I’ve always loved Apiaceae — a family of plants also called Umbellifereae, hence their common name and a word I dearly love, umbellifers — but I come to appreciate them more all the time.

Trust me, you know Asteraceae. Whether you know asters themselves or some Aster relative, you’d have to live under a rock not to know at least one plant from the aster family. Asteraceae is the second largest family of plants, second only to the orchid family, Orchidaceae. When last smart people counted, there were around [...]

The grass family is called Poaceae. It also goes by Gramineae, because it’s just that cool. It’s the fourth largest plant family, behind: Orchidaceae, the orchids; Asteraceae, the asters; and Fabaceae, the pea family, which we discussed in my last installment of this series. There are over 10,000 species of grasses. Stop to consider that [...]

If you’ve ever gotten into plants at all, there are a few things you probably know about the pea family, Fabaceae. One is that most have a distinct type of flower. It’s pretty easily distinguished as a pea family flower, that typically turns into a fruit we call a legume, aka a pea pod.