Botany by Amna Khalid

Amna Khalid

Roll no:DE270

Assignment: 14

Module: 14

BOTANY

Submitted to:

Ms.Aisha Razi

Submitted on:

           17.MAY.2012

Q: How the Nomenclature material should be presented?

Nomenclature:

A system of names used in an art or science: the nomenclature of mineralogy.

The procedure of assigning names to the kinds and groups of organisms listed in a taxonomic classification

     

 Botanical nomenclature is the formal, scientific naming of plants. It is related to, but distinct from taxonomy. Plant taxonomy is concerned with grouping and classifying plants; botanical nomenclature then provides names for the results of this process. The starting point for modern botanical nomenclature is Linnaeus' Species Plant arum of 1753. Botanical nomenclature is governed by the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN), which replaces the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN).

Nomenclature refers to the naming of things.  Botanical nomenclature is about naming plants.  Bear in mind that plant names refer to abstract entities - the collection of all plants (past, present, and future) that belong to the same group. As you will recall, taxonomy is about grouping.  Botanical nomenclature is about applying names to taxonomic groups. 

Botanical nomenclature has a long history, going back to the period when Latin was the scientific language throughout Europe, and perhaps further back to Theophrastus. A key event was Linnaeus’ adoption of binomial names for plant species in his Species Plant arum (1753). Every plant species is given a name that remains the same no matter what other species were placed in the genus, and this separates taxonomy from nomenclature. These species names of Linnaeus together with names for other ranks (such as family, class, order, variety), can serve to express a great many taxonomic viewpoints.

In the nineteenth century it became increasingly clear that there was a need for rules to govern scientific nomenclature, and initiatives were taken to produce a body of laws. These were published in successively more sophisticated editions. For plants the key dates are 1867 (Lois de Candolle), 1906 (International Rules of Botanical Nomenclature, 'Vienna Rules') and 1952 (International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, 'Stockholm Code'). The most recent is the Vienna Code, adopted in 2005.

Another development was the insight into the delimitation of the concept of 'plant'. Linnaeus held a much wider view of what a plant is than is acceptable today. Gradually more and more groups of organisms are being recognized as being independent of plants. Nevertheless the formal names of most of these organisms are governed by the (ICN), even today. A separate Code was adopted to govern the nomenclature of Bacteria, the ICNB.

All formal botanical names are governed by the ICN, and within the limits set by that code there is another set of rules, the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP). This latter code applies to plant cultivars that have been deliberately altered or selected by humans and require separate recognition.

  

Scientific names of plants reflect the taxonomic group to which the plant belongs. One must first decide on the groups to be recognized; only then does one start to be concerned about assigning an appropriate name to the plant. Common, at least those that are genuinely common names, usually reflect some conspicuous or valuable characteristic of the plant, not its taxonomic group.  The following comments are about scientific names.

Scientific names are never misleading.  No matter where you are, every plants has only one correct name. So long as its taxonomic treatment is not in dispute.   This last is a major reservation, but we can ignore it for now. The universality of scientific names means that even English speaking people can find out what species grow in China or Saudi Arabia by reading a technical flora of these countries.  Not only are the names the same, they are always written in the Latin alphabet (which is the same alphabet as these notes).  

Pronunciation: There is as little point about worrying over the 'correct' pronunciation of scientific names as there is in worrying over which is the correct pronunciation of English words. It may be difficult to recognize a scientific name if it is spoken by someone from another part of the world BUT one can always recognize it when it is written out.  In this, scientific names are no different from other words.  Think how hard it can be to understand different versions of English.  Nevertheless, it is advantageous to use the same pronunciation as the other people you work with. Just be prepared to modify your pronunciation if you move to another part of the world.  

Taxonomy refers to forming groups.  Plants that belong to the same group have the same name.  The taxonomic decisions concerning how a group is to be treated (what goes in the group, what rank it should be recognized as) MUST be made before it can be assigned a name.  It does not matter how you decide what its affinities are (unless, of course, you want others to support and use your treatment), but you must make these decisions before you can decide on an appropriate name for the group.  So remember, taxonomy first. 

If people are going to communicate around the world, there needs to be an internationally accepted system of nomenclature.  Creating such a system was not, and is not, an easy task.  It was not until 1930 that agreement was reached on an International Code had become standard around 1753. There were, however, many areas where there was widespread agreement in practice, with some of the practices dating back to before

Linnaeus. For reasons that you will learn later, Linnaeus is taken as the starting point for botanical nomenclature. Let's consider for a moment some of the areas of agreement that existed before there was formal agreement on an International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.

  

           

Towards an International Code

Pre-Linnaean Practices

1) Names were formed like Latin words. The reason is quite straightforward; Latin was the common language among all European peoples - and plant taxonomy as we know it has its origins in Europe.   

2) Once a name had been attached to a plant group, it should not be given another name.

3) When commenting on how a name was to be interpreted, one should list the names of others that had used it.   

4) It helps to mention some specimens that one has seen.  

The first attempt at developing an international agreement was made in Paris in 1867.  At this meeting, it was decided that a) the first edition of Linnaeus ‘Species Plant arum, which was published in 1752, would serve as the starting point of botanical nomenclature and b) if two names had been given to the same plant group, the older name would be the correct name. In addition, various rules were laid down as to what was required to valid publication - a phrase that means "published in such a manner that the name counts". For instance, publication of new names in horticultural catalogs used to be acceptable, but it is not any longer.   

Other Codes

In 1892, a group of US botanists held a meeting in Rochester at which they presented some additions and modifications that they considered more objective (a great phrase in science). Among the changes that they proposed were that a) when publishing a new name one should cite at least one herbarium specimen representing the plant group concerned and b) that, when a species was moved from one genus to another it should, if possible, keeps its specific epithet (it is not possible if that epithet has already been used for another species in the new genus). Some of the new rules conflicted with those proposed in Paris, and the modified version being used at Kew, a major taxonomic center in England. 

Agreement, at last

In 1930, taxonomists finally agreed on a single International Code of Botanical Nomenclature. This Code is revised every 6 years, but the goals of all the revisions are always to achieve stability in scientific nomenclature and or to clarify problems.  The revisions are published in Tax on, the journal of the International Society of Plant Taxonomists, then voted on at a meeting that is held immediately prior to an International Botanical Congress. The last edition of the Code was published in 2000. There is a copy in the herbarium.

Limitations of the Code

Before considering what the Code says, it is important to know what it does, and does not, attempt to do.  

It DOES state what to do when you wish to assign a new name to a plant group, how the names of plant groups are to be informed, how to inform people about new names, and how to choose between two (or more) names that have been given to the same plant group.

It DOES NOT provide any information on how to decide whether a group of plants should be given a scientific name or what rank a group should have. These activities are taxonomic, not nomenclatural.  

Remember: Taxonomy comes before nomenclature. 

The International Code of Botanical Nomenclature

Becoming an expert on botanical nomenclature requires several years of study beyond graduate school, plus access to old and often rare, literature.  Knowledge of Latin is also essential because many earlier works are in Latin.  What follows is a distillation of some of the keys points of the Code, points that you should endeavor to understand.  Some are presented in rather simplified form; be sure to consult the Code itself, plus a nomenclatural expert, before starting a serious argument or proposing a new name.

Principles of Botanical Nomenclature

There are six principles that guide decisions concerning the Code. 

Uniqueness Principle (Principle IV).The uniqueness principle states that there is only one correct name for a particular taxonomic group within a given taxonomic treatment. It is the central principle upon which all the remainder of the code is based. If people disagree on the taxonomic treatment, they will consider different names to be correct but, within any treatment, each taxonomic group has only one correct name.

Type Principle (Principle II).The type principle states, "The application of names of taxonomic groups is determined by means of nomenclatural types".  For vascular plants such as grasses, a nomenclatural type is a herbarium specimen that has been deposited in a herbarium. A nomenclatural type anchors the meaning of a name. If there is an argument as to what kind of plant the author of a name meant by a particular name, one examines the type specimen.  No matter what taxonomic treatment is followed, the name must be used in a sense that includes its type specimen.  If, as occasionally happens, the author of a new name provides a description that does not match the type specimen, it is the type specimen, not the description, that determines what kind of plant is called by the name in question.   

