Common Plants of the INL
Identification Handbook

Although we sincerely hope this guidebook will appeal to a broad audience, it was written for a specific purpose; to aid in plant identification for vegetation projects at the INL. Therefore, several aspects of the format and content of this book were specifically chosen to facilitate vegetation data collection. For example, each species is presented alphabetically by a four letter code that is typically derived from the first two letters of the genus and the first two letters of the specific epithet. These codes are commonly used and widely accepted abbreviations for vegetation data. The codes used in this book generally follow the USDA Plants National Database (2004); however, a few species are listed under codes that are traditional to the INL (i.e.ARTP). When two species share the same code, at least one of the species is assigned a number (i.e. ERNA2) so that they can be easily differentiated from one another. The number is specific to the INL plant species list and is related to the abundance of that species at the INL. A table containing species’ scientific names and their associated codes can be found in a table at the end of the book. Identification follows Hitchcock and Cronquist (1973),but several scientific names and codes have been updated to reflect recent reclassifications. The updated classifications and nomenclature can be viewed on the USDA Plants National Database (2004)

The book is a first edition of a living document that will continue to change as its utility is assessed and tested through use in the field.