1. Field Botany – Spring 2016

2. Course Website

6. Botany Labs

7. Textbook

8. How many plant species are there?
Illinois – over 3200 vascular plants
Northeastern North America – over 4600 vascular plants (Gleason and Cronquist)
California – over 4400 vascular plants

9. From Gleason and Cronquist 1991

10. How many plant species are there?
Illinois – 58,000 square miles – over 3200 vascular plants
Costa Rica – 19,600 square miles – over 8,000 vascular plants

11. How many plant species are there
How many plant species are there? - total in 2010 according to Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
16,000 Bryophytes (mosses, liverworts and hornworts)
12,000 Pterophytes (ferns and fern allies)
1021 Gymnosperms
282,000 flowering plants (Angiosperms)
311,000 total plant species
Some add in green algae – 8500 species

12. How many endangered plant species?
In 1997 the IUCN (International Conservation Union) Red Data list for plants rated 34,000 species as endangered out of 60,000 species evaluated
Then changed evaluation procedures – IUCN now rates 8,000 species as endangered out of 11,000 species evaluated
United Kingdom (very well known flora) lists 20% of species as endangered
Likely that 1 out of 4 plant species is endangered

13. Aceraceae – The Maples

14. Maple samaras (fruits)

15. Asteraceae – The Sunflowers, Asters

16. Annual Sunflower

17. Goldenrod

18. Poaceae – The Grasses

19. Ammophila – Beach grass

20. Plant Collection

21. Taxonomy

23. Definitions
Taxonomy - the study and description of the variation of organisms, the investigation of the causes and consequences of this variation, and the manipulation of the data obtained to produce a system of classification
Classification (as process) - the production of a logical system of categories, each containing any number of organisms, which allows easier reference to its components, the kinds of organisms
Classification (as object) - is that logical system itself

24. Definitions cont’d
Identification - naming of an organism by reference to an already existing classification system
Taxon - any taxonomic grouping - division, class, family, genus, etc.
Description - statement of the characteristics of a taxon
Characters that contribute to a taxonomic description are known as taxonomic or systematic characters

25. Definitions cont’d
Diagnosis - shortened description covering only those characters (diagnostic characters) which are necessary to distinguish a taxon from other related taxa
flora (lower case) - plant life of a given area
Flora (upper case) is a book or other work describing the flora of a given area

26. Classification
Need for classification is absolute – it is only by naming organisms and grouping them in recognizable categories that we can begin to understand the vast array of diversity that exists

27. Classification 2010 estimate of 295,000 vascular plants
About 2000 new species of vascular plants described each year
Those species are organized into higher levels like families
Cronquist (1988) used 387 families of flowering plants
Thorne (1992) used 437 families of flowering plants

28. Southern magnolia – Magnolia grandifolia

29. Rank
Ending
Example
Kingdom
Plantae
Division (Phyla)
- phyta
Magnoliophyta
Class
- opsida
Magnoliopsida
Order
- ales
Magnolioales
Family
- aceae
Magnolioaceae
Genus
Magnolia
Species
grandifolia

30. Star sedge – Carex radiata

31. Rank
Ending
Example
Kingdom
Plantae
Division (Phyla)
- phyta
Magnoliophyta
Class
- opsida
Liliopsida
Order
- ales
Poales
Family
- aceae
Cyperaceae
Genus
Carex
Species
radiata

32. Hierarchies of plant taxonomy – from Stace