1. Clare O’Reilly clare@ptyxis.com
The Top British Plant Families
Young Darwin 2012
Sue Townsend Biodiversity Learning Manager
Clare O’Reilly

2. Facts………
About 60-70% of flowering plants in Britain are in about 15 families. (there are over 140 families in the British flora 600+ worldwide!!)
So learning families can be short cut to using any key
There are some quick gains to learn on similarities & differences in some common plant families

3. Sue’s top 12
12 easy to spot families which will cover most of what you need to raise confidence and get a bit of botanical know-how.
Excludes tree families ( as they are not my favourites – and family ID isn’t always the quickest route to trees!)

4. Basic Botany to get you started..
Regular or irregular flower?
Carpels free or fused?
Type of ovary?
Is it a grass?!!

5. Regular or irregular flowers?
ZYGOMORPHIC
ACTINOMORPHIC
REGULAR FLOWER
With
RADIAL SYMETRY
IRREGULAR FLOWER
With
SYMETRY in one plane only
Regular or irregular flowers?

6. You have two plants in front of you
One is a pink flower
It is a Herb Robert
One is Orange or white
It is Monbretia/White deadnettle
Are they both regular?

7. Carpels Free or Fused There are two plants in front of you...
One has mostly gone over and white
It is Hogweed
One was yellow and the pink one is the same family
It is a Wood Avens or Japanese Anenome
Remember 1 carpel = stigma, style plus ovary
Tear them gently apart – find their carpels – are they fused?

8. Are your ovaries inferior or superior?

9. Ovaries Superior or Inferior? There are two plants in front of you...
One is pale yellow with shrivelled flowers
It’s an evening primrose
One is yellow with regular flowers
- It’s a Buttercup
Find the stigma and trace them back to find the ovary – is it above where the petals join?

10. Sue’s top 12 Buttercup Campion Cabbage Rose Pea Carrot Deadnettle
Figwort
Campion
Daisy
Lily
Grass

11. 1. Ranunculaceae (Buttercup family)
Many free petals & sepals (often tepals) stamens & carpels
Superior ovary
Fr achenes = single seeded dry indehiscent (unsplitting) fruit; or
Fr follicles = dry dehiscent with many seeds

12. 2. Caryophyllaceae (Campion family)
Petals, sepals usually 5 (sometimes absent)
Stamens 5-10
Superior ovary
Opposite lvs
Fr capsule

13. 3. Brassicaceae (Cabbage family)
4 petals & sepals in ‘cross’ hence ‘crucifer’
Stamens 4-6
Superior ovary
Alternate lvs
Fr usually of 2 fused carpels

14. 4. Rosaceae (Rose family)
Usually 5 free petals and sepals
Stamens 5 to many
Stipules usually present
Epicalyx often present
Trees, shrubs, herbs
*K5C5A5- ∞G or inferior1-5
Trees = sorbus, prunus
Shrubs = rosa
Herbs = potentilla, aphanes, agrimonia, geum etc

15. 5. Fabaceae (Pea family) Distinctive Irregular flower
Leaves often trifoliate – sometimes pinnate.
Varies in size eg Laburnum or vetch.

16. ptyxis ecology clare@ptyxis.com
6. The Apiaceae (used to be called the umbelliferae)
Very distinctive family with white or cream flowers held up on ‘umberellas’
ptyxis ecology

17. 7. Lamiaceae (Dead-nettle family)
Square stem
Opposite lvs
Irregular flower
Superior ovary forming 4 nutlets
Often aromatic

18. 8. Scrophulariaceae (Figwort family)
Square stem
Opposite lvs or alternate lvs or both
Irregular flower
2-part superior ovary forming capsule

19. 9. Asteraceae (Daisy family)
Composite flower
Made up of small florets held on a receptacle.
Opposite lvs or alternate lvs or both
Irregular flower
2-part superior ovary forming capsule
Butterfly gives scale – this is a small flower
Bonus for knowing the species of butterfly – small heath

20. 10. Liliaceae (Lily family) Usually parallel leaf veins Regular flower
Flower parts in 3s or 6s, tepals only
Superior ovary (mostly)

21. 11. Orchidaceae (Orchid family) Usually parallel leaf veins
Irregular flower
Flower parts in 2 whorls – outer sepals and inner petals – one petal forming a distinct lip
Inferior ovary
Butterfly gives scale – this is a small flower
Bonus for knowing the species of butterfly – small heath

22. 12. Poaceae (Grass family) Parallel leaf veins
Flower with glumes and lemmas
Distinctive features are ligules the way the stem is sheathed by the leaf and whether the leaf is folded or rolled when young.
Butterfly gives scale – this is a small flower
Bonus for knowing the species of butterfly – small heath

23. Plants as indicator species
Plants tell us something about their environment eg
Heather Acid soil
Creeping Buttercup Wet Ground
Tall Oat Grass Neglected
Yellowort Calcareous
To find out more – you can use a scoring system developed by a German botany professor – the Ellenburg Values.

24. Final Thoughts
Learning the families enables you to short-cut in the keys
There are lots you can find out by using plants as indicator species
They provide habitat/food/egg laying sites for literally hundreds of species
A little knowledge give some confidence in where to find out more
They are the base of our foodchains

25. Further Information
www-saps.plantsci.cam.ac.uk/trees/index.htm
Website with descriptions of the ecology of many UK species
Direct links for free download of Ellenburg values

26. We are quite good too!!!

27. Pages from our website...
Individuals & Families 2012| Natural History
Flowers and Other Plants
This section introduces the courses offered on the plant kingdom throughout the FSC. However, as you will see from the list of course titles, this phrase is interpreted fairly liberally and includes ‘for convenience’ groups such as lichens and fungi, as well as the flowering plants.