Native Plants

Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?

A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.

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Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

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Please forgive us, but Mr. Smarty Plants has been overwhelmed by a flood of mail and must take a break for awhile to catch up. We hope to be accepting new questions again soon. Thank you!

Need help with plant identification, visit the plant identification page.

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Wednesday - July 27, 2011

From: Wendover, UT
Region: Rocky Mountain
Topic: Plant Identification
Title: Plant identification of 3-leaf plant with red berries in Utah
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

I would like to send you a picture to ID a 3 leaf plant with red berries. Could you give me an email to do that? Thanks.

ANSWER:

Sorry, but we no longer accept photos of plants for identification. We were overwhelmed with photos and don't have enough staff and volunteers to do the research to identify the plants in the photos. As you can read on our Plant Identification page:

"We would love to spend all day identifying native plants for you folks! However, we already spend all day (and most of the night) answering your native plant questions. Luckily, there are some excellent forums available to help you identify those mysterious unknowns."

You can send your photos to one of the links of the plant identification forums for identification.

However, using the description you gave, I can suggest some possibilities for your plant that can be found in Utah :

Actaea rubra (Red baneberry) has red berries and leaves that are three-lobed.

Rhus trilobata (Skunkbush sumac) has three-lobbed leaves and red berries. Here are photos and more information.

From the Image Gallery

Red baneberry
Actaea rubra

Downy fragrant sumac
Rhus trilobata var. pilosissima