Learn Your Locals - Native Plant ID
Throughout our year the children have come to see a great diversity of native plants & trees in our forests. With Spring arriving, the forests are exploding to life with all types of new growth, buds and flowers to explore and identify.
We have been learning about these native plant’s unique traits, ways to identify them as well as their medicinal and traditional uses. Last week the children helped create images of a few easily identifiable native plants with a simple background and a little sunshine.
By making a creative “project” out of identifying our native plants, the children were excited to explore the forests in a new way. They raced to collect and identify their favorite plants for a close up.
We talked about using the images we created as a field guide or plant ID cards to share with family and friends. For now you can take a look at a few of the images below.
Red Alder - Alnus Ruba + Indian Plum - Oemleria Cerasiformis
Salmonberry - Rubus Spectabilis + Bracken Fern - Pteridium Aquilinum
Western Red Cedar - Cupressaceae Thuja Plicata + Miner's Lettuce - Claytonia Perfoliata
Did you know that Washington State has over 2,300 native plant species?
You can learn more about our Northwest native plants by picking up a copy of Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast Washington Oregon BC & Alaska aka the BEST Northwest native plant guide ever!
Or go online and check out the fine folks at the Washington Native Plant Society. Here is an alphabetical list of our native plants. But just a heads up, the list is alphabetical by latin name…
Get outside, learn a little more about your locals.
