Friday, February 5, 2010

Numerous Plant Quizzes - Annotated Photo

I recently posted the following photograph from Round Lake in Starke County, Indiana as a plant quiz and asked for identification of as many species as possible.


I've labeled the plants that I was able to ID from the photo and my memory of the site. You'll probably need to click on the photo to expand it to see the answers and the plants they are denoting. The key to the answers is below...

A – Solidago graminifolia v. nuttallii (Euthamia graminifolia)
B – Scirpus pungens (Schoenoplectus pungens)
C – Pycnanthemum virginianum
D – Eupatorium maculatum (Eupatoriadelphus maculatus)
E – Potentilla fruticosa (Dasiphora fruticosa)
F – Lysimachia quadriflora
G – Dryopteris thelypteris v. pubescens (Thelypteris palustris v. pubescens)
H – Rosa palustris?
I – Juncus dudleyi
J – Calamagrostis canadensis?
K – Eupatorium perfoliatum
L – Aster novae-angliae
M – Solidago riddellii (Oligoneuron riddellii)
N – Carex sterilis
O – Typha sp.

I don't see Onoclea sensibilis, Carex brunnescens (maybe this was guessed for Carex sterilis?), or Rudbeckia hirta (maybe this was guessed for the yellow composite in the background, which I think may be a Helianthus?), which were all suggested.

Pretty sharp group we have here! There were very few plants that I was able to identify from the photo and my memory of the site that were not identified by the group. Thanks for all of your comments.

18 comments:

Justin R. Thomas said...

Pycnanthemum virginianum
Eupatorium perfoliatum
Scirpus pungens
Lysimachia quadriflora
Eupatorium maculatum
Solidago graminifolia
Aster novae-angliae
Thismia americana

There are others, of course, but they are blurry and I don't dare guess.

Keith Board said...

Good eye, Justin! I believe I also see Dryopteris thelypteris pubescens (Thelypteris palustris pubescens), Onoclea sensibilis,
Typha angustifolia, Carex brunnescens, Rudbeckia hirta and Solidago riddellii. I wonder if the abundant dead twigs in the foreground belong to Potentilla fruticosa.

Keith Board said...

...and some kind of Juncus.

Justin R. Thomas said...

Right back atcha, Keith. I too thought the dead stems could be Potentilla fruticosa.

Scott Namestnik said...

So much for my attempt to hide the comments for a few days...

I'll post an answer in a couple of days. Most everything that is identifiable has been named...

Keith Board said...

There's something in the left third of the photo that looks like it's in the Fabaceae. I'm curious about that. I'd like to see an annotated photo.

Anonymous said...

Are you joking with us? Thismia americana????

Cdr said...

Justin, way to get someone all jazzed up with your Thismia call....and, nice find!!

Keith, I see that Fabaceae you mentioned....I was thinking Baptisia but the leaves don't look quite right (some have 5 leaflets and they are way longer than wide)

Scott, you didn't post this so you could complete the vegetation portion of a wetland delineation data form did you? hmmm...

I thought I saw Calamagrostis canadensis in there too but I think it is just some wispy-leaved SOLGRG

signing off,
CDR

Justin R. Thomas said...

The Thismia americana call was purely for fun. But it could be out there somewhere. Perhaps it is having lunch with the Great Auk or Sasquatch.

Janet said...

Rosa sp. is my interpretation for the plant with compound leaves at lower left.

Could those Lysimachias be L. hybrida or L. lanceolata? L. quadrifolia is pretty leafy... I'd expect the leaves to be more visible.

Scott Namestnik said...

Keith and Justin - good call on the Potentilla fruticosa... you can also see leaves of this species if you look closely.

Andrew, I'm pretty sure there is Calamagrostis canadensis in the photo, and I marked an inflorescence that I believe is this species. And no, I didn't need help with a delineation data sheet, but we would have found more species than there are lines available on the new Midwest Supplement data sheets.

Janet, good call on the Rosa. Justin had noted the presence of Lysimachia quadriflora (which has small, narrow leaves), not L. quadrifolia.

Thanks to everyone for playing along!

Keith Board said...

Good stuff, Scott! I believe Onoclea sensibilis is above tag "D" a little to the right of tag "A." I guessed Carex brunnescens because of the dark brown color in the pistillate spikelets, but that certainly matches the description for C. sterilis, as well.

Scott Namestnik said...

Thanks Keith. Before I posted the answers, I saw that plant that you mention and thought it may be Agrimonia parviflora... but now, after looking at it again, I think you're right and that it's Onoclea sensibilis. Good call.

Cdr said...

Scott et. al,

Where I can I find a current list of scientific names? So many have changed recently and I want to become more familiar with them.

Also, does anyone know Japanese or Chinese and can translate the 10th comment?

Scott Namestnik said...

You can check the Plants database, or Flora of North America online.

ellery said...

Doesn't anyone think that the leaves with the classic "cigarette burn" in the bottom right corner are from Euthamia graminifolia? Obviously, not much there to go by but that's the most likely...

Scott Namestnik said...

Hey Ellery. Good to hear from you. That certainly is Euthamia graminifolia. I labeled another plant (A) of this species near the top middle of the photo.

ellery said...

Wow...the first on the list...guess i was looking for Euthamia, not Solidago...good ol' nomenclature...