Help with plant ID for seed exchange

Submitted by Steve Newall on Wed, 09/05/2012 - 03:55

Was wondering if anyone could help with ID on 3 plants that I collected seed from for the NARGS seed exchange

1- an Anemone sp from the Siskiyou Mountains at about 6000ft close to snowbanks

2- a buttercup from the Wenatchee Mountains 5800ft

3 - a thingy sp from Horseshoe Mtn in Colorado at 13200ft . Only saw it with seed capsules

Thanks

Comments


Submitted by Lori S. on Wed, 09/05/2012 - 06:20

If I saw it here, I'd say #1 was Pulsatilla occidentalis... don't know if there are other possibilities where you saw it.
#3 is a Silene, and with the same proviso as above, looks like Silene uralensis.


Submitted by Steve Newall on Wed, 09/05/2012 - 12:43

Thanks Lori . Silene uralensis is looking good .

Regarding the pulsatilla/anemone plant -When I returned to the site a month or so later they were covered in woolly seed just like Anemone multifida hence the Anemone sp name . I should have taken pictures of the seed


Submitted by Lori S. on Wed, 09/05/2012 - 13:05

Actually,the accepted, current name for "Pulsatilla" occidentalis is Anemone occidentalis...

But if the seedheads looked like those of Anemone multifida, then it would suggest Anemone drummondii (not A. occidentalis)... although the foliage on your plant sure looks to me like A. occidentalis, rather than A. drummondii.

Scroll down to see seed head of A. drummondii (prior to it turning into a fluffy cottonball):
http://www.arcticatlas.org/photos/pltspecies/alphaList?queryID=A

Here are the unmistakeable seed heads of A. occidentalis:
http://nwwildflowers.wordpress.com/2011/03/30/western-pasqueflower-seedh...


Submitted by Steve Newall on Thu, 09/06/2012 - 02:10

Cheers Lori . Arrived at Anemone drummondii also via a different route . I found a plant list for the Eastern Siskiyous and did the process of elimination thing . The seedheads in your A.drummondii link are what I saw .
I have met A.occidentalis in seed before , whilst hiking with the mother-in-law to Goat Lake in WA in 2007 . I think I earned a lot of brownie points by taking her for walkies

The more I look at the ranunculus the more I'm convinced it is Ranunculus flammula . It is more luxuriant in New Zealand because our water is not so seasonal and there is a lot of fertiliser runoff from the farms . I also seem to have an affinity to weedier species and attract them wherever I go