This or That?

Lara Miller,
Natural Resources Agent


Is it a turkey vulture or a black vulture? A slash pine or a longleaf pine? A saw palmetto or a cabbage palm? Identifying things in nature is not easy, but there are many ways you can learn and remember what is what. Each person remembers the name of certain species in different ways. For example, my trick to remembering a black vulture versus a turkey vulture is by the color variation of their wings when in flight. The black vulture has lighter colored feathers at the tip of its wings (Figure 1) and I remembered this by associating it with a “black-tip” shark. For the turkey vulture, the lighter color of the underside of their wings highlights a “T” shape which can easily be associated with a “t” for turkey vulture (Figure 2).

Okay, so now you’re a pro at telling the difference between a turkey vulture and a black vulture, right? What about all of the plants? Could you tell the difference between a young cabbage palm and a saw palmetto? One way cabbage palm (Sabal palmetto), our state tree, can be distinguished from the saw palmetto (Serenoa repens) is by its leaf structure. The cabbage palm has a costa which is a long, narrow, triangular extension of the petiole or what some might refer to as the “stem” (Figure 1) whereas the saw palmettos lack a costa (Figure 2). There are many other ways to tell the two apart, but remembering some key distinguishing features is very helpful in identification.

With the wide diversity of plants and animals found in Florida, confident identification only comes with practice. The benefit of learning to identify plants versus animals is they don’t move! It is not to say plant identification is easy, but it’s not a bad place to start. The good news is we can help! James Stevenson, Extension Specialist, is hosting an Intro to Plant ID class at Brooker Creek Preserve on Saturday, June 1st from 10:30-noon. If you attend his class and want to take your skills to the next level, he is also offering a six-session summer course all focused on how to identify plants.

To stay up to date on upcoming environmental programs offered through UF/IFAS Extension Natural Resources you can sign up for the Brooker Creek Connection, follow the Brooker Creek Preserve Environmental Education Center or UF/IFAS Natural Resources on facebook.

Online registration for these courses and more is available through Brooker Creek Preserve’s website, www.brookercreekpreserve.org. Simply click on the “CALENDAR” link and register. We look forward to seeing you!

Resources For Identifying Insects, Plants, & Diseases

Lara Miller    
Natural Resource Agent

Many Florida residents find unknown plants growing in their yard, unknown bugs in their houses or gardens, and apparent diseases on what were previously healthy plants. So what resources are out there to help you turn the unknown into known?

Extension Offices
Your local Extension office should be your first point of contact for helping you identify any mysterious problems or species in your home or yard. You can call, e-mail, or visit the office in person.

Lawn and Garden Help
We offer walk-in Lawn and Garden Help Desk services at the following locations:

• Pinellas County Extension Office
  12520 Ulmerton Rd., Largo, FL 33774
  Walk-In Hours: Mon-Fri 8am-5pm (excluding holidays)
• Pinellas County Master Gardener Plant Clinic
  Palm Harbor Library
  2330 Nebraska Ave., Palm Harbor, FL 34683
  Wednesdays from 10am-2pm, January through mid-November

Lawn and Garden Help Line
Lawn & Garden assistance is also available by phone at (727)582-2100 and then Press 1.
Hours of Operation: Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday
9am-12pm and 1pm-4pm

When you do, have or send the following:

• Photographs (digital or snapshot) or a physical sample if you are making an in-person visit.
• As detailed a description of the organism or disease symptom as possible (e.g., where and when you saw it, behavior, any others present, how long it has been occurring, the type of damage).

Even if your county Extension office cannot make the identification or disease diagnosis, the agents will be able to help you with forms and samples to send to UF/IFAS's diagnostic laboratories.

Insects
There are thousands of insects in Florida, and knowing whether the one you found is harmless, beneficial, or damaging is key for deciding on control measures. The Insect ID Lab can analyze insect samples sent by Florida residents. The Help Desk can provide answers or information on preparing a sample to send to the Insect ID Lab. The lab will charge $8 per sample sent.
Send samples in a crush-proof container with the accompanying submission form (205KB pdf). Sending samples in flat or padded envelopes is discouraged.

Collecting a Sample

1. The more specimens included in a sample, the better.
2. In most cases, you should kill and preserve the insects before sending them. 

• Do this by placing them in the freezer or in a vial with rubbing alcohol.
  Caterpillars will not preserve well in an alcohol solution. Moths and butterflies should be kept dry.
• Take special care if you believe the insect could be a new or exotic species.

Contact your Extension office or read the submission guide for more details.

Plants
You can either bring in a physical specimen of the plant (or blossom, leaf, etc.) or a photograph to the Help Desk. Multiple photographs are best, with pictures of leaves, bark or stem, blossoms, seed pods, as well as the whole plant itself.

In addition to the pictures or sample, pass along as much additional information as possible:

• Size and shape of plant, leaves, blossoms, seeds.
• Growth habit and location.
• Conditions in location (e.g., sun, soil type and moisture, cultivated or forested area).
• Colors of plant and blossoms.

