This slideshow covers the basics of plant identification, common plant families in Illinois, and concludes with a spring wildflower quiz. Botanical focus is on northeastern Illinois (Chicago area).

1. Habitat 2030 - Botany 101

2. Christopher David Benda – Visiting Plant
Ecologist, Illinois Natural History Survey
Degognia Canyon – Jackson County

3. Illinois Native Plant Society
Southern Chapter
Technical
Expert
Consultant
www.facebook.com/southernillinoisplants

4. Basic Plant
Reproduction,
Structure, and
Terminology

5. Flowers
Complete
(monoecious plants)
Vs.
Incomplete
(monoecious and
dioecious plants)

6. Monoecious
(one house)
Vs.
Dioecious
(two houses)

7. Two Types of Flowers:
• 1. Complete (perfect): flowers
containing BOTH male (stamen) and
female (pistil)
sexual parts.
• Automatically
monoecious

8. • The male part is termed the Stamen
which consists of the anther and filament.
• The female part is the Pistil, which
consists of the stigma, style and ovary.

9. • 2. Incomplete (imperfect): Flowers
containing the reproductive parts of only
one sex.
• These imperfect flowers may be on the
same plant (monoecious),
• or on separate plants
(dioecious).

10. Staminate
Vs.
Pistillate

11. Obligate
Vs.
Facultative

12. Symbiosis Can Be One Of Two
Conditions:
• 1. Obligatory: one organism cannot live
without the other.
• 2. Facultative: can live symbiotically but
can survive without one another.

13. Plant Taxonomy
•Non-Vascular
•Early Plants (spores)
•Archaeplastida (algae)
•Bryophyta (mosses)
•Marchantiophyta (liverworts)
•Anthocerophyta (hornworts)
•Vascular
•Seedless plants
•Pteridophyta (Ferns)
•Equisetaceae (Horsetail)
•Isoetaceae (Quillwort)
•Lycopodiaceae (Clubmoss)
•Marsileaceae (Water-Clover)
•Selaginellaceae (Spikemoss)
•Seed Plants
•Gymnosperms (Conifers/Evergreens)
•Juniperus, Pinus, Taxodium
•Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)
•Monocots (Orchids, Lilies, Irises, Grasses, Sedges, Rushes, aquatic plants)
•Dicots (most other flowering plants)

14. Gymnosperms
Vs.
Angiosperms

15. • 1. Gymnosperms (“Naked Seeds”):
plants that don’t produce a protective fruit
around the seed.
• Ex: all the conifers-pines, cedar, spruce,
and cypress.

16. • 2. Angiosperms (“Hidden
Seeds”): flowering plants, seed is
encased in a protective fruit.
• This is the dominant group of plants
on Earth today.
• * Fruit- anything formed from the
enlarged plant ovary.

17. Plants
Monocot
Vs.
Dicot

18. One cotyledon in seed

19. Leaf veins form
a parallel pattern

20. Flower parts in threes and multiples
of three, irregular (nonsymmetrical)

21. Two cotyledons in seed

22. Leaf veins form
a net pattern

23. Flower parts in fours or
fives and their multiples

24. Leaf Characteristics

25. Leaf Characteristics
Alternate leaves,
American beech
Simple leaf, magnolia
Palmately compound leaf,
buckeye
Whorled leaves,
bedstraw
Pinnately compound leaf,
black walnut
a. Simple versus compound leaves
Opposite leaves, maple
b. Arrangement of leaves on stem

26. Simple leaf, magnolia

27. Palmately compound leaf,
buckeye

28. Pinnately compound leaf,
black walnut

29. Alternate leaves,
American beech

30. Whorled leaves,
bedstraw

31. Opposite leaves, maple
MADCapHorseBuck
(buttonbush)

32. Gee whiz?! information
If you can’t tell a joke about it,
explain where the name comes
from, or tell story about the plant
then:
WHO CARES!!!

33. Plant Humor
Q. How can you ID a dogwood tree?

34. Plant Humor
A. By its bark!

35. Flowering Dogwood – Cornus florida

36. What is a Natural Area?
High Quality Natural Communities
0.07% in a natural condition

37. Binomial Nomenclature
“The beginning of wisdom is to call
things by their rightful names.”
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Cordata
Class
Reptilia
Order
Testudines
Family Emydidae
Genus
Emydoidea
Species E. blandingii

38. Latin Pronunciation
O Pronounce every letter except diphthongs

Echinacea, Tradescantia, Opuntia humifusa, Ambrosia artemisiifolia
O “ch” is a “k” sound: Polystichum, Heuchera
O If a word has two syllables, the accent always goes with the next to the last (called the penult);
e.g., Àcer.
O If a word has three or more syllables, the accent always goes either with the next to the last
(penult) or the third from the last (called the antepenult).

Synandra hispidula, Onoclea sensibilis, Liriodendron tulipifera

phyllum – rhizophyllum, Podophyllum, triphyllum

ae Pellaea atropurpurea, Arisaema

au Daucus carota

Eu Teucrium, Leucanthemum

Oe (phoebe), Platanthera peramoena, Ipomoea

Ui Equisetum
O “oi” is not a diphthong!

Pleopeltis polypodioides
O Pronounce when ending with “e”

Silene, canadense, sessile, hyemale
O Latinized last names (one or two i’s)

Dodecatheon frenchii, Emydoidea blandingii
O Most trees have been feminized!

