Plant Identification Service

To make images best suited for identification, follow these guidelines:

1. Make multiple images of the same plant: Close-up of various plant parts, image of the whole plant, and an image of the plant in its habitat.

2. Make multiple images of different specimens of the same species.  If more than one individual is present, it can be helpful if you photograph several specimens, since there can be considerable variation within one species.

3. Include an object in the image which shows scale.  A ruler or tape measure is ideal, but common objects such as a pen, keys, or the photographer's own hand are quite helpful for giving a better idea of the size; for trees and shrubs, a human being, a backpack, or a hat will work.

4. Photograph many different parts of the plant, not just the most conspicuous.  Include leaves, not just colorful flowers or fruit, and stems and branches.  If seeds are available, photograph them, too, if they are available.

5. A plain background can be helpful.  If your mystery plant is growing among other plants, it may be difficult to get the camera to focus only on its parts.  A sheet of paper behind it, or a coat, a clipboard, or other plain object may help.  For taller plants, if you photograph from a point lower to the ground, this may enable you to get the sky in the background.

6. Write down details about each photo as soon as you take them, such as location, time, measurements of plant parts, and any features not evident from the images.

Family, Genus, Species, Subspecies, Variety: What do these terms mean?  If you have not studied botany, or at least general biology, you may have a rough idea of their application, but more likely you do not use them in as precise a manner as scientists do.  For example, lay persons often use the term "family" in a vague manner, aren't familiar with the concept of genus (or confuse it with family), and equate the terms "species" and "variety".  There is also the misperception that scientific names are unnecessary, that a familiar English name could be provided as an exact substitute for every scientific name.

Scientists classify life forms in a defined hierarchy. The most basic division is the level of Kingdom.  Animals, fungi, and plants (and two or three other groups, depending on the authority) are each in their own biological kingdom.

Kingdoms are subdivided into phyla (phylum is the singular) within the animal kingdom.  We humans are in the animal kingdom and in the chordate phylum (animals with backbones and primitive pre-backbones).  Within the plant kingdom, the roughly corresponding subdivision is called a division.  Coast redwoods are in the conifer division.

Phyla and divisions are subdivided into classes.  We are in the mammal class, along with all of the generally furry critters we think of first when we think of animals.  Coast redwoods are in the Pinopsida.

Classes are subdivided into orders.  We are in the primate order, but dogs and cats are in the carnivore order, mice and rats are in the rodent order, and so on.  Coast redwoods are in the Pinales, the pine order.

Orders are further subdivided into families.  We are the only surviving member of the hominid family; dogs, foxes, and wolves are in the canine or dog family; tigers, lions, pumas, and house cats are in the feline or cat family.  Coast Redwoods are in the cypress family.  (Notice that while they are related to pines, being in the pine order, they are not in the pine family.)

Families are divided into genera (genus is the singular).  We are in the genus Homo, dogs in the genus Canis, horses in the genus Equus.  Coast redwoods are in the genus Sequoia.

Genera may include one to hundreds of species.  A species is generally defined as a group of organisms which regularly interbreed and produce fertile offspring, but it can be difficult to define when there is often a great deal of genetic variation within one group.  Different populations that are obviously closely related can be isolated for long periods of time and during that time are no longer interbreeding, but how long do they have to be isolated before they evolve enough to be considered separate species?  That is a difficult question for taxonomists, the scientists who classify life forms, and one without universal agreement.

When people speak of different "kinds" of plants and animals, they probably mean species, even though they may not fully understand the concept.

Species are often further subdivided into subspecies, which are groups that generally have some isolation from each other and show some distinct traits due to the geographic and genetic isolation, but could readily interbreed and produce fertile offspring if brought back into geographic proximity.

The word variety is often used as a further subdivision of a subspecies, or it can also be used in lieu of the term subspecies.  It denotes a group within a species that is not as distinct as a subspecies, and may readily intergrade with other varieties such that you will find some specimens which are not easily assignable to one or the other variety because they may share otherwise characteristic traits of two or more.

