Narrative

Forsythia (Forsythia intermedia) is a favorite landscape shrub in the northern part of the United States. Its early bright yellow blossoms herald the beginning of spring. The bush does not train easily, and should be given a large amount of space. F. intermedia appears to be a hybrid between F. suspensa of China and F. viridissima of China or Korea.

This lifeform is frequentlhy domesticated. This lifeform is common. This lifeform is well known as a landscape plant.

This lifeform is found widely in Eurasia. This lifeform is widespread in North America.

Forsythia genus is native to the Orient and Europe. There are about six species of shrubs in this genus. The yellow flowers appear before the leaves. There are three species now established in greater North America.

Olive Family (Oleaceae) consists of about five hundred species of various trees and bushes that are found worldwide. Included in this family is the European Olive Tree (Olea europaea) whose fruits are frequently used as food. Ashes, Forsythias, Lilacs, and Privets are also in this family. There are 67 species arranged in 12 genera established in greater North America.

Contortae Order is usually organized to contain the Olive, Gentian, Milkweed, and a few other families. Recently some authorities have removed certain genera from the Gentian Family and placed them in the Menyanthes Family.

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.