NBII Botany Site

For more information about plants nationwide, visit the NBII Botany Web site [Go to http://botany.nbii.gov]. There you can find further Web resources on plants and the diverse factors affecting plants and plant communities nationally.

The NBII Botany site features species information and lists, databases, atlases, and libraries, herbaria and botanical collections, and botanical organizations such as native plant societies and invasive plant councils.

Other notable national Botany resources include:

Bullet point eFloras.org
Bullet point Botanicus.org
Bullet point NBII Invasive Plants Web Site
Bullet point Plant Conservation Alliance
Bullet point Smithsonian Museum of Natural History Plant Image Collection
Bullet point U.S. Department of Agriculture PLANTS Database
Bullet point U.S. Forest Service

Exotic and Invasive Plants

Invasive Plants

Kudzu (Pueraria lobata)
Kudzu (Pueraria lobata)
[Photo: NBII/DIL]
View regional Invasive Species  that threaten native plant communities. Download regional invasive species data, view interactive maps, and search the SAIN invasive species database for more information.

Introduction to Plants

Basic Plant Information

Plants are organisms which belong to the plant kingdom. Commonly multicellular, plants produce energy to grow and reproduce by converting light energy radiated from the sun into food through the process of photosynthesis.

Plants can be classified as either vascular or nonvascular. Vascular plants have a specialized conductive system known as vascular bundles, a group of specialized cells made up of xylem and phloem. Nonvascular plants lack these conducting tissues.

Vascular Plants include club mosses, ferns, cycads, gymnosperms, and angiosperms.

Club mosses : Primitive vascular plants also known as lycopods [biology of lycopods, growth form and morphology of lycopods].

Ferns and fern allies: Spore-bearing, vascular plants having leaves known as fronds
[USDA Forest Service Fire Effects Information System Listing for Ferns and Fern Allies].

Cycads: Among the oldest plants, Cycads bear resemblence to palms and are native in South America, Africa, and Australia.

Gymnosperms: Seed-bearing woody vascular plants, such as the conifers (pine, spruce, fir, etc.), whose seeds are not enclosed in an ovary or fruit, but are exposed.

Angiosperms: Flowering plants that periodically produce flowers which have various parts including sepals, petals, stamens, and carpels.

Nonvascular plants include liverworts, hornworts, and mosses.

Mosses: Simple green land plants, member of the phyla Bryophyta, along with liverworts and hornworts. They have leaves and a stem, but always lack roots.

Liverworts and hornworts: Simple green land plants of the phyla Bryophyta with leaves and a stem and always without roots.

Plants (Kingdom Plantae)

What are Plants?
Producing their food through photosynthesis, plants include all photosynthetic organisms found within the taxonomic kingdom Plantae. Kingdom Plantae is further organized into taxonomic divisions. The majority of divisions include nonvascular plants such as algae, liverworts, hornworts, mosses, and flagellates. Nonvascular plants lack a vascular system that conducts water in vascular tissues throughout the plant. Vascular plants, members of the subkingdom Tracheobionta, do have vascular tissues. Vascular plants include ferns, club mosses, angiosperms (flowering plants) and gymnosperms (non-flowering plants).

Yellow Lady Slipper (Cypripedium calceolus) [Photo: Jim Pisarowicz, U.S. National Park Service]

Southeastern Species of Greatest Conservation Need

Learn more about regional plants species of greatest conservation need by browsing our species information Web application.


Photosynthetic organisms within the taxonomic kingdom Plantae common to the southeastern U.S. are presented below.

Vascular Plants
Inundated clubmoss (Lycopodiella inundata) [Copyright: T.F. Niehaus / Smithsonian Institution, used with permission.]

Club Mosses (division Lycopodiophyta)
Vascular club mosses are generally larger than nonvascular mosses and bear resemblance to some ferns.

Cinnamon Fern (Osmunda cinnamomea L.) [Photo: U.S. EPA]

Ferns and Fern Allies (division Pteridophyta)
Ferns are non-flowering plants characterized by leaf-like structures called fronds and true roots originating from a rhizome. Fern allies are not ferns but are similar to ferns because they reproduce with spores.

Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) [Photo: Robert H. Mohlenbrock, USDA]

Gymnosperms (division Coniferophyta)
Gymnosperms are non-flowering plants including conifers, which are cone-bearing trees such as pine, spruce, and fir trees.

Mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia) [Photo: John F. Mitchell, U.S NPS]

Angiosperms (division Magnoliophyta)
Angiosperms are flowering, seed bearing plants that form seeds in fruits. This includes flowering trees, shrubs, forbs, and grasses.


Nonvascular Plants
Microscopic view of a phytoplankton cell (Akashiwo sanguinea) collected during the September 2004 algal bloom in San Francisco Bay, California [Photo: U.S. Geological Survey]

Algae and single-celled photosynthetic organisms
Algae and photosynthetic microorganisms such as phytoplankton are important components of many aquatic ecosystems with both positive and negative impacts. Microflora are important food sources, but Algae Bloom and Red Tides can be harmful and toxic.

Lichen [Photo: U.S. NPS]

Lichens and Fungi
Although not truly a plant, lichens are plant-like colonies of mutualistic fungi and algae existing in a symbiotic relationship.

Liverwort (Conocephalum conicum) [Photo: U.S. NPS]

Liverworts and Hornworts (division Hepatophyta)
Liverworts are primitive photosynthetic plants with no vascular system.

Moss (Tetraphis pellucida) [Photo: U.S. NPS]

Mosses and Hornworts (division Bryophyta)
These plants have no roots, leaves, or stems. They must live near water or other moist locations.

Ecological Importance of Plants
Plants are a cornerstone of the foundations of life in ecosystems. Thought of as producers, plants capture light energy radiated from the sun and convert it into the sugars and starches that other organisms consume for energy. In addition to producing energy, plants convert raw materials present in the ecosystem such as carbon from the atmosphere and inorganic minerals and compounds from the soil including nitrogen, potassium, and iron and make these elemental nutrients available to other life forms. From the simplest plants, such as algae, to towering forest trees such as Oaks, plants provide food and habitat. Plant communities provide shelter, cycle nutrients, and protect water quality.

Plants of the Southeastern United States
Flora size in North America is greatest in the southeastern United States. The high diversity may be related to the region's warm, humid climate, which is thought to be favorable for plant growth (Sisk, 1998).

The U.S. Department of Agriculture PLANTS database lists 20,619 plant species found in the Southeastern U.S. region encompassing Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi [view data records]. Of these, 1,027 species are recognized by state or federal agencies as threatened or endangered species [view data records].

State-listed Noxious Weeds
As of 2008, The USDA PLANTS database identifies nine state-listed noxious weed species in Kentucky [view records], three species in Tennessee [view records], 152 species in North Carolina [view records], 136 species in South Carolina [view records], 132 species in Alabama [view records], and nine species in Mississippi [view records]. A state noxious weed list for Georgia is not currently available.

Wetland Indicator Plant Species
The USDA PLANTS database lists 2550 plant species that are wetland indicators in Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi [view records].

For more about plants, see the Web resources for plants of the southeastern United States on this page.

To view references, please click "more..." below.