Adherence to the type principle did not become mandatory until 1958. Prior to that time, when taxonomists published a new name they frequently simply listed several different specimens that exemplified what they meant by the name, without identifying any particular specimen as the ‘top dog’ among the examples.  All the designated specimens, including their duplicates, are referred to as syntypes: nomenclatural types of a single name, all of which were equally important. This became a problem if later taxonomists decided that there is two or more tax among the specimens listed. When this happens, it became necessary to determine which of the specimens listed belongs with the original name.

To prevent such situations arising, the rules for designating a type specimen were made more explicit. Since 1990 it has been necessary to identify the exact specimen that is to be the nomenclatural type of the tax on, and the herbarium in which the specimen is located.  Between 1958 and 1990 it was enough to specify who collected the specimen, where it was collected, the date on which it was collected, and the collection number it was given, if any. The problem was that, if the collector made several duplicate specimens, each of the duplicates is a syntype.  In most instances this is not a problem, but occasionally the supposed duplicates turn out to belong to different species. Requiring that an author state exactly which of the specimens is to be regarded as the nomenclatural type helps prevent even this kind of problem. If possible, the accession number of the type should be specified as well as the name of the herbarium in which it is located, but many older herbaria do not give their specimens accession numbers.

 There are several different kinds of type specimen, but the most important are heliotypes, lectotypes, neotypes, and epitypes. The next most important are isotypes, syntypes, and paratypes.  The first four kinds of type refer to specimens that are, unequivocally, the nomenclatural type of a name.  Aholotype is a specimen that has been designated the nomenclatural type of a name by the person creating the name. If the person who originally published a particular name did not designate a holotype, a later taxonomist may select a specimen to serve as the nomenclatural type. This specimen then becomes what is called the lectotype of the name. If the holotype or lectotype is destroyed or lost, a new type specimen can be selected. Such replacement types are called neotypes. 

An epitype is a specimen selected to be the nomenclatural type of name for which there is a holotype, lectotype, or neotype available. Why would it be necessary to select another specimen as a nomenclatural type?  Sometimes the holotype, lectotype, or neotype simply does not show the features that are needed to determine, unequivocally, to which of two taxa it belongs.  In such a case, it cannot be used to fix the meaning of a name. In such situations, another specimen can be selected as the ‘anchoring’ specimen; it is this specimen that is the epitype.

Priority Principle (Principle III).This principle states, in essence, that if a taxonomic group has been given two or more names, the correct name is the first name that meets the Code’s standards for publication. Basically, this means that the priority of a name dates from the time that it was first published and made known to other botanists. Writing the name in a letter (or Email) to a colleague does not count, nor do notes made on herbarium sheets. 

Taxonomic groups may end up with two or more names for several reasons. The most common reason is taxonomic disagreement, about which the Code says nothing.   Sometimes, the person publishing a later name is simply unaware that the group has already been named.  In other cases, two (or more) names were given to different looking specimens of what was later treated as a single group. Whatever the reason, the priority principle states that only the first name validly and legitimately published for a particular taxonomic group is correct.

In determining priority, the date that matters is the date on which the material was actually mailed to other institutions; this is not always the same as the year on the cover of a book or journal.  

RETROACTIVITY PRINCIPLE (PRINCIPLE VI).This principle states, “The Rules of nomenclature are retroactive unless expressly limited”.  The Retroactivity Principle means that anyone proposing a change in the Code needs to consider the effect that the proposed change will have on names published in a wide range of literature and over a considerable period of time. This is an intimidating requirement. It is why all proposed changes to the Code undergo committee scrutiny before being voted on. If the committee has a problem with a proposed change, one of its members will get in touch with the person proposing the change. The committee member may point out unforeseen consequences of the proposed change. Alternatively, he or she may suggest examples that will make a stronger case for the change, or suggest modifications that will avoid some undesirable consequences.

All proposals to change the Code are published in Tax on, but they remain proposals until they are voted on at the next International Botanical Congress.

PRINCIPLES 1 and V.The other two principles are straightforward. Principle I states that botanical nomenclature is independent of zoological and bacteriological nomenclature.  If an organism is considered to be a plant, then it must be named in accordance with the Botanical Code. If it is considered a bacterium, it must be named according to the Bacteriological Code.  Principle V states that scientific names are to treated as if they were Latin, regardless of their derivation. 

OTHER KEY PROVISIONS OF THE CODE

1. Any changes in the Code should be designed to increase the stability of plant nomenclature.  No one likes name changes, not even the taxonomists that propose them.

2.  Every plant belongs to a species, every species to a genus, every genus to a family, every family to an order, every order to a class, every class to a division (also called a phylum nowadays - a concession to the greater number of zoologists in the world).  This is the taxonomic hierarchy.  Note that the Code assumes the existence of species.  It does NOT state what constitutes a species, let alone discuss whether species are real.  The Code also requires that plant diversity be summarized in a hierarchical structure.  Again, it is not a question of whether such a structure really exists. The fact that the Code assumes the existence of species and a hierarchical structure does not mean that that the assumptions are correct, merely that, in naming plants (and the zoological code is similar in this regard), one must act as if species are real and nature is hierarchical. Many people object to this, but no one has provided a persuasive argument for dropping the system.

PUBLISHING SCIENTIFIC NAMES.

Before a name, even a name that has a Latin form, can be accepted as a scientific name, it must satisfy several criteria.  Some of these have to do with its form, others with how its existence and meaning are made known to others.

Form. Principle V states that a scientific name must be treated as if it were Latin, but the Articles 16-28 of the Code also specify what form the name must take. I have summarized them in the table below.  

      

 

Rank	Ending	Examples
Division (Phylum)	-phyta	Pinophyta, Magnoliophyta
Class	-opsida	Pinopsida, Liliopsida, Magnoliopsida
Order	-ales	Pinales, Liliales, Magnoliales
Family	-aceae	Pinaceae, Liliaceae, Magnoliaceae
Tribe	-eae	Pineae, Lilieae, Magnolieae
Genus	A noun	Pinus, Lilium, Magnolia
Species	Depends	Pinus flexilis,Lilium grandiflorum, Magnolia grandiflora
Variety	Depends	Pinus flexilis var. humilus
Form	Depends

Family names must be formed by combining a generic name with the suffix –aceae, but there are eight exceptions to this rule.  Each of the eight exceptional names was almost universally used, and used in the same sense, throughout the world when the first edition of the Code was prepared and so, in accordance with the overriding goal of achieving nomenclatural stability, it was agreed that they would continue to be used. The eight names are Gramineae (Grass Family, alternative Poaceae) Palmae (Palm Family, alternatively Arecaceae), Cruciferae (Mustard Family, alternativelyBrassicaceae), Leguminosae (Pea family, alternatively Fabaceae), Guttiferae(St. John’s Wort Family, alternatively Clusiaceae), Umbelliferae (Carrot Family, alternatively Apiaceae), Labiatae (Mint Family, alternativelyLamiaceae), and Compositae (Daisy Family, alternatively Asteraceae).

The name of a species is ALWAYS a binomial.   'Grandiflora' is not the name of a species.  It has to be combined with a generic name to form the name of a species, as in Magnolia grand flora.   The word 'grand flora' is what we call the specific epithet.  It states which species of Magnolia is under discussion.  Specific epithets are often adjectives that describe some attribute of the plant (it helps to learn a little Latin - 'grandiflora' means large flowered), but may refer to the habitat of a species (pretenses -of fields, lacustris - of lakes, saxicola - of rocky places), the place where the species occurs (chinensis, europaea, canadensis), or a person that is somehow connected to the species (the connection may be remote) - wrightii (referring a single, male person named Wright), wrightiae (referring to a single female person named Wright), wrightorum (referring to 2 or more people, one of whom - and possibly only 1 out of a 100 - was male) or wrightarum (referring to 2 or more people with not even one male among them - the Romans were sexist).  

Technically speaking, subspecies is a higher rank than variety.  A subspecies may include several varieties.  In practice, most taxonomists nowadays use one rank or the other, but not both.  Europeans tend to use subspecies and expect subspecies to occupy somewhat different areas whereas Americans use variety to denote plants that are different from the plants first put in the species.  In practice, the two ranks are used almost interchangeably. 

