The Wonders of Plant Families

   As a mere beginner in botany, I may be jumping ahead of myself a bit right now. I'm still plowing my way through the structure of plants and sometimes my head feels like a complete muddle, but I think it will get easier once I have more real live plants and flowers to compare with! But I must admit I haven't always been focusing on the lesson at hand either. One of my main motives for studying botany in the first place was that I wanted to understand the plant families and be able to identify plants using an analytical key. So, now that I've become at least somewhat familiar with many of the terms used, I've been looking ahead in my books. At first, the key looked to me like it might as well have been written in Chinese, but I think I'm finally beginning to understand how it is used, and I am chomping at the bit for the snows to melt so I can get out there and experiment! 😁 

   Just yesterday I borrowed a wonderful book called Botany in a Day, by Thomas J. Elpel. (I can hear you thinking, "How many books does she read at a time? No wonder she's confused!").  😃 But this book really is quite helpful and is already giving me a clearer idea of how to recognize the plant families.  I've been fascinated by these families for over a year now, although I really knew nothing about how they were arranged, or why certain plants had been placed in the same family. Still, even without knowing the precise distinctions, I've become well enough acquainted with many of my flowers to be able to recognize their characteristics in another plant. And then there have been the times when I've been surprised by a name being seemingly whispered in my ear! The first time I saw Wild Sarsaparilla (Aralia nudicaulis), for example, I had no idea what it was, yet the name 'Ginseng' went through my mind. It wasn't until a couple months later that I found out that it belongs to the Ginseng family (Araliaceae)! I definitely can't explain how that happened, because I don't recall ever having seen a picture of Ginseng before! 

Wild Sarsaparilla (Aralia nudicaulis)

   The similarities that lead to such seemingly different plants being classified in the same family are extremely fascinating to me, although I am only beginning to understand some of them. I was quite surprised, for example, when I learned that the Borage family (Boraginaceae) includes the Forget-me-nots, Comfrey, and Heliotrope! Yet to a botanist's eye, these plants have many characteristics in common. Among these are the usually rough, hairy, alternate leaves, 5 united petals, with stamens attached, 5 separate sepals, and scorpioid inflorescence (the flower spikes curl, resembling a scorpion's tail). 

Borage (Borago officinalis)

Forget-me-not (Myosotis sylvatica)

Comfrey (Symphytum officinale)

Heliotrope (Heliotropium arborescens)

   The Rose family (Rosaceae) gave me another surprise. To me, a rose was a rose, and I had no idea that this family encompassed so many familiar plants, including the Spiraea, Mountain Ash, and even more surprising to me, the Strawberry, Raspberry, Blackberry, Cherry, and Apple...just to name a few! I'm finding it difficult to describe this family's important characteristics, so I will just quote from my copy of the Analytical Class-book of Botany (1855)..."Trees, shrubs, or herbs. Leaves alternate, or radical. Flowers regular, usually perfect. Sepals 5, rarely less, more or less united, commonly persistent. Petals 5, perigynous, sometimes wanting. Stamens numerous, rarely few, inserted on the calyx, distinct. Ovaries several, or 1, often adherent to the calyx-tube, and to each other. Styles distinct, or united. Fruit a drupe, pome, achenium, or follicle. A very important order of plants, native principally of the Northern Temperate Zone, distinguished especially by the great number of delicious fruits they afford. The Apple, Cherry, Plum, Strawberry, and Raspberry, are among the products of this order. Nor is it less rich in ornamental plants."

Rosa rugosa

Mountain Ash (Sorbus aucuparia)

Bridalwreath Spiraea (Spiraea prunifolia)

Alpine Strawberry (Fragaria vesca)

   But it did make sense to me when I learned that two of my favorite garden flowers, Sweet Rocket, and Stocks, were members of the Mustard, or Brassica family (Cruciferae).  If you've ever accidentally let some Radishes or Broccoli go to flower like I have, you'll understand! The 4 flower petals often spread in the form of a cross (hence the family name!). These plants have alternate leaves, 4 sepals, and 6 stamens, 2 shorter than the rest. 

Sweet Rocket (Hesperis matronalis)

Stocks (Matthiola incana)

   The Parsley family (Umbelliferae) is a large one, containing many of our favorite vegetables and herbs, such as the Carrot, Celery, Parsley, Dill, Angelica, and Anise. But it also includes some of the most poisonous plants in North America, the most infamous of all being the Poison Hemlock. These plants are characterized by their umbrella-shaped inflorescence, the flowers usually blooming on compound umbels. The leaves are compound and alternate, and the stems usually hollow and furrowed. 

Cow Parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris)

Anise (Pimpinella anisum)

Dill (Anethum graveolens)

   The Mallow family (Malvaceae) is another that has always been easily recognizable to me, but I was shocked when I learned that the amazing Baobab tree is a member of this same family! Professor Schleiden speaks of this wonder in Poetry of the Vegetable World (1853): "To those who have never been accustomed to look through the modes of external appearance into the essential internal connection of the variations of form, it will indeed seem paradoxical...that the wild Mallow, creeping over and adorning all the banks of our country lanes, is far more nearly allied to the old giant-stemmed Baobab, which has lived to six thousand years on the west coast of Africa, than to the wild Poppy growing beside it; and yet all this is undoubtedly true." But compare the next two pictures, first of a Hollyhock flower, and then that of a Baobab, and you will see the similarity!

Hollyhock (Althaea rosea). Close-up of the fused stamens forming a column around the pistil.

Baobab flower (Photo from pngtree.com)

Spanish Mallow (Malope trifida)

French Mallow (Malva sylvestris)

   The Mint family (Labiatae) has always been easy for me to recognize, even without knowing what to look for! They are easy to recognize with their simple, opposite leaves, square stalks, two-lipped flowers (hence the family name Labiatae, from the Latin Labia, or lips), and frequently aromatic foliage. 

Mint (Mentha)

Catnip (Nepeta cataria)

Basil (Ocimum basilicum), showing the shape of the flowers.

Self-Heal (Prunella vulgaris)...an even better example, showing the characteristic two-lipped flowers, 2-lobed (or sometimes united) on the top, 3-lobed on the bottom.

  Oh, but these two are my favorites! This is the Touch-me-not family (Balsaminaceae). Of course, these examples are not only members of the same family, but also of the same genus. But the first is a native of North America, and the last is a native of India and China! 

Orange Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis)

Garden Balsam (Impatiens balsamina)

   Well, I could go on and on I suppose, but it's getting late and you are probably getting bored! 😃 But I actually learned a lot as I wrote this post, and noticed some things in these flowers from studying my own pictures that I hadn't noticed before! The Vegetable Kingdom is truly amazing!  😊