Scientific names provide us with the genus and species.  The scientific name is provided in two parts (and so is called a "binomial").  The genus is always first, and always capitalized, while the second name is referred to as the specific epithet.  When they appear in text, scientific names are generally italicized (though many newspapers and popular magazines fail to do this).  We humans are Homo sapiens.  Coast Redwoods are Sequoia sempervirens.  California poppies are Eschscholzia californica. Eschscholzia is the genus, californica is the specific epithet, the full species name is Eschscholzia californica.  If someone pointed to a California poppy and asked you "What genus is it?", you would say Eschscholzia.  If asked "What species is it?", you would not say "californica" but Eschscholzia californica.

If we are talking about plants, then we often say "botanical name" instead.  The botanical name is the scientific name of a plant, and we can use the terms interchangeably so long as we are still talking about plants.  (A butterfly, for example, has no botanical name, since it is not a plant.)

Many people are unfamiliar, and thus uncomfortable, with the Latin-based origin of scientific names.  (Many are actually of Greek origin, or are named after people whose names originate from many different cultures, but are modified as needed into a Latin-like form.)  Most of the trouble is just from unfamiliarity with specific words.  If you know how to pronounce Petunia, Begonia, Dahlia, Magnolia, Rhododendron, Narcissus, Geranium, or Asparagus, you already know how to pronounce Latin names (one way, at least), for these names of common garden plants also happen to be genera.  If you begin a study of wild plants, you will necessarily encounter hundreds, even thousands of unfamiliar names, because there are so many species and genera of plants that most people have never encountered.  The more of them you learn, though, the more you come across familiar patterns.  It helps to learn what the name means, and if you retain my identification services, I will tell you what the derivation of the name is and ways to pronounce it.

For some groups of organisms, birds the most notable example, scientists who specialize in that group have assigned a standard English name that is directly equivalent to a scientific name.  An expert birder could be unaware that the scientific name of the American Robin is Turdus migratorius without much loss, because the American Ornithological Union has standardized the English names of birds.  If you say American Robin, the name applies to the same species everywhere in the US.

This is not the case with plants.  Many of the thousands of species have no widely used English names at all, and the same English name is often used for unrelated plants.  The name "fireweed", for example, has been used for a member of the evening-primrose family, a member of the borage family, and a member of the composite family.  The common name often misleads you as to what the plant's relations are.  Blue-eyed-grass is not a grass; salt-cedar is not a true cedar; evening-primroses are not primroses.

Further, numerous plants with the word "weed" in their name are not weeds in the sense of being alien invasive plants, nor even weeds in the sense of being plants which readily take over gardens, croplands, or fields, but were given the derisive term by groups of people who resented that they had no economic use for them.  And for some, being a weed is not really a pejorative term, it simply was applied to plants that grew very well in untended areas on its own.

This is why I don't offer this service for "just" the common name, for that name usually has little meaning without the scientific name, too.

Identifications for this service are made by me, Lee Dittmann, who has studied plants in a number of areas of the US, but especially the California Coast Ranges, the Mojave Desert, northern Arizona, and southern Utah. I have published scientific checklists of plants, nature trail guide booklets, plant ID guides, and maintain online plant photo collections of Northern Arizona, Mojave National Preserve, and Henry Coe State Park.  I have an extensive collection of botanical reference books for the western US (especially California, Arizona, and Utah), and many for the eastern US as well, and even for parts of Canada and Europe, which I will make use of in identifying your mystery plants.  I am the owner of Mindbird Maps & Books.

In years past, I offered this service and had a high success rate from reader submissions (even though many people didn't pay attention to the geographic limitations of the service).  I discontinued it as a free service due to time constraints and because no one taking advantage of it was ordering any merchandise from me, making it more difficult to pay the bills.  Identifications can take an hour or more per specimen unless I already have a good idea what it is, so my rates are quite a bargain.