Plants of Cedar Creek

Presenting the Plant Families of Cedar Creek in narrative form enables us to include more information than is provided in the Delaney Catalog.  More notes are provided on diagnostics, species comparisons, localities and habitats, phenology, natural history, etc.  With such a taxonomic approach, one is likely to get a better feel for the size, diversity, and distinguishing characteristics of the major plant families.  In addition, a rather extensive Photo Album accompanies the Family Narratives.  Each genus receives an Album Page enabling us to help the reader differentiate species in the larger genera.  We have also taken the liberty of including ca 11 additional families and xxx additional genera that form part of the larger flora of Minnesota.  Some of these may eventually be found here, while others likely never will.  We feel the inclusion of this extralimital flora will make the Website more useful to users at large.  However, this is not to deny the existence of several excellent references and websites on the Flora of the Upper Midwest, and these are referenced at the end of this introduction.

By way of background, the Vascular Plants of Minnesota: a Checklist and Atlas (1991) by GB Ownbey and T  Morley list 2010 species of vascular plants for the state.  These represent 134 families.  Of the 2010 species 1618 are native species (incl 66 interspecific hybrids) and 392 are introduced species (nearly 20% of the total).  By way of contrast, 103 families representing 799 species of vascular plants are recorded for Cedar Creek.  Of these, 113 are introduced.  Introduced in both cases means not native to the area, though they may have North American origins.  Thus, as small as it is, CCNHA with 9 square miles boasts nearly 40% of the state total.  It also contains 20 species that are considered rare in the state by the DNR Minnesota County Biological Survey (MCBS).  Additional comparisons between Minnesota and CCNHA are presented in the accompanying Tables.

REFERENCES
  Delaney, BC (2000) A Revised Annotated Flora of Cedar Creek Natural History Area
  Moore, JW (1973)  The Flora of Cedar Creek Natural History Area
  Ownbey, GB and T Morley (1991) Vascular Plants of Minnesota: a checklist and atlas.  University of Minnesota Press.
  Voss, EG (1972, 1985, 1996) Michigan Flora in 3 parts; Cranbrook Institute of Science

LINKS
  Wisconsin State Herbarium by....
  Bell Museum of Minnesota Herbarium by Anita Cholewa