Native Plants
![](../_images/smarty_plants.gif)
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.
Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
![](../_images/mr_smarty_plants_logo_web_200w.jpg)
rate this answer
![](../_images/star_32.gif)
Saturday - December 20, 2008
From: Landisburg, PA
Region: Mid-Atlantic
Topic: Plant Identification
Title: Plant called crows foot/feet used to make wreaths at Christmas
Answered by: Nan Hampton
QUESTION:
In Pennsylvania there was a green ground hugging vine I knew as "crow's feet/foot" we used in the 1950s at Christmas time for wreaths and window and door borders. It looked like a cluster of bird's feet and grew in long vines. What is the proper name of this wild plant?ANSWER:
Mr. Smarty Plants has come up with two possibilities for plants with "crowfoot/feet" or "crow's foot/feet" as part of their common names. These are:Lycopodium digitatum (fan clubmoss) called Crowfoot Club-moss in Hort.net. Here are more photos.
Sedum ternatum (woodland stonecrop) called Crow's Feet in East Tennessee Wildflowers. Here are more photos.
These both occur in Pennsylvania and though not technically vines, they are both trailing low-growing evergreen plants.
If neither of these is the plant you remember, please send us more description or photographs if you have them (see Ask Mr. Smarty Plants' Plant Identification page for instructions on submitting photos).
Mr. Smarty Plants would be very interested to know if either of these is the plant you used for making wreaths.
More Plant Identification Questions
Plant identification from photos
April 11, 2008 - I have 3 photos of the same plant, and no one knows what it is. Can I send you the photos, they are small jpegs, for identification? Thank you.
view the full question and answer
How Can I Tell an Invasive Thistle from a Native
May 01, 2012 - Mr Smarty Plants,
I have some thistles coming up in my yard. I'd like to keep them if they are native, but not if they are invasive or non-native. How can I tell? My yard is a wild area in West Lak...
view the full question and answer
Learning to identify native plants in backyard
June 28, 2011 - Please let me know how a layman like myself can identify native plants in my backyard. I don't know the plant names and don't know if they are dicots or any other technical terms (that some websites...
view the full question and answer
Iris brevicaulis in Southwest Michigan
April 22, 2007 - We live in Kalamazoo, MI (Southwest Michigan Zone 6) and discovered last year that we have an iris brevicaulis (we think) growing (and very pretty) on our property. It has the "zig zag" stem. It see...
view the full question and answer
Plant identification of 3-leaf plant with red berries in Utah
July 27, 2011 - 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.
view the full question and answer
Support the Wildflower Center by Donating Online or Becoming a Member today. |