3 plants-help

KarenSoCal

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Ok, I've tried to ID these with PlantSnap, but I want to verify. Chug is asleep, so these may not be around when he wakes, but I'm really trying to learn plants here.

First, this one is 2 pictures. The app says it's Panamint catseye (Cryptantha angustifolia). Do you agree?20190204_160213.jpeg
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Next one is 3 pictures...app says Tall Tumblemustard (Sisymbrium altissimum)
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20190209_143239.jpeg

Last one app came up with nothing, bad pic of plant, I know
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Oh, and most important, are they safe for Chug if he was awake?
 

RosemaryDW

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I know the first one as “popcorn flower;” it’s in the borage family. I wouldn’t pay attention to any app or forum comments you find; it’s native to Chug and if he eats it, it’s fine.

The second one is a mustard; not sure which one. It’s fine to eat.

The third is a pincushion, “an important food source for the desert tortoise,” if the internet can be believed. It’s in the sunflower family.
 
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RosemaryDW

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A book I use when I’m trying to figure out plants is the Audubon Field Guide to North American Wildflowers. It’s literally designed to help you figure out what you’re looking at right where it’s growing.

It starts by having you choose the color of the flower and then eventually the shape (shapes take a while to learn; even if all you can figure out is color that’s okay).

When you find something that looks close it will tell you if it grows where you are. If the plant you’re looking at only grows in the forests of Appalachia, you’re wrong. :)

Apps can be great but a field guide is more reliable. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0375402330/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20. I like this one as well: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0963490915/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20. It’s out of print but you can get a used one on Amazon, it is specific to only desert plants.
 

KarenSoCal

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A book I use when I’m trying to figure out plants is the Audubon Field Guide to North American Wildflowers. It’s literally designed to help you figure out what you’re looking at right where it’s growing.

It starts by having you choose the color of the flower and then eventually the shape (shapes take a while to learn; even if all you can figure out is color that’s okay).

When you find something that looks close it will tell you if it grows where you are. If the plant you’re looking at only grows in the forests of Appalachia, you’re wrong. :)

Apps can be great but a field guide is more reliable. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0375402330/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20. I like this one as well: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0963490915/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20. It’s out of print but you can get a used one on Amazon, it is specific to only desert plants.

Thank you! I will check out those books.

That mustard grows 3 feet tall! I also have big dandelions...in PA dandelions are little short plants, certainly not like these.

It makes it so much better when there's a flower. Otherwise these leaves just all look the same to me.
 

KarenSoCal

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Desert dandelions! One of my favorites.
For sure. I wonder if you’ll have another good flower year, with the recent rains. Last year was amazing.

Actually, for us last year wasn't very good. But we have been in this house for 6 years, and I have never seen so many weeds, and grass, as this. The ground is actually green, instead of desert tan!
 

Ray--Opo

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A book I use when I’m trying to figure out plants is the Audubon Field Guide to North American Wildflowers. It’s literally designed to help you figure out what you’re looking at right where it’s growing.

It starts by having you choose the color of the flower and then eventually the shape (shapes take a while to learn; even if all you can figure out is color that’s okay).

When you find something that looks close it will tell you if it grows where you are. If the plant you’re looking at only grows in the forests of Appalachia, you’re wrong. :)

Apps can be great but a field guide is more reliable. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0375402330/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20. I like this one as well: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0963490915/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20. It’s out of print but you can get a used one on Amazon, it is specific to only desert plants.
Thank you for that info. I have the app Picture This and I take pictures of plants I know and it comes out wrong most of the time. Going to Amazon.
 

KarenSoCal

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Thank you for that info. I have the app Picture This and I take pictures of plants I know and it comes out wrong most of the time. Going to Amazon.
Another app I use is Plant Snap. I think it's a little better than Picture This. You might want to try it.
 

RosemaryDW

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@Ray--Opo, Florida beach and bay areas are so unique, you might find things more easily with a Florida regional guide. Like the desert one I recommended for Karen.

The North America guide is great if that’s what you end up with. I just like my guides to be as short as possible! :)
 

Ray--Opo

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@Ray--Opo, Florida beach and bay areas are so unique, you might find things more easily with a Florida regional guide. Like the desert one I recommended for Karen.

The North America guide is great if that’s what you end up with. I just like my guides to be as short as possible! :)
Thank you I guess I will buy both. That way I have references so maybe I can help out somebody else.
 

Pastel Tortie

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@Ray--Opo, Florida beach and bay areas are so unique, you might find things more easily with a Florida regional guide. Like the desert one I recommended for Karen.

The North America guide is great if that’s what you end up with. I just like my guides to be as short as possible! :)
@Ray--Opo The best plant ID resource available (during business hours) is your local county Cooperative Extension Service. They are more interactive than the field guides, but they don't keep as convenient hours. ;)
 

Ray--Opo

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@Ray--Opo The best plant ID resource available (during business hours) is your local county Cooperative Extension Service. They are more interactive than the field guides, but they don't keep as convenient hours. ;)
Thank you I will locate that dept. Here is a pic of a new this yr that just popped up 20190212_113047.jpg
 

Tom

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I only know the middle one. I agree with everyone that its one of the wild mustards. It grows here and it seems to thrive best when things warm up and dry out. When all the other weeds dry up and die in spring, this one keep going until summer finally burns it up. My tortoises will eat some of it, but its not their favorite.

The last one looks familiar to me. I think its a Mexican petunia, or something like that... I'm not sure...
 

Yvonne G

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I know Karen said the third picture might be pincushion, but take a look at Russian knap weed and see if that looks like that third plant.
 

RosemaryDW

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@Ray--Opo The best plant ID resource available (during business hours) is your local county Cooperative Extension Service. They are more interactive than the field guides, but they don't keep as convenient hours. ;)

Correct! My mom ran a Coop Extension County office for many years. She wasn’t the plant person though.

They’re also the best place for bug identification!
 

RosemaryDW

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I know Karen said the third picture might be pincushion, but take a look at Russian knap weed and see if that looks like that third plant.

I don’t think that’s it—the flower is shaped differently. Should it turn out to be knapweed, however, that is in the thistle family so I think it would be okay. It’s in one of the Shelled Warrior tortoise mixes for the UK.

Knapweed flower, side view:

D99D290A-FB4C-4153-B887-FB0BCE01506B.jpeg
 
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