Herbarium

The Biology Department at IU Southeast features a state-of-the-art Herbarium. The Herbarium is a collection of pressed, dried plant specimens. The purpose of a Herbarium is to provide botanists with a better understanding of plant life. The Herbarium at IU Southeast is used by the professors in their research and service to the local community. It is available for use by Biology majors and community members alike by appointment, as long as visitors follow the herbarium procedures.

Because of IU Southeast's original location in Jeffersonville, IN, the campus Herbarium is known by the designation JEF in the worldwide list of Herbaria. It is home to a collection of plant species; among them beautiful flowers and fern species. The Herbarium at IU Southeast is located in room 321 of the Life Sciences Building.

Class Magnoliopsida: the Dicots

The dicots are characterized by two cotyledons, or seed leaves, in the embryo. The two seed leaves serve to protect the apical meristem, which consists of rapidly dividing cells that will give rise to the adult plant.

Dicots in our area are varied and ubiquitous. Many of our most beautiful wildflowers are dicots. In the spring before the trees leaf out, look for dicots blooming in wooded areas. Virginia Bluebells have dangling sky-blue to lavender flowers and grow in moist woods. Occasionally, a rare white-flowered form will turn up. Some of the most common woodland flowers include Bloodroot and Spring Beauties. Bloodroot (Sanguaria canadensis) is aptly named for the dark orange juice in its roots.

As summer arrives, uncut fields will often be filled with common Oxeye Daisies, yellow Black-eyed Susan, and Queen Anne's Lace. Monarch butterfly caterpillars can often be found feeding on Queen Anne's Lace, a relative of parsley. The huge, dramatic flowers of Swamp Rose Mallow are hard to miss, often visible from roadsides growing in wet ditches.

Swamp Rose Mallow (Hibiscus palustris).

Just as autumn begins to set in, Butterfly Weed will open its fiery orange flowers. A single plant of Butterfly Weed might attract dozens of butterflies. Red Cardinal Flower is an often cultivated native plant that inhabits moist areas. Once the days grow shorter, tall Joe Pye Weed puts on its display, reaching heights of eight feet.

Class Liliopsida: the Monocots

Monocots belong to the Class Liliopsida. The monocots are characterized by a single cotyledon in the embryo.

Among the monocots include one of the most common and ubiquitous of all plants, grass. Grasses are varied and important agriculturally and economically. While we are all familiar with the grass making up our lawns and fields, some may be surprised to know that corn is also a type of grass. The grasses with round stems belong to the family Poaceae. The sedges that grow in wet areas and ditches have three-cornered stems, and belong to the family Cyperaceae. A tropical orchid with bright red coloration guiding the pollinator to the nectar.

A tropical orchid with bright red coloration guiding the pollinator to the nectar.
Not all monocots have simple, tiny flowers like the grasses. In fact, some of the most diverse and complicated of all flowers belong to the monocots, namely the orchids. Orchids are famous for the elaborate mechanisms that have evolved in these flowers to facilitate pollination. Each of the thousands of different species of orchid bears a design specific to its preferred pollinator, which often involves several carefully orchestrated steps before pollen is deposited on the stigma.

The huge, dramatic flowers of lilies are another example of the showy monocots. Many wildflowers in our area, such as the Adder's Tongue and Trillium, belong to the family Liliaceae. The tropical looking Jack-in-the-Pulpit flower is another monocot growing wild in the woods of Southern Indiana, in the family Araceae. Commonly cultivated monocots include Daffodils, Tulips, Lilies, Hyacinths, Cannas, Calla Lilies, and Iris.

Division Magnoliophyta: the Angiosperms, or flowering seed plants.

Division Pinophyta: the Gymnosperms, or non-flowering seed plants

The Gymnosperms are characterized by a more primitive means of reproduction than the flowering plants (angiosperms). While gymnosperms have a seed coat, they lack a fruiting structure and a true flower, providing less protection for the developing embryo than flowering plants.

A Gymnosperm, Pinus. Conifers, cycads, and the bizarre gnetophytes comprise the major groups of gymnosperms. Ginkgo tree, which is often grown for ornamental qualities, is also a gymnosperm. The most abundant gymnosperms in our area are the conifers. Conifers are the common evergreen trees and shrubs such as pine, juniper, spruce, and arborvitae.

Gymnosperms are ancient plants, yet still remain abundant. The evolutionary advantages of flowers and fruit have lead angiosperms to replace gymnosperms as the primary vegetation on the earth. Gymnosperms have a survival advantage over angiosperms only in extremely cold or dry conditions. This ability to survive cold or dry weather is due to a thick wax cuticle on the needles of conifers, which prevents dehydration through evaporative loss. For this reason, conifers replace deciduous trees as one moves toward the poles. Gnetophytes are often found growing in deserts where few other plants can survive.

Division Pteridophyta: the Ferns and other Pteridophytes, or seedless vascular plants

The Pteridophytes are the most primitive vascular plants, having a simple reproductive system lacking flowers and seed. Pteridophytes evolved a system of xylem and phloem to transport fluids and thus achieved greater heights than was possible for their avascular ancestors. This greater height gave them an evolutionary advantage because they were better able to disperse spores, which give rise to new plants.

Pteridophytes are comprised of Ferns and their allies:

• "Whisk Ferns" such as Psilotum
• Lycopods such as Lycopodium, Selaginella, and Isoetes
• Horsetails (Equisetum) A tropical Treefern.

While the true ferns are the most easily recognizable of the Pteridophytes, Lycopodium and Equisetum also can be found growing wild in our area. Horsetails are occasionally cultivated, and grow in wet soil around ponds and streams.

DNR: Rare, Threatened, and Endangered Plants in Indiana: Did you know the wildflowers growing in your backyard could be the last few plants of that species in the entire state? The Department of Natural Resources provides a comprehensive list of these disappearing species, some of which are common in Floyd County.

USDA: Plants Database: search engine for information about specific plants plus recent developments in agriculture and environmental studies.

Harvard University Botanical Databases: compilation of resources for botanical research including links to agricultural sites, publications, and much more.

University of Hawaii Botany Department: groupings and descriptions of major plant families with photos of representative species.

The Missouri Botanical Garden hosts the Angiosperm Phylogeny Website covers the relationships of all flowering plants at the family level.

Families of Flowering Plants by Watson and Dallwitz provides an online key and descriptions to all flowering plant families.

Determination of angiosperm families by Hansen and Rahn: is the source from this online family key.

Herbarium Article: in Indiana University's Homepages.