Botany 250 Lab 5: Plants of Paes, Palikir


Objective

To identify the local common flora to the extent that our guides and knowledge make possible.

Phases

Collection

Four teams will spend roughly an hour in the field collecting local flora. When collecting a flowering plant (an angiosperm), collect a single sample that includes both the flower and the leaves. If seeds are present, collect those too. When collecting a seedless vascular plant, collect a frond or a plant along with visible reproductive structures (sori or clubs). Try not to take a whole plant, just collect a few leaves and an attached flower, or collect a single frond with sori. Collect grasses that are blooming. Do not collect bryophytes at this time. The four groups will be referred to as North - South - East - West. Assignment to a group will be by count off.

  1. North group is responsible for collecting in the field on the North side of the campus access road and down the main road towards Kolonia as far as the the river.
  2. South group will head down the main towards Pwisehn Malek as far as the river demarcating the Kitti boundary.
  3. East group will head over the hill to the East of the campus.  This group should be able to pick up some good grass samples.
  4. West group will work in the forest area to West of the agriculture building.   This group should be able to pick up a number of seedless vascular plants along with angiosperms.

Bring in a dozen or so plants.  Do not collect obviously "owned" plants.  Be respectful of property. Avoid the ornamentals on campus and at the stores.  Pay attention to the plants collected by your group: remember what plants were collected.

Identification

Upon return to the lab, place each collected plant on a sheet of blank paper.   The seedless vascular plants will be on one table, the grasses on another, angiosperms will be on the other tables.  If your group collected a plant identical to another group's plants, place the plants on the same sheet of paper.  On the sheet of paper write down as precisely as possible the location from which the plant was collected.

Use the guides to identify the plants.  Be careful with the guides.   Be patient, there are only a limited number of guides.  Pass them around and share them. 

As some people are using the guides, walk around the lab and if you know the local name and spelling for a plant, write that name in the appropriate box. 

Write down on a sheet of paper the names of each of the plants collected by your group that have been identified.

Producing a virtual herbarium page

Each person will pick one identified specimen to create their virtual herbarium page.  This can be done today or on Thursday.  If you opt to do this Thursday you will need to collect a fresh specimen of the plant. 

Scan the plant in using the scanner.  Set the image width to 200 pixels and the JPEG quality to 95%.

Type in the identified Genus species binomial (the name) for the plant. Italicize the binomial name.  Finish the web page by adding your own description.   Your description must include the following sections:

Simple flowers Compound flowers
Latin binomial Latin binomial
Chuukese name (if known) Chuukese name (if known)
Kosraen name (if known) Kosraen name (if known)
Pohnpeian name (if known) Pohnpeian name (if known)
Yapese name (if known) Yapese name (if known)
Location collected Location collected
Habit (herb, grass, shrub, tree... whether found terrestrial, epiphytic, or aquatic location, etc.) Habit (herb, grass, shrub, tree...)
Leaf description including stem attachment details and pattern of leaves. Leaf description including stem attachment details and pattern of leaves.
Calyx description Involucre (the "calyx" of the compound head)
Corolla description Ray flower (edge of disk)
Stamen description Disk flower description
Pistil description Stamen and pistil descriptions if possible
Fruit or seed description Fruit or seed

If your plant is a seedless vascular plant describe the location collected, habit, leaf arrangement, leaf shape, and sori location and shape for your description.   Include the Latin binomial name and local names.

Instructor: Dana Lee Ling

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