Unidentified White Flower

4/4/2012

I believe it is some species of trillium.

Mint family

No idea what this plant is, had a very distinct smell though
Wow... feeling dumber now that I googled "fuzzy pungent plant" and mint relatives come up. 1) I should have recognized it, 2) I should have noticed the square stem 3) WHY DID I NOT RECOGNIZE THE SMELL... I'm crazy.
Relatively certain after a little research it's apple mint... AKA wolly mint :3
but no... hm

Frog Fruit (Phyla nodiflora)

Tiny flower made up of tiny flowers
Found it almost no trouble. The flower itself is pretty distinctive. PICTURE
It's called 'frog fruit'... precious... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phyla_nodiflora
:D I love it when it's that easy!

Red Buckeye (Aesculus pavia)

3/21/2012

Okay... I'm going to be honest. My initial response to this little plant was shock. It resembles the cannabis plant's leaves very, very closely. Obviously I was in the field and did not have the ability to know whether or not it was and my friend, obviously unexperienced, told me it looked like poison sumac. What I had trouble understanding... was the purple ribbon tied around the base. I'm incredibly interested in figuring out what plant this is... marijuana or somac, I'm fascinated :). 

Okay, I've settled on the fact that it's definitely not cannabis, the leaves are not serrated enough. As well as the red tint the stems have and the green color/ leaf thickness is not correct. That's debunked. But one possibility I ran into was cleome. It could also be the common horse chestnut, ohio buckeye, red buckeye or yellow buckeye. 

Okay, fairly certain that this is a small Red Buckeye tree. 

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=AEPA&photoID=aepa_009_ahp.tif

This guy stumped me for awhile. 

Larkspur

3/18/2012

I found a flowering weed growing in the neighbor's unkept yard. It's a vacant house so it's not taken care of regularly. This one was rather pretty, with a 2 foot talk stalk with bright purple flowers all over it. The leaves are strange as well, almost needle like and bushy.

3/20/2012

A visit to the library like so many other posts... 

The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers Eastern Region

possibility:

Spring Larkspur (734)

Delphinium tricorne

YES. Solved. Well if it's incorrect it's at least in the same family and I'll find it soon.

Rocket Larkspur (Consolida ajacis)

http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/9946638

Fringeleaf Wild Petunia (Ruellia humilis)

3/7/2012

Found a pretty little wildflower, thought I'd identify it!

http://www.flwildflowers.com/gallery/

Only took me about 5 minutes to find an image that looked exactly like mine. In the website it's listed as petunia. Specifically Ruellia ciliosa. The common name is the Fringeleaf Wild Petunia. 

http://florida.plantatlas.usf.edu/Plant.aspx?id=2630

For some reason, Duval is not listed. But it also says 'not vouchered', it does not say 'not present, proven' or anything similar. 

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=RUHU&photoID=ruhu_008_avp.jpg

Apparently ciliosa is a synonym for humilis. Seems legit. 

visibly hairy stem

http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/9498023

American Nightshade (Solanum americanum)

2/27/2012
So... I happened upon something incredibly interesting... Remember that red berried plant a few posts back, that I could not identify? http://procezzed.blogspot.com/2012/02/red-berries.html .. Yeah THAT. well... I found another one. However... this one had BLACK berries. same leaves, same size, same EVERYTHING... except for berries. How CURIOUS.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanum_americanum
I think I've finally solved it. After finally searching based on the FLOWER and not the berry, I found a blog that featured a post on the 'American Nightshade'. Scientifically 'Solanum americanum'. Now I just have to figure out the details of the red berried plant I found before. It MUST be related because the two are so similar.

