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73 The following descriptions and illustrations are intended to present characteristics useful in confirming that the plant in hand is the illustrated species. Each species entry includes the common name; references to scientific names (current and the more recent former name); plant family (common and scientific names); description of life form (including maximum height), leaves, flowers, and fruits; flowering period (throughout its range); if applicable, the fruiting period; habitats (tidal and nontidal ); wetland indicator status; range; and similar species. All measurements are in English units (inches and feet) because most readers in the United States are more familiar with them than with their metric equivalents. A metric conversion table is provided at the back of the book along with two bar scales for measurement of individual plant parts. Scientific names follow the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Plants Database (http://plants.usda.gov). Species for which the scientific name was recently changed, its previous name (synonym) is indicated in parentheses following the current name. Some of these synonyms are used in recent taxonomic manuals. Scientific names are usually represented by two names (genus and species) followed by one or more abbreviations and/or surnames. For example, in the scientific name Hibiscus moscheutos L., Hibiscus is the genus, moscheutos is the specific epithet (species), and L. is the abbreviated name of the author who first used this scientific name (in this case, Carolus Linnaeus, the Swedish botanist credited with founding this binomial system for classifying plants and animals). In general discussion, we drop the author’s name and simply refer to the plant as the species Hibiscus moscheutos, or by its common name of rose mallow. The wetland indicator status is the expected frequency of occurrence of the species in wetlands based on a review of the literature and scientific peer review by the U.S. government (Reed 1988). The statuses given in this book are for the northeastern United States. Five major categories are recognized: (1) obligate (OBL), more than 99% occurrence in wetlands, (2) facultative wetland (FACW), 67–99% of the time in wetlands, (3) facultative (FAC), 34–66% of the time in wetlands, nearly equally distributed in wetlands and drylands, (4) facultative upland (FACU), 1–33% in wetlands, and (5) upland (UPL), less than 1% of the time in wetlands. A positive sign (+) or a negative sign (–) after one of the facultative types indicates that a plant is on the wetter or drier side of the category’s range, respectively (e.g., Plant Descriptions and Illustrations 74 Plant Descriptions and Illustrations FACW+ may occur in wetlands more than 83% of the time, while FACW– may be found in wetlands 67–83% of the time). An asterisk (*) after the status means that it is a tentative assignment, pending further review. Clearly, the OBL and FACW species are the most reliable plant indicators of wetland for identification purposes, whereas the FACU species are more typical of uplands. Nonetheless, some populations of FACU species are hydrophytes (e.g., plants growing in substrates that lack oxygen due to waterlogging) and many are common in wetlands. Some UPL species are included in the book because they occur along the upper edges of salt marshes or beaches, or have been reported to occur in other tidal wetlands. (Note: Be aware that the indicator status of species may be revised periodically.) The ranges given in this book do not cover the plant’s entire range across North America. Instead, they are the range along the Atlantic Coast, including the Gulf of Mexico, for the described species. When describing the range of a given species, the word “to” means “into,” so a range from Maine to Virginia means that the plant occurs in the coastal region including Maine and Virginia. This information comes from a variety of sources including the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Plants Database (http://plants.usda.gov) and references listed at the back of the book. Plant rarity in northeastern states and eastern Canadian provinces is also given; this information comes from applicable state and provincial websites. For site locations of plants along the St. Lawrence River and Gulf of St. Lawrence, see the Biodiversity Portrait of the St. Lawrence (http://www.qc.ec.gc.ca/faune/biodiv/). Readers should pay close attention to the Similar species text as this subsection describes other plants that may be confused with the one being fully described, or related plants that are also found in tidal wetlands. The keys make reference to some...

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