Review of Common Plant Species

Vocabulary flashcards covering common prairie grasses and perennial forbs from General Botany (BIO 2500).

Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii)

A prairie grass whose terminal flowers are arranged in several long spikes, creating a distinct "turkey foot" appearance.

Indian Grass (Sorghastrum nutans)

A prairie grass identified by "rabbit ear"-like lobes where the leaf blade attaches to the stem, and flowers arranged in a large, feathery, terminal inflorescence.

Switch Grass (Panicum virgatum)

A prairie grass featuring flowers arranged in a delicate, open branched inflorescence.

Giant Foxtail (Setaria faberi)

A common agricultural weed grass with a bristly, terminal spike that nods.

Yellow Foxtail (Setaria glauca)

A common agricultural weed grass characterized by a bristly, terminal spike that does not nod.

Tall Fescue (Festuca arundinacea)

A grass species whose toxicity to livestock is caused by an endophytic fungus rather than the plant itself.

Acremonium coenophialum

An endophytic fungus transmitted through seeds that causes toxicity in livestock feeding on Tall Fescue (Festuca arundinacea) and helps the grass outcompete other species.

Queen Anne's Lace (Daucus carota)

A forb species easily identified by its finely dissected leaves and umbrella-like white flower clusters.

Tall Goldenrod (Solidago altissima)

A common perennial forb bearing small yellow flower heads along terminal branches.

Prairie Coneflower (Ratibida pinnata)

Also known as Grey-Headed Coneflower, a perennial forb characterized by a relatively smooth, rounded central disk and yellow, downward-pointing (deflexed) rays.

Red Clover (Trifolium pratense)

A perennial forb with reddish-purple flower heads and trifoliate leaves that feature a chevron mark.

Daisy Fleabane (Erigeron annuus)

A forb producing composite flowers with white rays surrounding a yellow center.

Chicory (Cichorium intybus)

A forb whose light blue flower rays are serrated on the ends and close in the heat of the day, with stem-clasping leaves often lobed like a dandelion.

Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)

A forb featuring umbels of pinkish flowers that serves as the larval host plant for the Monarch Butterfly.

White Clover (Trifolium repens)

A clover species usually $\le 1.5\,\text{dm}$ tall, with white flower clusters on long stems and chevron-marked leaves attached to horizontal runners.

Chevron (Clover Leaf Mark)

An upside-down "V" mark present on the leaves of White Clover and Red Clover, but absent in Alsike Clover.

Common Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)

A common weed characterized by a basal rosette of deeply lobed leaves and yellow flower heads.

English Plantain (Plantago lanceolata)

Also called Buckhorn, a plantain species featuring narrow, lanceolate leaves and slender flower stalks.

Common Plantain (Plantago major)

A plantain species characterized by broad, oval leaves arranged in a basal rosette.

Common Ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia)

A weed with green flowers arranged along green racemes and leaves deeply cut into many tiny lobes.

Giant Ragweed (Ambrosia trifida)

A tall weed species with large leaves that are either entire or three-lobed, bearing green flowers arranged along green racemes.

Tall Ironweed (Vernonia altissima)

A tall forb with purple flower heads arranged in a flattened array that mature into clumps of thistle-like fruits.

Poison Ivy (Toxicodendron radicans)

A plant identifiable by its compound leaves composed of three leaflets each, which exhibit slight lobing or serration.