Henbit (Lamium amplexicaule)

2/27/2012

Interesting weed discovered growing in the garden bed. Only about 10 cm tall. It had a square stem which tells me it's related to the mint. The leaves are somewhat heart shaped and are 

I was just browsing this website looking for some weed characteristics and it said something about a square stem. Which I noticed ^^ the example it had was 'henbit'. Googled it and, sure enough. Perfect match.http://polkhort.ifas.ufl.edu/Power%20Point%20presentations/Weed%20Identification%20and%20Control%20in%20the%20Florida%20LandscapePCMGS2007.pdf

Conducting a checklist based on the characteristics stated on the website:http://www.weedalert.com/weed_pages/wa_henbit.htm

leaves are rounded on the end with rounded toothed edges YES

grow opposite one another YES

square stems DEFINATELY

upper leaves lack petioles YES

grow from 4 to 12 inches tall on weak stems YEP

weak stems sprouting from the bottom may lay almost horizontal ABSOLUTELY

okay. I'm doubtless at this point. Henbit. Lamium amplexicaule

Violet Woodsorrel (Olaxis violacea)

2/27/2012

pretty purple flowers in my backyard

they kind of resemble the violet I identified a few days ago. however these seem to grow along with a clover that is ALL over the yard. Definately specified as a pest/ weed. 

I googled clover because the leaves of the plant are very similar to a clover. I figured out after awhile that it had some relation to the wood sorrel. Through a few minutes of browsing I finally settled on the violet woodsorrel. (Olaxis violacea)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxalis_violacea

http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/9198534

Coralberry (Arsidia crenata)

2/27/2012

forraging and exploring, once again!

first off, found a small shrub that produced bright red berries

should be pretty straightforward

characteristics:

leaves:

8 cm long 

2.5 cm wide

branched veins

leanceolate shape

pointed

sinuate/ wavy edge

berries:

red

.7 cm diameter

reddish stem

while trying to identify a wildflower, I ran upon this listed under "CAUTION INVASIVE SPECIES" 

well, at least now I know what it is!

http://www.floridata.com/ref/a/ardis_c.cfm

it's called coralberry, or christmas berry. (Arsidia crenata)

"Coral ardisia is listed by the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council (a non-governmental organization) as a category I species, defined as an introduced species that is invading and disrupting native plant communities in Florida. In many areas, coral ardisia has become a significant pest. " - floridata

Fascinating. However I find no disruption present so, I am not going to interfere with this plant's life.

http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/9202358

Common Blue Violet (Viola sororia)

2/24/2012
I find wildflowers beautiful and fascinating. So on my little park excursion I took a photograph of a pretty purple one,
flower was about 2 cm long
had 5 purplish petals
one flower per stem
12.5 cm stem length
patch of leaves at base of flower stem
2 cm leaf
heart shaped
branched leaf veins
toothed edges

pretty easily identified as the Common Blue Violet. Scientifically Viola sororia
I just looked up some florida wildflowers and it was the third maybe fourth one down.
according to wikipedia:
'Beyond its use as a common lawn and garden plant, Viola sororia has historically been used for food and for medicine. The flowers and leaves are edible, and some sources suggest the roots can also be eaten. The Cherokee used it to treat colds and headaches. Rafinesque, in his Medical Flora, a Manual of the Medical Botany of the United States of North America (1828–1830), wrote of Viola sororia being used by his American contemporaries for coughs, sore throats, and constipation."

http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/9188380

Florida Betony (Stachys floridana)

Aaaaand I went scavenging again today!
Today was Tuesday, February 21 2012
It was 68 degrees F

My main focus of today was examining berries and roots.

As a child I used to dig up these white bulbous roots and pretend to be a native american. My mother always called it 'rabbit's tobacco'
today I happened upon that same plant and decided to start there.

Plant
Determined Dicot
forb/herb growth habit
nodulose roots
stolon or sucker sub-aerial modification
The lamina is chordate, (the leaf is shaped like a heart)
extipulated (no stipule present)
foliage leaves
reticulate unicostate veniation, (only 1 principle vein which gives off lateral veins that proceed toward edges, forming a network)
pinnatipartile lamina edges (serrated/ lacy)
opposite decussate phyllotaxy (leaves occuring in pairs at the nodes, standing at right angle to next upper or lower pair)

2/22/2012
posting on a fruit I found and I ran across a weeds PDF
http://hortweeds.tennessee.edu/webapp/weedguide/allpages.pdf

it refers to it as Florida hedgenettle, rattlesnake weed

scientific name: Stachys floridana

aaaaand SUCCESS
correctly identified.
edible? apparently!
http://www.youtube.com/embed/cAudL109GOg

http://www.daviddarling.info/images/types_of_roots.gif

according to that webpage ^^ the roots are considered nodulose

Could not find out what it is! I will continue to search

http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/9092048