Rating RDR2's Botanical Accuracy

Because everything else about this game has been picked over with a fine-tooth comb.

In all seriousness, this game's botany is endlessly fascinating to me and I notice how much work the developers put into the plant life to make this virtual world better. I see you, plant guys at Rockstar! I see you!

Rating System

Because it has to be long-winded and complicated as to be more fun, I'm rating each plant (not including the rdo exclusive ones OR the orchids) out of ten for accuracy on:

Has this taken me a long time? Absolutely. But I've been thinking about tackling this project since the game came out, and its release and the ease of interaction with its plant life is what really kicked me into my botany special interest. I figured I'd pay it back by nitpicking everything I possibly can about a field I'm pretty confident in.

WIP!

Lupinus polyphyllus

“Bigleaf lupine”

I’m going to start with a disclaimer here and say that the Lupinus genus is huge, messy, and precise ID is rare without close field examination or (in some cases) DNA sequencing. That said, Lupinus polyphyllus is my best educated guess. “Big Valley” is loosely based on Yosemite Valley and the general Sierra Nevada montane regions of California, so L. polyphyllus is native and found commonly in that area. The morphological characteristics of the ingame plant I looked at were large, palmate and (probably?) hairless leaves, with a long petiole and tall dense inflorescence. As you can probably see from the comparison image, getting a detailed screenshot is impossible due to the low resolution of the plant itself; its individual florets are almost completely lacking in definition, which makes looking for diagnostic features like banner spots, keels, and bracts impossible. So, based on growth habit and equivalent biome alone, this lupine is getting the Lupinus polyphyllus label slapped on. (Not my favorite Lupinus species but beggars can't be choosers)

My rating: 5/10

Origanum vulgare

“Common oregano”

Overall pretty great depiction of common oregano. It’s an introduced species in North America, native to Eurasia and the middle east. The leaves are appropriately simple, spaced alternately along the stem, but lack the more defined venation often present in real life. Compliments on the flowers, too; they’re accurately depicted as umbels with darker pink bracts below the light pink flowers, with a protruding stigma and styles. While somewhat lacking in definition, if you look closely you can see the three lobes on each cup-shaped flower, characteristic of this plant’s family Lamiaceae. I wasn’t able to get a good enough look in-game but it doesn’t look like this rendering shows a square stem, another characteristic of the Lamiales. What’s interesting about this plant is its relative obscurity at this time in this part of the country; though lacking a specific date of arrival, it was introduced with settlers from europe but stayed localized in cultivation around the east coast, where italian food was popular with immigrants. It wasn’t cultivated widely until WWII soldiers returning from italy brought demand for italian food to the forefront of american cuisine. But that’s a whole other story.

My rating: 6/10

Daucus carota

“Wild Carrot” or “Queen Anne’s Lace”

Another really nice rendering on the dev team’s part. Wild carrots are native all over Eurasia and Africa, introduced and naturalized in North America. It’s a really hardy plant that thrives in disturbed areas, especially around mediterranean climates. You’ve probably seen them along roadsides a few times. The leaflets are rendered with a characteristic tripinnately compound fern-like shape with long petiole originating from the base of the plant. The pedicels are tall but lack the distinctive prickly hairs seen on the real plants (a key diagnostic feature, but understandable why they couldn't render them). The flowers are small, white, and ill-defined (again, can’t blame them, they’re tiny irl too) and arranged in terminal umbels, characteristic of the Apiaceae family. What really stands out about these in-game is the care taken to render the bracts on the underside of the umbels. The perfect little pinnate things are rendered in 3d and it really gives the flowers a big accuracy boost. The only thing about this rendering is the growth habit; the umbels are a little small for Daucus carota, but this is just a minor peeve. This is another plant that we don’t have a specific time of arrival for, but given this its hardy nature and tumbleweed-like method of seed dispersal, it’s entirely likely that it WAS all over the country around 1899, cultivated or not.

My rating: 9/10

Eschscholzia californica

“California poppy”

A western North America native! Also one of my favorite plants ever. I have a love-hate relationship with this rendering. On the one hand, great care was taken to depict the styles and the pistil, as well as the different development stages; you can see the sepal “cap” dehiscing from a new flower, a freshly opened one, a mature pollinated flower with the lengthening pistil, and a maturing ovary. They’ve even rendered the exaggerated reddish receptacle that’s a diagnostic feature of Eschscholzia californica! The petals look a little odd but they’re accurate enough, four (weirdly wrinkly) overlapping petals forming a cup shape. Unfortunately the devs kinda dropped the ball with the foliage. IRL they’re finely divided leaflets with a long branching petiole terminating in glaucus blue-green lobes. They form a rosette at the base, with a single flower per stem that originates from the base of the plant. In-game, they have a strange bipinnate leaflet that just sort of sticks out willy-nilly, no basal rosette, short ass petiole. I really don’t know what’s going on with the foliage in this in-game depiction. They’re confined to West Elizabeth and New Austin, which mimics their real world habits of remaining mostly in the more arid and mediterranean climates of western North America.

