Leaf Identification

[j-klem]

On the Kitsap Peninsula (across the Puget Sound from Seattle) I see some small plants along a trail in the woods. The leaves look like a geranium leaf except the end has a point. There are not multiple points, just the one. The color is a mix of light-medium green and dark-medium green. While the leaf is the same size as a geranium leaf, it seems thinner. The forest trail used to be a logging road many years ago, so I would not count out the effects people dumping yard waste. There is some ivy growing a hundred yards away. While most of the woods are filled with firs, cedars, various berries, and ferns, this particular section has young alders and a few maples. So the plants get a little sun. Any ideas?

[rainbowgardener]

I think it's kind of hard to identify leaves without seeing them. (Actually I think identifying leaves is challenging enough when you are seeing them, but there's other folks that are better at that than me.)

Do you have any pictures you could post?

[j-klem]

Here's a picture:
[img]https://home.comcast.net/~klemport/plant.jpg[/img]

I see now that the shape of the tip varies a lot. The stems are fuzzy. The dark leaves in the photo are blackberry.

[Kisal]

It looks like Malva, aka "Little Mallow". The lobes of the leaves can vary from rounded to pointed, but there are also several different species. This is a common one: [url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Starr_060405-6902_Malva_parviflora.jpg]Malva parviflora[/url]

Another image of the same stuff:

https://weeds.ippc.orst.edu/pnw/weeds?weeds/id/Little_mallow--Malva_parviflora--m.I.html

[applestar]

Hmm... These leaves to me look like Heuchera or Tiarella. I'm leaning toward Tiarella because of the more pointy leaf tips. Have you seen it flower?

[rainbowgardener]

Sorry, but I'm with Kisal on this one. I don't grow Malva. But I do grow heuchera and tiarella.

Tiarella leaves aren't as round in overall shape:

https://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioimages/t/wtico--lf23046.jpg

and the plant just looks a little different some how, which I can't really specify without running out and looking at it.

Heuchera is closer and a little bit more of a tossup. I'm thinking the plant generally looks more mound-y.

Which would be more likely to be growing wild along a trail in Pacific NW?

[j-klem]

I don't know if it flowers, but perhaps I will find out in the next month. It's getting all my attention now that it's the only plant I have yet to identify out there. Looks like we're on the right track. Thanks!

[j-klem]

I found one more little plant that I haven't identified. It's nearby the other one. In the picture it's the one with tiny leaves (that are a little sticky). Anyone know this one right off or should I provide more info?
[img]https://home.comcast.net/~klemport/plant2.jpg[/img]

[rainbowgardener]

Bedstraw, also known as cleavers. Native wildflower. The cleavers part it if you pick a sprig of it and throw it on someone, it clings ("cleaves") to them. The bedstraw (in the past sometimes called lady's bedstraw) is that the plant when dried gives off a nice fresh scent ("new mown hay") and so was in olden times used in the stuffing of mattresses, to give them pleasant fragrance.

[Kisal]

I believe that is Galium Aparine, commonly known around these parts as Sticky Weed.

Another common name for it is Catchweed bedstraw. It doesn't stay small for very long, but the roots are very shallow, making it easy to pull up.

[img]https://sauce.pntic.mec.es/ldepablo/images/Galium-aparine.jpg[/img]

[rainbowgardener]

I got mine in there one minute ahead of you, Kisal!

[Kisal]

[rainbowgardener]

Between Kisal and me we gave four common names for this plant. Like many native plants that are widespread and have been known and used medicinally for centuries, it has accumulated a bunch of them:

Other Common Names: Baqlat Al Laban, Caille Lait, Cheese Rennet, Cheese Renning, Cleavers, Gaillet Jaune, Galio, Khitharah, Lady's Bedstraw, Maid's Hair, Our Lady's Bedstraw, Petty Mugget, Yellow Bedstraw, Yellow Spring Bedstraw, Yogurtotu, Galium verum

Range: Britain; Europe; France; Iraq; Spain; Turkey; USA

The plant has the property of curdling milk, hence another of its popular names 'Cheese Rennet.' It was called 'Cheese Renning' in the sixteenth century, and Gerard says (quoting from Matthiolus, a famous commentator of Dioscorides), 'the people of Thuscane do use it to turne their milks and the cheese, which they make of sheepes and goates milke, might be the sweeter and more pleasant to taste.
https://www.diet-and-health.net/Naturopathy/Bedstraw.html

One species of it is Galium odoratum, where the odoratum refers to the pleasant scent.

More than you ever wanted to know about your little wildflower, right!

But it's one I've always liked.

[j-klem]

Thanks! (for the extra info too)

[j-klem]

How about this one?

[img]https://home.comcast.net/~klemport/plant3.jpg[/img]

[j-klem]

The flowers aren't in yet but could it be Pink Purslane (claytonia sibirica)?

[Kisal]

It could very well be. The leaves are very similar, if not identical. It is commonly known as Siberian Miner's Lettuce.

There is another plant called Pink Purslane that is considered a noxious weed. The leaf is much different, not like the plant in your picture. I don't think it grows in the Pacific Northwest, but I'm not positive.

[j-klem]

Thanks. The flowers are appearing now ... since I took the picture. When I look at internet images of Siberian Miner's Lettuce (or claytonia sibirica), I see a perfect match.

[DoubleDogFarm]

J,

Heuchera
Cleavers
Siberian Miner's Lettuce


I agree with all three

[j-klem]

The way the flowers are coming in, it doesn't seem to match other Malva pics I've seen on the internet.

[img]https://home.comcast.net/~klemport/plant21.jpg[/img]

[img]https://home.comcast.net/~klemport/plant22.jpg[/img]

[Kisal]

It could be heuchera. There are a couple different ones that grow wild. I believe the flower stalks are around 2 to 3 feet tall. I was under the impression from the pic you posted that your plant was much smaller.

Another name would be small-flowered alumroot.

[applestar]

I think it looks Heuchera-ish too, though the fringed bells on the flowers are unexpected.

[DoubleDogFarm]

Definitely a huechera. We have those all along the woodland edges.

[j-klem]

While browsing internet images of heuchera, I came across pnwflowers.com and spotted Tellima Grandiflora (Fragrant Fringecup). This looks like a winner. What do you think?

[url]https://www.pnwflowers.com/flower/tellima-grandiflora[/url]

[DoubleDogFarm]

Yes, Saxifragaceae, I should have known that.

[tedln]

The way the flowers are coming in, it doesn't seem to match other Malva pics I've seen on the internet.

While admiring some of the photos included with this post, my computer mouse started making my hand itch. Is that poison ivy I see around the plant you are trying to identify?

Ted

[j-klem]

I don't think we have any poison ivy around here. Perhaps that's blackberry that you see. There's also oregon grape in the 1st of the two fringecup pics.