Narrative

Marsh Marigold or Cowslip (Caltha palustris) is a large species that is found in marshes and swamps from Newfoundland to Nebraska to Virginia. This species produces masses of yellow flowers that can be seen from great distances in early spring. The plant grows to about two feet high with thick hollow stems. In many of its habitats, this species sprouts and blooms before the cattails and is visible from great distances. Within a short period of time the cattails take over, and one must wait until next spring to discover it again. (Caltha flabellifolia as described in Britton and Brown is now a variety of C. palustris.)

The yellow color will help identify this lifeform. This lifeform is widespread, but not common. This lifeform is a beautiful wildflower.

This lfieform is found in Europe. This lifeform is found east of the Continental Divide in North America.

Caltha genus is native to the temperate regions of the world. The flowers may be white or yellow. There are 10 perennial herbs with simple leaves in this genus. There are only three species with six named subspecies growing in greater North America. These species are all native to North America.

Buttercup Family (Ranunculaceae) reaches its greatest development in North America, Europe, and the Orient. The family has approximately 1500 species organized into about thirty-five different genera. With the exception of the Genus Paeonia (which might even belong in a different family) most of the species are soft-stemmed annual or perennial herbs. The leaves are usually alternate (except for Clematis). Flowers may be regular or irregular. In the buttercup family, there are 26 genera with 318 species growing in greater North America.

Ranales Order has been broken down into nineteen different families. The water lilies, buttercups, magnolias, and other groups are included in this order. Large pretty flowers seem to be a common characteristic of this order.

Dicots (Dicotyledoneae Class) are the predominant group of vascular plants on earth. With the exception of the grasses (Monocots) and the Conifers (Gymnosperms), most of the larger plants that one encounters are Dicots. Dicots are characterized by having a seed with two outer shell coverings.

Some of the more primitive Dicots are the typical hardwood trees (oaks, birches, hickories, etc). The more advanced Dicots include many of the Composite (Aster) Family flowers like the Dandelion, Aster, Thistles, and Sunflowers. Although many Monocots reach a very high degree of specialization, most botanists feel that the Dicots represent the most advanced group of plants.

Seed plants (Phylum Embryophyta) are generally grouped into one large phylum containing three major classes: the Gymnosperms, the Monocots, and the Dicots. (Some scientists separate the Gymnosperms into a separate phylum and refer to the remaining plants as flowering plants or Angiospermae.)

For North American counts of the number of species in each genus and family, the primary reference has been John T. Kartesz, author of A Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland (1994). The geographical scope of his lists include, as part of greater North America, Hawaii, Alaska, Greenland, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

Kartesz lists 21,757 species of vascular plants comprising the ferns, gymnosperms and flowering plants as being found in greater North America (including Alaska, Hawaii, Greenland, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

There are estimates within the scientific world that about half of the listed North American seed plants were originally native with the balance being comprised of Eurasian and tropical plants that have become established.