2. Plant Ecologist
Illinois Natural History Survey
President
Illinois Native Plant Society
Instructor, Flora of Southern Illinois
Southern Illinois University
Instructor, Tree ID and Ecology
The Morton Arboretum
Technical Expert Consultant
Illinois Endangered Species
Protection Board
CHRISTOPHER DAVID BENDA, M.S.
9. Simple leaf, magnolia
a. Simple versus compound leaves
Pinnately compound leaf,
black walnut
Palmately compound leaf,
buckeye
b. Arrangement of leaves on stem
Opposite leaves, maple
Whorled leaves,
bedstraw
Alternate leaves,
American beech
Leaf Characteristics
20. Basic Flower Anatomy
• The male part is termed the Stamen, which consists of the anther
and filament.
• The female part is the Carpel, which consists of the stigma, style
and ovary.
22. Perfect Flowers
• Flowers containing BOTH male (stamen)
and female (carpel)
sexual parts.
• Automatically
monoecious
23. Imperfect Flowers
• Flowers containing the reproductive parts
of only one sex.
• These imperfect flowers may be on the
same plant (monoecious),
• or on separate plants (dioecious)
Sparganium eurycarpum Thalictrum dioicum
29. Binomial Nomenclature
“The beginning of wisdom is to call
things by their rightful names.”
Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species
Animalia
Cordata
Reptilia
Testudines
Emydidae
Emydoidea
E. blandingii
30. The Top Ten reasons for
using scientific names
Understand the meaning of the
names!
31. Latin Pronunciation
Pronounce every letter except diphthongs
Echinacea, Tradescantia, Opuntia, Ambrosia
“ch” is a “k” sound
Polystichum, Heuchera, Aristolochia
If a word has two syllables, the accent always goes with the next to the last (called the penult);
e.g., Àcer.
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, Arisaema, Chamaecrista
au Daucus carota
Eu Teucrium, Leucanthemum
Oe (phoebe), Platanthera peramoena, Ipomoea
Ui Equisetum
“oi” is not a diphthong!
Pleopeltis polypodioides
Pronounce when ending with “e”
Silene, canadense, sessile, hyemale
Latinized last names (one or two i’s)
Dodecatheon frenchii, Emydoidea blandingii
Most trees have been feminized!
Quercus rubra, Fagus grandifolia, Ulmus americana
36. • plants that don’t produce a protective fruit
around the seed.
• all the conifers - pines, cedar, tamarack,
yew, and cypress.
Gymnosperms (“naked seed”)
Pinus echinata Taxodium distichum
Larix laricina
37. • flowering plants where the seed is encased
in a protective fruit.
• This is the dominant group of plants on
Earth today.
Angiosperms (“hidden seeds”)
47. Dichotomous key demonstration
1.Needle-like or scale-like leaves
1. Leaves broad and flat
2. Leaves simple
2. Leaves compound
3. Leaves opposite or whorled
3. Leaves alternate
4. Leaves not toothed or lobed
4. Leaves toothed or lobed
5. Leaves toothed
5. Leaved lobed
48. • Reproductive feaures like flowers,
cones, and fruits are less variable
• Tree age
• Time of season
• Flowers available for only a short
time early in the season. Why?
• Leaves easier to use for ID but not
always available
• Twigs available all year but hard for
most to use for ID
49.
50. Coefficient of Conservatism
The native species most successful in badly
damaged habitats were given C values of 0.
At the other end of the spectrum, species
virtually restricted to natural areas in Illinois
received C values of 10.
(Taft et al. 1997)
Further reading
http://www.conservationresearchinstitute.org/assets/illinoisfqa.pdf
http://www.fws.gov/verobeach/Home/S1029%20Mortellaro%20mo
nograph.pdf