Identification Tips

Tips for Wildflower Identification

Books

My collection of local wildflower books (you can never have too many identification books!)

If you are "florally challenged" and don't know a daisy from a rose or a dandelion from a violet, you need to get a good wildflower identification book! Some are better for beginners, other books are good for those who are more comfortable with flower families. Books with photographs are not quite as intimidating for beginners, but they are not as accurate as those with line drawings. Books that list flowers by color are user-friendly, books that arrange flowers by families are not quite so easy to use. If you get hooked on wildflowers you'll find you need local books from places you visit. I have over 30 books from many areas of the U.S. and Europe, some are written in German and Norwegian.

Unless you are fluent in words like strigillose, chasmogamous, papilionaceous, pulvinous, or tomentose, do not buy a "professional grade" plant identification book! You know you are over your head when you have to look up the meanings of the words in the glossary in the other listings of the glossary!

Characteristics to aid in identification

When looking at a plant keep these characteristics in mind:

Habitat: Woodlands, fields, aquatic, etc.
Color of flowers
Shape and size of flowers
Number of petals (or sepals in some cases)
Number of stamens and pistils on flowers
Arrangement of flowers on the stem: umbel, spike, raceme, etc.
Leaf size and shape: simple leaf, compound leaf with pinnate or palmate leaflets
Leaf margins (edges): smooth, pointed, lobed
Leaf arrangement on plant: basal, opposite, alternate, whorled
Stem: Square, round, winged
Smell of flowers or crushed leaves
Size of plant
Soil type: Sandy, humus, clay

There are 20 different leaf shapes, 9 leaf margin types, etc., so I will not even attempt to discribe all of them! A good flower book will cover these.

Lyre-leaf Sage Rosette (basal leaves in winter)

Take along a sketch book to draw or write down notes on the plants' characteristics; you don't have to be a great artist! The sketchings may help you later identify a flower.

Flower Families

Plants are grouped into families that have similar characteristics. The botanical family term ends in the suffix "-aceae" (pronounced: ay-cee-ee). For example, the family that asters, daisies, and dandelions are in is the Asteraceae or Aster Family. It helps to learn some of the families, don't get intimidated, with a little bit of practice it gets easier! There are many different families of plants in Tennessee.