There are several optional ranks that are not listed above.  For more information, consult the Code. 

Writing Scientific Names 

In North America it is customary to write names at the rank of genus and below in italics or some other font that sets them apart from the rest of the text.  The most recent edition of the Code recommends that all scientific names, no matter what their rank, be in a different font from the rest of the text. Either practice makes it easy to scan for taxonomic information.

The names of all ranks from subgenus up MUST be capitalized.  In most instances, the specific epithet - and epithets for lower rankings, must NOT be capitalized.   There are some exceptions to this rule, cases where it is permissible, but not required, to capitalize the specific or varietal epithet, but you need to be careful.   Personally I recommend always using lower case for epithets (names distinguishing species and lower ranks).  That way one is never wrong. 

Authorities

You will notice that scientific names are often followed by a word or a capital letter and a period, or one or more unintelligible (to the uninitiated) sets of letters.  To join the initiated, read on.

The letters and/or words that follow a scientific name (sometimes they may be within a name - more on that later) are a shorthand reference to the name of the person or person that first gave a name to the entity involved and, in some instances, to the person of persons who first treated it at the rank being used.  This is probably easier to understand through some examples.

Consider Oryzopsis exigua Thurber

Note that only the first two words are italicized. This means you are looking at the name of a species.  'Thurber' is the last name of the person who first gave a name to this species - and the name he gave to it is the one shown.  

Consider "Oryzopsis asperifolia Michx." 

Again, you are looking at the name of a species in the genus Oryzopsis. This species was first named by a fellow whose name is abbreviated to Michx.  The period tells you that his name has been abbreviated.  His full name was Michaux.

To whom do you think "L." refers to in "Triticum aestivum L."?

"Dichanthelium lanuginosum (Elliott) Gould"

The name is Dichanthelium lanuginosum. As you immediately recognize (because the name is a binomial), the entity being named is being treated as a species. The first person to give a name to this species was a chap whose last name was Elliott, but he named it Panicum lanuginsoum. An inner circle of initiates could tell you that Elliott refers to Walter Elliott, who lived from 1803 to 1887, in eastern North America (There is a book called Authors of Plant Names that provides such insight). 

"Gould" stands for Frank W. Gould came along later and decided that, although Elliott was right in describing the species, he should have put it in a different genus, the genus Dichanthelium. Elliott's name is in parentheses to show that he was the first person to say "Aha, these plants are different"' Gould's name is outside the parentheses because he said, yes, Elliott was right - these plants are different - but they should be included in the genusDichanthelium, not Panicum

Consider "Distichlis spicata (L.) Greene

Linnaeus [L. stands for Linnaeus] first described the entity, but as Uniola spicata, not Distichlis spicata.  Greene was the first person to say no, these plants should be in Distichlis and then publish the combination "Distichlis spicata".  Linnaeus gets credit for being the first person to describe the entity, Green for being the person to give it the name shown.  

Most journals, and consequently many professors, ask that you cite the authorities for a name when it is first used. It is a rather meaningless exercise. It is meant to say "I am using this name in the sense that it was used by Greene (in the last example)", but really you are probably using it in the sense that it is used in some flora - or based on what your boss told you.  The 1999 Congress encouraged editors to be more rational about when it was useful to cite authorities and when not, but I suspect that most journals will continue to require them for some time to come.   

PROPOSING A NEW NAME OR NEW COMBINATION

If you have to publish a new name or combination, the Code requires that you follow certain rules (which it calls articles).  The key requirements are that:

1.  The new name or combination be published in a normal botanical outlet (not the Herald Journal or Statesman), copies of which are sent to at least two botanical institutions.
2.   If the name is for a new taxon, the distinguishing characteristics of the taxon, and preferably a full description, must be given in Latin and a holotype specified.
3.   If the name is simply a new combination, perhaps reflecting the transfer of a species from one genus to another or its demotion to a subspecies, there must be a clear and complete reference to the place where the original name was first published. 

WHY DO SCIENTIFIC NAMES GET CHANGED?

1. Discovery of an older name for the taxon that has been overlooked. In the last decade, it has become possible to conserve the name actually being used if one can show that the earlier name has never become established. This is anomenclatural, not taxonomic reason, for changing a name.
2. Discovery that the name being used for a particular taxon had been applied earlier to some other taxon. This is a nomenclatural, not taxonomic reason, for changing the name.
3. A decision that a species belongs in a different genus, or that a taxon needs to be split, or that the rank of the taxon needs to be changed. These are all taxonomic decisions. 

Most name changes reflect taxonomic decisions, but people that do not agree with the decision may continue to use the existing name.  This is what non-taxonomists find frustrating, if not infuriating.  Such people often become even more frustrated when told that there is neither set of criteria nor any governing board that determines at what rank a taxon should be recognized at, or what its boundaries should be. There are stronger and weaker arguments, but there is not even complete agreement on which strong arguments are and which are weak.  Taxonomy is not a field for those that require certainty in their life. 

Other Names

Plants are often known by many different names.  The names Convolvulus arvensis; Bindweed, Field bindweed, Common bindweed, Small bindweed,
Morning glory, and Liseron des champs all refer to the same species. The scientific name is Convolvulus arvensis. The other names are what are calledcommon names or vernacular names. I prefer the phrase 'vernacular name' because many so-called common names are simply names constructed to satisfy the demand for a name in a familiar language - they are not names in common use.  

Although many people like 'common names', there are many problems associated with them. For instance, Indian ricegrass (Achnatherum hymenoides) is not a close relative of either rice or wild rice (two very different species), but it was used for food by Native Americans and looks something like short grain rice.  I regard it as a genuine common name - among English speaking people. But the species was an important component of the diet of the Native Americans in Utah and the west. I rather doubt that it is called Indian Ricegrass in any Native American language.

Sometimes, the common name is the same, or partly the same as the scientific name. Many of you probably have no problem understanding Penstemon and Delphinium, but both of these are scientific names.  If you grew up in England or Australia, you would also be familiar with Capsicum as a common name, but in North America the commonly encountered species of Capsicum are called bell peppers or chili peppers. Despite their American names, species of bell peppers and chili peppers are more closely related to potatoes, eggplant, and nightshades than the kind of pepper that we use in pepper grinders.   

Problems arise when vernacular names have been created based on scientific names, but the meaning of the scientific name changes. For instance, all species in the genus Agropyron were given common names that incorporated the word 'wheatgrass'.  The trouble is that most of these species have since been kicked out of Agropyron.   It is not a huge problem, but it does point up how artificial so many 'common names' are.

Another problem with common names is that they  may apply to more than one species.  Corn used to the name for the grain most used for flour. In England, corn meant wheat; in Scotland, it meant rye or barley; in these two countries what Americans call corn was known as maize.  With the increasing dominance of American English, corn is now generally interpreted as meaning Zea mays - otherwise known as maize.  Similarly 'Bluebell' forms part, or all, of the name of many different plants. I learned of it as referring to monocots that are sold here as Wood hyacinths.  In Scotland, it applies to what I would call a Harebell. but the northern Utah flora refers to as Arctic bellflower. This same work gives Bluebell as the common name for Mertensia, a third genus and a third family. The USDA PLANTS database lists 18 different species as having Bluebell as part of their common name.  

Even in one's own language, common names can be rather obscure.  Do you know what plant is meant by Jack-in-the-Pulpit? Actually, that one is not bad. But how about "Welcome home husbands no matter how drunk you may be"?  Yes, I have seen it listed as a common name.  Clearly the people that use it are not bothered by long names. And no, I have never met anyone that uses it.

Common names have local value; scientific names have universal value. in this class, we focus on scientific names. 

