification. I'll probably go look closer at them again later today.
     
  16. David in L A

    David in L A Active Member 10 Years

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    I think those are "Asters" (either Symphyotrichum sp. or Ampelaster) rather than Erigeron.
     
  17. tipularia

    tipularia Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Difficult to tell from the photo. The phyllaries will help to identify it. Those look to be long and recurved. Erigeron usually has one or two rows of phyllaries (bracks under the flower head), while Asters have several overlaping like shingles (imbricated). Asters usually have fewer and larger ray flowers than Erigeron. On composites it helps to know more about the flower characteristics, such as type of pappus, shape of fruit (achene), ray and disk flowers, sterile or not.
     
    Last edited: Nov 8, 2006
  18. snusos

    snusos Member

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    Yeah, Symphyotrichum Nees looks more like it than Erigeron L. does.

    Yeah, I suppose the photos weren't that great for the purpose of identification. I'm still learning the plant termanology; for example, as I understand it, phyllaries refer to the bracts forming the involucre, but this term, phyllaries, is only used to refer to the bracts of plants of the family Asteraceae (Compositae).
     

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