BY KAREN BOSSICK

Learn how plants got their names and how to key out plants when local naturalist Lisa Horton offers a free program “How to Tell a Hawk from a Handsaw: Adventures with the Dichotomous Plant Key.”

The presentation will be held at 6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21, at Hailey’s Town Center West at River and Croy streets. It is sponsored by the Wood River Chapter of the Idaho Native Plant Society.

In her beginner’s guide to keying Horton will introduce the dichotomous plant key. that is a classification tool that notes the similarities and differences between plant species.

Scientists classify plants into families by observing their similarities and differences. They’ve used it to catalog 1.5 million species on Earth—a fraction of the 100 million-plus species they believe are out there.

Horton promises the workshop will be fun and painless and that you will leave having learned a little bit as you dream about wildflowers popping through the vast fields of snow currently carpeting the Wood River Valley.

Horton shares about local wildflowers in Eye on Sun Valley’s wildflower videos. She has a M.S. in Plant Anatomy. She also is one of the usual suspects leading free plant walks for the Wood River Chapter of the Idaho Native Plant Society.