Flora of Pennsylvania
with special emphasis on
central
A pictorial and taxonomic
database
by Michael Hassler (
- The database
- Introduction
- Taxonomy
- Statistics
- Contributors and Supporters
- Photographic equipment
- References
- Suggestions and corrections; picture
license requests
- I want to contribute missing pictures
to this database
- I have found an unknown plant and would like an i.d.
Introduction
While working for two years (mid 2004 to mid 2006) in
The PNPS Wildflower Society has generously agreed to accommodate this
picture collection on their websites.
The picture size for the database (900 x 1150 pixels maximum) was chosen
fairly high, in order to maximize the use of the pictures for identification.
Most pictures are between 100 and 300 kbyte in size. We hope that this is
acceptable to most internet users with broadband access.
All Pennsylvania species, as listed in the Flora of Pennsylvania, have
been listed in the database together with some basic information (synonymy,
general distribution in Pennsylvania, county records of central Pennsylvania,
red list data, habitats, flowering time, etc.), even if no picture is available
yet. We hope that other photographers will contribute and donate pictures, in
order to create a most complete reference picture collection for the
There are undoubtedly quite a few initial errors in this database,
therefore we would welcome suggestions and corrections.
Michael Hassler, August 2006
Thanks
to
While photographing for this collection, I had the help of numerous
experts for the PA flora, who gave me detailed tips how to find plants and
joined me for excursions.
Special thanks go to Harry Henderson (
Thanks go to the Pennsylvania Native Plant Society, especially Maggie
Harlan, and their support by hosting this database on their website.
Much help came also from:
Norm Deno (
Frank Fee (
William “Rocky” Gleason (
Bob Gruver (
Steve Johnson (Sunbury)
Roger Latham (
Daniel Laughlin (
Clark Shiffer (
Prof. Kim Steiner, Kathleen Reeder and Tim Phelps (Arboretum
of Penn State University)
Eugene
Zielinski (
For picture contributions we are grateful to:
Karlheinz Knoch (Botanical Garden of the University of
Carl Luer (
Carol Krautmann Lund (Clemson)
Joachim
Rheinheimer (
Taxonomy
Even after 300 years of research, the taxonomy of the
We have used a latin taxonomy which is as close as possible to the Flora
of Pennsylvania (Rhoads & Block 2000). Several groups, especially the
Asteraceae, have undergone major revisions in the meantime (most notably the Aster
relationship, see Flora of North America, vols. 19-21, published 2006). In
those cases the most recent available nomenclature was used. This leads
unfortunately to some new latin names, which will hopefully become more
familiar to the plant lover over time.
We have therefore listed the synonyms quite detailed and made them
searchable, in order to simplify the process of finding a plant.
English trivial names are notoriously fluctuating and unreliable – in
some cases every field guide has different ones. We have mostly used the names
used in the Flora of Pennsylvania (Rhoads & Block 2000), but have amended
and/or modified several names, especially in cases where the Flora of
Pennsylvania uses only general names (like “sedge” for a specific Carex species).
Statistics
Here are some statistics for the Flora of Pennsylvania, mostly based on
the Flora of Pennsylvania (Rhoads & Block 2000). Some rare adventives,
which are listed in the Atlas (Rhoads & Klein 1993) have been omitted and
are not listed in the database.
|
|
Total |
Native |
Neophytes and adventive species |
cultivated / occasional garden escapes |
Pictured species in database (January 2007) |
|
|
2933 |
2007 |
701 |
225 |
1990 |
|
|
2809 |
1909 |
685 |
217 |
|
|
|
1814 |
1316 |
388 |
109 |
1517 |
|
|
1762 |
1276 |
383 |
103 |
|
Photographic equipment
Most of the pictures have been taken between 2004 and 2006, using a Sony
DSC F828 digital camera, which has a marvelous macro function.
Some older pictures, especially of European aliens and neophytes, have
been taken in
A minor percentage, mostly macro photos with high magnification, were
taken with Canon D10 and D20 cameras, using a 100 mm Canon macro lens. The
author uses this equipment mostly for insect and other animal photography,
whereever short focus times are critical.
The pictures were deliberately taken in a relatively dark mode, which
avoids overexposure to white and yellow colors (still a major problem in
digital photography) and gives more natural colors. Still, the differences
between various cameras and flash/non-flash modes are huge.
References
Basic literature:
Rhoads, A. F. & Klein, W. M. (1993):
Vascular Flora of
Rhoads, A. F. & Block, T. A. (2000):
The Plants of
Rhoads, A. F. & Block, T. A. (2004):
Trees of
The most recommended field guides:
Newcomb, L. (1989): Newcombs Wildflower Guide. 13th
ed., 490 p.
Clemants, S. & Gracie, C. (2006): Wildflowers in
the Field and Forest: A Field Guide to the
Petrides, G. A. (1998): A Field Guide to Eastern
Trees. (Peterson Field Guides). 2nd ed., 441 p.
Websites:
Pennsylvania Flora Project
website
Flora of North America website
PLANTS database for
all of North America
Connecticut
Wildflower Society (picture gallery)
Wildflowers
of Western Pennsylvania