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Plant Taxonomy

To better understand plants it’s helpful to understand their taxonomy. The taxonomy of the vascular plants (most of the plants we know) is given below. This list does not include the more primitive algae, mosses, liverworts, and others that do not possess true leaves, stems or roots like vascular plants. It does not include some classes that are not typical of our area like Cycads (palms).

• Kingdom Plantae (Plants)
  • Phylum Tracheophyta (Vascular Plants)
    • Class Liliopsida (Monocots)
    • Class Magnoliopsida (Dicots)
    • Class Pinopsida (Conifers)
    • Class Polypodiopsida (Ferns)
      • Order
        • Family
          • Genus
            • Species

Plants of South Dakota

There are thousands of kinds of plants in South Dakota. To make it easier to find them, I’ve created logical groups based on growth habits and taxonomy. Growth habits are the structure of a plant. For example, Tree are woody plants with generally a single trunk. Graminoids are grass-like plants that are composed of grasses, sedges, rushes, cat-tails. All links take you to iNaturalist observations. The observations usually contain pictures and locations of the plants. I’ve included both wild and planted observations, so you can see plants that grow wild as well as plants used in landscaping.

Growth Habits of Plants

Trees of South Dakota Trees generally have a single woody stem known as a trunk. Examples include Ash, Elm, Oak, Cottonwood, and Hackberry.

Shrubs of South Dakota Shrubs generally have multiple woody stems and are shorter than trees. Examples include currants, gooseberry, chokecherry, and raspberries.

Woody Vines of South Dakota Woody vines have a woody stem and climb on other plants or structures. Their trunk cannot support the plant without something for it to climb on. Examples include grape and woodbine.

Graminoids of South Dakota Graminoids are members of the Poales taxonomic order. They are not woody plants. Examples includes grasses, sedges, rushes, and cat-tails.

Taxonomic Grouping of Plants

Conifers of South Dakota Conifers are members of the Pinopsida taxonomic class. They are woody plants that have cones and scale-like or needle-like leaves. Most are evergreen. Examples include pines, spruces, and junipers.

Monocots of South Dakota Monocots have parallel leaf veins and one seed leaf. They are not woody plants. Examples include lilies and grasses. Graminoids are included here but are also displayed in their own link.

Dicots of South Dakota Dicots have branching leaf veins and two seed leaves. They can be woody or herbaceous. Examples include sunflower, roses, and oaks. Many of our trees, shrubs and woody vines are dicots.

Ferns of South Dakota Ferns are plants that reproduce by spores instead of seeds. Yet they have a vascular system that includes stems, leaves and roots.

Lycophytes of South Dakota Lycophytes are a very small group of plants that include quilworts, clubmosses, and spikemosses. They reproduce by spores.

Gingkos of South Dakota Gingkos are an ancient class that only contains one species, Gingko biloba from China.

Taxonomic Groups minus Growth Habits

To make the group more manageable I’ve removed the woody plants from the dicots to give you a list of only herbaceous dicots.

Herbaceous Dicots these are all dicots without the woody plants