Vascular Plant Families
Taxonomy the practice and science concerned with classification or categorization of plants and animals is similar to genealogy organizing family histories. Just as in genealogy, DNA testing is revealing some naming and organizing errors while confirming and clafiying familial plant relationships. Many of the examples shown here are commonly seen and used by us and many of our ancestors whether native plants growing wild when our ancestors arrived, brought from ancestor home countries, often grown or purchased for eating.
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July 21, 2024 post by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources on Facebook:
VASCULAR PLANT FAMILIES - MUSTARDS: This week, we’ll be highlighting the seven families of vascular plants that are most well represented (by number of species) in Indiana. As with other organisms, vascular plant species with floral and vegetative characteristic similarities are taxonomically grouped together into genera (singular: genus). Genera with similar characteristics are taxonomically grouped together into families. We will be counting down from the seventh most well represented family to the most well represented family over the next seven days.
Coming in at number seven is the mustard family, known as the Brassicaceae (formerly Cruciferae). Although the numbers can vary slightly depending upon the opinion of the botanist you ask, approximately 89 mustard family species in Indiana. These range from being herbaceous to having somewhat woody stems. Worldwide, there are over 4,000 mustard family species, ranging from being herbaceous to shrubs. The mustard family has great importance economically (and to your mother or father, who told you to “eat your vegetables”), as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, turnips, radishes, and horseradish are all mustards. Characteristics common to all mustards include flowers with four sepals and four petals (petals rarely absent) surrounding six stamens, two of which are short and four of which are long (rarely only two or four stamens present). The superior ovary develops into a fruit known as a silicle (if up to three times as long as wide) or a silique (if at least three times as long as wide). Indiana mustard flowers are often yellow or white, but range in color to pink and purple as well. The leaves in mustards are arranged in an alternate fashion (a single leaf per node) or are all basal (rosette at the plant's base). Common native mustards include cut-leaved toothwort (Cardamine concatenata) and Virginia pepperweed (Lepedium virginicum). Common non-native mustards include garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) and dame’s rocket (Hesperis matronalis).
Click on the photo to learn more about that mustard family species.
Learn more about Indiana's nature preserves at dnr.IN.gov/nature-preserves.
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July 22, 2024 post by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources on Facebook:
VASCULAR PLANT FAMILIES - MINT: Ranking number six of Indiana's top seven most well represented vascular plant families is mint, known as the Lamiaceae (formerly Labiatae). Approximately 97 species in the mint family occur in Indiana. These range from being herbaceous to occurring as low shrubs. Worldwide, there are over 7,000 species in the mint family, with plants growing as herbs, shrubs, trees, and vines. The mint family includes peppermint, spearmint, basil, oregano, rosemary, sage, thyme, lavender, catnip, and bee balm. In many of the species, the foliage is aromatic, but some species have foliage that has no or very minimal scent. Characteristics that are common to all mints include opposite leaves (two leaves per node on the stem), stems that are four-angled (or square in cross-section), and flowers that have five-lobed calyces and five-lobed corollas, with the corollas often being strongly two-lipped. Flowers in Indiana mints can range in colors, including white, lavender, pink, red, yellow, blue, and purple. Common native mints include wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) and self-heal (Prunella vulgaris subsp. lanceolata). Common non-native mints include creeping Charlie (Glechoma hederacea), beefsteak plant (Perilla frutescens), catnip (Nepeta cataria), motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca), henbit (Lamium amplexicaule), and purple deadnettle (Lamium purpureum). Click on each photo to learn more about it.
Click on the photo to learn more about that mustard family species.
Learn more about Indiana's nature preserves at dnr.IN.gov/nature-preserves.
