Habitat 2030 - Botany 101
Christopher David Benda – Visiting Plant
Ecologist, Illinois Natural History Survey

Degognia Canyon – Jackson County
Illinois Native Plant Society
Southern Chapter
Technical
Expert
Consultant

www.facebook.com/southernillinoisplants
Basic Plant
Reproduction,
Structure, and
Terminology
Flowers
Complete
(monoecious plants)
Vs.
Incomplete
(monoecious and
dioecious plants)
Monoecious
(one house)
Vs.
Dioecious
(two houses)
Two Types of Flowers:
• 1. Complete (perfect): flowers
containing BOTH male (stamen) and
female (pistil)
sexual parts.
• Automatically
monoecious
• 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.
• 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).
Staminate
Vs.
Pistillate
Obligate
Vs.
Facultative
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.
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)
Gymnosperms
Vs.
Angiosperms
• 1. Gymnosperms (“Naked Seeds”):
plants that don’t produce a protective fruit
around the seed.
• Ex: all the conifers-pines, cedar, spruce,
and cypress.
• 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.
Plants
Monocot
Vs.
Dicot
One cotyledon in seed
Leaf veins form
a parallel pattern
Flower parts in threes and multiples
of three, irregular (nonsymmetrical)
Two cotyledons in seed
Leaf veins form
a net pattern
Flower parts in fours or
fives and their multiples
Leaf Characteristics
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
Simple leaf, magnolia
Palmately compound leaf,
buckeye
Pinnately compound leaf,
black walnut
Alternate leaves,
American beech
Whorled leaves,
bedstraw
Opposite leaves, maple
MADCapHorseBuck
(buttonbush)
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!!!
Plant Humor
Q. How can you ID a dogwood tree?
Plant Humor
A. By its bark!
Flowering Dogwood – Cornus florida
What is a Natural Area?
High Quality Natural Communities

0.07% in a natural condition
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
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
Plant Resources for Illinois
Field Guide Books & Websites
Plant Resources for Illinois
Field Guide Books & Websites
Common Plant Families
Apiaceae (Carrot family)
Asclepiadaceae (Milkweed family)
Asclepiadaceae (Milkweed family)
Mead’s Milkweed – Asclepias meadii
Asteraceae (Composite family)
Prairie Dock - Silphium terebinthinaceum
Blazing Stars – Liatris scabra & aspera
False Dandelion - Krigia biflora
Boraginaceae (Borage family)
Boraginaceae (Borage family)
Marbleseed – Onosmodium molle var.
hispidissimum
Brassicaceae (Mustard family)
Cactaceae (Cactus family)
Caprifoliaceae (Honeysuckle family)
Caprifoliaceae (Honeysuckle family)
Campanulaceae (Bellflower family)
Campanulaceae (Bellflower family)
Caryophyllaceae (Pink family)
Convolvulaceae (Morning-glory family)
Cuscutaceae (Dodder family)
Euphorbiaceae (Spurge family)
Fabaceae (Pea family)
Pencil Flower - Stylosanthes biflora
Caesalpiniaceae (Caesalpinia family)
Redbud - Cercis canadensis
Lamiaceae (Mint family)
Hypericaceae (St. Johnswort family)
Onagraceae (Evening-primrose family)
Onagraceae (Evening-primrose family)
Polemoniaceae (Phlox family)
Ranunculaceae (Buttercup family)
Rosaceae (Rose family)
Carolina Rose - Rosa carolina
Rubiaceae (Madder family)
Rubiaceae (Madder family)
Buttonbush – Cephalanthus occidentalis
Scrophulariaceae (Snapdragon family)
Skullcaps – Scutellaria sp.
Cyperaceae (Sedge family)
Iridaceae (Iris family)
Blue-eyed Grass – Sisrhynchium albidum
Juncaceae (Rush family)
Liliaceae (Lily family)
Orchidaceae (Orchid family)
Orchidaceae (Orchid family)
Adam & Eve Orchid – Aplectrum hyemale
Cranefly Orchid -Tipularia discolor
Twayblade Orchid – Liparis lilifolia
Poaceae (Grass family)
Questions?
Erigenia bulbosa – Harbinger of Spring
Symplocarpos foetidus– Skunk Cabbage
Claytonia virginiana - Spring Beauty
Arisaema triphyllum – Jack-in-the-pulpit
Arisaema dracontium – Green Dragon
Galium aparine– Bedstraw
Anemone quinquefolia - Wood Anemone
Caulophyllum thalictroides - Blue Cohosh
Hydrastis canadensis - Goldenseal
Dentaria laciniata – Cut-leaved Toothwort
Dicentra cucullaria – Dutchman’s Breeches
Dicentra canadensis – Squirrel Corn
Corydalis flavula – Pale Corydalis
Hepatica nobilis - Liverleaf
Actaea pachypoda - Doll’s Eyes
Asarum canadense - Wild Ginger
Aquilegia canadensis - Wild Columbine
Camassia scilloides - Wild Hyacinth
Dodecatheon meadia – Shooting Star
Enemion biternatum – False Rue Anemone
Rue Anemone vs. False Rue Anemone
Allium tricoccum - Wild Leek
Erigeron philidelphicus – Daisy Fleabane
Erythronium americanum - Yellow Trout Lily
Erythronium albidum – White Trout Lily
Sanguinaria canadensis - Bloodroot
Jeffersonia diphyla - Twinleaf
Fragaria virginiana – Wild Strawberry
Caltha palustris - Marsh Marigold
Geranium maculatum – Wild Geranium
Hybanthus concolor – Green Violet
Podophyllum peltatum – Mayapple
Hydrophyllum canadense - Waterleaf
Hypoxis hirsuta – Yellow Star Grass
Luzula multiflora – Wood Rush
Osmorhiza claytonii – Sweet Cicely
Pedicularis canadensis - Wood Betony
Phlox divaricata – Wild Blue Phlox
Collinsia verna – Blue-eyed Mary
Phlox bifida – Cleft Phlox
Polemonium reptans - Jacob’s Ladder
Polygonatum biflorum - Soloman’s Seal
–
Smilacina racemosa - Soloman’s Plume
Smilacina stellata - Starry False Soloman’s Seal
Frasera caroliniensis - Wild Columbo
Tradescantia virginiana – Virginia Spiderwort
Trillium recurvatum – Purple Trillium
Trillium flexipes - White Trillium
Trillium grandiflorum - Large Trillium
Silene virginica - Fire Pink
Uvularia grandiflora - Bellwort
Viola pedata– Bird’s-foot Violet
Viola pubescens – Yellow Violet
Viola striata – Cream Violet
Amelanchier arborea – Serviceberry
Cercis canadensis - Redbud
Cornus florida – Flowering Dogwood
Viburnum rifidulum – Rusty Black Haw

Illinois Botany 101 and Wildflower Quiz

Editor's Notes

  • #50 L. fasciatus banded, bearing stripes — ref. dorsal stripes, females and young males "resemble bundled staves"