Quercus rubra, Fagus grandifolia, Ulmus americana

39. Plant Resources for Illinois
Field Guide Books & Websites

40. Plant Resources for Illinois
Field Guide Books & Websites

41. Common Plant Families

42. Apiaceae (Carrot family)

43. Asclepiadaceae (Milkweed family)

44. Asclepiadaceae (Milkweed family)

45. Mead’s Milkweed – Asclepias meadii

46. Asteraceae (Composite family)

47. Prairie Dock - Silphium terebinthinaceum

48. Blazing Stars – Liatris scabra & aspera

49. False Dandelion - Krigia biflora

50. Boraginaceae (Borage family)

51. Boraginaceae (Borage family)

52. Marbleseed – Onosmodium molle var.
hispidissimum

53. Brassicaceae (Mustard family)

54. Cactaceae (Cactus family)

55. Caprifoliaceae (Honeysuckle family)

56. Caprifoliaceae (Honeysuckle family)

57. Campanulaceae (Bellflower family)

58. Campanulaceae (Bellflower family)

59. Caryophyllaceae (Pink family)

60. Convolvulaceae (Morning-glory family)

61. Cuscutaceae (Dodder family)

62. Euphorbiaceae (Spurge family)

63. Fabaceae (Pea family)

64. Pencil Flower - Stylosanthes biflora

65. Caesalpiniaceae (Caesalpinia family)

66. Redbud - Cercis canadensis

67. Lamiaceae (Mint family)

68. Hypericaceae (St. Johnswort family)

69. Onagraceae (Evening-primrose family)

70. Onagraceae (Evening-primrose family)

71. Polemoniaceae (Phlox family)

72. Ranunculaceae (Buttercup family)

73. Rosaceae (Rose family)

74. Carolina Rose - Rosa carolina

75. Rubiaceae (Madder family)

76. Rubiaceae (Madder family)

77. Buttonbush – Cephalanthus occidentalis

78. Scrophulariaceae (Snapdragon family)

79. Skullcaps – Scutellaria sp.

80. Cyperaceae (Sedge family)

81. Iridaceae (Iris family)

82. Blue-eyed Grass – Sisrhynchium albidum

83. Juncaceae (Rush family)

84. Liliaceae (Lily family)

85. Orchidaceae (Orchid family)

86. Orchidaceae (Orchid family)

87. Adam & Eve Orchid – Aplectrum hyemale
Cranefly Orchid -Tipularia discolor

88. Twayblade Orchid – Liparis lilifolia

89. Poaceae (Grass family)

90. Questions?

91. Erigenia bulbosa – Harbinger of Spring

92. Symplocarpos foetidus– Skunk Cabbage

93. Claytonia virginiana - Spring Beauty

94. Arisaema triphyllum – Jack-in-the-pulpit

95. Arisaema dracontium – Green Dragon

96. Galium aparine– Bedstraw

97. Anemone quinquefolia - Wood Anemone

98. Caulophyllum thalictroides - Blue Cohosh

99. Hydrastis canadensis - Goldenseal

100. Dentaria laciniata – Cut-leaved Toothwort

101. Dicentra cucullaria – Dutchman’s Breeches

102. Dicentra canadensis – Squirrel Corn

103. Corydalis flavula – Pale Corydalis

104. Hepatica nobilis - Liverleaf

105. Actaea pachypoda - Doll’s Eyes

106. Asarum canadense - Wild Ginger

107. Aquilegia canadensis - Wild Columbine

108. Camassia scilloides - Wild Hyacinth

109. Dodecatheon meadia – Shooting Star

110. Enemion biternatum – False Rue Anemone

111. Rue Anemone vs. False Rue Anemone

112. Allium tricoccum - Wild Leek

114. Erigeron philidelphicus – Daisy Fleabane

115. Erythronium americanum - Yellow Trout Lily

116. Erythronium albidum – White Trout Lily

117. Sanguinaria canadensis - Bloodroot

118. Jeffersonia diphyla - Twinleaf

119. Fragaria virginiana – Wild Strawberry

120. Caltha palustris - Marsh Marigold

121. Geranium maculatum – Wild Geranium

122. Hybanthus concolor – Green Violet

123. Podophyllum peltatum – Mayapple

124. Hydrophyllum canadense - Waterleaf

125. Hypoxis hirsuta – Yellow Star Grass

126. Luzula multiflora – Wood Rush

127. Osmorhiza claytonii – Sweet Cicely

128. Pedicularis canadensis - Wood Betony

129. Phlox divaricata – Wild Blue Phlox

130. Collinsia verna – Blue-eyed Mary

131. Phlox bifida – Cleft Phlox

132. Polemonium reptans - Jacob’s Ladder

133. Polygonatum biflorum - Soloman’s Seal
–

134. Smilacina racemosa - Soloman’s Plume

135. Smilacina stellata - Starry False Soloman’s Seal

136. Frasera caroliniensis - Wild Columbo

137. Tradescantia virginiana – Virginia Spiderwort

138. Trillium recurvatum – Purple Trillium

139. Trillium flexipes - White Trillium

140. Trillium grandiflorum - Large Trillium

141. Silene virginica - Fire Pink

142. Uvularia grandiflora - Bellwort

143. Viola pedata– Bird’s-foot Violet

144. Viola pubescens – Yellow Violet

145. Viola striata – Cream Violet

146. Amelanchier arborea – Serviceberry

147. Cercis canadensis - Redbud

148. Cornus florida – Flowering Dogwood

149. Viburnum rifidulum – Rusty Black Haw