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by
Jon M. Stucky, Alexander Krings, Alexander L. Belskis, Jennifer M.
Cianchetta, E. Scott Niven, and Alice B. Russell*
This
site seeks to facilitate the identification of common wetland plants of
the Piedmont and Coastal Plain of the Carolinas. The presented
keys and descriptions were primarily developed by Jon Stucky and are
based on years of wetland field work. The keys facilitate
year-round identification by primarily emphasizing vegetative
characters. To further aid identification, species descriptions
and a partially illustrated glossary are also provided. The site
continues to be a work in progress as we intend to add photographs of
each species as they become available.
The
provided species descriptions
include more characters than the keys. These
descriptions emphasize vegetative features because most specimens
encountered in the field will be vegetative rather than reproductive.
The character states in bold are those which, in combination,
distinguish the species from all/most others that are described.
Character states in parentheses are uncommon. One needs to use a magnifying
handlens to clearly observe many of the characters in the
descriptions.
The
descriptions are based mainly on observations of living and herbarium
specimens and are supplemented with information from:
*
Godfrey, R.K. 1988. Trees, shrubs, and woody vines of northern
Florida and adjacent Georgia and Alabama. Univ. Ga. Press. Athens.
*
Godfrey, R.K. and J.W. Wooten. 1981. Aquatic and wetland plants
of southeastern United States. Dicotyledons. Univ. Ga. Press. Athens.
*
Grimm, W.C. 1993. The illustrated book of wildflowers and shrubs.
Stackpole Books. Harrisburg, PA.
*
Preston, R.J. and V.G. Wright. 1988. Identification of
southeastern trees in winter. NC Agr. Ext. Serv. Publ. AG-42.
*
Radford, A.E., H.E. Ahles, and C.R. Bell. 1968. Manual of the
vascular flora of the Carolinas. Univ. NC Press. Chapel Hill.
Scientific
names are from
*
Kartesz, J.T. 1994.
A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the United States,
Canada, and Greenland. Vol. 2-Thesaurus. Timber Press, Portland.
Synonyms
that are still frequently used are noted in the descriptions as = Synonym.
Wetland
indicators for the southeastern United States and common
names are from
*
Reed, P.B. 1988. National list of plant species that occur in
wetlands: Southeast (Region 2). USDI/USFWS Biol. Rept. 88 (26.2).
Indicators
for taxa not included in Reed (1988) are from the 1996 internet version
of the National List. Common names for these taxa are from Godfrey
(1988) and Godfrey and Wooten (1981).
These taxa are indicated by asterisks preceding their scientific
names.
Geographic
distributions and months of
flowering are for NC unless otherwise indicated and are taken from
Radford et al. (1968).
Months
of seed shedding are indicated for gymnosperms.
Indications
of commonness (common,
infrequent, etc.) and comments about species’ distinctness
or possible confusion with other
species are based on field experience.
In this regard, “Distinct” means that the described species
is easily distinguished from other common woody wetland species.
Wildlife
food value is summarized from
*
Martin, A.C., H.S. Zim, and A.L. Nelson. 1951. American wildlife
and plants. McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc. New York.
Numerical
ratios give a general quantitative index of the aggregate food value of
the species or genus to all wildlife reported to use it; the larger the
numerator, the more important the aggregate value. The denominator is
the number of animal species reported to use the species/genus as food.
Ratios in bold are for the individual species; ratios not in bold are
for the genus to which the species
belongs. Ratios in
parentheses reflect usage throughout the species/genus’ geographic
range; ratios not in parentheses indicate usage in the southeastern US.
Food value information for some species or genera was not found
in the literature.
*Suggested
citation:
Stucky,
J.M., A. Krings, A.L. Belskis, J.M. Cianchetta, E.S. Niven, and A.B. Russell.
2001. Common,Woody, Piedmont and Coastal Plain, Wetland Plants of
the Carolinas. [http://ceres.cals.ncsu.edu/wetland/]. NC State University, Raleigh, NC.
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