Ferns

What characteristics are used to discriminate among the families of ferns and lower vascular plants? For example, what characteristics might be used in construction of a key to these families?

Information for herbarium specimen; angiosperm life cycle

1. List all of the information that should be recorded in the field notebook for any plant collected in the field and intended to become a herbarium specimen. 2. Illustrate and describe the Angiosperm life cycle.

Plant Taxonomy

5. Describe the flowers of an orchid. How many petals, sepals and carpels do they have? How are the anthers and stigmatic surface organized? 6. Describe the characteristics of the family Brassicaceae. What features of this family make it easy to recognize in the filed?

Why have so many plants developed broad, flattened leaves? What is heliotropism?

If photosynthesis is to occur at all, the plant must be able to intercept light. The better a plant is in intercepting the light, the greater opportunities the plant has to produce food. Why have so many plants developed broad, flattened leaves? What is heliotropism, and how does it make plants more efficient? What are sleep movements? Describe the model for leaf orientation in the upper, middle, and lower levels of a leaf canopy. Write a 200 word essay.

What happens in the fall when leaves change colors?

Plants absorb light energy using special molecules called photosynthetic pigments (predominantly chlorophylls). These pigments absorb most of the visible light except for wavelengths in the green part of the spectrum. Consequently, plants appear green. But what happens in the fall when leaves change colors? Why are there so many different colors? And why are the colors more intense some years?