Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

Since at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center we specialize in plants native to North America, we don't have much expertise in vegetables. Even those that are native to North America have been hybridized so much that they are no longer recognizable as native. That is the case with the pumpkin, so we won't have information on it in our Native Plant Database.

We love identifying native plants for folks! Do you have a picture of a plant found growing in the wild somewhere in North America and you would like to know its name? Send us an email following the instructions below. Please do not send pictures of house plants, office plants, garden plants, plants seen on your vacation to Costa Rica or other clearly non-native species. For identification of non-native plants you might consider visiting the UBC Botanical Gardens Forums website.

1. Tell us where and when you found the plant and describe the site where it occurred.
2. If possible, take several high-resolution images including details of leaves, stems, flowers, fruit, and the overall plant.
3. Save images in JPEG format. Do not reduce the resolution of your images. High-resolution images are much easier for us to work with.
4. Send email with images attached to id@smartyplants.org. Please enter Plant ID Request on the subject line of your email.