Please help me identify these four common New Jersey (planted) plants:

http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/shahswim/.../SpringFlowers

(if there is a problem accessing the above site, go to
httphotos.yahoo.com/shahswim and click on SpringFlowers)

I can email better resolution photos, if anyone requests.

Comments:
Plant 2: Seems like a Oak or Maple - very common along the roads.
Plant 3: Very common around apartment complexes. Probably a wild
flower intentionally planted?
Plant 4: Very common along road sides.


I see a lot of trees with gorgeous white/cream/pink small flowers
during spring. Although I have checked the basic Peterson and Audubon
guides, I have not been able to identify many of these. Example trees
are hawthorns, mountain-ash, plums, cherries, and crab apples.
Questions:

1. Are there books or internet resources to identify plants based on
flowers?

2. Are there resources for identifying plants based on flowers, that
are white/pink in spring?

2. Which are the best resources to identify plants; not based on
primarily leaves?

swim learning said:

Plant 3: Very common around apartment complexes. Probably a wild
flower intentionally planted?

#3 sure looks like a dandelion to me...

--
Bob
Kanyak's Doghouse
http://kanyak.com

No. 1 is a Prunus (Cherry).
No. 2 is an Acer (Maple).
No. 3 is a Taraxacum (Dandelion).
No. 4 is also a Prunus.

It's hard to be more specific from photos. Whether or not you can identify
plants without primary reference to their leaves depends on whether the
plants will let you. You'd be hard put to do either Prunus or Acer, for
instance, without using the leaves. And you'd have no chance at all with
Dandelions!

There are non-specialist field guides in Europe that have a top-level key
based purely on flower characters, and no doubt they exist for America, too,
but I'm not familiar with them. In my experience watching beginners use
them, they lead to a frustratingly large set of alternatives and it's easy
to miss the right one.


"swim learning" wrote in message
m...
Please help me identify these four common New Jersey (planted) plants:

http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/shahswim/.../SpringFlowers

(if there is a problem accessing the above site, go to
httphotos.yahoo.com/shahswim and click on SpringFlowers)

I can email better resolution photos, if anyone requests.

Comments:
Plant 2: Seems like a Oak or Maple - very common along the roads.
Plant 3: Very common around apartment complexes. Probably a wild
flower intentionally planted?
Plant 4: Very common along road sides.


I see a lot of trees with gorgeous white/cream/pink small flowers
during spring. Although I have checked the basic Peterson and Audubon
guides, I have not been able to identify many of these. Example trees
are hawthorns, mountain-ash, plums, cherries, and crab apples.
Questions:

1. Are there books or internet resources to identify plants based on
flowers?

2. Are there resources for identifying plants based on flowers, that
are white/pink in spring?

2. Which are the best resources to identify plants; not based on
primarily leaves?

Plant 1: rosaceous: the purple leaf colour suggests the commonly planted
purple-leaved variety of Myrobalan Plum, Prunus cerasifera
'Atropurpurea'

Plant 2: a maple (not an oaks - oak have catkins, not "regular"
flowers). If I saw it in the UK I'd pass over it as Norway Maple, Acer
platanoides, but the USA has a different selection of species. You might
want to check Sugar Maple, Acer saccharum_, or indeed other species.

Plant 3: Dandelion, Taraxacum sp.

Plant 4: rosaceous, perhaps Amelanchier, but I'm not good at identifying
rosaceous trees, even restricting myself to those commonly grown in
Britain.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

"Stewart Robert Hinsley" wrote in message
...

Plant 1: rosaceous: the purple leaf colour suggests the commonly planted
purple-leaved variety of Myrobalan Plum, Prunus cerasifera
'Atropurpurea'
.... or, given the pinkness of the flowers, 'Nigra'.

Plant 4: rosaceous, perhaps Amelanchier, but I'm not good at identifying
rosaceous trees, even restricting myself to those commonly grown in
Britain.
I'm no Amelanchier expert, but the ones I know all have much narrower petals
than that, and the flowers in _terminal_ racemes.

#4 looks a lot like some of the cultivated Pyrus we have here in TX.
How many styles in the flower? If 1, then most likely Prunus. If 2
to 5, then quite possibly Pyrus.

