Native Plants

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A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.

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Sunday - February 10, 2008

From: West Bloomfield, MI
Region: Midwest
Topic: Plant Lists
Title: Native plants for Michigan
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

Hi I was wondering if there are native plant lists for various regions of Michigan.

ANSWER:

Here is one sort of list: We compiled it by going into our Native Plant Database to the "Combination Search". We then searched on State: Michigan; Duration: All durations; Habit: All habits; Light Requirements: 6 hours or more of sun and Soil Moisture: Dry. This gave us a list of 282 native plants of Michigan, including trees, flowers, shrubs, etc. You can go down this list and click on the Latin names and find out what kind of plant it is, and what sort of habitat it likes. Or, you can go to our Native Plant Database, select the characteristics you're searching for, click on "Combination Search" and do your own list.

Another approach would be to go to the Michigan Dept. of Environmental Quality website, again, click on the Latin name of each plant, and it will take you to a page with a picture of the plant and indications about its normal habitat. There are quite a few more plants on this list than on the first list we gave you. For the areas in which these plants grow, the site directs you to Michigan Flora Parts I, II and III by Edward Voss. We discovered that West Bloomfield is in Oakland County in Southeast Michigan, and tried to get some plant lists for that particular area, but weren't successful. You might try this link from the Michigan Botanical Society, which is the Native Plant Society of Michigan. Finally, this Michigan State University Extension website for Oakland County has some links to plant lists.