On Sun, 28 Aug 2005 15:48:37 GMT, "Cliff" wrote:

You have called it. It is Solanum nigrum. Do you mind sharing how you went
about identifying it, did you just know it from past experience or is there
some logic tree you went through?

No, I have worked with native plants for about 40 years and it is just
intuitive by now. Now as far as a logic tree or modus operandi, I
would recommend accumulating books on plants with good photos or line
drawings and just comparing an unknown plant to these. After a while
you get used to putting them into categories that match the way plants
are classified and named. I do not know if you can do this
effectively online as you only see one plant at a time and you need a
name to even find that.

For instance, if you sit down with Enquist's "Wildflowers of the Texas
Hill Country" and start perusing the photos you will come across
Solanum triquetrum sooner or later and the similarities will give you
the genus, Solanum, of your unknown. Then you can go through
individual species online and figure out what you have.

Rusty Mase
Austin, Texas