Since young, it has been my dream to be able to identify plants.

Being in the Plant Systematics Laboratory, it's common to hear the people rattling off plant names and it's very fascinating to me.

It's something I hope to learn too.

Picked up a book off the shelf of the library - "Botany in a Day - The Patterns Method of Plant Identification" by Thomas J. Elpel.

It's a fascinating read. I love how casual and friendly he sounds. Check this out from page 19:

"So how do you distinguish the poisonous members of the family (Parsley Family)? Don't rush it. You might think that learning plants is just a matter of filling up the disk space in your head with data (uh-huh), but there is more to it than that (oh!). No matter what you study, whether it is plant identification, art or math, you learn by connecting neurons in the brain to build a neural network for processing the information (ah). Getting started is the most dangerous, because all the plants tend to look alike - kind of green mostly (exactly!). Just practice pointing out compound umbels everywhere you go, stating with the dill or fennel in the garden. The more you practice these family patterns, the more you will learn to see just how unique and different each plant is (ah, I see. Sure mate, I'll try that out)."

Can you hear me talking as I read that passage? The words in italics are my conversations! Notice how he manages to write and elicit a response from me! Amazing teacher!