Monique Reed

"Martin Rand" wrote in message
...
No. 1 is a Prunus (Cherry).
No. 2 is an Acer (Maple).
No. 3 is a Taraxacum (Dandelion).
No. 4 is also a Prunus.

I shouldn't have been so categorical about #4. As Monique points out,
without counting the styles you can't rule out Pyrus etc.

Yeah, my first impression was that there was more swelling at the flower
base than would be expected for Prunus. I looked at it again and think I
can count at least three styles in one of the pictures. I wonder if it
isn't Pyrus calleryana

Gene.

Martin Rand wrote:

"Martin Rand" wrote in message
...
No. 1 is a Prunus (Cherry).
No. 2 is an Acer (Maple).
No. 3 is a Taraxacum (Dandelion).
No. 4 is also a Prunus.

I shouldn't have been so categorical about #4. As Monique points out,
without counting the styles you can't rule out Pyrus etc.

Thank you all for the helpful comments. Can pear, plum, cherry and
apple trees be (mostly) identified, or at least distinguished from
each other, by inspecting their flowers?


(swim learning) wrote in message om...
Please help me identify these four common New Jersey (planted) plants:

http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/shahswim/.../SpringFlowers

(if there is a problem accessing the above site, go to
httphotos.yahoo.com/shahswim and click on SpringFlowers)

I can email better resolution photos, if anyone requests.

Comments:
Plant 2: Seems like a Oak or Maple - very common along the roads.
Plant 3: Very common around apartment complexes. Probably a wild
flower intentionally planted?
Plant 4: Very common along road sides.


I see a lot of trees with gorgeous white/cream/pink small flowers
during spring. Although I have checked the basic Peterson and Audubon
guides, I have not been able to identify many of these. Example trees
are hawthorns, mountain-ash, plums, cherries, and crab apples.
Questions:

1. Are there books or internet resources to identify plants based on
flowers?

2. Are there resources for identifying plants based on flowers, that
are white/pink in spring?

2. Which are the best resources to identify plants; not based on
primarily leaves?

"swim learning" wrote in message
m...
Thank you all for the helpful comments. Can pear, plum, cherry and
apple trees be (mostly) identified, or at least distinguished from
each other, by inspecting their flowers?

Plum vs.Cherry - perhaps not without getting down to the individual species
(they're all Prunus). In Europe all the native cherries have larger (5mm)
green / greenish bud-scales at the base of the spray of flowers, whereas
plums have small (3mm) brown bud-scales. But I don't think this works in N
America?

Prunus vs. Malus and Pyrus - single carpel (and style) in Prunus, 2 or more
in Malus / Pyrus.

Malus vs. Pyrus: Malus has styles fused towards the base, Pyrus has styles
free.

From: "Martin Rand"

"swim learning" wrote in message
om...
Thank you all for the helpful comments. Can pear, plum, cherry and
apple trees be (mostly) identified, or at least distinguished from
each other, by inspecting their flowers?

Plum vs.Cherry - perhaps not without getting down to the individual species
(they're all Prunus). In Europe all the native cherries have larger (5mm)
green / greenish bud-scales at the base of the spray of flowers, whereas
plums have small (3mm) brown bud-scales. But I don't think this works in N
America?

Prunus vs. Malus and Pyrus - single carpel (and style) in Prunus, 2 or more
in Malus / Pyrus.

Malus vs. Pyrus: Malus has styles fused towards the base, Pyrus has styles
free.


The resolution appears to be adequate to determine that there are 3 styles per
flower, but not good enough to see if they are fused at the base or free.

Sean



--
Visit my photolog page; http://members.aol.com/grommit383/myhomepage
Last updated 08-04-02 with 15 pictures of the Aztec Ruins.
Address mungled. To email, please spite my face.

I was going to say I'm having trouble even seeing the style count, but I've
got it now, on one of the flowers.

So Prunus out, Malus / Pyrus in.


"Sean Houtman" wrote in message
...
From: "Martin Rand"

"swim learning" wrote in message
om...
Thank you all for the helpful comments. Can pear, plum, cherry and
apple trees be (mostly) identified, or at least distinguished from
each other, by inspecting their flowers?

