Trees or shrubs, usually evergreen, with needle-like or scale-like leaves; fruit a cone or berry.
Shrubs, with needle-like evergreen leaves; fruit red and berry-like.
Erect plants 1-2 m. high, with linear leaves and terminal spikes of brown flowers, appearing in summer.
Marsh plants with linear leaves and spherical heads of inconspicuous greenish flowers, appearing in summer.
Aquatic plants with submerged or floating leaves and inconspicuous flowers in summer.
Marsh plants, with linear cylindrical leaves and inconspicuous flowers in spikes or racemes, appearing in early summer.
Marsh plants, with scape-like stems; flowers with 3 green sepals, 3 white petals, 6 or more stamens, and several separate pistils.
Submerged aquatics, with inconspicuous flowers in summer.
Grasses, with linear or narrow sheathing leaves, and very small flowers without perianth in the axils of chaffy bracts, appearing in late spring and summer.
Of the large number (over 150) of grasses in Michigan, only the commonest are included here, and the student is referred to the Manuals for a full treatment of them.
Their classification depends chiefly upon the structure and arrangement of the spikelets. These consist typically of a short axis, the rachilla, almost or quite concealed by several chaffy bracts. The two lower bracts are termed glumes, and have no flowers in their axils. Above the glumes are two or more other bracts, the lemmas. In the axil of each lemma, and usually concealed by it, is a smaller bract, the palea, and between the lemma and the palea is a single flower. The number of flowers in a spikelet is therefore normally equal to the number of lemmas. The spikelets are grouped in racemes, spikes, or panicles of various size.
Grass-like or rush-like plants, with linear leaves or leafless, and inconspicuous flowers in small chaffy spikes.
Over 200 species occur in Michigan, of which only the commonest are included here. For the remaining species the Manuals should be consulted.
Individual flowers small, but crowded on a fleshy spadix to form a conspicuous spike, usually surrounded by a green or colored spathe.
Minute leafless plants floating on quiet water; flowers exceedingly small and seldom seen.
Bog or marsh herbs, with small flowers in heads terminating long slender scapes.
Small herbs with basal leaves and erect flower-stalks bearing a head of perfect yellow flowers, in summer.
Leafy-stemmed herbs; flowers with 3 sepals, 3 petals, and 6 stamens, lasting but a single day; petals blue.
Aquatic herbs, with 6 rather conspicuous petals; flowers in summer.
Grass-like or rush-like plants, with inconspicuous greenish or brownish flowers, of 3 chaffy or scale-like sepals and as many similar petals.
Herbs or twining shrubs, with generally conspicuous flowers; sepals and petals each 3, and usually colored alike, stamens 6, ovary 3-celled, superior. In one species the perianth is 4-parted and the stamens are 4.