Official Names  

In some countries, one or more government agencies creates plant names in the country's native or official language which they require their employees and contract employees to use.  Some of these names are what I would refer to as the truly common names, but many are just extensions of a true common name to other species, often by translating the specific epithet.  Official names can be useful in talking to non-botanists, but the result is often a parallel system of nomenclature.  The U.S.A. is one such country.  Indian ricegrass appears to be a genuine common name, that is, one that ordinary people coined and used, for the species that used to be known as Oryzopsis hymenoides.  Unfortunately, the USDA decided that all species of the genusOryzopsis should be called ricegrasses so the official name of O. kingiibecame King Ricegrass and O. asperifolia became Roughleaved ricegrass although neither of these species has ever been used as a source food for humans.  The problem with this approach to creating official names (which are generally called common names) is that taxonomic study shows that neither Oryzopsis hymenoides nor O. kingii belongs in Oryzopsis.  Oryzopsis hymenoides is now placed in either Achnatherum or Stipa (there is taxonomic disagreement) while O. kingii is placed in the genus Ptilagrostis.  Should the official name of P. kingie be changed from King Ricegrass? If so,to what?

There are other problems with having official names. For instance, several years ago, the old Soil Conservation Service sent out an updated list of approved common names for Utah's plants.  Among other idiocies, it was proposed that people should stop referring to penstemons (unless using a scientific name) and start referring to the species involved as beardtongues even thought the vast majority of the official names (which were called common names) were basically a translation of the binomial.  In my opinion, it makes more sense to teach people to refer to Eatons Penstemon rather than Eatons Beardtongue.  At least that way they learn half the scientific name. 

Q: Write a paragraph on

·       Botany

·       Herbaceous plants

·       Common woody plants

Botany

Botany, plant science(s), or plant biology (from Ancient Greek βοτάνη botane, "pasture, grass, or fodder" and that from βόσκειν boskein, "to feed or to graze"), a discipline of biology, is the science of plant life. Traditionally, the science included the study of fungi, algae, and viruses.

Botany covers a wide range of scientific disciplines including structure, growth, reproduction, metabolism, development, diseases, chemical properties, and evolutionary relationships among taxonomic groups. Botany began with early human efforts to identify edible, medicinal and poisonous plants, making it one of the oldest branches of science. Nowadays, botanists study about 400,000 species of living organisms.

The beginnings of modern-style classification systems can be traced to the 1500s-1700 when several attempts were made to scientifically classify plants. In the 19th and 20th centuries, major new techniques were developed for studying plants, including microscopy, chromosome counting, and analysis of plant chemistry. In the last two decades of the 20th century, DNA was used to more accurately classify plants.

Botanical research focuses on plant population groups, evolution, physiology, structure, and systematizes. Sub disciples of botany include agronomy, forestry, horticulture, and pale botany. Key scientists in the history of botany include Theophrastus, Ibn al-Baiter, Carl Linnaeus, Gregory Johann Mendel, and Norman Borlaug                                                                                                  

                    

Early botany

The history of botany begins with ancient writings on, and classifications of, plants. Such writings are found in several early cultures. Examples of early botanical works have been found in Ancient Indian sacred texts, ancient Zoroastrian writings,and ancient Chinese works.

Theophrastus (c. 371–287 BC) has been frequently referred to as the”father of botany”. The Greco-Roman world produced a number of botanical works including Theophrastus'sHistoria Plantarum and Dioscorides' De Materia Medica from the first century.

Works from the medieval Muslim world included Ibn Wahshiyya's Nabatean Agriculture, Abū Ḥanīfa Dīnawarī's the Book of Plants, and Ibn Bassal's The Classification of Soils. In the early 13th century, Abu al-Abbas al-Nabati, and Ibn al-Baitar (d. 1248) also wrote on botany.

Modern botany

A considerable amount of new knowledge today is being generated from studying model plants like Arabidopsis thaliana. This weedy species in the mustard family was one of the first plants to have its genome sequenced. The sequencing of the rice (Oryza sativa) genome, its relatively small genome, and a large international research community have made rice an important cereal/grass/monocotmodel. Another grass species, Brachypodium distachyon is also an experimental model for understanding genetic, cellular and molecular biology. Other commercially important staple foods like wheat, maize, barley, rye, pearl millet and soybean are also having their genomes sequenced. Some of these are challenging to sequence because they have more than two haploid (n) sets of chromosomes, a condition known as polyploidy, common in the plant kingdom. A green alga, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, is model organism that has proven important in advancing knowledge of cell biology. In 1998 the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group published a phylogeny of flowering plants based on an analysis of DNA sequences from most families of flowering plants. As a result of this work, major questions such as which families represent the earliest branches in the genealogy of angiosperms are now understood. Investigating how plant species are related to each other allows botanists to better understand the process of evolution in plants. Despite the study of model plants and DNA, there is continual ongoing work and discussion among taxonomists about how best to classify plants into various taxes.

Scope and importance of botany

Molecular, genetic and biochemical level through organelles, cells, tissues, organs, individuals, plant populations, and communities of plants are all aspects of plant life that are studied. At each of these levels a botanist might be concerned with the classification (taxonomy), structure (anatomy and morphology), or function (physiology) of plant life.

Historically all living things were grouped as animals or plants, and botany covered all organisms not considered animals. Some organisms included in the field of botany are no longer considered to belong to the plant (plantae) kingdom, which obtain their energy viaphotosynthesis, – these include bacteria (studied in bacteriology), fungi (mycology) including lichen-forming fungi (lichenologist), non-chlorophyte algae (philology) and viruses (virology). However, attention is still given to these groups by botanists, and fungi (including lichens), and photosynthetic protests are usually covered in introductory botany courses.

The study of plants is vital because they are a fundamental part of life on Earth, which generates the oxygen, food, fibers, fuel and medicine that allow humans and other life forms to exist. Through photosynthesis, plants absorb carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that in large amounts can affect global climate. Just as importantly for us, plants release oxygen into the atmosphere during photosynthesis. Additionally, they prevent soil erosion and are influential in the water cycle. Plants are crucial to the future of human society as they provide food, oxygen, beauty, medicine, habitat for animals, products for people, and create and preserve soil Paleobotanists study ancient plants in the fossil record. It is believed that early in the Earth's history, the evolution of photosynthetic plants altered the global atmosphere of the earth, changing the ancient atmosphere by oxidation.

Human nutrition

Nearly all the food we eat comes (directly and indirectly) from plants, such as this American long grain rice

Virtually all foods come either directly from plants, or indirectly from animals that eat plants.^[34] Plants are the fundamental base of nearly all food chains because they use the energy from the sun and nutrients from the soil and atmosphere, converting them into a form that can be consumed and utilized by animals; this is what ecologists call the first tropic level. Botanists also study how plants produce food we can eat and how to increase yields and therefore their work is important in mankind's ability to feed the world and provide food security for future generations, for example, through plant breeding. Botanists also study weeds, plants which are considered to be a nuisance in a particular location. Weeds are a considerable problem in agriculture, and botany provides some of the basic science used to understand how to minimize 'weed' impact in agriculture and native ecosystems.Ethnobotany is the study of the relationships between plants and people, and when this kind of study is turned to the investigation of plant-people relationships in past times, it is referred to as archaeobotany or paleoethnobotany.

Fundamental life processes

Botanical research has long had relevance to the understanding of fundamental biological processes other than just botany. Fundamental life processes such as cell division and protein synthesis can be studied using plants without the moral issues that come with conducting studies upon animals or humans. Gregory Mendel discovered the genetic laws of inheritance in this fashion by studying Pisum sativum (pea) inherited traits such as shape. What Mendel learned from studying plants has had far reaching benefits outside of botany. Similarly, 'jumping genes' were discovered by Barbara McClintock while she was studying maize.

Medicine and materials

Many medicinal and recreational drugs, like tetrahydrocannabinol, caffeine, and nicotine come directly from the plant kingdom. Others are simple derivatives of botanical natural products; for example, aspirin is based on the pain killer salicylic acid which originally came from the bark of willow trees. As well, the narcotic analgesics such as morphine are derived from the opium poppy. There may be many novel cures for diseases provided by plants, waiting to be discovered. Popular stimulants like coffee, chocolate, tobacco, and tea also come from plants. Most alcoholic beverages come from fermenting plants such as barley (beer), rice (sake) and grapes (wine).

 Hemp, cotton, wood, paper, linen, vegetable oils, some types of rope, and rubber are examples of materials made from plants. Silk can only be made by using the mulberry plant. Sugarcane, rapeseed, soy are some of the plants with a highly fermentable sugar or oil content which have recently been put to use as sources of befouls, which are important alternatives to fossil fuels (see biodiesel).

