Narrative

White flower azalea (Rhododendron albiflora) is found in the mountains from British Columbia south to Oregon, and then east to west Montana. Although this specis has large showy flowers, this shrub appears to be difficult to grow as an ornamental.

The white color will help identify this lifeform. This lifeform is generally found in high altitudes or in mountains. This lifeform is scarce.

Rhododendron genus (azalea) contains 700-800 species of usually evergreen trees and shrubs that are found almost worldwide. These branching shrubs and trees have alternate usually entire leaves. The corolla is campanulate and 5-lobed and nearly regular in shape. There are 27 species and ten subspecies found in greater North America. Most of the North American species are native to the southern United States.

Heath Family (Ericacea) is a large family of perennial herbs, shrubs, and trees with over three thousand species with very wide distribution. There are 192 species placed into 33 genera in this family currently living in greater North America.

Ericales Order is usually divided into four families.

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.