Term
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Definition
The pine family, diagnostic family characters
leaves- Linear or needle-like, spirally arranged, sometimes in fasicles(bundles)
Cones- Female cones with several spirally arranged microsporophylls (pollen-bearing). Mature cones are often dry and woody
Habit- Monoecious (seperate male and female structures but both are borne on the same individual, trees, or shrubs |
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Term
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Definition
Buttercup or Crowfoot Family
Characters
-Leaves: Simple or variously compound or dissected, serrate to lobed, usually alternate, lacking stipules, often with sheathing petioles
-Inflorescence: Determinant, cymost, or flower sometimes solitary or terminal
-Flowers: Actinomorphic or sometimes zygomorphic. Usually perfect. Hypogynous (perianth parts attached beneath the gynoecium), Perianth (calyx and corolla together)often showy: Numerous distinct stamens and carpels (that is not fused) spirally arranged on the receptacle. The term apocarpous is used to describe unfused carpels. Typically 5-merous (that is calyx of 5 sepals, a corolla of 5 petals)
-Fruits: Typically an aggregate of follicales, achenes, or berries; endosperm copious, oily; embryo minute
-Habit: Herbaceaous plants commonly with rhizomes or tubers. Members of Ranunculaceae make up a significant portion of early-blooming spring plants in Wisconsin |
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Term
| Papaverceae: the poppy seed family |
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Definition
- Diagnostic family characteristics
- Leaves: simple to compound, typically deeply lobed or dissected, in basal rosettes (a circular cluster of leaves close to the ground)
- Inflorescence: Determine or indeterminate. often cymose but sometimes solitary flower
- flowers: actinomorphic or sometimes zygomorphic, perfect, hypogynous, ranging from small and inconspicuous to large and showy.
- Fruits: a capsule sometimes a nut
- Habit: annual or perennial herbs, sometimes vines, with acrid colored (reddish-orange, yellow to nearly white) sap Various alkalois, including the precursors to heroin, can be obtained from members of this family
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Term
| Caryophyllaceae- The Pink |
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Definition
- Leaves: Simple, entire, opposite, decussate (oppositely arranged with each pair set @ right angles to the pair above and below), Usually narrow, Appearing parallel veined
- inflorescence: Determinate, cymost (an inflorescence in which the terminal flowers bloom first) Flower sometimes solitary
- Flowers: actinomorphic, usually perfect, frequently showy, typically hypogynous. Petal pink or white when present
- Fruits: Usually capsule, usually the seeds have an ornamated seed coat
- Habit: Herbaceaous plants with swollen nodes( the place on the stem where the leaves are, or have been, attached)Many members of the family are widespread weedy plants and/or garden ornamentals including the Carnation (dianthus))
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Term
| Polygonaceae- The buckwheat, knotweed, or smartweed family |
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Definition
- Leaves: simple, usually entire, usually alternate, with sheathing membranous stipule (ocrea) at the petiole base- be sure you see this
- inflorescence: determinate, cymose
- Flowers: Actinomorphic, usually perfect, hypogynous, small, subtented by persistent bracts
- Fruits: an achene (a small indehiscent dry fruit with a thin, close-fitting wall surrounding the single seed)
- Habit: Herbaceous to shrubby plants, mostly annual. Some, such as the smartweeds are aquatic. the most telling feature are the swollen nodes (ocreas)
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Term
| Rosaceae- The Rose Family |
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Definition
- Plants in this family can take on many forms, from small plants to large trees. There are several good characters that make this a good familiy to learn
- Leaves: Stipulate (having a pair of appendages on the petiole near where the leaf attaches to the stem), alternate, sometimes only basal rosettes, serrate, simple or compound
- Infloresence:Determinate or indeterminate, terminal or axillary
- Flowers: actinomorphic, perfect, perigynous to sometimes epigynous, with cup-like hypanthium, generally showy- 5 merous
- Fruits: a drupe(fleshy fruit with a hard stone-like covering around the seeds, ex a peach) or pome ( avarious kinds of eg strawberry-aggregate of achenes; Blackberry- aggregate of drupes; spiraea- aggregate of follicles, etc)
- Habitat: herbacious to woody plants often armed with thorns or prickles.
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Term
| Fabaceae- the Legume or Pea Family |
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Definition
- Leaves: Compound(pinnately or bipinnately, or even palmately, sometimes they are reduced to one single leaflet and will therefore be (or appear to be) simple. Entire, usually alternate, sometimes with tendrils, stipiate
- infloresence: indeterminate, of various forms, terminal or axillary
- flowers: very distinctive. zygomorphic (although on occasion actinomorphic), usually perfect, typically showy. 5-merous but often with fused parts. Usally ten stamens that often show a diadephous arrangement (arranged in two bundles, one of 9 fused stamens, the tenth solitary) Unicarpellate gyoecium
- fruits: usually legume dehiscing along two sutures, typically flattened, seeds usually with a hard seed coat.
- Habit: herbs to trees. Root nodules formed by nitrogen-fixing bacteria
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Term
| Violaceae- The Violet Family |
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Definition
- Leaves: Simple, sometimes lobed, sometimes lobed deeply enough to appear comound. Alternate or forming basal rosettle. Often Heart-shaped.
- infloresence: indeterminate, racemose or flowers solitary to few in leaf axils
- flowers: zygomorphic, or sometimes actinomorphic, perfect hypogynous to slightly perigynous showing, usually nodding. The anterior petal and the stamens are often spurred. Typically (5 calyx, 5 corolla, 5 Andrgynous and 3 fused parietal gynoecium.
- Fruits: usually a 3-valved elastic locicidal capsule, but usually do not notice in violet fruits.
- Habit: Perennial herbs found in a variety of habitats from forest floors to front lawns
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