Florida Plant Leaf Identification
Plants' leaves take on a broad array of forms, and in Florida many kinds are represented. There are trees, shrubs, vines and lots of other kinds of plants. Botanists rely upon many features of plants for identification, including flowers, fruits and stems. But often the characteristics of leaves become a key part of the identification process.
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Trees
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Many kinds of trees occur in Florida, and their leaves vary dramatically. There are the so-called broadleaved trees like the American basswood, eastern cottonwood and sweetgum. And there are the pines like longleaf pine, sand pine and slash pine. The distinction between the pines and the broadleaved trees is an important one. As the name suggests, the leaves of the broadleaved trees are relatively wide in form. The pines' "leaves" are not at all wide like those of the broadleaved trees. They are needlelike and are, in fact, called needles.
Shrubs
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There are shrubs in Florida, like the elderberry, that have broad leaves just as many of the trees do. The main difference is that shrubs do not reach tree size. Different authorities may define trees and shrubs differently, but a rule of thumb is that if a woody plant doesn't grow taller than 25 feet when mature, then it's most likely considered a shrub. The elderberry's leaves are what botanists call "compound leaves." This simply means that what would otherwise be one individual leaf is divided into separate, smaller leaflets.
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Vines
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A number of species of vines grow in Florida. Among the most infamous is poison ivy. The leaves of poison ivy are compound like those of the elderberry shrub. One difference is that the poison ivy vine has only three leaflets per leaf, while the elderberry has five or more. Greenbrier is another Florida vine. It has so-called "simple" leaves--in other words, not divided into leaflets--and has thorns on its stem.
Ferns
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Ferns that grow in Florida include the bracken fern, the resurrection fern and the golden leather fern. In ferns, the part that we recognize as the whole individual single fern is the fern's leaf, often called a frond. Fern leaves, or fronds, are almost always divided into leaflets, and oftentimes are divided further into smaller divisions called subleaflets. The resurrection fern's leaves are divided into leaflets, and the bracken fern's leaves are further divided into subleaflets.
Wildflowers
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The term "wildflower" is somewhat of a catchall word. In the broadest sense, even the showy flowers of trees like the flowering dogwood could be considered wildflowers. But the term is reserved among botanists and naturalists mostly for smaller, low-growing plants that have conspicuous flowers. Among the wildflowers growing in Florida are the pickerelweed and St. Johnswort. The leaves of the St. Johnswort are simple rather than compound (as are those of the pickerelweed). The pickerelweed is a so-called emergent aquatic plant. It's called "emergent" because even though it grows in standing water, its leaves and flowers emerge above the water's surface.
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References
- Photo Credit elderberries image by Clivia from Fotolia.com
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Comments
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This is what I've been doing -- but it's hard to identify Florida plants when I'm used to big old oak trees everywhere. FL oaks don't drop hard leaves and crunchy acorns all over!