Plum vs.Cherry - perhaps not without getting down to the individual
species
(they're all Prunus). In Europe all the native cherries have larger
(5mm)
green / greenish bud-scales at the base of the spray of flowers, whereas
plums have small (3mm) brown bud-scales. But I don't think this works in
N
America?

Prunus vs. Malus and Pyrus - single carpel (and style) in Prunus, 2 or
more
in Malus / Pyrus.

Malus vs. Pyrus: Malus has styles fused towards the base, Pyrus has
styles
free.


The resolution appears to be adequate to determine that there are 3 styles
per
flower, but not good enough to see if they are fused at the base or free.

Sean



--
Visit my photolog page; http://members.aol.com/grommit383/myhomepage
Last updated 08-04-02 with 15 pictures of the Aztec Ruins.
Address mungled. To email, please spite my face.

Plum and cherry are both _Prunus_, so just the flowers won't tell you
much. Ditto pear and apple, which will be quite similar. While it
can be easy to tell the various subfamilies of the Rosaceae apart by
floral characters, generic and species determination often requires
characters of habit, stem, twigs, leaves, and fruit.

M. Reed

swim learning wrote:

Thank you all for the helpful comments. Can pear, plum, cherry and
apple trees be (mostly) identified, or at least distinguished from
each other, by inspecting their flowers?

(swim learning) wrote in message om...
Please help me identify these four common New Jersey (planted) plants:

http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/shahswim/.../SpringFlowers

(if there is a problem accessing the above site, go to
httphotos.yahoo.com/shahswim and click on SpringFlowers)

I can email better resolution photos, if anyone requests.

Comments:
Plant 2: Seems like a Oak or Maple - very common along the roads.
Plant 3: Very common around apartment complexes. Probably a wild
flower intentionally planted?
Plant 4: Very common along road sides.


I see a lot of trees with gorgeous white/cream/pink small flowers
during spring. Although I have checked the basic Peterson and Audubon
guides, I have not been able to identify many of these. Example trees
are hawthorns, mountain-ash, plums, cherries, and crab apples.
Questions:

1. Are there books or internet resources to identify plants based on
flowers?

2. Are there resources for identifying plants based on flowers, that
are white/pink in spring?

2. Which are the best resources to identify plants; not based on
primarily leaves?

In article ,
swim learning wrote:

Just to butt in here - I think photo #1 is Purple Leaf Sandcherry,
Prunus x cistena, a very hardy ornamental that makes a large shrub
or small tree.

I see a lot of trees with gorgeous white/cream/pink small flowers
during spring. Although I have checked the basic Peterson and Audubon
guides, I have not been able to identify many of these. Example trees
are hawthorns, mountain-ash, plums, cherries, and crab apples.

Most of the ornamental plants you see will be not be natives, so the
field guides won't be very helpful. There's a lot of hybridization
and selection for unusual characters in ornamental plants so field
guides for other parts of the world may not be helpful either.

One way to identify a particular tree is to look around a large garden
center or plant nursery since they will likely stock whatever is popular
in your area, and all the plants will be labelled!

Once again, thanks to everyone for the additional comments on
identifying Prunus/Pyrus/Malus. There is such a variety of trees with
pretty flowers in the spring season - and all of them are known as
"cherries". I hope someone publishes some article on how to identify
them with some more detail, and possibly show pictures/photos in
various seasons.

earning) wrote in message om...
Please help me identify these four common New Jersey (planted) plants:

http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/shahswim/.../SpringFlowers

(if there is a problem accessing the above site, go to
httphotos.yahoo.com/shahswim and click on SpringFlowers)

I can email better resolution photos, if anyone requests.

Comments:
Plant 2: Seems like a Oak or Maple - very common along the roads.
Plant 3: Very common around apartment complexes. Probably a wild
flower intentionally planted?
Plant 4: Very common along road sides.


I see a lot of trees with gorgeous white/cream/pink small flowers
during spring. Although I have checked the basic Peterson and Audubon
guides, I have not been able to identify many of these. Example trees
are hawthorns, mountain-ash, plums, cherries, and crab apples.
Questions:

1. Are there books or internet resources to identify plants based on
flowers?

2. Are there resources for identifying plants based on flowers, that
are white/pink in spring?

2. Which are the best resources to identify plants; not based on
primarily leaves?