Checklist of Trees and Shrubs of St. John's University & the College of St. Benedict

by

Stephen G. Saupe
Biology Department
College of St. Benedict/St. John's University
Collegeville, MN  56321

Introduction:

    The purpose of this study was to prepare a checklist of the woody plants growing on the campuses of St. John's University and the College of St. Benedict.  The main goal of the project was to document the campus trees and shrubs to provide a baseline data set.  In addition, we hope it is useful to anyone who is generally interested in our campus plants.

flora Ito interested baseline to monitor vegetation changes that We hope that this study will provide a guide for anyone interested in our campus flora. 

Methods:

    This study was conducted by examining specimens in the CSB/SJU Bailey Herbarium (CSB).  We recorded the name of the species, it's herbarium accession number and the campus on which the specimen was collected.  In most cases it was obvious where the specimen was from.  However, in several cases specimens were listed from "Collegeville."  These were assumed to be collected on the St. John's campus. 

    There are several species that we knew to grow on campus (e.g., Acer ginnala, Betula nigra) but for which which we had no herbarium records.  These species, which were positively identified in the field are identified as "PO" (personal observation).  In addition, we learned about a  number of cultivated species from Fr. Paul Schwietz, the late St. John's Arboretum director. These are listed in Table 1 as "Paul Schwietz - PO."

    Although the primary focus of this list is on native and naturalized plants that grow without cultivation, several landscape species are included.  No attempt was made to include all cultivated species growing on campus. 

    Nomenclature follows Gleason and Cronquist (1991) and Ownbey and Morley (1991). 

    We welcome additions or corrections to this list. 

Results/Conclusions:

    We recorded more than 150 (157) species of woody plants in approximately 34 different families (Table 1).  The campus flora is particularly well-represented by the maple (Aceraceae), birch (Betulaceae), honeysuckle (Caprifoliaceae), oak (Fagaceae), pine (Pinaceae), rose (Rosaceae), and willow (Salicaceae) families. 
 

References:

• Gleason, HA & A Cronquist (1991) Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. 2nd edition.  New York Botanical Garden, NY.
• Ownbey GB & T Morley (1991) Vascular Plants of Minnesota. A Checklist and Atlas.  University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.

Acknowledgements:
    Thanks to Chris Vance for doing much of the initial research on this project.