Field Botany Study Guide - Plants to Know

Plants to know for practicals

Green stems, does not have whorled branches around stem.

Stems evergreen and hollow.

Spores on the terminal cone.

Green stems, does not have whorled branches around stem.

Stems evergreen and hollow.

Spores on the terminal cone.

Equisetum hyemale - Rough Horsetail (Equisetaceae)

Pinnae (single leaflets are pinna) are auriculate (curved lobe near base)

Attaches at single point at base of each pinna

Round sori (groups of sporangea, singular sorus) with indusia(protects sori from dessicating)

Once pinnate, no pinnules

Picture: Sori and indusia (protective structure to prevent sori from drying out)

Polystichum munitum - Western Sword Fern (Dryopteridaceae)

Oval, more elongate shaped sori (sporangea clusters)

3’ pinnate (?)

Dark-colored indusium/sori

Athyrium filix-femina - Lady fern (Athyriaceae / Drypoteridaceae in Gilkey Book)

Dark/shiny stipes/petioles (leaf stem)

Stope/petiole forms branching fan of pinnae at the apex of leaf

Oblong and elongate pinnules

False indusia on underside of leaf

Adiantum aleuticum - Western Maidenhair (Pteridaceae)

3’ Pinnate (?)

Pinnules have smooth margins and are somewhat triangular in shape

False indusia continuous along underside of leaf surface

Pteridium aquilinum - Western Bracken Fern (Dennstaedtiaceae)

Single needles (no fascicles)

Cones have 3 pronged bracts

Somewhat flat needles, stick out in all directions from branch/twig

pseudotsuga menziesii - douglas fr (Pinaceae)

Fascicles of two (two needles per bundle)

Trees generally shorter and triangular shaped

Pinus contorta - Shore Pine (Pinaceae)

Cones sit upright on tree

Lowest growing fir in our area (Willamette)

Needles smell like citrus

Light green needles on bottom, dark green on top

Needles organized flat across branch, often alternating long and short

Abies grandis - Grand Fir (Pinaceae)

Scale like leaves that are wide and flat

Cones shaped like small rose buds

Stringy/flaky bark, reddish brown colored, more smooth.

Thuja plicata - Western Red Cedar (Cupressaceae)

scale like leaves are more elongate than Thuja plicata, thinner as well and appear more like wine glasses that form overlapping joints.

Aromatic leaves

Cones are shaped like duck mouths

More furrowed and rough reddish bark

Calocedrus decurrens - Incense Cedar (Cupressaceae)

Tri-lobed leaves, aromatic.

Artemisia tridentata

Achillea millefolium

Berberis aquifolium

(Genus)

Lupinus

Involucre (sheath of bracts) around inflorescence

Generally mat-forming

Erigonum

Purshia tridentata

Mimulus lewisii

(Genus)

Castilleja (there are a few other species that look different)

Fleshy cones, vaguely berry-like

Juniperus occidentalis

3 needles per fascicle

Pinus ponderosa

5 needles per fascicle

Pinus monticola

Single colored needles often upturned, covering branch on all sides

Tsuga mertensiana

Often upturned needles, distinct line on each needle

Abies lasiocarpa

(Genus) Generally small and alternate leaves, entire to acutely serrate. Fruits of this genus are berries and edible.

Vaccinium sp.

Iris, Iridaceae

Crocosmia, Iridaceae

(Genus) Generally trumpet shaped, aromatic, large. Superior ovary.

Lilium, Liliaceae

( Genus) Racemose, 1-55 flowers. Highly modified lower petal (labellum),

Plantanthera

(Family) Superior ovary, gen. 3 stamens

Liliaceae

Digitalis purpurea

(Family)

Antirrhinum (snapdragons) - family: Scrophulariaceae

Pacific blackberry - Rubus ursinus

Salmonberry - Rubus spectabilis

Himalayan blackberry - Rubus armeniacus

Soft leaves, nature’s toilet paper

Thimbleberry - Rubus parviflorus

Spirea douglasii

Leaves serrate, spear-shaped. Monoecious with catkin inflorescence

Populus trichocarpa

Baneberry - Actea rubra

Genus characteristically leaves behind peg-like scars when needles fall

Picea (englemanii)

Oxalis c.f oregana

Spiranthes (romanzoffiana)

Plantanthera dilatata

Woody; Opposite, pinnately compound leaves

Oregon ash - Fraxinus latifolia

Goodyera oblongifolia

Genus

Stachys (cooleyae)

Lemon aroma

Melissa officinalis

Quercus garryana

Lathyrus latifolius

Single axillary born fruit

Vaccinium membranaceum

Red huckleberry - Vaccinium parvifolium

Flowers borne in racemes

Gaultheria shallon

Opposite leaves, woody. White berries. Mature leaves broader and slightly lobed

Snowberry - Symphoricarpos albus

1) opposite, pinnate-compound, green leaves (6-9” long) which have 5-7 leaflets (each to 4” long), (2) dome-shaped clusters (panicled cymes) of numerous, late spring to early summer, tiny, fragrant, white flowers and (3) dark red Berry

