A plant with whorled leaves — Eutrochium spp. Joe pye weed: Family Asteraceae. Found in Jenning’s courtyard.

A member of the Fabaceae with an explanation of the characters that you used to determine the classification.
Trifolium repens: White Clover; The central flower has the distinctly “boat” shape with a banner, two wings, and a keel. Additionally, the flowers are zygomorphic with one style and stigma. Found growing in the grass beside Aronoff Lab’s entrance.

Parthenocissus quinquefolia: Virginia Creeper. Found growing across from the veterinary hospital on the fence line bordering 315. Palmately compound leaf. 5 leaflets.

A member of the Cyperaceae with an explanation of the characters that you used to determine identification.
Unknown Sedge spp. “Sedges have edges”. The picture on the left demonstrates the triangular stem. The inflorescence also shows the flower subtended by a bract. Found outside in the planter area of the Jennings Loading Zone.

Rhamnus cathartica (common buckthorn). Black drupe fruit. “Wannabe” thorn at the terminus of the branch. Found off of 1315 Kinnear Road (The MBD) growing along the fence among honeysuckle.

A plant with pinnately compound leaves and stipules. Rosaceae cultivar. Found in planted circle beside the Ohio Stadium. Characters: stipules on Rosaceae petioles, compound leaves.

A member of the Lamiaceae with an explanation of the characters that you used to determine the family identification.

Spearmint- Mentha spicata

Characteristics used: Square stems, aromatic, opposite leaves, zygomorphic flowers.

Growing in an overgrown garden in front of a house in University District of Columbus, OH.

A member of the Solanaceae with an explanation of the characters that you used to determine the family identification.

Tomato- Solanum lycopersicum

Characteristics: Superior ovary, fruit a berry, alternate leaves.

Growing in a planted garden in Beavercreek, OH.

Cornus species.

Flowering Dogwood- Cornus florida

Characteristics: Understory tree, red drupes growing in clusters, leaves are simple, opposite, ovate, and entire.

Found in the front yard of a house in Harrison West of Columbus, OH.

Rhamnus species.

Buckthorn- Genus Rhamnus (species unknown)

Characteristics: Medium-sized tree, growing along fence-line with other invasives such as honeysuckle, branches end in woody ‘spine’, have small, dark berries.

Found near the OSU Museum of Biodiversity in Columbus, OH.

A plant with a corolla of fused petals.

Morning Glory- Ipomoea purpurea

Petals are fused into one tube- no individual petals obvious.

Found along a fence-line in the back of a house in University District of Columbus, OH.

A plant that produces berries.

Honeysuckle- Genus Lonicera (species unknown)

Produces small, red, fleshy fruit with no hard outer shell and no hard inner pit. Round.

Found in Highbanks Metro Park in Columbus, OH.

Rubus sp.

Daucus carota

Sight ID:

-Black raspberry (Rubus occidentalis) is easily identified by its white glabrous stem and prickly shoots coming out. The leaves are pinnate and in the summer will have a nice black raspberry fruit on them. I found this species in the woods behind the Don Scott Airport.

-Queen Anne’s Lace or wild carrot (Daucus carota) can be found all over Ohio. It is a very distinguishable plant because of the large groups of small white flowers in an umbel formation. These typically grow between 2 and 3 feet tall. This wild carrot was found in our field trip to Kraus Preserve with Woody ID.

Carex buxbaumii

Bellis perennis

Family ID:

Cyperacea: Buxbaum’s sedge (Carex buxbaumii). This family is most easily identified by the common phrase “sedges have edges”. If you feel the stem of these, instead of being rounded like a grass, it would feel like its in the shape of a triangle. The leaves on these are small and narrow. I saw this during our trip to Cedar Bog.

Asteraceae: Common daisy (Bellis perennis). This family is identifiable from the composite flower type in the form of capitula surrounded by involucral bracts.  This specimen was seen in Camp Mary Orton.

Tomato

Unknown

Character items: A plant with flowers that have many stamen, A plant with a gynoecium composed of two carpels

This wild tomato in the Solanaceae family is a plant that we dissected in class and saw at Cedar Bog. It is clear from this picture that it has two carpels.

We also saw this plant at Cedar Bog, however I don’t remember what it is. You can clearly see the stamen all over the flower.

• A plant with obovate leaves: Asimina tribola or pawpaw tree. Found in Jennings courtyard. Leaves are obovate when the leaf is wider at the apex end than it is at the base end.

• A plant that produces achenes: Eastern Joe-Pye weed or Eupatorium dubium. Found in Jennings courtyard. Achenes are small, dry, one-seeded fruits that do not split open.

• A member of the Fabaceae family is Cercis canadensis or redbud. Found in Jennings courtyard. Defining characteristic is legume fruits.

• I was unable to find a member of the Apiaceae family, but I was looking for plants with an umbel inflorescence.
• Sorghastrum nutans or yellow indiangrass. Found in Jennings courtyard. Characters I used to recognize this plant were the long blades of leaves and golden brown plumes.

