Plant ID Self-Guided Template
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1. Plant ID
- Self Guided Study
Template - Student Name Here, Share with instructor with permission to comment.
2. Instructions for use
Using the internet, pre-recordings from class, information from class presentations, and personal experience (interview a colleague or friend, or fill in from what you know and photos you have)... build this presentation.
For each plant, put in the key ID features. Don’t just list what’s in my presentations, look at the plant and describe how YOU would tell THIS plant apart from another like it. For example, how do you know it is a Lilac and not a Ninebark?
Then list the best usage of this plant - what are the key ornamental features of it (leaf colour, textural contrast, flower colour and time, size, food source) - what kind of landscape garden bed does this one belong in?
Then list the maintenance requirements, if there are any. (Does it get diseases or bugs often? Does it need pruning or shaping, is it a bomb proof plant?)
3. DECIDUOUS SHRUBS
4. FAMILY Page: Shrubs
OLEACEAE (1 thing)
ROSACEAE (5-6 things):
ADOXACEAE (3 things)
FABACEAE (3 things)
CAPRIFOLIACEAE (2 things, which is a cousin?):
- BERBERIDACEAE, CELASTRACEAE
5. Day 1
- OLEACEAE
- Lilacs
- ALL lilacs ID
Why would I pick a specific species (because they are NOT all the same)
- Forsythia
- Ornamental Introduced Shrubs
6. Lilacs - what they have in common
7. Lilacs - why I’d pick one over another
8. Forsythia
- Key ID
Where/Why use it What to know (maintain)
9. Day 2
- ROSACEAE
- Ninebark
- Cotoneaster
- Double Flowering Plum
- ADOXACEAE
- Wayfaring Tree
- Nannyberry
- Elder
- Ornamental Introduced Shrubs
10. Ninebark
- Key ID
Where/Why use it What to know (maintain)
11. Cotoneaster
- Key ID
Where/Why use it What to know (maintain)
12. Double Flowering Plum
Key ID (how do I know it’s NOT Nanking Cherry?) Where/Why use it
- What to know (maintain)
13. Elder
- Key ID
Where/Why use it What to know (maintain)
14. Nannyberry
- Key ID
Where/Why use it What to know (maintain)
15. Wayfaring tree
Key ID (how do I tell it apart from Nannyberry) Where/Why use it
- What to know (maintain)
16. Day 3
- BERBERIDACEAE / Barberry FABACEAE Caragana
Focus on the cultivated types of the Caragana as these are / should be more frequently used
- CAPRIFOLIACEAE
- Honeysuckle
- Dwarf Honeysuckle
- DIERVILLACEAE/Weigela CELASTRACEAE/Burning Bushes
- Winged Burning Bush
- Turkestan Burning Bush
- Ornamental Introduced Shrubs
17. Barberry
- Key ID
Where/Why use it What to know (maintain)
18. Common Caragana
- Key ID
Where/Why use it What to know (maintain)
19. Types of Caragana I’m more likely to see (and why)
20. Big Honeysuckles
- Key ID
Where/Why use it What to know (maintain)
21. Dwarf Honeysuckles
- Key ID
Where/Why use it What to know (maintain)
22. Weigela (how do you even say that? why-GEE-la)
- Key ID
Where/Why use it What to know (maintain)
23. Winged Burning Bush
- Key ID
Where/Why use it What to know (maintain)
24. Turkestan Burning Bush
- Key ID
Where/Why use it What to know (maintain)
25. Now… to review…
26. Shrubs - key points: Sizes
Small (usually about knee height)
Medium (everything else)
Large (taller than the average human 2m+):
27. Shrubs - key points: Leaf colour
Summer (not green)
Red in Fall
Yellow in Fall
28. Shrubs - key points: Flowers
Flowers before leaves
Which flowers latest
Flowers not remarkable
White Flowers
Pink Flowers
Yellow Flowers
Other
29. Shrubs - key points: Fruit
Dry fruit (winter interest?):
Clusters of “berries”:
Other interesting fruit
Sterile
30. Shrubs - key points: other
Bomb proof
Marginal
Birds spread it
Suckers
Pest Problems
31. DECIDUOUS TREES
32. FAMILY Page: Deciduous Trees
SAPINDACEAE(3 things)
FAGACEAE (3 things)
OLEACEAE(1 thing)
JUGLANDACEAE (2 things)
MALVACEAE (2 things)
SALICACEAE (4 things)
ULMACEAE (leaves)
33. Day 4
- SAPINDACEAE
- Ohio Buckeye
Amur Maple vs Tatarian Maple The Big Maples FAGACEAE
- Bur Oak
Why might I use the other oaks?