Web Resources for Plants of the Southeastern United States
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NBII Metadata Clearinghouse Search Results for Plants (kingdom Plantae)  
NBII Clearinghouse Search Results RSS Feed
This is the search result based on your NBII Clearinghouse search criteria.
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CollaspeNatureServe Element Occurrence Data for Rare and Endangered Species in the United States and Canada
NatureServe, in collaboration with its member Natural Heritage Programs and Conservation Data Centres, maintains a database of rare and imperiled species and plant communities across the United States and Canada. The Element Occurrence (EO) records that form the core of the NatureServe database include information on the location, status, characteristics, numbers, condition, and distribution of elements of biological diversity using established Natural Heritage Methodology developed by NatureServe and The Nature Conservancy (TNC). An Element Occurrence (EO) is an area of land and/or water in which a species or natural community is, or was, present. An EO should have practical conservation value for the Element as evidenced by potential continued (or historical) presence and/or regular recurrence at a given location. For species Elements, the EO often corresponds with the local population, but when appropriate may be a portion of a population or a group of nearby populations (e.g., meta...
ExpandNatureServe Element Occurrence Data for Rare and Endangered Species in the United States and Canada
ExpandNatureServe Element Occurrence Data for Rare and Endangered Species in the United States and Canada
ExpandBOREAS FOLLOW-ON DSP-10 REGRIDDED MOSS COVER MAPS FOR 1994
ExpandNOAA Coastal Change Analysis Program (CCAP) 2001 Era Land Cover Data of the Southern United States
ExpandNOAA Coastal Change Analysis Program (CCAP) 2006 Era Land Cover Data of the Southern United States
ExpandNOAA Coastal Change Analysis Program (CCAP) 1996-2001 Era Land Cover Change Data of the Southern United States
ExpandNOAA Coastal Change Analysis Program (CCAP) 1996 Era Land Cover Data of the Southern United States
ExpandNOAA Coastal Change Analysis Program (CCAP) 2001-2006 Era Land Cover Change Data of the Southern United States
ExpandAlabama Natural Heritage Program Element Occurrence Data for Rare and Endangered Species in Alabama

Species Spotlight: Blackberry

Blackberry
Big Thicket Association (http://www.thicketofdiversity.org/)

Blackberry
Rubus

Description: A perennial, semi-deciduous, prickly, almost erect shrub. The stems are sprawling and arching, arising from a woody crown. Forms thickets several meters high. The root/crown system is the only perennial part of the plant. Berry is 1-3 cm and changes color from green to red to black as it ripens; each berry an aggregate of many single-seeded juicy segments (drupelets).

Life History: All of these species, except Rubus ulmifolius, produce seed asexually in a process by which pollen stimulates the seed to develop without fertilisation, so that the seed is a genetic replicate, or clone, of the mother plant. . Reproduces by seed and root suckers and by daughter plants when stem tips contact the soil.

Habitat: Blackberry can be found in areas with greater than 760 mm annual rainfall, mainly on fertile soils.

Resources:

Virginia Tech Department of Forestry


State of Victoria

Species Spotlight

Least Trillium (Trillium pusillum)
[Copyright: Richard LeBlond, N.C. Natural Heritage Program]

Least Trillium
Trillium pusillum

Description: 3-petaled (1.5-3.0 cm) white solitary flower either with or without an erect stalk. Flower turns from white to pink to purple with age. Normally 3 bracteal leaves (green with hint of maroon) and 3 flower sepals (green). Rhizomes horizontal, thin and sometimes branching. Fruits are a pale yellow-green broadly ovoid about 1 cm broad.

Life History: Perennial. Flower: March-May. Fruit: June-July.

Habitat: Typically grows in the acidic soils of moist forests along small streams while some varieties may prefer calcareous or mafic soils.

Distribution: Occurring in disjunct fragmented populations across the southern U.S. south of WV & MD excluding FL and west to OK

Status: As of October 6, 2006 NatureServe lists the following State Status for the species: AL & TN = Imperiled; GA, KY, MS, NC, & SC = Critically Imperiled

Resources:

Bullet pointNatureServe Explorer Species Profile

Bullet pointInformation from eFloras.org (Flora of North America)

Bullet pointFlora of the Carolinas, Virginia, and surrounding areas by Alan Weakley, University of North Carolina

Species Spotlight: Stemonitis axifera

Slime Mold
Photo courtesy of Treasure Keepers

Slime Mold
Stemonitis axifera

Description: The stalked reddish-brown to chocolate-brown fruiting bodies (sporangia) are found in small clusters that range from 10 to 50 mm in diameter, with a height of 7 to 15 mm. The individual sporangia are 0.2 to 0.3 in diameter. The stalk, which is black and shiny, extends into the spore mass as a central support column (columella) and a network (capillitium) provides support for the spore mass. The spores are light brown and almost smooth (minutely punctuate).

Habitat: Found in all kinds of forests through out the world on slightly decayed but still solid wood.

Distribution: Probably worldwide

Status: Off all the species of Stemonitis, this is probably the most common.

Resources: Trek Nature

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