We can all suffer from forgetfulness or in my case ignorance. This flower looks a bit like an antirrhinum but somehow that doesn’t seem to fit.

Reasons for Poor Identification

• Failure to take due notice and collect all the available information when first encountering a plant.
• Rare or unusual species seldom or not previously seen, thus having no reference point.
• Poor botanical knowledge eg. number of petals, leave shape, growing conditions etc.
• Large number of newly bred hybrids or special varieties. These are often ‘dumped’ on the market by suppliers to stimulate sales by introduction of new products.
• Not looking carefully and taking time to think about identification. Gardening should not be all about speed or so I keep telling myself.
• Able to guess the order, family, genus, species, hybrid, variety or common name but not all at the same time.
• Confusion created by the renaming or reclassification of a traditional plant into a new  genus such as Aster which became Symphyotrichum!
• You know what it is but not what variety or sub species.