Welcome to my Plant Families of North America page! I have been absent awhile, but I am back, and this is my focus, teaching how to identify plant families. Over the next few weeks, I will be updating what I have so far. I will be adding new layman’s descriptions in addition to botanical descriptions, and I will be adding more morphology photos, including dissections of flowers where available. Please come back often and see what’s blooming!

A quick overview of basic taxonomy and how I have ordered this site. Plants are given a scientific name composed of two parts, the genus they belong to and the particular species they are. The genus can be thought of like plant cousins, whereas at the species level they are more like siblings. Beyond genus you get the family, which is all of the cousins from all the related families. Above that you get an order, which is like a group of similar families.

Below I have organized the families in their orders so that you can see similarities between related families. When you click on a particular family, you will get the characteristics and morphology pictures that represent that family, along with some of the species I have covered in North America from that family.

Note that most technical words have a hover-over description available, or go to the dictionary of botanical terms to learn more. In no time, you’ll be able to identify plants like a scientist!

Alismatales Order – Monocot Clade

Apiales Order – Eudicot Clade

Caryophyllales Order – Eudicot Clade

Gentianales Order – Eudicot Clade

Lamiales Order – Eudicot Clade

Magnoliales Order – Magnoliids Clade

Piperales Order – Magnoliids Clade

Sapindales Order – Eudicot Clade

Other References

Some other great resources for information on North American species:

iNaturalist https://www.inaturalist.org/

Canadensys Plant Search https://data.canadensys.net/vascan/search

Flora of North America https://eflora.org

iNaturalist Plant Search https://www.inaturalist.org/home

USDA Plants Database https://plants.sc.egov.usda.gov/home

Currently Seeking Funding To Continue This Non-Profit, Ad-Free Work

If you are able to donate so that I can continue this non-profit work of supplying people with scientific information on the plant families, native plants, and invasive species found throughout North America, please donate using the GoFundMe link below. Thank you! (COMING SOON)