My rating: 8/10. The flower growth details save this from being a 6/10

Ruellia humilis

“Wild petunia”

I’m going to get into the background environmental assets that make this game truly spectacular a little bit here. Ruellia humilis is an eastern US native that can be found in open meadows and sunny environments that get good moisture (so, most of the east coast and well into the midwest). The plant in game is non-interactive, so narrowing down its species fell to its identifying characteristics: wavy-margined petals, fused calyx, low growing habit, and simple variegated leaves. While several Petunia species would fit this classification, the genus is native to South America and these are growing wild in the game’s equivalent to western Appalachia, so Ruellia would’ve been a better choice given the time and place. I really love that this is a background detail that you can zoom into and see so much definition on, and the fact that this flower is growing in an equivalent biome to its real-life counterpart really sells the feeling of reality. There are several plants like this that I’ll probably cover too.

My rating: 9/10

Papaver somniferum

“Common poppy”

This is one of the easier to ID background asset plants in the game; everyone knows good ol’ common poppy. Their rendering ingame is actually pretty decent at first glance, with their prominent red silky petals and distinctive black marks near the base of the petals. Their central pistil lacks definition however, and they suffer from Reused Asset Syndrome with their foliage. The leaves irl are a lovely blue-green (sometimes glaborous, sometimes hairy) lanceolate shaped, pinnately lobed with a toothy margin, none of which are featured here. Looking closely at their ingame rendering, there are dead flowers that have been recolored slightly from the Wild Petunias asset, which look nothing like the irl flowers after pollination; normally the petals will have dehisced, leaving a distinctive round ovary with a ribbed top. Their placement and distribution ingame is also somewhat dubious; for being such an iconic part of the Grizzlies east’s landscape, it’s unlikely they’d inhabit the area in such large numbers at this time. Their native range is north Africa and Eurasia, and settlers in north america brought them for their use in opium and ornamental gardens; although they reseed easily, they don’t often travel too far outside cultivation (their fruits are poisonous to most animals here, thus lacking the usual avenues of seed distribution). As of 1899, their placement on the “east coast” of the game is sensible, but their sheer numbers up north are a little ridiculous. Although, if they were going for a Wizard of Oz callback... Maybe I gotta hand it to ‘em? Their symbolic placement in the spot where Arthur’s story ends (where I took my reference photo) is pretty good too.

My rating: 5/10

Asclepias incarnata

“Milkweed”

Asclepias incarnata is a popular plant for pollinator gardens (although here in the western US its invasive sibling S. curassavica is pushed on poor suckers looking to foster butterflies). It’s native to the east/southeast US and enjoys wet, swampy, and riparian environments, and its ingame counterpart can be found all over Lemoyne in similar habitats. As for its rendering, it’s got long, simple leaves with a prominent central vein, arranged alternately around the stem. Its growth habit of spreading by rhizome and forming little colonies is shown here accurately (although I didn’t get the best picture of it). Their flowers are the real show-stoppers here though; pink umbels with unmistakable five “petaled” coronas consisting of a hood, a protruding horn, central stigma with anthers fused to form an Asclepias diagnostic feature called a gynostegium, and the distinctive reflexed petals of the corolla. All of these are rendered in loving detail and I really can’t commend the developers enough for the beautiful work on this plant. What I would really love would be to see a fruit or an open seed pod here as well, but beggars can’t be choosers. Although I don’t plan on covering any of the online plants you can discover with the collector role, it’s notable that Asclepias curassavica (“blood flower”) is harvestable with that role in game, and, notably, found only once in singleplayer mode; on Arthur’s gravesite in the Grizzlies East.

My rating: 10/10

Salvia cocccinea

“Red sage” or “Desert sage”

When doing research for these plants I end up poking so many holes into the red dead wiki. This plant ingame is actually one of the more beautifully rendered! Its leaves have toothed margins and a simple shape with moderate venation which are true to life, and its flower spikes even more so! The flower definition is shown off spectacularly here, as you can see by the side-by-side comparison. Prominent stigma poking out of the top of the corolla, a more exaggerated bottom “petal” that acts as a landing pad for pollinators, a calyx that has a short, dark-colored petiole with a few protruding bracts along the dark red stem. The rendering, the correct biome placement... This one’s a winner for sure. It’s just a shame you can’t see it earlier in the game.

