RE: more taxonomy

heh thats great Jerry!
I like the category also
not really weeds, sort of streetwise plants??
during my few weeks in Rome last year 
I spent a lot of time walking around and most was spent
looking at all the plants growing in the walls, cracks in the cobbles
and in the open spaces (not really parks, more like public reserves???
Alessandra would have a better phrase to describe them)
anyway they were full of these "tough" plants, Acanthus mollis, Oxalis spp.
Urtica urens, Galium aparine, a bunch of annual Asteraceae spp. I wasn't
familiar with, some Brassicaceae as well, wall pellitory everywhere
(Parietaria officinalis??) a Rubus sp. and that horrible tree whose names
escapes me, the legume that grows everywhere, Alessandra??
Anything plants that can grown unaided in the middle of a big city without
any care probably deserve more than to be just labled a "weed" eh?...

  :-)

cheers, rod

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Rod Randall
Weed Risk Assessment
Weed Science Group, Agriculture Western Australia

                 "I weed..." 

Weed Risk Assessment Home Page:
http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/progserv/plants/weeds/weedsci2.htm

Weed List Page:
http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/progserv/plants/weeds/weeds/weedlist.htm

Weed Activity Calender:
http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/progserv/plants/weeds/calendar.htm

WeedBusters Home page:
http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/progserv/plants/weeds/buster/buster.htm

Weed Science Group Home Page:
http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/progserv/plants/weeds/

Plant Protection Society & Western Weeds Homepage:
http://www.wantree.com.au/~weeds/

 ph: 08 9368 3443
fax: 08 9474 3814
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> ----------
> From: 	heverlyj@ccnet.com
> Reply To: 	heverlyj@ccnet.com
> Sent: 	Sunday, 21 March 1999 2:05 PM
> To: 	medit-plants@ucdavis.edu
> Subject: 	more taxonomy
> 
> Thanks to all for the suggestions for my taxonomy project.  I spent an
> hour
> wandering the streets of downtown Oakland yesterday trying to see if I
> could put together a 'walk' of plants similar to Sean's suggestion while
> incorporating the idea of 'plants in the sidewalk cracks'.  I couldn't
> come
> up with 35 of the latter but the downtown area has a few park areas,
> notably the gardens of the Oakland Museum, so it looks as if I can
> concisely gather the necessary flora within about a six square block area.
> 
> 
> I don't know if anyone would find my list interesting--they are mostly
> pan-temperate weeds--but here is my plan:
> 
> 1.  Erodium moschatum, Whitestem filaree, scissorweed, a winter annual
> here--Geraniaceae
> 2.  Matricaria matricariodes, Pineapple weed--Asteraceae (i.e. a
> composite)
> 3.  Poa annua, annual rye--Poaceae
> 4.  Lolium multiflorum, annual ryegrass--Poaceae
> 5.  Stellaria media, chickweed--Caryophyllaceae
> 6.  Oxalis pes-caprae, wood sorrel?, Oxalidaceae
> 7.  Malva parvifora, Cheeseweed--Malvaceae
> 8.  Sonchus oleraceus, Annual sowthistle--Asteraceae
> 9.  Hordeum leporinum, wild barley--Poaceae
> 10.  Plantago lanceolata, Buckhorn plantain--Plantaginaceae
> 
> I've made my way from the library to the post office at this point.  There
> are at least three weeds I vaguely remember but can't id.  This exercise
> is
> about keying practice, right?, so I figure I'll decipher what they are
> which gets me to...
> 
> 14.  Gnaphalium chilense{one book lists it as G.purpureum},
> Cudweed--Asteraceae
> 15.  Pittosporum tobira, Mock Orange--Pittosporaceae--a shrub in front of
> an apartment bldg.
> 16.  Taraxacum officinale, Dandelion--Asteraceae
> 17.  a Eucalyptus street tree, species unknown, no flower but plenty of
> fruit--how the heck do you press a Euc capsule?
> 18.  Ficus nitida{Ficus retusa?}, Indian Laurel Fig--Moraceae, another
> street tree w/o flowers, must ask the teacher if this is kosher
> 19.  Foeniculum vulgare, Fennel--Apiaceae
> 20.  Polygonum aviculare, Knotweed--Polygonaceae
> 21.  another one of those confusing annual grasses, maybe Echinochloa
> crusgalli, Barnyardgrass--gotta key this one
> 22.  Polygonum capitatum, Pinkhead knotweed--Polygonaceae--a ground cover
> on the east side of the post office that's been neglected so long that
> it's
> more of a weed than an official part of the landscape
> 23.  Raphiolepis indica, India hawthorn--Rosaceae--another forlorn part of
> the US govt landscape
> 24.  Euphorbia peplus, Petty spurge--Euphorbiaceae
> 25., 26.  two unknown, but flowering(!) weeds under a tree by the post
> office
> 27.  Cynodon dactylon, Bermuda grass--Poaceae--no flowers yet but I've got
> weeks till the assignment is due.
> 28.  Senecio vulgaris, Common groundsel--Asteraceae
> 29.  Carpobrotus edulis, Hottentot Fig--Asteraceae--a ground cover beside
> a
> vertical parking lot
> 30.  Myosotis sylvatica, Forget me not--Boraginaceae
> I'm at the Oakland Museum at this point.  There are lots of plants inside
> the museum grounds but Ill try to stick to the city streets in keeping
> with
> the general theme of renegade plants
> 31.  Bellis perennis, English Daisy--Asteraceae
> 32.  Plantago major, Broadleaf plantain--Plantaginaceae
> 33.  Araucaria auracana, Monkey Puzzle tree{or is it a Bunya Bunya? must
> key this one}--Araucariaceae
> I'm at Lake Merritt, the downtown lake now, just about finished
> 34.  Cirsium vulgare, Bull thistle-Asteraceae--might be some other
> Cirsium,
> gotta investigate this one
> 35.  Geranium dissectum, Cutleaf geranium--Geraniaceae
> 
> That's enough, and all, save the trees, are in flower now.  If I get busy
> this Thursday I can probably collect all my specimens in one afternoon.
> No
> one family dominates as I feared the Asteraceae would.  And if I have time
> I can spice up the presentation with folklore about many of these plants,
> old time medicinal uses, etc.
> 
> How many mistakes did I make Rod?
> Jerry Heverly, Oakland, CA
>
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