Taraxacum officinale (common dandelion)
Location: Green Ohio
A character I used to recognize this species was mainly the flower head. There are many small flowers collected together. Each flower in the head is called a floret. The leaves form a whorl around the base of the flower.
-A plant with opposite compound leaves
Location: Green Ohio
This plant has opposite compound leaves. This means that the leaves are arranged in an opposite fashion (they face in two different directions coming from the same point). This entire picture is of one leaf but there are many leaflets coming off the same leaf stalk, making this overall a compound leaf.
Phragmites australis (common reed)
Location: Green Ohio
Some characteristics I used to recognized this species were the long lanceolate leafs (grass). I also noticed that some parts of this plant were turning light brown, which is also a characteristic of Phragmites australis. Starting in the fall the leaves start to change color and become light brown vs. fully green in the summer months.
-A member of the Poaceae with an explanation of the characters that you used to determine the family identification
Location: Green Ohio
I identified this plant to be from the Poaceae family. Some characteristics I used to determine this were the long linear leaves; also, the leaves are alternate with entirely smooth margins.
-A member of the Solanaceae with an explanation of the characters that you used to determine the family identification
Location: Green Ohio
This is a picture of a Petunia. I know this is from the family Solanaceae because the leaves are alternate and also the flowers have 5 petals.
-A plant with linear leaves
Location: Green Ohio
The top part of this plant (a spike) shows a plant with long linear leaves. My definition of long linear leaves would be a long slender leaf that is simple and not divided into parts.
This plant is of the species Viorna. Commonly known as Clematis. This plant belongs to the Ranunculaceae family. Its native status is from China and Japan. This Clematis was pictured on 9/14/14 in my backyard in Green, Ohio. This is shown in a nurtured lawn with several different types of planted trees/plants of many different species.
This is a picture of the species Integrifolia, commonly known as a Petunia. This plant belongs to the Solanaceae family. It’s native status is from South America. This Petunia was pictured on 9/14/14 in my backyard in Green, Ohio. This is shown in a nurtured lawn with several different types of planted trees/plants of many different species.
Chrysanthemum, also known commonly as “Mum,” is from the Asteraceae family. It’s native status is from Asia and Northeast Europe. The mum’s original native status was in China. This mum was pictured on 9/14/14 in my backyard in Green, Ohio. This is shown in a nurtured lawn with several different types of planted trees/plants of many different species. Some characters I used to identify this plant were the simple lobed leafs. I also analyzed the floral composition and noticed the flowers were in the shape of a disk. The center portion of the flower cluster had tubular or disk-like flowers. I also noticed that there were many florets–a small flower or an individual flower within a dense cluster. 