Activity C
Topic # 2211
PLANT MATERIAL IDENTIFICATION
Josh Miller
________________________________________________________________________
Ornamental Plant Flash Cards
There are thousand of plants used for ornamental purposes. Some are used in the
landscape business, some are grown in greenhouse ranges and others are imported for use
as cut flowers. Learning to correctly identify the most common plants can be
challenging. One way to simplify the task is to begin by selecting the most relevant
plants to learn.
Materials:
•
•
•
•
•
Large index cards
Plant catalogs
Glue
Fine-point markers
Scissors
Procedures:
1. Order catalogs from mail order companies or obtain catalogs from local wholesale
and retail operations.
2. The internet may also provide quality images of plants
3. Select plants that are used in local industry (Plants that appear on the state or
national horticulture identification list is a good place to start)
4. Cut photographs of the ornamental plants from the catalogs and paste them onto
the large index cards
5. On the reverse side of the index card, record common and Latin names of the
plant
6. Use the flashcards to quiz each other.
•
•
Modified from: “Introduction to Plant and Soil Science and Technology” 2002