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July 23, 2024 post by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources on Facebook:
VASCULAR PLANT FAMILIES - LEGUMES: The fifth most well represented vascular plant family in Indiana is the legume family (aka the bean or pea family), known as the Fabaceae (formerly Leguminosae). Indiana is home to approximately 121 legume species. These range from being herbaceous to shrubs to trees to vines. There are over 20,000 species in the legume family globally, making it the third largest plant family worldwide. The legume family is one of the most important plant families for human civilization, including plants such as beans, peas, soybeans, alfalfa, and peanuts. In addition to their use as food for people and livestock, legume family plants are well known for their symbiotic relationships with certain bacteria that are able to fix atmospheric nitrogen, converting free nitrogen to ammonia so that it can be used by other plants. Characteristics that are common to all legumes include flowers with five sepals (usually fused at the base) and five petals (these often two-lipped, and two of the petals often fused, making it appear as though there are four petals which are referred to as the standard, the keel, and two wings), and an ovary that develops into a fruit called a legume. The leaves of most legumes are compound and alternately arranged (one from each node along the stem). Flowers in Indiana legumes can vary in color, including white, green, lavender, pink, red, yellow, blue, and purple. Common native legumes include tick trefoils (Desmodium spp.) and honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos). Common non-native legumes include crown vetch (Securigera varia), sweetclover (Melilotus spp.), red clover (Trifolium pratense), and white clover (Trifolium repens).
Click on the photo to learn more about that mustard family species.
Learn more about Indiana's nature preserves at dnr.IN.gov/nature-preserves.
July 25, 2024 post by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources on Facebook:
VASCULAR PLANT FAMILIES - ROSE: With approximately 143 species occurring in Indiana, the rose family, known as the Rosaceae, ranks as the fourth most well represented vascular plant family in the state. These species are herbs, shrubs, and small and large trees. Worldwide, there are over 4,500 species in the rose family. We would all need to see the doctor regularly without the rose family, as apples are part of the family, as are cherries, plums, peaches, almonds, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, and pears. And what would we do at Valentine’s Day without the rose family, which includes its namesake, roses?
Characteristics that are common to all rose family plants include flowers that are regular (radially symmetrical) that have five sepals, five petals (or the petals absent), usually five to numerous stamens, and one to numerous pistils. Flowers in Indiana rose family plants are most frequently white to pink or rose, but some are yellow, purplish, or red. Common native rose family plants include white avens (Geum canadense), blackberries, raspberries, dewberries, and bristleberries (Rubus spp.), wild black cherry (Prunus serotina), wild strawberry (Fragaria virginiana), and common cinquefoil (Potentilla simplex). Common non-native rose family plants include callery (Bradford) pear (Pyrus calleryana), multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora), and mock strawberry (Potentilla indica).
Click on the photo to learn more about that rose family species.
Learn more about Indiana's nature preserves at dnr.IN.gov/nature-preserves.
July 25, 2024 post by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources on Facebook:
VASCULAR PLANT FAMILIES - SEDGES: We’re down to the top three most well represented vascular plant families in Indiana! Number three is the sedge family, known as the Cyperaceae. Sedges are annual or perennial herbaceous grass-like plants. Approximately 269 species of sedges occur in Indiana. Worldwide, there are approximately 5,500 species in the sedge family, all of them being herbaceous. Although not as important economically as the previous (and the next two) families discussed, some sedges are notable for their human uses, including water chestnut, chufa, tule, and papyrus. What they may lack in economic value, sedges more than make up for in ecological value, as sedges are found around the world in a wide range of light, wetness, and soil conditions, and they provide structure and a foundation for many plant communities. Despite what you might have heard, not all sedges have “edges,” but many have stems that are triangular (or “edged”) in cross-section.
Common characteristics of all sedges include having leaves that are usually three-ranked, fused sheaths, flowers each with a single scale beneath, and fruit known as an achene. Sedge flowers lack a corolla, but in some species the corolla has been evolutionarily reduced to bristles attached beneath the ovary. Common native sedges include common wood sedge (Carex blanda), straw-colored nut sedge (Cyperus strigosus), blunt spike rush (Eleocharis obtusa), softstem bulrush (Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani), and rufous bulrush (Scirpus pendulus). Non-native sedges are uncommon, but include prickly sedge (Carex spicata) and ricefield bulrush (Schoenoplectiella mucronata).
Click on the photo to learn more about that rose family species.
