This site uses photographic illustration to show the plant details that are required to make plant identifications to the level of species. In addition to the photos and a (usually) brief summary text, each species page will contain links to the most informative web sites describing that species. The plan is to post a modest catalog of flora identifying species found in SE Iowa—not a complete flora of our region but rather a growing collection of photos and information about some of the plants that you might find in the woods, prairies, parks, and roadsides. These plants will, individually, have a wider distribution and for the most part will be characteristic of the flora of the upper midwestern U.S.
A navagation bar appears at the top of each page. The light brown box is the, "You are Here" indicator. The other boxes offer a way to jump around the site. Start with the introduction which will provide a short background about the plant sciences and links to supporting information. The Species Index page will provide links to individual species pages, each with one or more photographs and a short description of features used to identify the plant. For more extensive information about the species, each page will have a link to the USDA plant database, The Flora of North America web site, the Wikipedia report for the relavent taxons, as well as numerous additional links to other sites that offer valuable insights to identification or just interesting particulars about the species. Plants photographed for this site were found within a 50 mile radius of Iowa City (with only a few exceptions). The map page will provide maps and GPS information for these areas.
Plant inventories have been made for the entire state and for many of the parks and preserves in our area. These are often the result of observations made over numerous years by several different botanists. Some of these have been posted on the internet and others provided to me by DNR and park personnel. These (or links to them) are presented on the Plant Inventory page. In some cases I have modified the formats (such as linking species to USDA Plants) of these inventories and some errors may have occured for which I would be responsible. If you would like to point out any errors, or just to say hello, go to the contact link in the menu bar at the top of the page.
Thanks for stopping by,
R.W. Lutz