Plant ID Terminology

On the back of your first plant ID sheet… take notes

Common Name:

• easy, identifiable name in English

• EX: Dandelion

Botanical Name:

• Latin, in Western Garden Book- BOLD, LARGE

• binomial: Genus species

• Ex:Taraxacum officinale

Growing Conditions:

• Planting Zones,

• Sun or shade?

Flower Color/Bloom Time:

• List season it blooms

• And Color of flower

• EX: flowers spring, summer, and fall

• Yellow flowers

Water Needs:

• Use Western Garden Book, find symbol and read for description

Perennial/Annual/Deciduous/Evergreen

• Perennial= lives multiple years, survives winter

• Annual= lives 1 year, dies in winter• Evergreen= green all year, does

not drop ALL leaves• Deciduous= drops ALL leaves in

fall, grows back in spring

Leaf Description:

• Simple or Compound?

• Describe color, texture, margin (leaf edges)

Plant Height:

• You can use greater than or less than symbols(>6’ or <6’…) OR, simply read the information provided in the Western Garden book

• ex: plant gets 5’ tall

• Ex: plant is less than 1 foot tall

Plant Habit:• shape of plant,

• ex: rounded, upright, groundcover, pyramidal, cascading

Key Identifiers:

• main ID for plant

• How do you know that this plant is a dandelion…?– Yellow flowers– Toothed, simple green leaves– Sticky latex sap from leaves and stems