More plants!

[Niels]

Yes, I know, I know, I already asked a couple of plants this week. And I'm sorry, but I'm here to learn, and that's exactly what I'm doing with these threads.
Anyhow, on to the plants.

Species 1:
This plant is fully flowering right now, and it's very common here. Grows near salt water.


2012-11-24 12.55.32 by Sami knives, on Flickr


2012-11-24 12.55.11 by Sami knives, on Flickr

Species 2:

This looks a lot like ground Ivy that I photographed last week, however, this one has veins running over the leaves. And It's leaves get much bigger. Also the center of the leaf is purple. Also contrary to ground Ivy, this one has hairs running over the stem.


2012-11-24 13.05.13 by Sami knives, on Flickr


2012-11-24 13.04.49 by Sami knives, on Flickr

Thanks in advance!

 

[Muddypaws]

Species 2 looks like a Mallow, possibly Dwarf Mallow (Malva Neglecta).

Species 1 could be some member of the cabbage family, although I'm not sure that any should be flowering right now. Sorry I can't be any more help.

 

[Hog On Ice]

the pods on the first one make me think of Impatiens spp - common name touch me not - do the pods "pop" when touched spreading the seeds? the flower stalk arrangement however tends to argue against that possibility. If the flowers are 4 petaled and reasonably regular it could be a mustard - are the seed pods divided into two sections with a thin membrane? aka a silique

the second on reminds me a bit of a Heuchera spp common name alumroot

 

[Niels]

I think the second one is probably a kind of mallow then, as I don't think it looks like alumroot.
Hog on ice, I'll post better pictures of 2 tomorrow, paying specific attention to the details your asking about.
Then I hope it can be determinated.
Thank you very much for the help!

 

[bushwacker bob]

Top one looks like wild mustard, very tasty.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Yellow_mustard_flower.jpg

 

[blacktimberwolf]

The plant you think is a mallow is indeed one, it's & malva neglecta otherwise known as common mallow.

 

[stuart f]

Hi Niels, regarding the first plant, it does look like a member of the Mustard family, but to be sure, if you look inside one of the flowers,you will see the pistil in the centre, which is the female part of the flower,and surrounding it will be the Stamens,the male parts, which have anthers on the ends,which will be covered in pollen. The way to tell if you have a member of the Mustard family is to count the Stamens(male parts), in the mustard family there will be six of them, but 2 of them will be shorter than the other 4. This will tell you if its a member of the Mustard family or not. Also the pods(raceme) on the stalk, in the Mustard family,form a radial pattern around the stalk, which looks like a spiral staircase going up and around around the stalk .

Heres a pic of a flower anatomy, to help.

I hope this makes sense.

Failing that if you could take a close up of the flowers,we should get a better idea.

Cheers Stuart.

 

[Niels]

Hi Niels, regarding the first plant, it does look like a member of the Mustard family, but to be sure, if you look inside one of the flowers,you will see the pistil in the centre, which is the female part of the flower,and surrounding it will be the Stamens,the male parts, which have anthers on the ends,which will be covered in pollen. The way to tell if you have a member of the Mustard family is to count the Stamens(male parts), in the mustard family there will be six of them, but 2 of them will be shorter than the other 4. This will tell you if its a member of the Mustard family or not. Also the pods(raceme) on the stalk, in the Mustard family,form a radial pattern around the stalk, which looks like a spiral staircase going up and around around the stalk .


Heres a pic of a flower anatomy, to help.

I hope this makes sense.

Failing that if you could take a close up of the flowers,we should get a better idea.

Cheers Stuart.

Awesome post sir! From this I can most definately conclude it must be a mustard plant. I tried to take close-up pictures but with my pocket camera they all ended up being so vague and blurry that they're not really worth posting. I am however happy to know that I can now positively identify a few more plants in my neighbourhood. Thanks guys!

 

[stuart f]

Hi Niels, no problem helping you out, its all a learning curve. Congratulations, you have just upp-ed your plant knowledge, by knowing that you can ID plants from the Mustard family, of which there are 375 genera,and 3,200 species, all of which can be identified by looking at the stamens. The key words to remember are 6 stamens, 4 long,2 short, so its a member of the Mustards. This then narrows it down, you can then look at books of flowers and try to find out what species it is,that you have,by looking at petal colour and so forth.

Cheers Stuart.

 

[Geoff Dann]

Hi Niels, no problem helping you out, its all a learning curve. Congratulations, you have just upp-ed your plant knowledge, by knowing that you can ID plants from the Mustard family, of which there are 375 genera,and 3,200 species, all of which can be identified by looking at the stamens. The key words to remember are 6 stamens, 4 long,2 short, so its a member of the Mustards. This then narrows it down, you can then look at books of flowers and try to find out what species it is,that you have,by looking at petal colour and so forth.

Cheers Stuart.

Now he's just got to learn to identify them when they aren't in flower... ;-D