The following was received via email: Hello, would anyone be able to identify these two species? Thank you. They were found on a waste site in the city of Vancouver last week.
Based on what is available from the image, it is difficult to give a definitive answer. As the image is small and the plants are lacking reproductive features (flowers or seeds), what is needed to generate a "sight identification" is missing. From my experience, when trying to identify a plant without flowers or seeds, it is almost always necessary to work with a physical specimen. A physical specimen yields more clues - what does the plant feel like, does it have hairs, what does the crushed leaf smell like, what does the root smell like, what is the scale of the plant and so on. Even with all of that information, it can still be difficult to identify the plant to species or cultivar. That being said, the plant on the left resembles Vicia lathyroides or spring vetch. The spring vetch is a member of the pea family, so if I had a physical specimen, I could confirm that I was in the right family by crushing a leaf and seeing if it smelled like pea pods. There are a few other possibilities, but the character to me that is most yielding of a clue is the adult leaf shape which reminded me of Lathyrus, another member of the pea family (these leaves are on the bottom right of that image of the plant). The plant on the right is even more problematic. The way the leaves are arranged in the stem (in whorls) limits the possibilities, but again, without extra clues, it is difficult to be definitive. It is possible that it is a Galium, commonly known as bedstraw, but if so, it looks very robust. I don't feel entirely comfortable suggesting that, because there are some other possibilities that I would investigate if I had the plant in hand. I hope this helps. If you have more information to share, that'd also be appreciated.