Environmental changes

In many different ways, plants can act a little like the 'miners' canary', an early warning system alerting us to important changes in our environment. Plants respond to and provide understanding of changes in on the environment:

 Plant systematic and taxonomy are essential to understanding habitat destruction and species extinction.

§  Ultraviolet radiation causes changes in plants which help in studying problems like ozone depletion.

§  Analyzing pollen from by plants thousands or millions of years ago allows reconstruct of past climates and predicting future ones; which is essential to climate change research.

§  Study of plant life cycles is an important part of phonology, which is used in climate-change research

Herbaceous plant

An herbaceous plant (in botanical use simply herb) is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground. Herbaceous plants may be annuals, biennials or perennials.

Annual herbaceous plants die completely at the end of the growing season or when they have flowered and fruited, and they then grow again from seed.

Herbaceous perennial and biennial plants have stems that die at the end of the growing season, but parts of the plant survive under or close to the ground from season to season (for biennials, until the next growing season, when they flower and die).

 New growth develops from living tissues remaining on or under the ground, including roots, a caudexes (a thickened portion of the stem at ground level) or various types of underground stems, such as bulbs, corms, solons, rhizomes and tubers. Examples of herbaceous biennials include carrot, parsnip and common ragwort; herbaceous perennials include potato, peony, host, mint, most ferns and most grasses.

 By contrast, non-herbaceous perennial plants are woody plants which have stems above ground that remain alive during the dormant season and grow shoots the next year from the above-ground parts – these include trees, shrubs and vines.

Some relatively fast-growing herbaceous plants (especially annuals) are pioneers, or early-succession species. Others form the main vegetation of many stable habitats, occurring for example in the ground layer of forests, or in naturally open habitats such as meadow, salt marsh or desert.

Some herbaceous plants can grow rather large, such as the Musa genus, to which the banana belongs.

The age of some herbaceous perennial plants can be determined by analyzing annual growth rings in the secondary root xylem, a method called herb chronology.

 

Common Woody plants

A woody plant is a plant that uses wood as its structural tissue. These are typically perennial plants whose stems and larger roots are reinforced with wood produced adjacent to the vascular tissues. The main stem, larger branches, and roots of these plants are usually covered by a layer of thickened bark. Woody plants are usually trees, shrubs, or lianas. Wood is a structural cellular adaptation that allows woody plants to grow from above ground stems year after year, thus making some woody plants the largest and tallest plants.

A plant with true woody stems contains wood, which is primarily composed of structures made of cellulose and lignin. These structures provide support and a vascular system which woody plants use to move water and nutrients from the roots to the leaves and to move sugars from the leaves to the rest of the plant. Most woody plants form new layers of woody tissue each year, and so increase their stem diameter from year to year, with new wood deposited on both sides of a vascular cambium layer that is present near the outer parts of the stem; under the bark. However, in some monocotyledons such as palms and dracaenas, the wood is formed in bundles scattered through the interior of the trunk.

Some annual plants appear to form woody stems in their first year, but die at the end of the growing season. They are herbaceous stems without the dead bark covering.

Woody herbs are herbaceous plants that do not have the thickened bark covering, but develop hard stems with vascular bundles. They include such plants as Uraria picta and certain species in family Polygonaceae. These herbs are not truly woody but have hard densely packed stem tissue. Other herbaceous plants have woody stems called a caudex, which is a thickened stem base often found in plants that grow in alpine or dry environments.

Under specific conditions, woody plants may decay or may in time become petrified wood.

Six different groups encompass woody plants. They include deciduous trees, deciduous shrubs, evergreen trees, evergreen shrubs, woody vines, and woody ground cover. Most people are familiar with deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs. Woody vines exist in both flowering and non-flowering varieties, and may die in areas that experience cold winters. Woody ground covers, such as creeping juniper, spread through underground rhizomes, or by a process called layering, where the branches develop roots wherever they touch the ground.

Woody plants encompass a range of popular garden plants, and some more rarely seen varieties. A liana is an example of a woody plant that is most commonly seen in the wild. A liana is a vine that has underground roots and climbs trees, winding its way up the tree toward the sunlight, using the tree as support.

Not all plants that appear to be a woody are. Many annual plants develop a stiff, wood like stem over the course of the growing season. The stems become hard due to the sheer volume of tissue. As the cells multiply, the stem becomes rigid, but is not really wood.

Q: Discuss briefly the different parts of a plant and their functions. Make a labeled diagram showing all parts of the plants.

Plant parts do different things for the plant.

Roots

Roots act like straws absorbing water and minerals from the soil. Tiny root hairs stick out of the root, helping in the absorption. Roots help to anchor the plant in the soil so it does not fall over. Roots also store extra food for future use.

                

Stems

Stems do many things. They support the plant. They act like the plant's plumbing system, conducting water and nutrients from the roots and food in the form of glucose from the leaves to other plant parts. Stems can be herbaceous like the bendable stem of a daisy or woody like the trunk of an oak tree.

                 

                                  

Leaves

Most plants' food is made in their leaves. Leaves are designed to capture sunlight which the plant uses to make food through a process called photosynthesis.

                             

Flowers

Flowers are the reproductive part of most plants. Flowers contain pollen and tiny eggs called ovules. After pollination of the flower and fertilization of the ovule, the ovule develops into a fruit.

                              

Fruit

Fruit provides a covering for seeds. Fruit can be fleshy like an apple or hard like a nut. In common language usage, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of a plant that are sweet and edible in the raw state, such as apples, oranges, grapes, strawberries, and bananas. On the other hand, the botanical sense includes many structures that are not commonly called "fruits", such as bean pods, corn kernels, wheat grains, and tomatoes.

                   

Seeds

Seeds contain new plants. Seeds form in fruit. These contain a tiny embryo of a plant inside.  The seed halves contain food which supplies energy and materials for growth until the plant grows its first leaves above the ground. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant. The formation of the seed completes the process of reproduction in seed plants (started with the development of flowers and pollination), with the embryo developed from the zygote and the seed coat from the integuments of the ovule.

                   

                      

                      

                               

                                                                                                                                                                                                  Q: Describe the nine common leaf shapes. Name one plant that has each leaf shape.

Leaf Function:

Leaves are the powerhouse of plants. In most plants, leaves are the major site of food production for the plant. Structures within a leaf convert the energy in sunlight into chemical energy that the plant can use as food. Chlorophyll is the molecule in leaves that uses the energy in sunlight to turn water (H₂O) and carbon dioxide gas (CO₂) into sugar and oxygen gas (O₂). This process is called photosynthesis.

Leaf Structure:

A leaf is made of many layers that are sandwiched between two layers of tough skin cells (called the epidermis). The epidermis also secretes a waxy substance called the cuticle. These layers protect the leaf from insects, bacteria, and other pests. Among the epidermal cells are pairs of sausage-shaped guard cells. Each pair of guard cells forms a pore (called stoma; the plural is stomata). Gases enter and exit the leaf through the stomata.

Most food production takes place in elongated cells called palisade mesophyll. Gas exchange occurs in the air spaces between the oddly-shaped cells of the spongy mesophyll.

Veins support the leaf and are filled with vessels that transport food, water, and minerals to the plant.

Nine common types of leafs:

Peltate

Peltate leaves are rounded with the petiole attached underneath the base of the leaf. Having a flat circular structure attached to a stalk near the center, rather than at or near the margin. Peltate leaf architecture has evolved from conventional bifacial leaves many times in flowering plant evolution. Characteristics of peltate leaves, such as the differentiation of a cross zone and of a radially symmetric, margin-less petiole, have also been observed in mutants of genes responsible for adaxial-abaxial polarity establishment
             

 

Lanceolate

 A leaf shaped like a lance head; tapering to a point at each end. A Lanceolate leaf is at least 3 xs longer than wide, and broadest below middle.
      

Ennsiformis leaf
Shaped like a sword ennsiform, as the long, flat leaves of the Iris. Plants have tall, emergent leaves, most with a wide base and a pointed tip. They are not normally grown for their bloom.
   

