Walk the trails with me, Zach Principe, Gordon House, Kay Madore and ask us what the names are. More important, ask us how to identify that plant to tell it apart from look-alikes.
Never try to learn more than 3 plants per day. If you try to learn more, you'll start confusing them, and won't have learned them.
For the 1-3 species you are learning each day, touch the plants (the only exception at the SRP is poison oak); smell the plants, the flowers and the leaves; look at the flowers up close, the leaves, the flower bracts, the stems, etc. Do this 20 times as you go along the trail for each species, and say the name out loud to yourself each time. Note how each plant and flower is slightly different.
Make notes about this plant you can consult in the future. Everyone has their own favorite characters to recognize each species.
When you get home, look up the plant in any books you have, or online. You'll probably learn something very interesting about the plant, or something you didn't observe in the field. Look at the pictures of the plant to see how the species varies.
http://tchester.org/srp/plants/how_to_id/27.html
Comments and feedback: Tom Chester
Last update: 16 October 2003.