Website Information and Help

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Description

This website is designed to help identify plants found growing wild in South Dakota and to promote the use of native species in urban and rural landscapes. The plants on this website are arranged by form: 1. non-flowering, non-seed producing plants (ferns and horsetails), 2. Flowering herbaceous species, 3. Grasses, sedges and rushes, and 4. Trees, shrubs and woody vines. Each section has the families arranged alphabetically. Each entry describes a plant and provides information on its uses and, if it is a native species, information on how to collect seeds and propagate the plant for your personal use.

This entry also includes aids to identifying the families of flowering herbaceous plants and the genera of Asteraceae (the sunflower family). In addition, there are entries defining some of the terms used in the plant descriptions.

Additional Notes

Use of the digital photographs provided by this website is free for educational purposes, if the photographer and SDSU labels are retained. Use of these photos for commercial or public display is prohibited without the express written permission of South Dakota State University.

Taxonomy on this site follows that of the USDA  (https://plants.usda.gov/home), many of the Lakota plant names are taken from Black Elk and Flying By (https://puc.sd.gov/commission/dockets/HydrocarbonPipeline/2014/HP14-001/testimony/betest.pdf) and taxonomic descriptions are adapted in part from the  Flora of the Great Plains,  Great Plains Flora Association ; Ronald L. McGregor, coordinator ; T.M. Barkley, editor ; Ralph E. Brooks, associate editor ; Eileen K. Schofield, associate editor. University Press of Kansas, 1986.