Plant Identification

"Brian warned that a plant detective can make a lot of progress with this line of questioning up to a point, ""but a botanist's life starts getting difficult at the species level, because you have to use flowers and fruit to distinguish between species. The vegetative features (leaves, needles) of plants are not very characteristic at higher levels of classification. There will always be difficult specimens, especially if they are sterile,"" that is, without flowers and fruits. ""Fruits and flowers are what systematic botanists use to get to the word 'go,'"" he told us. ""That is the basis of the whole classification system, so if you don't have them, you have to rely on experience or guesswork to try to find out what something is."" Brian recommended asking a local expert for help if you are stumped. Identification Tool Kit The tools of identification are relatively few and simple. The following tools are part of the field kit, which also includes tools and equipment for specimen collection. Field guide with keys to plants of the region A hand lens, to examine plants at close range Binoculars, to look at things high up in a tree, for example A metric ruler, to measure leaves and other small features A metric tape measure, to measure the diameter of tree trunks An altimeter, to measure the altitude of your site A compass, to determine the location of your site Brian Boom suggests wearing the lens and ruler on strings around your neck. Another idea is to tape an actual ruler or a photocopy of a ruler to the inside cover of your field journal. Even experts sometimes make mistakes when identifying plants. Brian showed us an example from his own work, and because of the careful way he kept his records, we could follow the history of the mistake and its correction by looking at his field journal and specimen sheet. He collected a specimen consisting of a twig with a few leaves in Bolivia in 1984. While still in the field, he identified it as being a member of the Euphorbiaceae, a large family commonly called the spurges, with more than 5,000 species. Most are tropical plants, but the decorative poinsettia is one family member we know in North America. ""In all fairness, the plant was sterile,"" he said. In other words, he had no flowers, seeds, or fruit to help him identify the plant. "