• Celtis occidentalis or common hackberry. I was unable to find this species, but while searching I looked for winged bark and ovate, serrate leaves that were not symmetrical at the base, and small dark drupes.

Families:

A member of the Asteraceae family

charateristics include: a capitulum, radially symmetrical, disk of petals surrounding the capitulum (receptacle), 2 carpals, and an inferior ovary.

Found in the  ditch between Jennings Hall and Aronoff Laboratory at Ohio State.

common name: black eyed susan.

A member of the Fabaceae family:

Charscteristics: legume seed pods, alternate leaves, marginal placentation, and stipules.

Found in the garden on the west side of Jennings hall.

Common name: Red Bud

Sight ID 

Lindera benzoin

Spice Bush

Characteristics: alternate entire leaves, red fruit, characteristic smell in leaves and fruit, and ovary leaves.

Found on the east side of Aronoff Laboratory.

Acer saccharum

Sugar Maple

Characteristics: Palmate vination, lobed (5parts), opposite leaves.

found on the north side of Jennings hall.

Character items

A plant with stipules

common name: golden rod

stipules: small leaf like projections at the base of the stem and the petiole.

Found in Iuka Park, off of north 4th street, Columbus, OH.

A plant with sheathing leaf bases.

sheathing leaf base: the leaf attaches directly to the stem with a vertical coating Instead of a petiole or sessile attachment.

common name: switch grass

genus: Panicum

found outside of Jennings hall, on the west side of the building.

Find plants in a specific family:

Cyperaceae, the sedge family

Cyperus sp.

Found outside of the Agricultural Administration Building on The Ohio State University’s campus (2120 Fyffe Rd., Columbus, OH 43210). I determined that this plant was of the Cyperaceae family because it was an herb that was grass-like in aspect, but with a solid stem with edges. The leaves were parallel veined and elongate. The plant had flowers arranged on the axis of one of the spikes.

Asteraceae, the aster family

Echinaceae purpurea

Found outside of Kottman Hall on The Ohio State University’s campus (2021 Coffey Rd., Columbus, OH 43210). I determined that this plant was in the Asteraceae family because it was an herbaceous plant with capitulum inflorescence. The capitulum was subtended by an involucre bract (phyllaries). The disk flowers were in a conic shape and surrounded by purple ray flowers. The fruit was also in the form of an indehiscent achene.

Find plants that are on the sight ID list:

Toxicodendron radicans

Found near the corner of W 9th Ave. and Highland Ave. in Columbus, Ohio (43201) growing on Acer saccharum.  I knew this plant was poison ivy because it was growing in the form of a woody vine with abundant aerial roots. The leaflets were in groups of three, and some of the leaflets had pointed teeth or shallow lobes.

Rubus sp.

Found at the Wilma H. Schiermeier Olentangy River Wetland Research Park (352 W Dodridge St., Columbus, OH 43202) growing next to a walking path. I knew this plant was Rubus sp. because it was growing in the form of an arching shrub, was covered in a glaucous bloom, and was very prickly. It had compound leaves with irregularly serrate leaflets in groups of three. The plant was also arching and rooting at the tip.

Find specific characters of plants:

A plant with zygomorphic flowers.

Lobelia cardinalis 

Found outside of Jennings Hall (1735 Neil Ave., Columbus, OH 43210) in the planted gardens. Zygomorphic flowers can be identified by their bilateral symmetry, meaning they are only symmetric across one plane.

A plant that produces capsules.

Catalpa speciosa

Found near the intersection of W Maynard Ave. and Williams St. in Columbus, OH (43201) planted next to the street. Capsules are a type of dehiscent fruit that split open along multiple sides of the fruit when mature.

Species-This is Phragmites australis and is found down in a ditch in Hilliard, Oh just off I 270. It is a grass with a unique seed head and being invasive it is essentially the only thing growing in this ditch.

Species-This is Liriodendron tulipifera. This is found just east of adriaticos on 11th. It is alternate, pinnate, and simple.

Trait-This is a dandelion or Taraxacum officinale. It is a member of asteraceae and is a ligulate flower head. Notice the individual flower in the middle it’s stigma is split thus showing it has (two carpels).  It is found in an older flower bed in Hilliard.

Trait-This is green ash or Fraxinus pennsylvanica. It is (opposite pinnately compound) and has the “Philips head screwdriver” bud. It is found growing in the understory of a mixed pine wood lot in Hilliard.

Family-This is Cersis canadensis or eastern redbud. It is cordate simple and palmate. And the trait best used to determine the family, fabaceae are the seed pods that grow on the tree. This was found at the Chadwick arboretum.

Family-This is Queen Anne’s lace or  Daucos carota. It is found at the Heffner Wetland Research Center. The big trait that tells the family is the umbel flower head. All though this is in the fruiting stage the umbel is still intact.