1. On the back of your first plant ID sheet… take notes
Plant ID Terminology
On the back of your first plant ID sheet… take notes

2. easy, identifiable name in English
Common Name:
easy, identifiable name in English
EX: Dandelion

3. Botanical Name: Latin, in Western Garden Book- BOLD, LARGE
binomial: Genus species
Ex:Taraxacum officinale

4. Growing Conditions:
Planting Zones,
Sun or shade?

5. Flower Color/Bloom Time:
List season it blooms
And Color of flower
EX: flowers spring, summer, and fall
Yellow flowers

6. Water Needs:
Use Western Garden Book, find symbol and read for description

7. 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

8. Leaf Description: Simple or Compound?
Describe color, texture, margin (leaf edges)

9. 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

10. Plant Habit: shape of plant,
ex: rounded, upright, groundcover, pyramidal, cascading

11. 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