Learn more about Indiana's nature preserves at dnr.IN.gov/nature-preserves.
July 26, 2024 post by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources on Facebook:
VASCULAR PLANT FAMILIES - GRASSES: With an estimated 290 species in Indiana, the grass family, known as the Poaceae (formerly Graminae), ranks as the second most well represented vascular plant family in Indiana. Indiana grasses are herbaceous to woody. Over 12,000 species in the grass family around found worldwide, ranking it the fifth largest family globally. Without grasses, our lives as humans would be difficult, if we were to exist at all. Important grasses include corn, wheat, rice, barley, rye, oats, millet, and bamboo, and grasses have been used for building materials (thatch) and to feed livestock (including as straw).
Characteristics common to all grasses include having leaves that are usually two-ranked (each consisting of a sheath that wraps around the stem and flattened blade, and arising from a joint, or node), flowers each with two scales beneath, and fruit known as a grain (or caryopsis). Grasses have their own set of terminology for their parts, so if you try to learn to identify grasses you’ll hear about glumes, lemmas, and paleas. Like sedges, grass flowers lack a corolla, but their inflorescences still are often quite attractive, making them desirable in landscaping.
Common native grasses in Indiana include big bluestem (Andropogon gerardi), wood reed (Cinna arundinacea), poverty oatgrass (Danthonia spicata), old-field rosette grass (Dichanthelium huachucae), bottlebrush grass (Elymus hystrix), Virginia wild rye (Elymus virginicus), nodding fescue (Festuca subverticillata), fowl mannagrass (Glyceria striata), rice cutgrass (Leersia oryzoides), nimblewill (Muhlenbergia schreberi), little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), and purpletop (Tridens flavus). Common non-native grasses include redtop (Agrostis gigantea), orchard grass (Dactylis glomerata), hairy crabgrass (Digitaria sanguinalis), goosegrass (Eleusine indica), Japanese stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum), reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea), timothy (Phleum pratense), Eurasian common reed (Phragmites australis), Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis), tall fescue (Schedonorus arundinaceus), giant foxtail (Setaria faberi), Johnsongrass (Sorghum halepense), and Indiana’s most abundant grass, corn (Zea mays).
Click on the photo to learn more about that rose family species.
Learn more about Indiana's nature preserves at dnr.IN.gov/nature-preserves.
July 27, 2024 post by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources on Facebook:
VASCULAR PLANT FAMILIES - SUNFLOWERS: The most well represented vascular plant family in Indiana is the sunflower (or aster, daisy, or composite) family, known as the Asteraceae (formerly Compositae).
There are approximately 330 sunflower family species in Indiana. Essentially all are herbaceous plants, though some are herbaceous vines. An astonishing 32,000 sunflower family species are found worldwide, ranking it either the largest or second largest plant family globally (the orchid family, Orchidaceae, has a similar number of species). Sunflower family plants around the world grow as herbs, shrubs, trees, and vines. With so many species, it should be no surprise that the sunflower family is important economically, with lettuce, artichokes, sunflower seeds, chamomile, echinacea, tarragon, chrysanthemums, dahlias, zinnias, and many, many others being in this family.
Characteristics that are common to all sunflower family plants include having flowers that are in heads, with all flowers sharing a common receptacle, and having an ovary that is inferior (attached below the corolla and calyx). Sunflower family flowerheads can be ligulate (possessing only ray flowers, which are strap-shaped), discoid (possessing only disc flowers, which are tubular), or radiate (possessing ray flowers around the disc flowers). With so many variations come a variety of floral colors. Common native sunflower family plants include giant ragweed (Ambrosia trifida), Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus, false sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoides), white snakeroot (Ageratina altissima), butterweed (Packera glabella), tall goldenrod (Solidago altissima), annual fleabane (Erigeron annuus), and frost aster (Symphyotrichum pilosum). Common non-native sunflower family plants include common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), lesser burdock (Arctium minus), and Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense).
Click on the photo to learn more about that rose family species.
Learn more about Indiana's nature preserves at dnr.IN.gov/nature-preserves.