If the Extension agent or Master Gardener cannot make an identification, they will send a sample to the UF Herbarium. All identification samples sent to the herbarium must first go through your county Extension agent, but the herbarium does offer an online database where Florida residents can look at images of plants in the collection.

Diseases
UF/IFAS Extension offers multiple plant diagnostic clinics and labs, which make up the Florida Plant Diagnostic Network. These diagnostic clinics use living-plant samples to make disease diagnoses.
An important note: once a plant is dead, our Extension professionals are unable to make a disease diagnosis. Harmful fungi and bacteria are present in all Florida soils, and many secondary bacteria and fungi will start to grow on a dead plant. These two factors make it impossible to determine what, if any, disease killed a plant.
Contact your county's Extension office for help and information on preparing a plant or turf sample to send to a diagnostic lab. The lab will charge $40 per sample sent. (Certain disease tests are no charge.)
Send properly packaged samples with the accompanying submission form. Sometimes what you believe may be a disease is only a nutrient deficiency. Your local Extension agent can advise you if it would be worth testing your soil before doing a disease analysis. (Find more information from the Extension Soil Testing Laboratory.)

Collecting a Sample
General guidelines include:

• Take samples before applying pesticides.
• Make sure samples are living (green).
• Include a large amount of plant material that covers the range of the symptoms.
• Do not mix different samples in the same submission bag.

Contact your Extension office and read the submission guide for more details.

Other Identifications
UF/IFAS Extension offices are your source for answers to your questions and solutions for your life. Wildlife was not covered in this guide, but any identification questions or problems you have can be answered by our offices if you give them enough information.
An e-mail, telephone call, or visit to your local Extension office is your first step in identifying any plants, pests, animals, problems, or curiosities you encounter.

Adapted and excerpted from:
L. Buss, Insect Identification Service (RFSR010), Entomology and Nematology Department (rev. 3/2010).
N. Williams, Plant Identification and Information Service (RFSR013), Extension Administration Office (rev. 12/2011).
A. Palmateer, et al, Sample Submission Guide for Plant Diagnostic Clinics of the Florida Plant Diagnostic Network (RFSR007), Plant Pathology Department (rev. 9/2012).

Herbal Confusion

By Allen Cordell Horticulturist II, Pinellas County Extension

We’ve all heard the old adage; “You’re in the right church, but the wrong pew!” This relates to a comparison of what is partially correct, but not absolutely accurate. Botanical confusion occurs when common, ethnic, or country names, are applied to various plants, based on their appearances, their uses, or their fragrances. However, once a plant is correctly identified by its scientific name, the native habitat, growth habit, flowering season, temperature tolerances, and cultivation, can all be accurately researched. A cook or an herbalist may inquire further regarding the plants usefulness. Does it have edible, medicinal, or economic value? Is it toxic?

A client visited our lobby, dragging a potted tree behind her. The ungainly plant had been labeled and bought as a nutmeg tree. Our staff determined the tree to be a bellyache bush (Jatropha gossypifolia). This genus, within the Euphorbia Family, is quite poisonous and should never have been sold as nutmeg. True commercial nutmeg (Myristica fragrans) is a tropical tree native to the Molluca Islands (“Spice Islands”) of Indonesia. Common names can be very misleading.

Herbal confusion can also be applied to the culinary plant cilantro or coriander. Both common names refer to the same plant, which is botanically known as (Coriandrum sativum). Chinese-parsley or cilantro refers to the plants’ bitter foliage which is picked throughout this hardy annuals’ growing season. However, when a recipe calls for coriander, it’s the pleasingly aromatic mature seeds that are called for. Another related species is tropical cilantro (Eryngium foetidum) or culantro. This Tropical American perennial has a stronger, more pungent flavor, so it is used more sparingly.

When tomatoes were first introduced into Southern Europe, early botanists considered the fruit poisonous. They were obviously wrong. They had probably equated them with such toxic herbs such as mandrake, belladonna, and henbane, which also belong to the Solanaceae Family. But, children and livestock have been poisoned by eating the poisonous stems of tomato plants.

During an online search, I had hoped to locate a seed or plant source for frankincense and myrrh. I never realized how numerous the Internet sources were relating to incense, incense burners, herbal ointments, resins, and suggested books! One party responded to my inquiry and was surprised that, being a horticulturist, I was unaware of her correct botanical answer and source. However, she was referring to sweet Cicely (Myrrhis odorata), a fragrant anise-scented herb from Europe, and a relative of parsley. True myrrh (Commiphora myrrha) that I was looking for is a scraggly, thorny, desert shrub, or small tree, from East Africa and India. It is famed for incense, much like its cousin frankincense (Boswellia carterii).

Another misconception that can lead to confusion is the many plants which resemble palms. The pony-tail palm, Madagascar palm, travelers’ palm, king sago, and queen sago palm are not palms at all; they simply resemble palms.

Shakespeare once said, “A rose by any other name, is still a rose.” Perhaps a plant is what we perceive it to be, based upon our own knowledge of its use and how it impacts our lives.

The International Code of Botanical Nomenclature is responsible for maintaining the scientific names of all of the known plants: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Code_of_Botanical_Nomenclature