Sambucus racemosa

Campanula scouleri

Berberis nervosa

Genus

Solidago (canadensis)

Rudbeckia occidentalis

Asarum caudatum

Right: Left:

Daucus carota, Achillea millefolium (umbel vs cyme)

Toxicodendron diversilobum

Acer circinatum - Vine maple

Acer macrophyllum - Bigleaf maple

Doubly serrate

Corylus cornuta

(Genus). Palmately veined leaves. cereum: Deciduous multistemmed shrub, 4-6 ft (1-2 m) tall, densely branched, branches without bristles or thorns. Leaves rounded, 1-4 cm wide with 3-5 indistinct lobes, margins crenate, white waxy, gray-green, nearly smooth upper surface and downy gray below.

Ribes

erect, many-flowered spikes and associated, overlapping, hairy bracts. The square stem has dense, cylindrical, terminal spikes of purple flowers; the spikes elongate after flowering. It is often considered a weed of lawns and moist shady spots.

Prunella vulgaris

Maianthemum racemosum

perennial grass forming stiff, hardy clumps of erect stems up to 1.2 metres (3.9 ft) in height. It grows from a network of thick rhizomes which give it a sturdy anchor in its sand substrate and allow it to spread upward as sand accumulates.

Ammophila arenaria (Poaceae)

Auricles are absent and ligules are large membraneous and torn at the top. Seed are larger than most grasses and have long awns.

Avena fatua (Poaceae)

Stems are round and filled with pithy pith. Soft rush has no leaves. Leafy reddish sheaths wrap the stems at the bottom of the plant. The inflorescence of soft rush appears to be coming out of the side of the stem.

Juncus effusus (Juncaceae)

leaves with rounded lobes. It produces a typical acorn. The bark is light gray with thick furrows and ridges.

Quercus garryana (Fagaceae)

• Flowers: Deep red-purple hairy flowers grow 1 to 1.6 inches (23 to 40 mm) in length. Each flower is stalk-less with the sepals united in a tube with 5 spine-tipped lobes. The petals are fused into a 2-lipped tube with the hood-like upper lip enclosing the 4 stamens and the lower lip 3-lobed.

• Leaves: Deltoid or heart-egg-shaped leaves grow opposite 2 to 6 inches (6 to 15 cm) in length. The leaves are hairy on both sides, stalked and coarsely blunt-toothed. The stems are square-shaped in the cross-section.

• Fruits: Four small nuts are produced in the flowers.

Stachys cooleyae

Stachys rigida

Trailing vine with a stout, angled stem and pink-lavender pea-like flowers in long-stalked clusters.

Lathyrus japonicus

Leaves alternate, simple, doubly serrate, oval to rhombic, 7-13 cm long, tapered from the middle to both ends, 8-15 vein-pairs, dull dark green above, grayish and pubescent on veins below, margin coarsely toothed, rolled under

Alnus rubra (Betulaceae)

dark green, basal leaves which are typically 5-20cm in length and 4-6cm in width with whitish, slightly hairy underside. The blunt toothed lobes of the leaves contribute to the ruffled appearance of the rosette

Senecio jacobaea

Individual, erect, cottony stems grow 1-3 ft. tall and are often clumped together creating a bushy appearance. Narrow leaves are gray-green to woolly-white. Globular flowers are actually long-enduring, white, dry bracts arranged around a yellow center

Anaphalis margaritacea

basal leaves several, long-petiolate; cauline leaves 1-3, sub-sessile; stem branched above and producing several small umbels. Flowers: Inflorescence of loose, compound umbels, the long peduncles rising from leaf axils as well as terminal, the peduncles 5-25 cm. long; the 3-5 rays ascending-spreading, 2-12 cm

Osmorhiza berteroi

moist meadows; fertile stems brown, appearing separately; sterile stems green with large hollow space and regular whorls of solid branches; branch ridges furrowed with rounded valleys.

Equisetum telmei

This fern is particularly distinctive because of its two different types of fronds. Evergreen sterile fronds (to 8-24” long) are stiff, leathery, pinnatifid and dark green, forming a loose outward-spreading, flattened rosette.

Blechnum spicant

densely tufted, grasslike plant has stout, creeping rhizomes. The leaves have w-shaped, coarse, with the margins rolled under. Stems have edges

Carex obnupta (Cyperaceae)

Stem: coarse- and glandular-hairy throughout, glands +- yellow, purple, or black, lateral branches rarely exceeding main stem. Leaf: 2--18 cm, 3--18(29) mm wide, broadly lanceolate to linear-oblong or linear.

Madia sativa

rosette growth habit, irregularly lobed leaves, and bright yellow flowers, flowers grow from stem >1

Hypochaeris radicata

• Branching, erect biennial, 2 to 6 feet tall.

• Rosettes form in first year, flowering stems the second.

• Long, sharp spines on the leaves at the midrib and the tips of the lobes.

Cirsium