Species Hierarchy
Kingdom PLANT (PLANTAE)
Phylum SEED PLANTS (EMBRYOPHYTA)
Class DICOTS (DICOTYLEDONEAE)
Order PINK, POKEWEED AND ALLIES (CENTROSPERMAE)
Family AMARANTH (AMARANTHACEAE)
Common name: PRINCE'S FEATHER
Scentific name: AMARANTHUS HYPOCHONDRIACUS

FLOWERS
Location: GARDEN, OKANOGAN, WA., 2006

Species Info:

This lifeform is found in the Orient (China, Japan, Korea). This lifeform is found in India. This lifeform is found south of the Mason Dixon line in North America. This lifeform is found in Mexico.

Prince's feather (Amaranthus hypochondriacus) is now found in the southern United States, Mexico, India, and China.

Amaranthus genus is found widely on planet earth.  There are about 60 annual herbs in this genus.  Most of the species in this genus are weeds.  The leaves are typically entire.  There were 41 species and two subspecies established in greater North America as of l994.

Amaranthaceae family (amaranth) contains about 70 genera and about 800 species. These are mostly herbs, but some exotic low shrubs are in the family. The leaves can be alternate or opposite, usually entire, and usually thin. The small flowers are in terminal spikes or axillary heads. There are no petals. This family had 19 genera and 111 species growing in greater North America as of 1994.

Centrosperm (Centrospermae) order is a large order composed of  several families.

Dicots (Dicotyledoneae Class) are the predominant group of vascular plants on earth. With the exception of the grasses (Monocots) and the Conifers (Gymnosperms), most of the larger plants that one encounters are  Dicots. Dicots are characterized by having a seed with two outer shell coverings. Some of the more primitive Dicots are the typical hardwood trees (oaks, birches, hickories, etc). The more advanced Dicots include many of the Composite Family flowers like the  Dandelion, Aster, Thistles, and Sunflowers. Although many Monocots reach a very high degree of specialization, most botanists feel that the Dicots represent the most advanced group of plants.

Seed plants (Phylum Embryophyta) are generally grouped into one large phylum containing three major classes: the Gymnosperms, the Monocots, and the Dicots. (Some scientists separate the Gymnosperms into a separate phylum and refer to the remaining plants as flowering plants or Angiospermae.)

For North American counts of the number of species in each genus and family, the primary reference has been John T. Kartesz, author of A Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland (1994). The geographical scope of his lists include, as part of greater North America, Hawaii, Alaska, Greenland, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

Kartesz lists 21,757 species of vascular plants comprising the ferns, gymnosperms and flowering plants as being found in greater North America (including Alaska, Hawaii, Greenland, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands).

There are estimates within the scientific world that about half of the listed North American seed plants were originally native with the balance being comprised of Eurasian and tropical plants that have become established.

Plant kingdom contains a large variety of different organisms including mosses, ferns, and seed plants. Most plants manufacture their energy from sunlight and water. Identification of many species is difficult in that most individual plants have characteristics that have variables based on soil moisture, soil chemistry, and sunlight.

Because of the difficulty in learning and identifying different plant groups, specialists have emerged that study only a limited group of plants. These specialists revise the taxonomy and give us detailed descriptions and ranges of the various species.  Their results are published in technical journals and written with highly specialized words that apply to a specific group.

On the other hand, there are the nature publishers. These people and companies undertake the challenging task of trying to provide easy to use pictures and descriptions to identify those species.

 

Search Region:
World
Species Range:
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Photos
(Click on an image below to display at left)

FLOWERS

TOP OF PLANT IN BLOOM



Quick Jump:
Click to jump to
WINTERFAT - WINTER SAGE
KRASCHENINNIKOVIA LANATA
Backward 10 species
Click to jump to
AMARANTH - SPLEEN
AMARANTHUS HYBRIDUS
Backward 1 species
Click to jump to
AMARANTH - GREEN
AMARANTHUS RETROFLEXUS
Forward 1 species
Click to jump to
ALLIONA INCARNATA
Forward 10 species