Iowa's Living Roadway Plant Profiler, August 21, 2003

This publication is a guide to understanding the Iowa Department of Transportation’s roadside management programs. It offers descriptions of various landscape designs or planting styles used within or adjacent to Iowa’s highway rights-of-way, as well as various plant profiles. In addition, this guide will help you learn more about the value of plants and their contribution to our environment and society. This publication is written for persons having little or no formal training in botany, and technical terminology has been kept to the minimum necessary to maintain standards of accuracy and conciseness in the descriptions. Plants are known by common names and botanical names. Most people prefer to use common names because they are easier to spell and say. Both have been used in this publication. Botanical names are taken from Latin, Greek or “Latinized” words of other languages. Each plant species has a unique botanical name, consisting of the genus, followed by the species. Some botanical names contain additional words after the species name to designate cultivars or subspecies. Plant species are grouped into families by flower structure. Family names are Latin, so the associated common family names are included in parenthesis. Sources of information for this publication are not cited within the text to save space, avoid repetition and make it more readable. However, all references used are included in the bibliography at the end of this publication.