How to identify prairie plants? Look at pictures of plants and use keys – dichotomous, polyclave, interactive – give some examples later. Pictures in books work best for plants with showy flowers. For grasses, keys are a must. How to decide if a plant is a grass or a forb? How to decide which key to use? Focus for this class is mostly grasses.

Which Key to Use First, to which division of the Plant Kingdom does the plant belong? This is based on how the plant reproduces. –Spores – Lichen, Mosses & Liverworts, Ferns, (Bryophyta, Pteridophyta) –Naked seeds, ie conifers (Gymnospermophyta) –Seeds enclosed in an ovary – flowering plants (Angiospermophyta) Montana prairies do include some lichens and mosses, but not ferns (club moss, horsetail, royal fern), unlike UNDERC-East.

Prairie Plants = Flowering Plants Flowering plants include flowers, grasses, deciduous trees. What makes the distinction? Angiosperms are split into 2 classes of plants: those with one seed leaf or Monocotyledoneae; those with 2 seed leaves or Dicotyledoneae. Is your plant a monocot or dicot?

Monocots vs Dicots Dicotyledon class: two seed leaves netted veins tap roots floral parts mostly in 4’s and 5’s Monocotyledon Class: one seed leaf parallel veins horizontal rootstalks floral parts mostly in 3’s

IF A MONOCOT Showy flowers? –Examples – Lily family, Iris family, Orchid family Non-showy flowers? –Examples – Grass, Sedge, Rush are only families appearing grasslike. Other aquatic families – cattail, pondweed, etc.

IF A DICOT Dicots account for many families with the Aster family as one of the largest. –Aster family is the largest family of flowering plants in the northern latitudes – 346 genera and 2,687 species in US & Canada. Then, is your dicot plant a member of the Aster family? –Most complex – “sepals” are bracts (ie artichokes), disk flowers and ray flowers –Example – dandelion has only ray flowers

Composites - Asteraceae

IF DICOT IS NOT ASTERACEAE If there is a flower - make notes on number of sepals, petals, and stamens. Remember the order from outside to inside – Sepals, Petals, Stamens, Pistil in middle – flower parts occur in rings. Note whether flowers are regular or irregular Are sepals united or separate Notice position of leaves – ie alternate, opposite, basal or whorled

Groupings in Dicot Flowers Regular dicot flowers with numerous petals –Cactus, bitterroot Irregular dicot flowers –Teasel, Lupine/pea, butter & eggs/toadflax, penstemon, Bee balm/mint, Indian paintbrush Regular dicot flowers with 3 or 0 petals –Spurge (eg poinsetta ) Regular dicot flowers with 4 petals –Phlox, plantain, harebell, dogwood, mustards Regular dicot flowers with 5 united petals –Borage (Gromwell), morning glory Regular dicot flowers with 5 separate petals –Rose, St Johnswort, Dianthus, Geranium

Some examples of prairie dicots: Beebalm, Butter and eggs, yellowbell, Indian paintbrush, Dianthus

Arrowleaf Balsamroot Bitterroot Balsamorhiza sagittataLewisia sp Lupine -Lupinus sp.

More Dicots Harebell Filago Rose Mustard Gromwell - Lithospermum Morning glory - Convolvulus

Artemisia frigida Artemisia ludoviciana Artemisia dracunculus SAGES Asteraceae

Using keys to plants Variety of keys Some based on colors of flowers Some technical Regardless, important to keep in mind some basics – that is, keys help narrow down your choices by elimination For example, the following key to get to grasses versus forbs:

Variation in bracts around composite flowers

4 major North American graminoid plant families: Typhaceae - cattail (plants 3-6’ tall, flower spike 1” thick and 4-12” long) Juncaceae – rush (flowers not enclosed in chaff-like bracts) – “lilies turned to grass” Poaceae – grass (stems hollow, round; leaves wrapped around stem; leaves in 2 rows) Cyperaceae – sedge (stems solid, triangular; leaf bases forming tubes about the stem; leaves in 3 rows) – “sedges have edges”

