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.
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).
Photosynthetic organisms within the taxonomic kingdom Plantae common to the Southeastern U.S. are presented below:
Vascular Plants
Club Mosses (division Lycopodiophyta) Vascular club mosses are generally larger than nonvascular mosses and bear resemblance to some ferns.
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.
Gymnosperms (division Coniferophyta) Gymnosperms are non-flowering plants including conifers, which are cone-bearing trees such as pine, spruce, and fir trees.
Angiosperms (division Magnoliophyta) Angiosperms are flowering, seed bearing plants that form seeds in fruits. This includes flowering trees, shrubs, forbs, and grasses.
Nonvascular Plants
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.
Lichens and Fungi Although not truly a plant, lichens are plant-like colonies of mutualistic fungi and algae existing in a symbiotic relationship.
Liverworts and Hornworts (division Hepatophyta) Liverworts are primitive photosynthetic plants with no vascular system.
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 in 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 additional Web resources about plants of the Southeastern United States, refer to the NBII Catalog Query for Plants located on the lower portion of this page. NBII Metadata Clearinghouse search results for plants are also available at the lower portion of this page.
To view references and literature cited, please click "more..." below.
BOREAS FOLLOW-ON DSP-10 REGRIDDED MOSS COVER MAPS FOR 1994 Existing 1-km moss cover classifications were reprocessed and are now available at multiple resolutions (2 km, 10x5 minutes, and 0.5 degree). These data were regridded for use by the BOREAS Follow-on Carbon and Hydro-Meteorological modeling groups to...
BOREAS TE-22 ALLOMETRIC FOREST SURVEY DATA The BOREAS TE-22 team collected data sets in support of its efforts to characterize and interpret information on the forest structure of boreal vegetation in the SSA and NSA during the 1994 growing season....
BOREAS FOLLOW-ON DSP-09 MOSS COVER CLASSIFICATION AT THREE AREA SCALES BOREAS follow-on group DSP-9 mapped surface moss type at three scales (1 km, 30 m, and 10 m) based on observed associations between moss cover and land cover type. In the BOREAS Northern (NSA) and Southern (SSA) Study Areas, we utilized land cover de...
Plot-Transect (1992-1994) Goat Grazing Study on Roan Mountain This data set contains information on data obtained from a subset of transects that were originally installed in 1987 and 1988 on Round Bald in the Roan Mountain Massif. Data collected from the transects were to characterize baseline conditions agai... ( Mon, 01 Jan 1900 23:59:59 +0000 )
BOREAS TGB-12 RADON-222 ACTIVITY DATA OVER THE NSA The BOREAS TGB-12 team made measurements of soil carbon inventories, carbon concentration in soil gases, and rates of soil respiration at several sites to estimate the rates of carbon accumulation and turnover in each of the major vegetation types. S...
Herbicide-Mowing Study (1986-1987) on Round Bald of Roan Mountain This legacy dataset represents data that was collected from a set of vegetation plots treated with herbicides and exposed to mowing on the Tennessee side of Round Bald located in the Roan Mountain Massif in 1986 and 1987. Data collected from these p... ( Mon, 01 Jan 1900 23:59:59 +0000 )
Species Spotlight
[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
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.
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.
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