Plant ID Tips and Tricks

[Cedars]

Crex Meadows lists two types of Spiderwort on the property.

 

Tradescantia occidentalis Western spiderwort

PLANTS Profile for Tradescantia occidentalis (prairie spiderwort) | USDA PLANTS

 

and

 

Tradescantia ohiensis Ohio spiderwort

PLANTS Profile for Tradescantia ohiensis (bluejacket) | USDA PLANTS

 

I have gathered that these guys can pollinate each other.

 

How do I tell them apart?

 

In my pictures, it seems that one type has a longer stem than the other for the flower bud, drooping down a bit and the other seems to flower out very tightly on the stem.

 

But my pictures were taken 2 weeks apart (June 6 and June 20) so the stem growth could just be seasonal.

 

Any hints?

[freeztar]

Any chance of posting the pics Cedars?

[Cedars]

Any chance of posting the pics Cedars?

 

 

Pic 1 is the clearest full view I have (June 6)

 

Pic2 is a different plant same day.

Pic 3 is same plant as pic 2, but a lower bud.

 

Pic 4 and 5 are same plant different buds (June 20).

 

I have other blurry pics of a more pink flower.

 

There is a five pic limit per post.

[Cedars]

This is the last pic. June 20 and is the best stem shot I have.

[freeztar]

I asked my colleague about this as he has more experience with T. Ohiensis. This is what he wrote back:

 

"The first two photos appear to be T. occidentalis (glabrous sepals and pedicels). Conversely, the latter four appear to be T. ohioensis with occasionally tufted sepals and pedicels."

 

In the email I sent him, this was the order of the pics:

<< File: spW6-6bud.jpg >>

<< File: spW6-6budLow.jpg >>

<< File: spW6-20bud.jpg >>

<< File: spW6-20budLow.jpg >>

<< File: spW6-20Full.jpg >>

<< File: spW6-20Stem.jpg >>

 

Glabrous means "smooth and hairless". The "tufted pedicels" he mentioned are clearly visible (well, now they are anyways ) in the "...6-20budlow" picture.

[Cedars]

I asked my colleague about this as he has more experience with T. Ohiensis. This is what he wrote back:

 

"The first two photos appear to be T. occidentalis (glabrous sepals and pedicels). Conversely, the latter four appear to be T. ohioensis with occasionally tufted sepals and pedicels."

 

In the email I sent him, this was the order of the pics:

 

Glabrous means "smooth and hairless". The "tufted pedicels" he mentioned are clearly visible (well, now they are anyways ) in the "...6-20budlow" picture.

 

OK So what your buddy is saying is the smooth vs fuzzy buds are one way to distinguish between these two species?

 

Could you ask your buddy for more id differences that I, an amatuer, can keep in mind when in the field?

 

Thanks Much! and count on more ID questions coming to a post near you soon!

[freeztar]

This was his response:

"Unless your friend has access to a lab with electrophoresis and can do a full genetic analysis. Alpha-taxonomy for tender herbaceous perennials is governed by the growing seasons. Alternately, for comparative purposes, try this: http://www.botany.wisc.edu/wisflora/specimen/"

 

That website is incredible, I highly recommend you check it out. It could be an invaluable resource for your area.

 

As for the differences between the two species, it seems that the hairy stamens and pedicles are your best bet.

[Cedars]

This was his response:

"Unless your friend has access to a lab with electrophoresis and can do a full genetic analysis. Alpha-taxonomy for tender herbaceous perennials is governed by the growing seasons. Alternately, for comparative purposes, try this: http://www.botany.wisc.edu/wisflora/specimen/"

 

That website is incredible, I highly recommend you check it out. It could be an invaluable resource for your area.

 

As for the differences between the two species, it seems that the hairy stamens and pedicles are your best bet. :eek2:

 

ummm... no. I havent built the lab yet. :phones:

 

Tell your friend thanks for the help given, it is appreciated!

 

I did find that botany website yesterday and used it to confirm I most likely had the prairie spiderwort. Several were gathered in burnett county over many years time, but the blue jacket spiderwort wont print out locations found for me correctly at that site.

 

I took around 1500 pics at the meadows alone and have been working thru them slowly. I am working on Broadleaf Arrowhead now, then its Water Arum.

[freeztar]

ummm... no. I havent built the lab yet. :phones:

 

Yeah, me neither. :(

But I have been thinking about getting a good microscope for a while now (maybe even a usb one).