My rating: 10/10. Red dead wiki fix your species IDs

Salvia eremostachya

“Desert sage”

I am far from a Salvia expert (huge ass genus) so I only have a cursory knowledge of this plant, despite my relative proximity to its native range in the Colorado Desert and south to Baja California. It can be found in the game’s equivalent to this environment around Gaptooth Ridge in New Austin. The rendering on the flowers is gorgeous, with those characteristic protruding stamens and anthers, purple blooms nestled into bunching fuzzy bracts whorled intermittently on the stem. In researching this plant I came across a few cultivars that matched the ingame flower a little better, color and structure-wise, but I decided to stick with the OG wild species because fuck Burpee. Anyway. The leaves of this plant ingame are a little less defined than I would like, and their shape is changed from their irl toothy-margined lanceolate shape to a more rounded lobed shape. The growth structure is fantastic though; one base, no awkward bits sticking up from the ground with no rhyme or reason, and great care taken to render alternately spaced leaves on a dark woody stem.

My rating: 9/10

Salvia spathacea

“Hummingbird sage”

YEAH BABEY MY FAVORITE SALVIA! Salvia spathacea is a California endemic usually found around the coast and Sierra Nevada foothills in woodlands and open fields. Its leaves are lanceolate, usually growing from a basal rosette with a short petiole. They’re loved for their delightfully citrus smelling glands that cover the entire plant. The inflorescence is usually a tall singular stalk (sometimes branching from the base) with glabrous bracts arranged intermittently along the stem, from which pink flowers emerge and bloom sequentially from the bottom up, attractive to bees and especially hummingbirds. Sidenote: I’ve made a tea out of the leaves and it is delicious. In game, shortcuts were taken in rendering the characteristic clumped bracts, and the intermittent arrangement on the stem seems to have been compacted into one thick inflorescence. Even so, some care was taken to render the pink flowers and their protruding stamens and styles, so kudos there. The leaves were also inexplicably changed into a simple veined shape, with no evidence of the thick, hairy, and glabrous structure their real life counterparts have. Their in-game habitat also raises an eyebrow for me; you can find them all over the rdr2 map, where if they were going for something more realistic, I’d relegate them to only the tall trees/strawberry parts of West Elizabeth. I suppose the map needed a sage to be readily available to the player so they just chose this one to be widely distributed. Curse the intersection of video game functionality and real life logic. This is one of those plants in game that seems perfect at first glance but sort of falls apart when you look closer.

My rating: 6/10

Oplopanax horridus

“Alaskan ginseng”

It’s kind of funny that the rdr2 team put Oplopanax horridus into the game as a consumable, considering that all parts of the raw plant are an irritant. If your Arthur isn’t wearing gloves when picking these, you’re giving the poor man a rash LOL. In all seriousness, Oplopanax horridus is a fascinating plant that can only be found in old growth and west coast forests. Its leaves are simple, palmately lobed, with a toothy margin. The plant has irritating hairs all along the stem, stalk, and undersides of the leaves. Its inflorescence is a white umbel, from which its characteristic bright red berries form. Although the berries, leaves, and roots are inedible while unprocessed, they’ve been used for thousands of years as a treatment for arthritis by the Ditidaht nation of modern day British Columbia, amongst others. In game, these plants can be found sparsely across the map, but their distribution is sometimes far from their preferred habitats of rainy old growth forest. Morphologically though, the game got these plants down to a T. Leaf shape and growth structure very similar to its irl counterpart, flowers AND fruits accurate; hell, the devs even took the time to render the hairs on the stems! It’s fantastic. My only complaint is that the leaves are a little too small; they can grow up to 15” across, far from the measly ~4” in game. Another interesting fact I came across when researching this plant was this paper (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2533621/) which took an extract of Oplopanax horridus and used it in a test setting to kill the Tuberculosis virus. (Someone quick, feed Arthur 99x Alaskan Ginseng right after the Downes mission! We can fix him!)

My rating: 9/10

Panax quinquefolius

“American ginseng”

Panax quinquefolius is a really cool medicinal plant with a long history of harvest on the eastern North American continent. Morphologically, the ingame plant is beautifully accurate. Clusters of red berries emerging from a central stem, four stalks with palmately arranged, simple-shaped leaflets, and relatively small growth habit. In real life, this plant grows all over the eastern US and Canada and is highly sought after for its roots, which contain anti-inflammatory alkaloids and other compounds that have been used by native populations and settlers alike. Because of these properties, a massive industry was founded in the 1700s exporting poached plants to countries all over the world, which continues largely unregulated to this day. A few states have strict conservation laws to protect Panax quinquefolius’ sparse wild populations, but these laws are difficult to enforce. An area in-game that accurately reflects the process of growing and harvesting these plants is Chez Porter, in which you can see several plants in active growth, bloom, and drying after harvest. Funnily enough, despite the rows of intentionally grown Panax quinquefolius, the only harvestable “Ginseng” at the location is Oplopanax horridus, it’s skin-irritating cousin. I’ve illustrated the difference in the image below.

