What's your favorite plant family and one thing you hate about it?

Nature Talk
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My favorite plant family is the Poaceae, the grasses (which is why I write about them).

And one thing I hate about the family is how hard it is to ID to species.

What’s your fav plant family and one thing you don’t like about it?

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I like Solanaceae, the tomato family, because of how striking the flowers can be, like Datura wrightii for example, but am annoyed that most of the plants are toxic and inedible to humans.

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My favorite has long been the Araceae – I have for decades now been a member of the International Aroid Society, and my first several published papers were on this family.

But the thing I don’t like about it is that even the edible ones – important staple crops like taro and tannia – have to be properly prepared to remove the toxic raphides which are nearly universal in the family.

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4

Orchidaceae. So beautiful… but so rare.

For ones I haven’t seen, Rafflesiaceae, Byblidaceae, Nepenthaceae, Plocospermataceae, and Roridulaceae are really weird and alien looking. Especially Byblis, which is pseudo-carnivorous and basically is a giant sundew. Shoutout to those who have seen them in the wild.

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Hey, I’m a long time aroider as well. My interest was in the Meconostigma (now its own genus, Thaumatophyllum). Did you know Julius or Steve Lucas, or Leland? They were also into Mecos.

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I honestly would not have guessed anyone would pick the tomato family ;-) Good for ya

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For carnivorous plants, I like the cute Pinguiculas. I’ve seen them in Iceland, and they’re just so cute!

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I’ve seen them too in North Carolina. They are part of Lentibulariaceae and are the “land cousins” of Utricularia.

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They are rather unobtrusive due to their small size, but with pretty flowers. In Iceland, people were passing a colony of them without even noticing until I pointed them out. Nepenthes is also cool.

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Hmm, I see where you are going, but tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, and black nightshade is enough food from this family for me.

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I like the the family trilliums are in, because I love trilliums, but the one thing I hate about it is that I can never remember its name.

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I love Drosera. One of the first plants I noticed as a kid and I just think they’re beautiful. I dislike that the real diversity of the family is on the opposite side of the country to me.

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Compositae, I like the old name but don’t like how difficult some species are to ID.

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I got a pretty gnarly rash after making lau lau back home with luau (taro) leaves.

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No longer a family (Pyrolaceae) but now a genus Pyrola.
Flower symmetry and partial appearance resemble orchids.
They are also said to have very specific mycorrhizal dependency, similar to many orchids.
I found my first at the age of 16 on the ground of an old mining operation where now, 40 years later, it is no longer present.
Found other species later, until now only in three other places. I have the impression it is at least 20 times rarer in my region than orchids are.
What I hate is my own incompetence to properly distinguish some of the four regional species.
They are so rare that its mere luck to see some and I never had much chance to compare and learn.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/288381717

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Compositae, I like the old name but don’t like how difficult some species are to ID.

The old name (Compositae) seems more apt and descriptive yes. And I sympathize with identification difficullties.

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Interesting! I looked it up, and like orchids they have very tiny seeds that are dependent on fungi for germination. I always thought that is not at first glance a good strategy.

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Cactaceae by far! Cactus are extremely relevant for my country’s ecosystemsm, they’re also have a deep cultural meaning in my culture.

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I did not know that, although I do know the family is well represented in your country. Now I looked it up and it does have cultural significance too.

Is there anything you don’t like about the family?

Also, I believe maize/corn (family Poaceae) is also very significant culturally to Mexico?

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I’m a Loranthaceae (Showy Mistletoe) tragic. I hate that people have such a negative image of them that they kill them at every opportunity.

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