June 8, 2007, Misidentifying Wildflowers

The day was quite warm. 90° closer to the lake. At home it the high 80s was as warm as it gets. As a front comes through thunderstorms develop that last into the afternoon. The thunder keeps me close to home. I spend some time with my new Newcome’s wildflower guide. I like the concept of the guide. It has a system for identification based on shape. Flower shape, leaf type, leaf shape, and plant type. Based upon this key you should quickly get to the right page in the guide. I try this in the yard on flowers I already know. It is funny because I soon realize I have to learn to match my observations to the definitions in the guide. Although I have read the instructions, I need to spend more time with the definitions, because my initial efforts do not even get me close. Everything requires some practice. This guide is far better than anything based on color. To me color was an impossible starting point