Tell your friend thanks for the help given, it is appreciated!

Will do!

His plant knowledge is truly impressive. At work, we call him "The Encyclopedia".

I did find that botany website yesterday and used it to confirm I most likely had the prairie spiderwort. Several were gathered in burnett county over many years time, but the blue jacket spiderwort wont print out locations found for me correctly at that site.

 

I found another great site that gets into the technical botany. I used it to confirm my colleagues assessment.

eFloras.org Home

 

Both spiderworts can be assumed to occur at Crex Meadows imho. On the efloras site they state that Tradescantia hybridize freely (as you mentioned earlier). That can certainly lead to potentially difficult ID'ing that would require collegiate-style research, a "vascular flora" botanical "dictionary" (taxonomic), and a microscope.

 

I took around 1500 pics at the meadows alone and have been working thru them slowly. I am working on Broadleaf Arrowhead now, then its Water Arum.

 

Whoa! :eek2:

Sounds like a killer flickr page in the making. :cup:

[Cedars]

Whoa! :)

Sounds like a killer flickr page in the making. ;)

 

I should add that 1500 pics includes the blurry ones... But I keep those and look thru them cuz sometimes theres a hidden treasure that I didnt see when taking the pic originally. Like I found a blue damselfly in the background of one blurry flower pic, resting on the grasses behind.

[Ganoderma]

I should add that 1500 pics includes the blurry ones... But I keep those and look thru them cuz sometimes theres a hidden treasure that I didnt see when taking the pic originally. Like I found a blue damselfly in the background of one blurry flower pic, resting on the grasses behind.

 

LOL!!! you can't delete photos either eh?!?! i have many dvds full of photos just cause i cannot delete any pics.... sometimes i have 10 pictures of the same thing, same time same angle. but i don't want to get rid of it in case it is focused better or something haha. ironically i have never checked to compare them to see which is focused better or has better light angles etc. but what if? ;)

[Michaelangelica]

Now here is the plant identification system clutzes like me have been looking for.

Just need a portable scanner linked to a data base and go off into the bush communing with nature and the natural world.:eek_big:

matK Gene Is A "Barcode" DNA For Plants

Submitted by News Account on 5 February 2008 - 10:44am. Ecology

 

A 'barcode' gene that can be used to distinguish between the majority of plant species on Earth has been identified.

 

This gene, which can be used to identify plants using a small sample, could lead to new ways of easily cataloguing different types of plants in species-rich areas like rainforests

matK Gene Is A "Barcode" DNA For Plants | Scientific Blogging

[Michaelangelica]

I can sort into a few plant families, potato (Don't ask me to spell solonacea), daisy and mint.

But grasses stump me.

Any clues or are they all "grass?

And Whitman in defining grass looks at the vegetation in varying ways in a list of long lines:

 

I guess it must be the flag of my disposition, out of hopeful green stuff woven

Or I guess it is the handkerchief of the Lord…

Or I guess the grass is itself a child, the produced babe of the vegetation

Or I guess it is a uniform hieroglyphic…

And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves. (section 6)

I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars

And the pismire is equally perfect, and a grain of sand, and the egg of a wren,

And the tree toad is a chef-d'oeuvre for the highest

And the running blackberry would adorn the parlors of heaven

And the narrowest hinge of my hand puts to shame all machinery. (section 31)

leaves_of_grass: Walt and Gerard

[Essay]

But grasses stump me.

Any clues or are they all "grass?

 

Grasses are fairly recent evolutionary products, I think (40Mya?).

Don't they have some variant metabolism (C-4 maybe?).

Monocots?

 

Thatch helps retain water & provides habitat for lots of wee beasties.

Deep roots sequester lots of Carbon. ;)

[Essay]

Cool!

Watch the poleward spread over time.

 

C4 grasses first appear near the equator in E. Africa ~12 Mya.

Next in Bolivia (lat. 18 degrees) at ~10 Mya.

By ~7Mya they were in Florida & Argentina at (lat. 27), & S. North America and Pakistan (lat. 33 degrees).

Finally by ~4Mya, C4's are in N. North America and China (lat. 40 degrees).

 

 

gleaned from:

Journal of Human Evolution

Volume 53, Issue 5, November 2007, Pages 620-634

African Paleoclimate and Human Evolution: Special Issue

 

Orbital forcing and the spread of C4 grasses in the late Neogene: stable isotope evidence from South African speleothems

Philip J. Hopley, et al.

doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2007.03.007