FAMILY CHARACTERISTICS

Family Characteristics
Introduction to Wetland Plant Identification:
• Quick review: Why do we focus on families?
– Family tends to be the highest taxonomic level at which characters useful to genus and species identification are conserved
– For this reason, most plant manuals are arranged by family, with a “key to the families” in the front –
getting used to using the “big key” is important, but it can be fraught with wrong turns and dead ends…
– Starting to think in terms of family characteristics will cut down on the time investment needed to become proficient at species identification, while still allowing the researcher to make the most of the effort
FAMILY CHARACTERISTICS
• This is essentially the definition of being efficient!
D. A. DeBerry, PhD, PWS, PWD
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Divisions
• Recall also that we are interested in phylogeny, so the earliest ancestors come first, their “evolutionary descendants” next, and so on…
• From most primitive to most advanced, the order that we now recognize is:
Fern Allies → Ferns → Conifers (Gymnosperms) →
→ Magnoliids → Monocots → (True) Dicots
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FERNS AND FERN ALLIES
Division: Equisetophyta, Lycopodiophyta, Pteridophyta
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Equisetaceae
Equisetaceae
• Horsetail Family (Scouring Rush)
– One of our most ancient lineages
– Rhizomatous (blackish)
– Stems upright, dark green, tubular with prominent “siliceous” ridges
– Unbranched, or more often branching
– Leaves whorled, scale‐like
– Sporangia in terminal cone‐like strobili
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Lycopodiaceae
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Lycopodiaceae
• Clubmoss Family
– Trailing plants with lateral stems either underground or on the surface
– Leaves small, scale‐like, no veins (midrib only), evergreen
– Spores on leaf‐like structures or terminal strobili
– “running pine”
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Ferns (Pteridophyta)
Ferns (Pteridophyta)
Ferns (Pteridophyta)
Ferns (Pteridophyta)
Aspleniaceae (Spleenwort Family)
Athyriaceae (Lady Fern Family)
Blechnaceae (Deer‐fern Family)
Dennstaedtiaceae (Bracken Family)
Dryopteridaceae (Wood‐fern Family)
Onocleaceae (Sensitive Fern Family)
Ophioglossaceae (Adder’s Tongue Family)
Osmundaceae (Royal Fern Family)
Thelypteridaceae (Marsh Fern Family)
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Major Plant Divisions – General Characteristics
CONIFERS (Gymnosperms)
Division: Coniferophyta
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Cupressaceae (Cedar Family)
Pinaceae (Pine Family)
Monocots and Dicots
• Recall the major differences between monocots and dicots
Pinus palustris (Longleaf pine)
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Phylogeny
• Also recall that we have a group of “dicots” that are primitive – that is, they evolved early in the evolutionary lineage
MAGNOLIIDS
Subclass: Magnoliidae
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Key Characteristics of Magnoliidae
• The Magnoliids are dicots with some “monocot‐like” characteristics, including:
Magnoliaceae
• Magnolia Family
– Flowers in 3’s – Flowers in 3’s
– Pollen grains with one pore
• Petals and sepals difficult to differentiate – “tepals”
– Fruit an aggregate that resembles a cone
– Stipule scars encircling the twig
– Typical species:
• Other characteristics include:
– Trees and shrubs
– 2 cotyledons
– Flowers with spirally‐arranged “tepals”
– Leaves are net‐veined
• Magnolia virginiana – sweet bay
• Magnolia grandiflora – southern magnolia
• Liriodendron tulipifera – tulip tree
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Magnoliaceae
Lauraceae
• Laurel Family
– Flowers with 6 tepals
– Fruit is a drupe (like cherry) with a pit or stone
– Leaves and other plant parts are aromatic when crushed
– Typical species:
• Sassafras albidum – sassafras
• Lindera benzoin – spicebush
• Persea palustris – red bay
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Lauraceae
Annonaceae
• Custard Apple Family
– Flowers in 3s
– Fruit an aggregate, sometimes appearing as a single “syncarp” (like paw paw)
– Plants usually aromatic
– Typical species
• Asimina triloba – paw paw
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Annonaceae
MONOCOTOLYDONS
Class: Liliopsida
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Alismataceae
Alismataceae
• Arrowhead Family
Herbaceous
Aquatic and marsh species
Basal leaves
Flowers white, in 3s, in a cyme‐like inflorescence with flowers in whorls at the nodes
