I have no idea! But here are some of the things that can distinguish plants from one another, that it's good to get in photos when you are playing the "I will look this up later" game (I have done that a lot). I might repost this in my own journal; please don't be insulted if it's all obvious stuff you know already.
For flowers:
- number of petals - whether they are bunched together in any sort of flowering stalk or cluster, and what shape that is; ideally get this from multiple angles - to a lesser extent, where they are on the plant (e.g. coming off the stem) - if the photo wasn't taken recently (in case the time of blooming is helpful)
Leaves:
- try to get the whole plant, although not necessarily in one shot. sometimes plants have several different kinds of leaves (e.g. near the ground, the middle, and near flowers) and you need all of them to tell it apart from similar plants - if the plant has a clear patter of leaf placement -- opposite, alternate, whorled - enough detail to see whether the leaves or stems are hairy or smooth - with compound or dissected leaves, try to get more than one in the photo, or at least do a quick sanity check that the leaf you are photographing has an average number of leaflets for the plant - on non-flowering plants, you might want something like the shape of needles (e.g. square or triangular, sharp or blunt), or number of needles in a cluster
In general: - the overall shape of the plant - whether it is herbaceous, woody, vinelike, creeping around on runners, etc. - if it's a vine, show how it is clinging to or twining around things (e.g. tendrils) - any thorns or spines - try to get something in there for scale, although plants don't always grow to precisely the sizes they are supposed to - try to get a photo of where it is growing (e.g. wetlands, waste areas like roadsides, flower beds implying it's cultivated), although don't post that right off, since plants don't always grow where they are supposed to and that can bias people - if there are any seedpods or fruit or the like on it, get those!
After you have accounted for all those things, you will come home and find that the distinguishing features are that it is white with little bumps on the underside of its leaves where you didn't look, has square stems, precisely three bundle scars, gummy or milky sap, rough-feeling leaves that smell like lemon when crushed, nasty stinging cells, and is only parasitic on the roots of oak trees. Then you will post it to LiveJournal anyway, because it's pretty.
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For flowers:
- number of petals
- whether they are bunched together in any sort of flowering stalk or cluster, and what shape that is; ideally get this from multiple angles
- to a lesser extent, where they are on the plant (e.g. coming off the stem)
- if the photo wasn't taken recently (in case the time of blooming is helpful)
Leaves:
- try to get the whole plant, although not necessarily in one shot. sometimes plants have several different kinds of leaves (e.g. near the ground, the middle, and near flowers) and you need all of them to tell it apart from similar plants
- if the plant has a clear patter of leaf placement -- opposite, alternate, whorled
- enough detail to see whether the leaves or stems are hairy or smooth
- with compound or dissected leaves, try to get more than one in the photo, or at least do a quick sanity check that the leaf you are photographing has an average number of leaflets for the plant
- on non-flowering plants, you might want something like the shape of needles (e.g. square or triangular, sharp or blunt), or number of needles in a cluster
In general:
- the overall shape of the plant
- whether it is herbaceous, woody, vinelike, creeping around on runners, etc.
- if it's a vine, show how it is clinging to or twining around things (e.g. tendrils)
- any thorns or spines
- try to get something in there for scale, although plants don't always grow to precisely the sizes they are supposed to
- try to get a photo of where it is growing (e.g. wetlands, waste areas like roadsides, flower beds implying it's cultivated), although don't post that right off, since plants don't always grow where they are supposed to and that can bias people
- if there are any seedpods or fruit or the like on it, get those!
After you have accounted for all those things, you will come home and find that the distinguishing features are that it is white with little bumps on the underside of its leaves where you didn't look, has square stems, precisely three bundle scars, gummy or milky sap, rough-feeling leaves that smell like lemon when crushed, nasty stinging cells, and is only parasitic on the roots of oak trees. Then you will post it to LiveJournal anyway, because it's pretty.