Elliptical

Elliptical leaves have the broadest width in the middle and then taper off at the ends. Elliptical leaves are sharply pointed at the apex and the base of a leaf, it says nothing about the length or the with or the blade.
      

Hastate

A leaf shaped like a spearhead with flaring pointed lobes at the base. Hastate leaves are very recognizable. They are taper off at three apexes and are arrowhead-shaped.
   


Lobed leaf 
 A leaf having deeply indented margins.it is similar in shape to a heart, or a butterfly. A typicalleaf is 7 to 10 cm
 

 

Cordate

Leaves that are Cordate-shaped have leaves that are broad to the point and then turn upwards at the base, forming a notch.  a heart-shaped leaf 

           

 

Ovate

An Ovate leaf is described as being broadest below the middle, and roughly 2 xs as long as it is wide. An egg-shaped leaf with the broader end at the base

 
Rotundifolia
Rotund- means round, foli means leaves. (rotundifolia = round-leaved).leaves are rounded with the petiole attached underneath the base of the leaf. Having a flat circular structure attached to a stalk near the center, rather than at or near the margin.

 

Q; Discuss the different parts of a flower and their functions. Make a labeled diagram as well?

Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Magnoliophyta, also called angiosperms). The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs. Flowers may facilitate out crossing (fusion of sperm and eggs from different individuals in a population) or allow selfing (fusion of sperm and egg from the same flower). Some flowers produce Diasporas without fertilization (parthenocarpy). Flowers contain sporangia and are the site where gametophytes develop. Flowers give rise to fruit and seeds. Many flowers have evolved to be attractive to animals, so as to cause them to be vectors for the transfer of pollen.

In addition to facilitating the reproduction of flowering plants, flowers have long been admired and used by humans to beautify their environment, and also as objects of romance, ritual, religion, medicine and as a source of food.

Male Parts

• Stamen is the male part of the flower. It is made up of the filament and anther; it is the pollen producing part of the plant. The number of stamen is usually the same as the number of petals.
• Anther is the part of the stamen that produces and contains pollen. It is usually on top of a long stalk that looks like a fine hair.
• Filament is the fine hair-like stalk that the anther sits on top of.

Female Parts

• Pistil is the female part of the flower. It is made up of the stigma, style, and ovary. Each pistil is constructed of one to many rolled leaf like structures.
• Stigma is one of the female parts of the flower. It is the sticky bulb that you see in the center of the flowers, it is the part of the pistil of a flower which receives the pollen grains and on which they germinate.
• Style is another female part of the flower. This is the long stalk that the stigma sits on top of.
• Ovary is the part of the plant, usually at the bottom of the flower that has the seeds inside and turns into the fruit that we eat. The ovary contains ovules.
• Ovule is the part of the ovary that becomes the seeds.

Flower part	Part function
Petal	Petals are used to attract insects into the flower, they may have guidelines on them and be scented.
Stigma	Is covered in a sticky substance that the pollen grains will adhere to.
Style	The style raises the stigma away from the Ovary to decrease the likelihood of pollen contamination. It varies in length.
Ovary	This protects the ovule and once fertilisation has taken place it will become the fruit.
Ovule	The Ovule is like the egg in animals and once fertilisation has taken place will become the seed.
Receptacle	This is the flower's attachment to the stalk and in some cases becomes part of the fruit after fertilisation e.g. strawberry.
Flower stalk	Gives support to the flower and elevates the flower for the insects.
Nectary	This is where a sugary solution called nectar is held to attract insects.
Sepal	Sepals protect the flower whilst the flower is developing from a bud.
Filament	This is the stalk of the Anther.
Anther	The Anthers contain pollen sacs. The sacs release pollen on to the outside of the anthers that brush against insects on entering the flowers. The pollen once deposited on the insect is transferred to the stigma of another flower or the same flower. The ovule is then able to be fertilised.

The stigma, style, ovary, and ovule are often known collectively as the carpel or female parts of the flower. 

The filament and the Anthers are collectively known as the Stamen or the male parts of the plant.

Q: Perform the activity demonstrating that leave transpire and fill up the science template. Write a paragraph describing transpiration and its functions.

Transpiration

It occurs when water is evaporated out of a plant mainly through holes called stomata on the underside of the leaves. There are other places however on a plant, from where transpiration can take place, such as the stem and petals of flowers. 

Functions of transpiration

Transpiration is a process similar to evaporation. It is a part of the water cycle, and it is the loss of water vapor from parts of plants (similar to sweating), especially in leaves but also in stems, flowers and roots. Leaf surfaces are dotted with openings which are collectively called stomata, and in most plants they are more numerous on the undersides of the foliage. The stomata are bordered by guard cells that open and close the pore. Leaf transpiration occurs through stomata, and can be thought of as a necessary "cost" associated with the opening of the stomata to allow the diffusion of carbon dioxide gas from the air for photosynthesis. Transpiration also cools plants, changes cell's osmotic pressure, and enables mass flow of mineral nutrients and water from roots to shoots.

Mass flow of liquid water from the roots to the leaves is driven in part by capillary action. In taller plants and trees however, the force of gravity can only be overcome by the decrease in hydrostatic (water) pressure in the upper parts of the plants due to the diffusion of water out of stomata into the atmosphere. Water is absorbed at the roots by osmosis, and any dissolved mineral nutrients travel with it through the xylem.

Plants regulate the rate of transpiration by the degree of stomata opening. The rate of transpiration is also influenced by the evaporative demand of the atmosphere surrounding the leaf such as humidity, temperature, and wind and incident sunlight. Soil water supply and soil temperature can influence stomata opening, and thus transpiration rate. The amount of water lost by a plant also depends on its size and the amount of water absorbed at the roots. Somatic transpiration accounts for most of the water loss by a plant, but some direct evaporation also takes place through the cuticle of the leaves and young stems. Transpiration serves to evaporative cool plants as the escaping water vapor carries away heat energy. A plant should not be transplanted in full sunshine because it may lose too much water and wilt before the damaged roots can supply enough water.

This table summarizes the factors that affect the rates of transpiration.

Environmental factors that affect the rate of transpiration

1. Light
Plants transpire more rapidly in the light than in the dark. This is largely because light stimulates the opening of the stomata (mechanism). Light also speeds up transpiration by warming the leaf.
2. Temperature 
Plants transpire more rapidly at higher temperatures because water evaporates more rapidly as the temperature rises. At 30°C, a leaf may transpire three times as fast as it does at 20°C.
3. Humidity
The rate of diffusion of any substance increases as the difference in concentration of the substances in the two regions increases. When the surrounding air is dry, diffusion of water out of the leaf goes on more rapidly.
4. Wind
when there is no breeze, the air surrounding a leaf becomes increasingly humid thus reducing the rate of transpiration. When a breeze is present, the humid air is carried away and replaced by drier air.

5. Soil water
a plant cannot continue to transpire rapidly if its water loss is not made up by replacement from the soil. When absorption of water by the roots fails to keep up with the rate of transpiration, loss of turgor occurs, and the stomata close. This immediately reduces the rate of transpiration (as well as of photosynthesis). If the loss of turgor extends to the rest of the leaf and stem, the plant wilts.

 

The Experiment

We know from experience that water needs to get into the plant from the soil. So it must enter the plant through its roots – that makes sense, not so? Put why would water want to go into a root? There have been enough hints that it has to do with evaporation and transpiration. 

Hypothesis/the Aim

 to show that water is released from plants during the process of transpiration and this is caused by evaporation.

 to show that water moves up from the bottom of the plant into the top parts of the plant. 

Equipment Needed 
Experiment A

 two branches, or pieces of a branch with at least 20 large leaves on them (a stick with one leaf on it won't work too well)! The two branches need to be approximately the same size and preferably from the same plant.

 two clear, see-through plastic bags, large enough to fit and seal the entire branch inside.

 Elastic bands.

  A dark, cool cupboard.

  A sunny day (difficult to find at the department store but freely available during summer and are known to pop up every now again during winter).

Experiment B

 A drinking glass or vase.

 Water.

  Food coloring (I have found that blue works best).

  A freshly cut white flower with a stem of at least 15cm.

