Be a Botanist

 

Plants like ferns and mosses are called non-flowering plants, because they do not have flowers.   To learn about non-flowering plants click on Simple Plants. At Clay Hill our non-flowering plants include ferns, mosses, liverworts, ground pines, and horsetails.

However, most plants have flowers, and these are the focus of this site.  Flowering plants are known as Angiosperms. At Clay Hill we have a very diverse group of Angiosperms.  Photographs of many of these plants are available here.  Additional photos are added occasionally.

Flowering plants differ from one another in the shape and color of their flowers, the shape and arrangement of their leaves and in stem and bud characters.   Scientists identify species by the unique set of characters that each species possesses.   Since there are more than 2,600 species of plant in Kentucky, it may seem like a very difficult task to identify them.   Here we provide you with the basic tools you need to identify many flowering plants commonly found in central Kentucky.  First you must learn the parts of plants and how these parts differ from one species to the next.

To learn about plant anatomy, click on Learn Plant Parts.  To learn more about plants at at other sites, follow some of the links to the left.  Our goal is to eventually publish a set of interactive keys that allow you to use simple characters to identify the more common flowering plants occurring at Clay Hill Memorial Forest. As you might imagine this is a difficult task and it may take some time to accomplish.  Check back often.