On to grasses … Agrostology = study of grasses Grasses are flowering plants, but the flowers lack showy petals and sepals - seeds are wind-pollinated Grasses are in the family Poaceae Subdivided into 15 Tribes

15 major North American grass Tribes Triticeae: Agropyron, Elymus, Eremopyrum, Hordeum, Secale, Taeniatherum, and Triticum. Aveneae: Agrostis, Alopecurus, Avena, Beckmannia, Calamogrostis, Deschampsia, Helictotrichon, Hierochloe, Holcus, Koeleria, Phalaris, Phleum, Polypogon, Trisetum, and Ventenata. Stipeae: Stipa and Oryzopsis. Meliceae: Catabrosa, Glyceria, and Melica. *Poeae: Bromus, Dactylis, Festuca, Lolium, Poa, Puccinellia, and Vulpia. Andropogoneae: Andropogon, Sorghum, and Zea. Paniceae: Cenchrus, Dichanthelium, Digitaria, Echinochloa, Panicum, Paspalum, Pennisetum, and Setaria. Chlorideae: Bouteloua, Buchloe, Cynodon, Eleusine, Schedonnardus, and Spartina. Aeluropodeae: Distichlis. Eragrosteae: Calamovilfa, Eragrostis, Muhlenbergia, Munroa, and Sporobolus. Aristideae: Aristida. Arundineae: Arundo, Cortaderia, and Phragmites. Danthonieae: Danthonia. Oryzeae: Leersia, Oryza, and Zizania. Bambuseae: Arundinaria.

Grass Terminology – Parts of a grass plant Leaf = sheath and blade joined by ligule Floret = flower is inside the: –lemma (outer bract) and –palea (inside bract) Spikelet = floret(s) along rachilla (central axis) and –lower and upper glumes Forms of Inflorescence: panicle, raceme, spike

Grass Terminology – Parts of a grass plant Leaf = sheath and blade joined by ligule Floret = flower is inside the lemma (outer bract) and palea (inside bract) Spikelet = floret(s) along rachilla (central axis) and lower and upper glumes Forms of Inflorescence: panicle, raceme, spike

R. Pohl: How to Know the Grasses A. Chase: First Book of Grasses

Ligules (left and ctr) Auricles (rt)

Grass Terminology – Parts of a grass plant Leaf = sheath and blade joined by ligule Floret = flower is inside the lemma (outer bract) and palea (inside bract) Spikelet = floret(s) along rachilla (central axis) and lower and upper glumes Forms of Inflorescence: panicle, raceme, spike

Grass floret Grass spikelet (generalized)

AWNS – protruding midrib of a lemma or glume; lateral nerves rarely produce awns (Pohl 1954) FLOWERS – stamens

Grass Terminology – Parts of a grass plant Leaf = sheath and blade joined by ligule Floret = flower is inside the lemma (outer bract) and palea (inside bract) Spikelet = floret(s) along rachilla (central axis) and lower and upper glumes Forms of Inflorescence: panicle, raceme, spike

Panicle Raceme Spike Forms of Inflorescence

Panicle – pedicel – spikelets are not on main axis of inflorescence, but on branches Poa pratensis Festuca idahoensis

Grass showing panicle inflorescence, and the forb, Yarrow

Koeleria macranthaBromus tectorum

Spike – most members of tribe Triticeae – spikelets are sessile on central axis

SPIKE - Elymus smithii – Western wheat grass

SPIKE - Great Basin Wild Rye – taller grass

Raceme – spikelets on pedicels not a common arrangement Crabgrass - Digitaria

Avena – Oats showing awns Lolium Bromus japonicus Festuca showing flowers

TOOLS for ID: KEYS and PICTURES "Grasses of Montana" by M. Lavin and C. Seibert (2009). grass.pdf grass.pdf National Plant Data Center – polyclave key mono.html mono.html