– Typical species:
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• Alisma subcordatum – water plantain
• Sagittaria latifolia – arrowhead
• Sagittaria lancifolia – bulltongue
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Smilacaceae
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Smilacaceae
• Greenbrier Family
– Herbaceous or woody climbing vines, from thick rhizomes
– Stems often armed with prickles
– Fruit a berry
– Plants dioecious
– One genus (Smilax) in our region with 13 species (+/‐) in Virginia
– Typical species
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Smilax rotundifolia – roundleaf greenbrier
Smilax bona‐nox – saw greenbrier
Smilax glauca – catbrier Smilax laurifolia – laurel‐leaf greenbrier
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Liliaceae
Liliaceae
• Lily Family
– Perennial herbaceous plants, usually from bulbs, corms, or tubers
– Flowers often showy
– Leaves linear or sword‐shaped
– Fruit a capsule or berry
– Typical species
Allium vineale – wild garlic
Lilium superbum – turk’s cap lily
Medeola virginiana – Indian cucumber
Trillium pusillum var. virginianum – least trillium
• Erythronium americanum – trout lily
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Orchidaceae
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Orchidaceae
• Orchid Family
• Flower structure
– Extremely diverse group (most diverse in the world with 19,500 species)
– Zygomorphic flowers highly variable and highly specialized
– Two‐ranked leaves, often basal
– Typical species
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Cypripedium acaule – pink lady slipper
Goodyera pubescens – rattlesnake plantain
Tipularia discolor – cranefly orchid
Platanthera lacera – green fringed orchid
Isotria medeoloides – small whorled pogonia
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Orchidaceae
Iridaceae
• Iris Family
– Perennial herbaceous plants from rhizomes, bulbs, or corms
– Leaves equitant (fan‐like)
– Flower parts all look like petals, very showy
– Fruit a capsule – Typical species
• Iris virginica – blue flag
• Iris pseudacorus – yellow flag
• Sisyrinchium mucronatum – blue‐eyed grass
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Iridaceae
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Commelinaceae
• Spiderwort Family
– Alternate, succulent herbaceous plants with mucilaginous stems
– Leaf sheath tubular and closed around the stem
– 3 petals, often blue, flowers subtended by a boat‐shaped spathe or leafy bracts
– Typical species
• Commelina communis – Asiatic dayflower
• Commelina virginica – Virginia dayflower
• Murdannia keisak – marsh dewflower
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Commelinaceae
Pontederiaceae
• Pickerel‐weed Family
– Perennial, aquatic herbs with thick rootstocks
– Perianth petaloid
– Typical species
• Pontederia cordata – pickerelweed
• Heteranthera dubia – grassleaf
mudplaintain
• Eichhornia crassipes – water hyacinth
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Pontederiaceae
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Juncaceae: General Characteristics
• Stems: solid, mostly round (“rushes are round”)
• Leaves: few leaves, mostly basal or reduced to sheaths (bracts can appear as leaves), some leaves cylindrical and chambered (septate)
• Flowers: regular, 3 sepals and 3 petals very similar in appearance so often called “tepals”, 3 or 6 stamens
• Fruits: capsule with several minute seeds
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Juncaceae: Structure
Juncaceae: Structure
• Inflorescence –
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Cymose
Ovary
Tepals
Capsule Seed
• Culm (Stem)
– Round
– Septate leaves
• Roots
– Rhizomes
– Fibrous
Juncaceae: Structure
Juncaceae: Structure
Cyperaceae: General Characteristics
• Stems: solid, triangular (“sedges have edges”) • Leaves: 3‐ranked, closed sheaths, ligule usually absent
• Flowers: inconspicuous in axils of overlapping scales, arranged in spikelets, perfect or imperfect, spikelets
organized into spikes, 2 or 3 stamens,1 pistil with 2 or 3 stigmas • Fruits: lens shaped (lenticular) or triangular (trigonous) nutlet (achene)
Cyperaceae: Structure
• Inflorescence –
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Spikelet
Scales
Spikes Nutlet (Achene)
Perigynium (Carex)
Bristles
• Culm (Stem)
– Triangular, basal leaves
• Roots
– Rhizomes
– Fibrous
Cyperaceae: Structure
Cyperaceae: Structure
Cyperaceae: Structure
Poaceae: General Characteristics
• Stems: jointed at swollen nodes, hollow, round
