Coralberry or Scratchthroat (Ardisia crenata) is found widely in the Orient from Japan west to northern India. This species is occasionally found growing wild in Florida, USA. This smooth shrub can be up to six feet tall. The leaves can be up to eight inches long. The flowers can be white or pink.

Ardisia genus is native to warmer areas in Asia, Australia, and the New World. There are about 250 evergreen small trees and shrubs in this genus. The leaves are in spirals or whorls. There are now six species established in greater North America, including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Myrsinaceae Family contains over 1,200 species arranged in about 40 different genera. There are 34 species arranged in seven different genera now growing in greater North America, including the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii.

In the New World this family is found from the southern United States south to central Chile and central Argentina. In Africa this is found south of the Sahara. This family is absent in most of Eurasia, but is found from India and SE Asia into southern China. From SE Asia this is found through Malaysia to most of Indonesia, New Guinea, and Australia.

Primulales Order contains three 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 (Aster) 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.

NEW SEARCH