  A sunny spot – like a window-sill, not Hawaii (although if you are given a free holiday there to do your experiment, it will be fine)!

Method 
Experiment A

  Cut off the two branches from the plant (make sure they are dry and have not just been watered or that it has not just rained).

  Immediately put one branch into one of the plastic bags and the other into the second bag. Seal the bags tightly using the elastic bands.

  Place the one “branch in a bag” in a cool, dark cupboard.

  Place the other in a sunny (preferably hot) spot – a window-sill is usually pretty good, or peg the packet onto the washing line.

  Leave them both in their spots for an hour.

Experiment B

  Fill the glass or vase with water and place a reasonable amount of food coloring into it.

  Place the flower in it and stand it on the window-sill (or beach if you are on holiday).

  Watch what happens to the color of the flower over the next couple of days.

Results
This is what you should see happening...
Experiment A

  The “branch in a bag” that was left in the sun, will have a fair amount of moisture inside the bag and the leaves are wilted and dry, whereas the “branch in a bag” that was left in the cupboard will have hardly any or possibly no moisture in the bag and the leaves are still fresh. 

The photo below shows the two bags with the branches in after the experiment was completed...

Experiment B

 The flower will start to turn the color of the food coloring.

The photo below shows my experiment. I used a white flower and blue food coloring ...

The Conclusion

  In Experiment A the temperature and light from the sun was the only difference between the two “branches in bags”. The branches did not seem like they had any moisture on or in them, but the one that was left in the sun showed that it must have had moisture in it.

The plant heating up because of the sun on it resulted in evaporation and transpiration. In other words water was evaporated out of the plant via the leaves - when this happens it is called transpiration.

  In Experiment B it was shown that the water must have been sucked up through the stem of the plant (due to evaporation and transpiration), as this was the only part in contact with the water. The color change in the flower showed that water must have been taken up and ended up in the flower.

  When considering the conclusions of the two experiments together, it is seen that evaporation and transpiration resulted in water leaving through the top of the plant (specifically the leaves, however some also will leave through flowers and stems) and is drawn up from the part in contact with the water (generally the roots, but in the case of experiment 2, the stem).

  So evaporation results in transpiration which results in more water being taken up by a plant.
Q: Perform the activity learning the functions of fruits and seeds and make a diagram showing the development of seed into seedling?
Functions of fruits and seeds
Most plants grow from seeds. These seed plants fall into two groups, angiosperms and gymnosperms. Angiosperms are the flowering plants. Their seeds develop inside a female reproductive part of the flower, called the ovary, which usually ripens into a protective FRUIT. Gymnosperms (conifers, Ginkgo, and cycads) do not have flowers or ovaries. Their seeds mature inside cones. Seeds may be carried away from the parent plant by wind, water, or animals.

A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant. The formation of the seed completes the process of reproduction in seed plants (started with the development of flowersand pollination), with the embryo developed from the zygote and the seed coat from the integuments of the ovule.

Seeds have been an important development in the reproduction and spread of flowering plants, relative to more primitive plants such as mosses, ferns and liverworts, which do not have seeds and use other means to propagate themselves. This can be seen by the success of seed plants (both gymnosperms and angiosperms) in dominating biological niches on land, from forests to grasslands both in hot and cold climates.

The term "seed" also has a general meaning that antedates the above — anything that can be sown, e.g. "seed" potatoes, "seeds" ofcorn or sunflower "seeds". In the case of sunflower and corn "seeds", what is sown is the seed enclosed in a shell or husk, whereas the potato is a tuber.

Seed production

Immature elm seeds

Seeds are produced in several related groups of plants, and their manner of production distinguishes the angiosperms ("enclosed seeds") from the gymnosperms ("naked seeds"). Angiosperm seeds are produced in a hard or fleshy structure called a fruit that encloses the seeds, hence the name. (Some fruits have layers of both hard and fleshy material). In gymnosperms, no special structure develops to enclose the seeds, which begin their development "naked" on the bracts of cones. However, the seeds do become covered by the cone scales as they develop in some species of conifer.

Seed production in natural plant populations vary widely from year-to-year in response to weather variables, insects and diseases, and internal cycles within the plants themselves. Over a 20-year period, for example, forests composed of loblolly pine and shortleaf pine produced from 0 to nearly 5 million sound pine seeds per hectare. Over this period, there were six bumper, five poor, and nine good seed crops, when evaluated in regard to producing adequate seedlings for natural forest reproduction.

Seed development

The inside of a Ginkgo seed, showing a well-developed embryo, nutritive tissue (megagametophyte), and a bit of the surrounding seed coat

Diagram of the internal structure of a dicot seed and embryo: (a) seed coat, (b)endosperm, (c) cotyledon, (d)hypocotyl

The seed, which is an embryo with two points of growth (one of which forms the stem, the other the roots) is enclosed in a seed coat with some food reserves. Angiosperm seeds consist of three genetically distinct constituents:

(1) the embryo formed from the zygote,

(2) the endosperm, which is normally triploid,

(3) the seed coat from tissue derived from the maternal tissue of the ovule. In angiosperms, the process of seed development begins with double fertilization and involves the fusion of the egg and sperm nuclei into a zygote. The second part of this process is the fusion of the polar nuclei with a second sperm cell nucleus, thus forming a primary endosperm. Right after fertilization, the zygote is mostly inactive, but the primary endosperm divides rapidly to form the endosperm tissue. This tissue becomes the food the young plant will consume until the roots have developed after germination. The seed coat forms from the two integuments or outer layers of cells of the ovule, which derive from tissue from the mother plant, the inner integument forms the tegmen and the outer forms the testa. When the seed coat forms from only one layer, it is also called the testa, though not all such testae are homologous from one species to the next.

In gymnosperms, the two sperm cells transferred from the pollen do not develop seed by double fertilization, but one sperm nucleus unites with the egg nucleus and the other sperm is not used. Sometimes each sperm fertilizes an egg cell and one zygote is then aborted or absorbed during early development. The seed is composed of the embryo (the result of fertilization) and tissue from the mother plant, which also form a cone around the seed in coniferous plants such as pine and spruce.

The ovules after fertilization develop into the seeds; the main parts of the ovule are the funicle; which attaches the ovule to the placenta, the nucellus; the main region of the ovule where the megagametophyte develops, the micropyle; a small pore or opening in the ovule where the pollen tube usually enters during the process of fertilization, and the chalaza; the base of the ovule opposite the micropyle, where integument and nucellus are joined together. The shape of the ovules as they develop often affects the final shape of the seeds. Plants generally produce ovules of four shapes: the most common shape is called anatropous, with a curved shape. Orthotropous ovules are straight with all the parts of the ovule lined up in a long row producing an uncurved seed. Campylotropous ovules have a curved megagametophyte often giving the seed a tight “C” shape. The last ovule shape is called amphitropous, where the ovule is partly inverted and turned back 90 degrees on its stalk (the funiculus).

In the majority of flowering plants, the zygote's first division is transversely oriented in regards to the long axis, and this establishes the polarity of the embryo. The upper or chalazal pole becomes the main area of growth of the embryo, while the lower or micropylar pole produces the stalk-like suspensor that attaches to the micropyle. The suspensor absorbs and manufacturers nutrients from the endosperm that are used during the embryo's growth.

The embryo is composed of different parts; the epicotyle will grow into the shoot, the radicle grows into the primary root, thehypocotyl connects the epicotyle and the radicle, the cotyledons form the seed leaves. Monocotyledonous plants have other structures; instead of the hypocotyle-epicotyle, it has a coleoptile that forms the first leaf and connects to the coleorhiza that connects to the primary root and adventitious roots form from the sides. The seeds of corn are constructed with these structures; pericarp, scutellum (single large cotyledon) that absorbs nutrients from the endosperm, endosperm, plumule, radicle, coleoptile and coleorhiza - these last two structures are sheath-like and enclose the plumule and radicle, acting as a protective covering. The testae or seed coats of both monocots and dicots are often marked with patterns and textured markings, or have wings or tufts of hair.