My rating: 10/10

Arctium lappa

“Burdock root”

Arctium lappa is a plant I have a great fondness for since I’ve started foraging; it’s originally native to Eurasia and considered invasive in North America and Australia. I love it because its roots make for excellent use in stir fry, miso soup, and dandelion & burdock tea. Morphologically, the ingame plant bears a resemblance to its real life counterpart, but has some flaws; its growth habit irl is quite tall if given enough time to mature; I’ve cut a few that were over 6 feet tall around the coast of California. Its leaves are also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctium_lappa https://reddead.fandom.com/wiki/Burdock_Root

Ribes nigrum

“Black currant”

https://reddead.fandom.com/wiki/Blackcurrant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackcurrant

Ribes aureum

“Golden currant”

https://reddead.fandom.com/wiki/Golden_Currant_(RDR_2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribes_aureum

Typha latifolia

“Common bulrush”

https://reddead.fandom.com/wiki/Common_Bulrush https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typha_latifolia Could be any species of typha.

Achillea ageratum

“English mace”

https://reddead.fandom.com/wiki/English_Mace https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achillea_ageratum

Achillea millefolium

“Yarrow”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achillea_millefolium Lobelia inflata “Indian tobacco” https://reddead.fandom.com/wiki/Indian_Tobacco https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobelia_inflata Could also be a Nicotiana species.

Strelitzia reginae

“Bird of paradise”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strelitzia_reginae

Crocus vernus

“Violet snowdrop”

I’m not really sure why this plant ingame is called Violet Snowdrop? Maybe that’s an older common name no longer in use? The “Snowdrop” moniker is usually used in reference to the Galanthus genus. Either way, this is one of my favorite plants in the game to pick. Crocus vernus is a popular garden plant whose native range is around the Mediterranean basin. Its introduction to the new world is estimated to be around the 1850s, so it’s not entirely impossible for Arthur to have encountered this plant. Its ingame locations are near settlements, so it’s possible that feral populations are descended from defunct gardens. Morphologically, the game’s plant is pretty decent. Small, purple, cup-shaped inflorescences, stamens arranged compactly along the pistil, branched style, narrow blade-like leaves sprouting from an underground corm. My only gripe with the rendering is that there’s no variation in throat color or venation in the petals, which honestly look a little like tulips for their lack of detail. The growth habit is also a little taller than it would be in real life. Otherwise though, this plant is a knockout.

My rating: 8/10

Nerium oleander

“Oleander sage”

Nerium oleander is one of the most widespread naturalized plants in the modern world, with countless varieties and a family history so tangled it’s impossible to trace the true origin of the plant. If you live somewhere sunny, you know oleander. That being said, N. oleander’s introduction to the new world was actually somewhat recent; purportedly introduced first to Texas in the 1840s, but almost certainly thriving in other places in the new world before then. Finding it in the swamps of Lemoyne is hardly a surprise. Ingame, you can find it easily by its dark, leathery, lanceolate leaves and bright pink flowers. Bearing five petals and protruding anther filaments, its ingame rendering is as close to life as it’s possible to get; the only exception being the petals sometimes rendering with 4 instead of 5. Not sure if that’s a photo reference error or just the game rendering being slightly out of whack, but I’m not worried.

My rating: 10/10

Tanacetum parthenium

“Wild feverfew”

https://reddead.fandom.com/wiki/Wild_Feverfew https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanacetum_parthenium

Rubus (find species)

“Blackberry”

https://reddead.fandom.com/wiki/Blackberry

Rubus (idaeus or strigosus, possibly variety)

“Raspberry”

https://reddead.fandom.com/wiki/Red_Raspberry

Vaccinium ovatum

“Evergreen huckleberry”

https://reddead.fandom.com/wiki/Evergreen_Huckleberry Talk abt how these should b Gaylussacia baccata instead. Wtf rockstar

Gaultheria precumbens

“Wintergreen berry”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaultheria_procumbens https://reddead.fandom.com/wiki/Wintergreen_Berry

Thymus serpyllum

“Creeping thyme”

https://reddead.fandom.com/wiki/Creeping_Thyme https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thymus_serpyllum

Yucca brevifolia

“Joshua tree”