• Leaves: 2‐ranked, ligule, sheaths split down the stem
• Flowers: inconspicuous with 2‐3 small scales (lodicules), usu. 3 stamens and 1 pistil, 2 bracts (lemma and palea), floret (all of above), spikelet [2 glumes (sterile bracts) + floret(s)]
• Fruits: caryopsis (“seed”, or more appropriately “grain”)
Poaceae: Structure
• Inflorescence – Panicle
– Raceme – Spike
• Culm (Stem) nodes + internodes
– Blade and sheath – Ligule
• Roots
– Rhizomes
– Fibrous
– Stolons
Poaceae: Structure
Poaceae: Structure
Poaceae: Structure
Poaceae: Structure
Poaceae: Structure
Poaceae: Structure
DICOTOLYDONS (in part)
Class: Magnoliopsida
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Apiaceae
Apiaceae
• Parsley Family
– Herbs with stout, often hollow stems and compound, often dissected leaves
– Leaf bases have enlarged sheaths
– Inflorescense arranged in umbels, flowers with 5 petals
– Foliage often aromatic
– Inferior ovary
– Typical genera
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Cicuta (water hemlock)
Conium (poison hemlock)
Daucus (Queen Anne’s lace)
Eryngium (eryngo)
Foeniculum (fennel)
Hydrocotyle (water penny)
Sanicula (snakeroot)
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Asteraceae
Asteraceae
• Aster Family
– Second most diverse group (19,000 species worldwide)
– Also called the “composites” due to flower structure
– Herbs or occasionally shrubs
– Leaves simple, often dissected, often in basal rosettes
– 5‐merous flowers borne in heads surrounded by involucres of bracts, flowers can be tubular or strap‐shaped (ray)
– Fruit an achene (dry seed)
– Ovary inferior, the calyx modified into a pappus of bristles, hairs, or scales
– Numerous species in Virginia
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Asteraceae
Brassicaceae
• Mustard Family
– 4‐merous flowers with erect, uniquely shaped fruits
• Silique – elongated, slender fruit
• Silicle – flat, rounded or heart‐shaped fruit
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Inflorescence racemose
Foliage often with a mustard odor
Superior ovary
Typical genera
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Alliaria (garlic mustard)
Arabidopsis (mouse‐ear cress)
Barbarea (yellow rocket)
Capsella (shepherd’s purse)
Cardamine (field cress)
Lepidium (pepperweed)
Nasturtium (watercress)
Thlaspi (pennycress)
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Brassicaceae
Caprifoliaceae
• Honeysuckle Family
– Opposite‐leaved shrubs or vines with flexible stems due to the pith (spongy)
– Flowers typically with 4‐5 petals united at the base and forming a tube; inflorescence a cyme – Inferior ovary
– Typical genera
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Lonicera (honeysuckle)
Sambucus (elderberry)
Triosteum (feverwort)
Viburnum (viburnum)
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Caprifoliaceae
Ericaceae
• Heath Family
– Shrubs, typically in acidic soils
– Leaves coriaceous, sometimes evergreen, alternate, simple
– Flowers sympetalous (petals fused at least partly), 4‐ or 5‐merous, urceolate (urn shaped) or campanulate (bell shaped), mostly white (sometimes shades of red)
– Inflorescence often racemose
– Fruit a capsule or berry (sometimes a drupe)
– Typical genera
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Vaccinium (blueberry)
Gaylussacia (huckleberry)
Kalmia (mountain laurel)
Lyonia (maleberry)
Oxydendrum (sourwood)
Rhododendron (azalea)
Leucothoe (fetterbush)
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Ericaceae
Fabaceae
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Legume or Pea Family
Herbs, shrubs, or trees
Bacterial nodes on the roots (N‐fixing)
Alternate, stipulate, compound leaves with entire margins
Leaves either pinnate‐, palmate‐, or trifoliate‐compound
Flowers generally zygomorphic (some actinomorphic), “half‐
inferior” (perigynous), sepals united, with 5 petals forming a distinctive “banner, wings, and keel”
– Stamens can be distinct or more often joined in a column (monodelphous or diadelphous)
– Fruit a legume (pea pod) or loment (tick trefoil)
– Typical genera
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Apios (groundnut)
Cercis (redbud)
Desmodium (ticktrefoil)
Vicia (vetch)
Trifolium (clover)
Lespedeza (hop clover)
Albizia (mimosa)
• Wisteria (wisteria)
• Chamaecrista (partridge pea)
• Lathyrus (beach pea)
• Medicago (black medic)
• Aeschynomene (joint‐vetch)
• Pueraria (kudzu)
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Fabaceae
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Aeschynomene virginica (Sensitive
Joint-vetch)
Fabaceae
