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David Albeck's Photos of Plants

Here you'll find my photos of all kinds of plants. The organization is taxonomic, but I started with almost zero knowledge of botany and have changed my mind a few times about whether to go with Cronquist, APG III, or some other system. My goal is to come up with a layout that a) won't overstrain most Internet connections, b) allows non-botanists (including myself) to find things fairly quickly, and c) isn't completely wrong (give or take a decade or two of genetic research), but d) I don't have a lot of time to update or correct this section of my website, so it may stay in an incomplete or transitional state for a while.

I've included descriptions of most groups, but I practically guarantee that some of the descriptions are oversimplified to the point of being erroneous. This is a photo index first and an introduction to botany second.

High-level Taxonomic Menu

Click a clade to browse within that clade.

Seed Plants (Spermatopsida) (Flowering plants, conifers.)

Angiosperms (flowering plants)

Monocots (grasses, lilies, orchids)
Dicots (broad-leaved flowering plants)

Gymnosperms (conifers)

Other Land Plants (Mosses, club-mosses, ferns, horsetails.)
Unidentified Plants

Family-level Menu

For now, only angiosperms are listed here. Use the high-level menu if you're looking for non-flowering plants.

Adoxaceae

Araceae

Asteraceae

Bromeliaceae

Cactaceae

Colchicaceae

Crassulaceae

Campanulaceae

Cornaceae

Ericaceae

Fabaceae

Iridaceae

Liliaceae

Melanthiaceae

Orchidaceae

Passifloracae

Passion-flower Family

Polygonaceae

Ranunculaceae

Rosaceae

Rubiaceae

Unknown

Monocots (grasses, lilies, orchids)

plantae > angiosperms > monocots

The name "monocotyledon" refers to the shape of their seeds - look very closely at a kernel of corn (maize): there's an embryonic plant stem at the base, and the rest of the seed is a single nutrient-stuffed leaf (the plant equivalent of a yolk sac). In contrast, a dicot has two such leaves - that's why you can split a chickpea.

Think of monocots and you should probably think of grasses. It's no big surprise that sedges and rushes are monocots too, if you even realize they aren't true grasses. But lilies and orchids are also monocots, and so are palm trees and banana trees.

Monocots have flowers with petals in multiples of three (though highly modified in most orchids) and major leaf veins arranged in parallel ribs (never branching).
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Please click through to my Monocots page.

Dicots (most flowering plants)

plantae > angiosperms > dicots

The name "dicotyledon" refers to the shape of their seeds - look at a pea or bean and you'll notice you can split it nearly in half: it consists of two hemispherical leaves attached to a tiny plant embryo.

Dicots have flowers with petals in multiples of four or five, and leaves with branching veins. They're a huge and diverse group, so they don't have much more in common (at least nothing as easy to recognize). Many dicots are either Asterids or Rosids; some are neither.

Asterids

Please click through to my Asterids page.

Rosids

plantae > angiosperms > dicots > rosids

Rosids include:

Legume order (Fabales)
- Legume family (Fabaceae): includes clovers and peas
Malpighia order (Malpighiales)
- Passion-flower family (Passifloracae)
Myrtle order (Myrtales)
- Willowherb family (Onagraceae)
Rose order (Rosales)
- Rose family (Rosaceae): includes strawberries and cherries
Other Rosids

Legume order (Fabales)

plantae > angiosperms > dicots > rosids > Fabales

Legume Family (Fabaceae)

plantae > angiosperms > dicots > rosids > Fabales > Fabaceae

A group of herbs that includes peas, soybeans, and peanuts, as well as clover and alfalfa. Most of them have a sort of L-shaped petal arrangement, bear seeds in pods, and have root nodules in which symbiotic bacteria supply them with nitrogen from the air.

Lupine

Warmiwanuska

Lupine

Mt Dickerman

Lupine

South Sister

red clover

Mt. Tripyramid

birdsfoot trefoil

Charles River

birdsfoot trefoil

July 4, 2008

Malpighia order (Malpighiales)

plantae > angiosperms > dicots > rosids > Malpighiales

Named after a botanist.

Passion-flowers (Passifloracae)

plantae > angiosperms > dicots > rosids > Malpighiales > Passifloraceae

passion-flower

Butterfly World

passion-flower

Butterfly World

passion-flower

Butterfly World

passion-flower

Butterfly World

Other Malpighiales

plantae > angiosperms > dicots > rosids > Malpighiales > Other

violet
Viola sp.

Mt Madison

Myrtle order (Myrtales)

plantae > angiosperms > dicots > rosids > Myrtales

Willowherb Family (Onagraceae)

plantae > angiosperms > dicots > rosids > Myrtales > Onagraceae

Fuchsia sp

Winaywayna

Fuchsia sp

Warmiwanuska

Fuchsia sp

Winaywayna

Rose order (Rosales)

plantae > angiosperms > dicots > rosids > Rosales

Rose Family (Rosaceae)

plantae > angiosperms > dicots > rosids Rosales > Rosaceae

A large family with five-petaled flowers, whose petals are often white or pink. Many members bear edible fruit. Plants range from low creepers (strawberries and cinquefoil) to thorny vines (roses and blackberries) to woody trees (cherries, apples, peaches, almonds).

Dewdrop, Dalibarda repens