Plants of West Virginia

MCNEEL PLANT IDENTIFICATION

This power point will be a way for me to present plants found in West Virginia. This will only contain trees that are either coniferous or deciduous. I hope that I am able to get around 20 to 25 trees
 

TYLER COUNTY FFA

This is a well equipped power point that offers descriptions and pictures to common trees found in West Virginia. Thanks to Tyler County FFA for such a great power point and sharing the information on the internet. Click here to visit the web page in which I was able to download this power point.

 

CHERRY BLOSSOM

I believe this to be one out of the 200 varieties of cherry blossoms. An interesting fact abut cherry blossoms is that it was a gift from Japan in 1912 for the ongoing friendship. In 1915 the Untied States responded with a gift of their own with flowering dogwoods. This happened all before the World Wars.

The structure of the leaf is an ovate toothed simple lobe. The arrangement of the leaves are in a whorl pattern. The flowers are pink with small yellow anthers.

 

JAPANESE MAPLE

Japanese Curly Maple

Japanese Maple

A deciduous shrub that is about 5 feet tall (this tree will probably grow no bigger than 8 feet). The structure of the leaf is in an palmate arranged in a pinnately pattern. The leaves are red with a hint of green around the vein of the leaf.

The woody plant is native to Japan, North Korea, South Korea, part of Russia, and China. It is a costly plant that is sought after for its beauty. Because the shrub is so small its an understory shrub and that's why it leaves are red.  Many of the taller trees have absorbed much of the light from the visible light spectrum except green. With this plant the leaves are green due to the pigment not absorbing the color red, but instead its reflected or transmitted.

The plant was brought to Europe during the early 1800s by Carl Thunberg. Who was a protege of Carl Linnaeus who set the ground work for the binomial nomenclature.

Magnolia Tree

Magnolia soulangiana

An interesting fact about this tree/shrub is that it's an ancient tree that produced flowers before bees arrived. How would the tree perform pollination? It would attract beetles that would be able to pollinate other magnolias. An adaptation would be that the stamens would need to be stronger due to the beetles behavior.

Iris

Stool Iris (Iris aphylla)

This is a perennial plant that comes in many different colors and grows in many regions over the world. There are around 250 -300 species of iris plants. A hardy plant that regrows every year from a rhizome or a bulb, depending on the species of the plant. The rhizome can be cut into pieces and individual iris plants will give rise to new plants. This process is known as vegetative reproduction, which is used by farmers and cultivators to propagate plants.

 

RHODODENDRON

WEST VIRGINIA STATE FLOWER

Rhododendron

Rhododendron maximum

Selected as the state flower in 1903 by Legislature by a vote from a group of public schools students. This is an evergreen shrub that can keep it's leaves during winter. The reason for this is due to waxy build up on the leaves that prevents water loss. The rhododendron blooms around mid-July and it can contain white to light pink flowers. The picture of the bloom was during early April. It is a very hardy plant that if taken with proper care can have a beautiful bloom.