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Lamiaceae
Lamiaceae
• Mint Family
– Aromatic herbaceous to woody plants with square stems and opposite leaves
– Inflorescense cymose, sometimes congested into false whorls at the nodes
– Corolla sympetalous, with 2 “lips” (“bilabiate), the upper often with 2 lobes, the lower with 3 lobes
– Superior ovary
– Typical genera
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Lamium (dead nettle
Lycopus (bugleweed)
Pycnanthemum (mountain mint)
Salvia (sage)
Scutellaria (skullcap)
Mentha (peppermint)
Glechoma (ground ivy)
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Ranunculaceae
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Ranunculaceae
• Buttercup Family
– Herbaceous plants (sometimes shrubs or vines), often with rhizomes or tuberous roots
– Leaves compound or dissected with sheaths at base of petiole
– Flowers with 5 parts
– Stamens numerous
– Fruit an aggregate
– Typical genera
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Aquilegia (columbine)
Caltha (marsh marigold)
Clematis (clematis)
Ficaria (lesser celandine) Hepatica (liverwort)
Ranunculus (buttercup)
Thalictrum (meadow rue)
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Rosaceae
Rosaceae
• Rose Family
– Herbaceous to woody plants often armed with thorns or prickles
– Alternate leaves, with stipules
– Flowers regular, with 5 parts
– Many stamens, usually in multiples of 5
– Typical genera
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Rosa (rose
Rubus (blackberry)
Prunus (cherry)
Malus (apple)
Crataegus (hawthorn)
Geum (avens)
Spiraea (meadowsweet)
Potentilla (cinquefoil)
Photinia (chokecherry)
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Scrophulariaceae
Rosaceae
• Figwort Family
– Mostly herbaceous (some woody)
– Flowers with a 5‐parted, united corolla, zygomorphic and 2‐lipped, calyx with 5 united sepals
– Corolla usually attractive, of various shapes
– Fruit a capsule
– Typical genera
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Chelone (turtlehead)
Mimulus (monkey flower)
Penstemon (beardtongue)
Verbascum (mullien)
Paulownia (princess tree)
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Aceraceae
DICOTOLYDONS (in part)
Tree Families
• Maple Family
ALTERNATE
OPPOSITE
– Only 4 tree families in our area that are opposite
– Aceraceae (Maple)
– Oleaceae (Ash)
– Cornaceae (Dogwood)
– Hippocastanaceae
(Buckeye)
– Trees found in many families (e.g., Fabaceae, Rosaceae, etc.)
– We’ll focus on tree families with catkins
– Fagaceae (Oak)
– Juglandaceae (Walnut)
– Betulaceae (Birch)
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Hippocastanaceae
• Acer (maple)
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Cornaceae
• Dogwood Family
• Buckey Family
– Shrubs and trees with opposite leaves (occasionally alternate)
– Leaves with curving veins
– Flowers 4‐ to 5‐merous, stamens alternating with the petals
– Several have showy white bracts that look like petals (flowering dogwood)
– Inferior ovary, fruit a drupe or berry
– One genus
– Trees with opposite, palmately
compound, serrate leaves
– One genus • Aesculus (buckeye)
yellow buckeye (A. flava)
– Trees or shrubs with opposite, simple, palmately‐lobed/veined
(compound in some)
– Fruit a samara (“helicopter”)
– One genus
• Cornus (dogwood)
painted buckeye (A. sylvatica)
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Fagaceae
Oleaceae
• Beech/Oak Family
– Leaves alternate, simple, with pinnate venation
– Monoecious; staminate flowers in catkins
– Fruit a nut with a cupule (like an acorn) – Typical genera
• Olive (Ash) Family
– Shrubs and trees with opposite leaves, simple or pinnately
compound (ash)
– Flowers 4‐merous
– Twigs stout
– Fruit a samara (winged)
– Typical genera
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• Castanea (chestnut)
• Fagus (beech)
• Quercus (oak)
Chionanthus (fringetree)
Forsythia (forsythia)
Fraxinus (ash)
Ligustrum (privet)
Syringa (lilac)
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Betulaceae
Juglandaceae
• Birch Family
• Walnut Family
– Trees and shrubs with alternate, simple, serrate leaves
– Twigs slender and often zig‐
zag
– Staminate flowers in catkins
– Typical genera
– Trees with stout twigs
– Leaves aromatic, alternate, and pinnately compound
– Staminate flowers in catkins
– Fruit a nut surrounded by leathery husk
– Typical genera
• Juglans (walnut)
• Carya (hickory)
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Alnus (alder)
Betula (birch)
Carpinus (ironwood)
Corylus (hazelnut)
Ostrya (hornbeam)
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