- Deciduous Trees
34. Ohio Buckeye
- Key ID
Where/Why use it What to know (maintain)
35. Amur Maple vs Tatarian Maple (may make 2 slides or do a comparison
Amur Maple vs Tatarian Maple (may make 2 slides or do a comparison: how are they alike, and how are they different)
- Key ID
Where/Why use it What to know (maintain)
36. Big Maples
What do we need to know about using them?
37. Bur Oak
- Key ID
Where/Why use it What to know (maintain)
38. Other Oaks
What do we need to know about using them?
39. Day 5
- Deciduous Trees
- OLEACEAE
What do all Ashes have in common?
Why do we NOT use Black Ash?
- Why do we LIKE White Ash
- Manchurian Ash
- Green Ash
- Japanese Tree Lilac
- JUGLANDACEAE/Butternut MALVACEAE/Linden
40. What do ALL ashes have in common?
- Key ID
Where/Why use it What to know (maintain)
41. Black Ash and White Ash
Key points about these two?
42. Green Ash
- Key ID
Where/Why use it What to know (maintain)
43. Manchurian Ash
- Key ID
Where/Why use it What to know (maintain)
44. Japanese Tree Lilac
- Key ID
Where/Why use it What to know (maintain)
45. Butternut
- Key ID
Where/Why use it What to know (maintain)
46. Lindens
- Key ID
Where/Why use it What to know (maintain)
47. Day 6 (hour 1)
- Deciduous Trees
- SALICACEAE
How are all the Willows alike?
What are the main differences?
- ULMACEAE
- American Elm
- Siberian Elm
48. Willows - what do they all have in common?
- Key ID
Where/Why use it What to know (maintain)
49. Why would I select one of these specifically? (Note any drawbacks)
- Laurel Leaf
- Silver
- Golden
- Weeping
50. American Elm
- Key ID
Where/Why use it What to know (maintain)
51. Key points about the Siberian Elm
- Key ID
Where/Why use it What to know (maintain)
52. Now… to review…
53. Trees - key points: Sizes
Small (in scale with a bungalow/bilevel)
Medium (everything else)
Large (taller than a city light standard)
54. Trees - key points: Leaves
Red in Fall
Yellow in Fall
Pinnately compound
Other Interesting shapes
55. Trees - key points: Usage
Low Headed
High Headed
Tough/reliable
Marginal / tricky
Messy
56. Trees - key points: Fruit
Fruit is considered a point of interest
Fruit is messy / undesirable
Fruit is toxic
57. Evergreens
58. FAMILY Page: Evergreens
How can you tell these apart?
CUPRESSACEAE
PINACEAE
59. Day 6 (hour 2)
- Evergreens
- CUPRESSACEAE
- Russian Cypress
- Cedar
60. Russian Cypress
Key ID (how do you know it’s not a Juniper) Where/Why use it
- What to know (maintain)
61. White Cedar
Key ID (how do you know it’s not an upright Juniper)
Where/Why use it What to know (maintain)
62. Day 7
- Evergreens
- PINACEAE
- Bristlecone Pine
- Mugo Pine
Scot’s Pine Swiss Stone Pine Build a Pine key, including pines from second year:
Jack Pine, Lodgepole Pine Limber Pin, Ponderosa Pine
63. GENUS Page: PINACEAE
How can you tell these apart?
Larch
Fir
Spruce
Pine
64. Bristlecone Pine
- Key ID
Where/Why use it What to know (maintain)
65. Mugo Pine
- Key ID
Where/Why use it What to know (maintain)
66. Scot’s Pine
- Key ID
Where/Why use it What to know (maintain)
67. Swiss Stone Pine
- Key ID
Where/Why use it What to know (maintain)



































