Seed functions

Seeds serve several functions for the plants that produce them. Key among these functions is nourishment of the embryo, dispersal to a new location, and dormancy during unfavorable conditions. Seeds fundamentally are a means of reproduction and most seeds are the product of sexual reproduction which produces a remixing of genetic material and phenotype variability that natural selection acts on.

Embryo nourishment

Seeds protect and nourish the embryo or young plant. Seeds usually give a seedling a faster start than a sporeling from a spore, because of the larger food reserves in the seed and the multicellularity of the enclosed embryo.

 

 

Seed dispersal

                                        

Unlike animals, plants are limited in their ability to seek out favorable conditions for life and growth. As a result, plants have evolved many ways to disperse their offspring by dispersing their seeds (see also vegetative reproduction). A seed must somehow "arrive" at a location and be there at a time favorable for germination and growth. When the fruits open and release their seeds in a regular way, it is called dehiscent, which is often distinctive for related groups of plants; these fruits include capsules, follicles, legumes, silicles and siliques. When fruits do not open and release their seeds in a regular fashion they are called indehiscent, which include the fruits achenes, caryopsis, nuts, samaras, and utricles.

Seed dispersal is seen most obviously in fruits; however many seeds aid in their own dispersal. Some kinds of seeds are dispersed while still inside a fruit or cone, which later opens or disintegrates to release the seeds. Other seeds are expelled or released from the fruit prior to dispersal. For example, milkweeds produce a fruit type, known as a follicle,^[10] that splits open along one side to release the seeds. Iris capsules split into three "valves" to release their seeds.

By wind (anemochory)

Dandelion seeds are contained within achenes, which can be carried long distances by the wind.

The seed pod of milk weed(Asclepias syriaca)

§  Some seeds (e.g., pine) have a wing that aids in wind dispersal.

§  The dust like seeds of orchids are carried efficiently by the wind.

§  Some seeds, (e.g. milkweed, poplar) have hairs that aid in wind dispersal.^[12]

Other seeds are enclosed in fruit structures that aid wind dispersal in similar ways:

§  Dandelion achenes have hairs.

§  Maple samaras have two wings.

By water (hydrochory)

§  Some plants, such as Mucuna and Dioclea, produce buoyant seeds termed sea-beans or drift seeds because they float in rivers to the oceans and wash up on beaches.

                      

By animals (zoochory)

§  Seeds (burrs) with barbs or hooks (e.g. acaena, burdock, dock) which attach to animal fur or feathers, and then drop off later.

§  Seeds with a fleshy covering (e.g. apple, cherry, juniper) are eaten by animals (birds, mammals,reptiles, fish) which then disperse these seeds in their droppings.

§  Seeds (nuts) which are an attractive long-term storable food resource for animals (e.g. acorns,hazelnut, walnut); the seeds are stored some distance from the parent plant, and some escape being eaten if the animal forgets them.

Myrmecochory is the dispersal of seeds by ants. Foraging ants disperse seeds which have appendages called elaiosomes^[14] (e.g. bloodroot, trilliums, Acacias, and many species ofProteaceae). Elaiosomes are soft, fleshy structures that contain nutrients for animals that eat them. The ants carry such seeds back to their nest, where the elaiosomes are eaten. The remainder of the seed, which is hard and inedible to the ants, then germinates either within the nest or at a removal site where the seed has been discarded by the ants.^[15] This dispersal relationship is an example ofmutualism, since the plants depend upon the ants to disperse seeds, while the ants depend upon the plants seeds for food. As a result, a drop in numbers of one partner can reduce success of the other. In South Africa, the Argentine ant (Linepithema humile) has invaded and displaced native species of ants. Unlike the native ant species, Argentine ants do not collect the seeds of Mimetes cucullatus or eat the elaiosomes. In areas where these ants have invaded, the numbers of Mimetes seedlings have dropped.^[16]

In botany, the ripened ovary in flowering plants that develops from one or more seeds or carpals and encloses one or more seeds. Its function is to protect the seeds during their development and to aid in their dispersal. Fruits are often edible, sweet, juicy, and colorful. When eaten they provide vitamins, minerals, and enzymes, but little protein. Most fruits are borne by perennial plants.

Fruits are divided into three agricultural categories on the basis of the climate in which they grow. Temperate fruits require a cold season for satisfactory growth; the principal temperate fruits are apples, pears, plums, peaches, apricots, cherries, and soft fruits, such as strawberries. Subtropical fruits require warm conditions but can survive light frosts; they include oranges and other citrus fruits, dates, pomegranates, and avocados. Tropical fruits cannot tolerate temperatures that drop close to freezing point; they include bananas, mangoes, pineapples, papayas, and litchis. Fruits can also be divided botanically into dry(such as the capsule, follicle, schizocarp, nut, caryopsis, pod or legume, lomentum, and achene) and those that become fleshy (such as the drupe and the berry). The fruit structure consists of the pericarp or fruit wall, which is usually divided into a number of distinct layers. Sometimes parts other than the ovary are incorporated into the fruit structure, resulting in a false fruit or pseudocarp, such as the apple and strawberry. True fruits include the tomato, orange, melon, and banana. Fruits may be dehiscent, which open to shed their seeds, or indehiscent, which remain unopened and are dispersed as a single unit. Simple fruits (for example, peaches) are derived from a single ovary, whereas compositae or multiple fruits (for example, blackberries) are formed from the ovaries of a number of flowers. In ordinary usage, ‘fruit’ includes only sweet, fleshy items; it excludes many botanical fruits such as acorns, bean pods, thistledown, and cucumbers.
Activity:
1. First, distribute disposable cutting boards to students. Then, distribute fruit such as strawberries, kiwifruit, cherries, and pears to each student or group. Next, ask students to predict (formulate a hypothesis) whether or not their fruit will have seeds. If so, where will the seeds be? What size and color will the seeds be? How many seeds will the students find?
2. Have students dissect fruit and chart whether or not each fruit has seeds. Using the Data Sheet “Does My Fruit Have Seeds?” (Student Handout One) students\should record whether or not each fruit has seeds. Allow some time for the students to share their information with their neighbors (or other groups). Students should also illustrate their fruit and describe the attributes of any seeds found. Students may use magnifying glasses, if available; to more closely examine small seeds. Students will use the information from the data sheet to prove or disprove their hypothesis. Repeat this process for each fruit being dissected.
3. As the students are dissecting their fruit, tell them to think about whether each fruit makes a good “suitcase” for the seeds.
a) Does the skin or rind of the fruit protect the seeds inside?
b) Does the pulp or flesh of the fruit keep the seeds from moving around inside the fruit?
c) Does the size and shape of the fruit help the seeds travel?
d) Does the fact that the fruit tastes good help the seeds travel? If so, how?
4. The following sample questions may also help you in guiding this activity:
a) What do you notice about the inside of the fruit?
b) Where are the seeds?
c) How many seeds are there?
d) Are the seeds always in the same spot?
e) Compare the kiwifruit and the lemon — which has more seeds?7
The Huntington   Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
Fruit and Seeds in Plant Reproduction
f) Does a lemon always have the same number of seeds?

5. Finally, after all the data has been collected, have students share their\information with the class. Ask students to examine their conclusions. Did they prove or disprove their guess? Use this information to fill out the “Learned” column of the KWL chart.
Note:
This activity can be organized in a variety of ways. You may prefer to do a whole class lesson in which each child would have his/her own fruit and then guide the activity with relevant questions as each student works independently with 4-5 different fruit. Each student would follow the teacher’s instructions and dissect each fruit and chart information in the same order. Another possibility is to have 4-5 groups of students each investigate one type of fruit and then share the results with the rest of the class. Yet another version would be to have each group work with the same 4-5 types of fruit, but the students would take turns doing the dissecting and charting. Your preference may be influenced by the grade level of your students and the amount of adult supervision available to you during the lesson.
Discussion Questions
1. Where are the seeds of the strawberry? [Surprise, they are on the outside!]
2. Why is the fruit like a suitcase? [It helps the seeds travel and also protects them from damage.]
3. Name three different ways seeds can travel. [Wind, water, animals.]
4. Why don’t seeds grow in your tummy? [Seeds need light, air, water, and soil nutrients to grow. They cannot get all of these inside your body.]
5. Can you grow a plant from a seed? [Try it and see!]