Common Family Name	Scientific Family Name	Examples
Acanthus	Acanthaceae	American Water Willow, Wild Petunia
Agave	Agavaceae	False Aloe, Yucca
Amaryllis	Amaryllidaceae	Yellow Stargrass
Arum	Araceae	Jack-in-the-Pulpit
Aster	Asteraceae	Daisy, Dandelion
Barberry	Berberidaceae	Umbrellla Leaf
Birthwort	Aristolochiaceae	Pipevine, Little Brown Jugs, Wild Ginger
Bleeding Heart	Fumariaceae	Dutchman's Breeches, Squirrel Corn
Bluebell	Campanulaceae	Tall Bellflower, Cardinal Flower, Indian Tobacco
Box	Buxaceae	Allegheny Spurge
Broomrape	Orobanchaceae	Squawroot, One-flowered Cancer Root
Buttercup	Ranunculaceae	Anemones, Rues, Buttercups, Hepatica, Larkspur, Columbine
Cactus	Cactaceae	Eastern Prickly Pear
Carrot or Parsley	Apiaceae	Queen Anne's Lace, Angelicas, Poison Hemlock
Cashew	Anacardiaceae	Fragrant Sumac, Poison Ivy, Winged Sumac
Cattail	Typhaceae	Common Cattail
Dogbane	Apocynaceae	Blue Star, Indian Hemp, Periwinkle
Evening Primrose	Onagraceae	Biennial Gaura, Small Enchanter's Nightshade, Seedbox
Flax	Linaceae	Common Yellow Flax
Forget-Me-Not	Boraginaecea	Wild Comfrey, Hoary Puccoon, Virginia Bluebell
Gentian	Gentianaceae	Pennywort, Rose Pink
Geranium	Geraniaceae	Wild Geranium, Carolina Cranesbill
Greenbriar	Smilacaceae	Carrion Flower
Heath	Ericaceae	Blueberry, Trailing Arbutus, Azalea, Mountain Laurel
Honeysuckle	Caprifoliaceae	Japanese Honeysuckle, Common Elderberry, Maple-leaf Viburnum
Hydrangea	Hydrangeaceae	Wild Hydrangea
Iris	Iridaceae	Iris, Blackberry Lily, Blue-eyed Grass
Lily	Liliacea	Lilies, Onions, Mandarins, Soloman's Seal, Bellworts
Logania	Loganiaceae	Indian Pink
Loosestrife	Lythraceae	Purple Loosestrife, Clammy Cuphea
Lopseed	Phrymaceae	Lopseed
Madder	Rubiaceae	Buttonbush, Virginia Buttonweed, Cleavers, Bluets
Mallow	Malvaceae	Swamp Rose Mallow, Carolina Mallow, Prickly Mallow
Meadow Beauty	Melastomataceae	Virginia Meadow Beauty
Milkweed	Asclepiadaceae	Common Milkweed, Swamp Milkweed, Butterflyweed
Milkwort	Polygalaceae	Gaywings, Curtiss' Milkwort, Seneca Snakeroot
Mint	Lamiaceae	Heal-all, Mints, Bee Balm, Henbit, Ground Ivy, Horse Balm
Morning Glory	Convolvulaceae	Hedge Bindweed, Dodder, Ivy-leaf Morning Glory
Mustard	Brassicaceae	Toothwort,Cresses, Mustards
Orchid	Orchidaceae	Coralroot, Lady's Slipper, Rattlesnake Plantain
Pea or Bean	Fabaceae	Vetch, Wild Indigo, Clovers, Peas, Kudzu, Senna
Phlox	Polemoniacea	Blue\ Phlox, Smooth Phlox, Greek Valerian
Pink	Caryophyllaceae	Round-leaf Catchfly, Starry Campion, Bouncing Bet
Plantain	Plantaginaceae	English Plantain
Poppy	Papaveraceae	Bloodroot
Potato / Nightshade	Solanaceae	Jimsonweed, Horse Nettle, Nightshade
Primrose	Primulaceae	Shooting Star, Scarlet Pimpernel, Water Pimpernel
Purslane	Portulacaceae	Carlolina Spring Beauty
Rose	Rosaceae	Roses, Strawberry, Cherry, Avens, Agrimony, Cinquefoil
Saxifrage	Saxifragaceae	Alumroot, Bishop's Cap, Wild Hydrangea
Sedge	Cyperaceae	Fraser's Sedge, False Nutsedge
Smartweed	Polygonaceae	Smartweed, Virginia Knotweed
Snapdragon	Scrophulariaceae	False Foxglove, Beardtongue, Turtlehead, Monkeyflower
Spiderwort	Commelinaceae	Asiatic Dayflower, Virginia Spiderwort
Spurge	Euphorbiaceae	Prairie Tea, Flowering Spurge, Cumberland Spurge, Eyebane
St. Johnswort	Clusiaceae	St. Andrew's Cross
Teasel	Dipsacaceae	Teasel
Touch-Me-Not	Balsaminaceae	Spotted Touch-Me-Not, Pale Touch-Me-Not
Trumpet Creeper	Bignoniaceae	Trumpet Creeper, Cross Vine
Valerian	Valerianaceae	Beaked Corn Salad
Vervain	Verbenaeceae	Fogfruit, Narrow-leaf Vervain
Violet	Violaceae	Violets
Waterleaf	Hydrophyllaceae	Large-leaf Waterleaf, Purple Phacelia
Water Plantain	Alismataceae	Water Plantain, Broad-leaf Arrowhead
Wood Sorrel	Oxalidaceae	Large Yellow Wood Sorrel, Northern Wood Sorrel
Yam	Dioscoreaceae	Wild Yam

To see a representative of these families click on the underlined flower. To return to this page, click on the "back" arrow at the upper left corner of the window. Families are further broken down into Genera. The Genus name is like a family's last name (i.e. "Violet", as in the floral genus Viola). The Genus name is always capitalized. For instance, violets are in the Genus Viola, all violets have similar characteristics. The species name is either a description of the plant's charactaristics (rotundifolia - "round-leaved"), it may be named for the person who discovered it or as an honor to an early botanist (rafinesquii), or it might give the location or region of where the plant is found (canadensis). The species name is always written in lower case letters.

Classification for the Common Dandelion - Taraxacum officinale
Kingdom	Plantae
Phylum (see pg. 2 on site)	Anthophyta
Class	Magnoliopsida
Order	Asterales
Family	Asteraceae
Genus	Taraxacum
Species	officinale