Cabeza Prieta Natural History Association Plants Help

Plant Identification Page - Tips

Life Form

Leaf Arrangement

Opposite		Two leaves emerging from the stem opposite from each other.
Alternate		Only one leaf emerging from a point on the stem.
Fascicled		Three or more leaves emerging from a point on the stem or at the end of the stem. With the plants in the desert, these usually are spoon-shaped and without petioles.
Whorled		Three or more leaves encircling a point on the stem rather than coming from a single point. Arrangement hard to tell or basal: Oftentimes, in reality, these leaves are alternate or opposite, but are jammed so close together that their arrangement is impossible to determine.

Leaf Format

Simple		These leaves consist of a single blade attached to the main stem with or without a petiole. The blades may be thin or fleshy, toothed or not, lobed or not, and smooth or not.
Pinnate		(Single pinnate or pinnately compound). Leaves consisting of a single series of pairs of obvious leaflets attached along the length of a stem called the rachis. The lower part of the stem would be considered a petiole. This leaf type not to be confused with a pinnately lobed (pinnatifid) simple leaf where the lobes are not completely separated before reaching the rachis.
Bipinnate		(Twice pinnate or bipinnately compound). Leaves consisting of series of pairs of completely separated leaflets attached to narrow stems (rachilla) which in turn are attached to a central stem (rachis) emerging from branches on the plant. In some species, the rachis of the leaf is so short as to make it seem like there are two pinnate leaves coming out of one point on the branch.
Bifoliolate		Leaves consisting of two leaflets attached to a rachis.
Palmate		Leaves consisting of three or more completely separated leaflets coming out of the end of a rachis.

Leaf edge
(Not to be confused with leaf outline.)

Leaf surface

Overall leaf shape
If the leaf is compound, leaf shape refers to the leaflet and not to the outline of the leaf as a whole.

Oval		Leaf (or leaflet) outline mostly rounded. Includes egg-shaped, oval, elliptical, circular. It is usually too hard to differentiate between these so they are lumped together.
Triangular		Angular rather than rounded leaves (or leaflets) shaped like a triangle. This can grade into oval.
Lance shaped		Angular leaf (or leaflet) blades shaped like an arrowhead. This can be confused with triangular and may require more searches using different choices.
Linear (very narrow)		Leaf (or leaflet) blades still narrower than lance-shaped. Once again, this may require more than one try with different choices.
Spoon shaped		Leaves gradually widening from the base to the tip. These may be flat or thick and fleshy.
Other
Very narrow and long		Blades much narrower than linear and longer than one or two inches.
Very narrow and short		Very narrow leaves less than 2 inches long.
Grasslike		Grasslike leaves less usually much less than 2 feet long.
Very long grasslike		Grasslike leaves usually much longer than two feet.
Heart-shaped

Leaf outline

Spines
Spines are relatively small and short modified leaves which may be straight or curved, i.e. cacti have spines. Thorns are stiff sharp-pointed branches, i.e. hawthorn.

Flower color

Flower noticeability

Flower type

Flower petal number

Cactus shape

Return to the Plant Identification Page.

Plant Key Word Search Page - Tips

The Plant Key Word Search function returns a list of all plants that have the search word, phrase, or string, in their database record. The search function is not case sensitive.

No logic is used in searches. Only exact matches will be found. Most database entries use singular, rather than plural, terms. For example, if you want a list of all shrubs, use the search string "shrub".

Flower color searches are usually better served by using the Plant Identification page. Using the Plant Key Word Search page to generate a list of plants with white flowers, by using the search string "white", will return a list of plants with white flowers and plants with "white" in their common name, such as "White-stem milkweed" and "Whitethorn acacia", both of which have yellow flowers.

Scientific Name Searches - Be careful of spelling. Consider omitting sub-specie notation, then select the plant of interest from the resulting list. The plant database designation for sub-specie is, " ssp. ". If you use " subsp. ", or forget the ".", the plant will not be found. Another option is to use the Plant List page which lists all plants by scientific name.

Common Name Searches - Many plants have more than one common name. The Plant Key Word Search page is a good tool to find plants by common name, as opposed to the Plant List page(c) which lists all plants by common name. Consider using a portion of the common name when common usage spelling variations may limit the search result. For example, a search for "Marigold" will bring up links to, "Desert Marigold" and "Woolly desert-marigold". You can then click through to the appropriate plant page.

Life Form Searches - Remember that "less" is better than "more" and use the singular form of the word. A search for "shrub" will return a list that includes "low shrub", "medium shrub", "tall shrub" and "subshrub."

Habitat Searches - Here are the habitat terms used in the database.

Plant Family Searches - Here are the plant family names used in the database.

Plant Occurrence - Here are the plant occurrence terms used in the database.

Flower Color - These color names are used in the database.

Flower Season - These month names and seasonal terms are used in the database.

Miscellaneous Terms - These terms appear in various fields of the database.

Return to the Plant Key Word Search Page.

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