Download upper primary - Garth Cochrane

UPPER PRIMARY
Adelaide Botanic Garden Education Service
This Outreach Education publication for schools is made possible by the partnership between the Botanic
Gardens of Adelaide and the Department of Education and Children's Services. Outreach Education is a team
of seconded teachers, managed through the Open Access College, who are based in public institutions.
© 2007 The State of South Australia, Department of Education and Children's Services and The Botanic
Gardens of Adelaide.
This publication is protected by copyright. It may be reproduced by South Australian teachers for use with
their students. For all other uses contact the Open Access College ([email protected]).
A self guided trail in the Adelaide Botanic Garden
Upper Primary
Emergents
Canopy
Understorey
For school visits, bookings are essential.
Contact the Bookings Officer, Adelaide Botanic Garden
tel: 8222 9311 fax: 8222 9399
Content: Steve Meredith
Illustrations: Gilbert Dashorst
Revised January 2007
Adelaide Botanic Garden Education Service
TEACHER INFORMATION
Purpose
The various plants along this trail cover a range of topics associated with tropical rainforests. The content is
relevant to the Science and Society & Environment curriculum areas. The trail is designed to allow for the
diverse student learning styles of students in years 4 - 7.
Key environmental points the trail touches on include:
Rainforest structure
Climate
Plant diversity
Rainforest adaptations
Environmental observation through the senses
Planning
•
The plants on this trail may be found by referring to the appropriate map and by looking for the plant
nameplate. The plants may be visited in any order. Allow about 1 hour to complete the trail.
•
Small GREEN tags on the nameplate will also assist in locating plants listed in the Bicentennial
Conservatory. However, do not follow the large blue signs in the building, they are for a separate
pamphlet tour.
•
Due to the conditions inside the conservatory, teachers need to be realistic about the length of time
students may be expected to gather information. This will vary depending on the timing of your visit.
Guidelines for School Groups
In the garden students must be supervised at all times.
Before starting your walk please remind your group that:
• Gardens are peaceful places for people to relax and enjoy.
• Walking slowly and talking quietly ensures everybody and everything
will enjoy the gardens.
• Plants are fragile, touch them gently.
• Flowers, leaves, bark, seeds etc. growing on plants or lying on the ground are
there for all to enjoy. When finished with plant material found on the ground
always return it to the garden.
• Keeping to paths and not walking on beds or borders avoids damage to plants.
The garden is a special place. Please leave it as you find it.
TEACHER GUIDE
This guide is designed to provide background information for teachers on each plant included in the walk.
Some suggested student responses are included but they are by no means exhaustive. Many of the
questions invite an open ended response and are of a sensory nature.
Begin outside the Conservatory in Botanic Park: (See the garden map)
1. Ficus thonningii - Strangler Fig
Although not growing as a strangler here, this plant is capable of such growth in natural rainforest. The
twisted pattern of the trunk and aerial roots gives an idea of its ability to encircle and kill a host tree.
Stranglers often start their life high in the upper canopy from seed dropped by fruit eating birds, possums
or bats. Up high, the seedling grows quickly because of the more readily available sunlight.
Strangler figs can kill the host tree by squeezing its trunk, cutting out the sunlight and competing for
nutrients from the soil. Young healthy host trees may outgrow the strangler.
The visible roots growing directly off the trunk indicates rainforest air is very moist.
Key Ideas: Plants in rainforests may have unusual features. Plants and animals can help each other.
2. Ficus macrophylla - Moreton Bay Fig
Before moving into the clump of trees find a sunny open space and ask the students to note factors of
the climate such as temperature, sunlight, wind and humidity. Once under the trees they will feel a
reduction in the temperature, light and wind. An increase in humidity would be harder to notice.
Such trees form a canopy or roof to the rainforest which helps create the climate suitable for the
understorey plants below.
The large buttress roots help support the tree, absorb nutrients (generally found only near the surface of
rainforest soils) and take in oxygen.
Removal of such trees and the subsequent loss of soil binding roots can lead to large scale erosion in
these high rainfall areas without canopy protection.
Hundreds of epiphytic plants living on such trees may also be lost when just one large canopy tree is
removed.
Key Ideas: The canopy layer changes the conditions below. Roots in the rainforest are often near the
surface.
3. Agathis robusta - Kauri Pine
The Kauri Pine is inside the Botanic Garden to the right of the Conservatory as you face the northern
entrance. As in a rainforest it appears to emerge from the canopy below.
The tall straight trunk of the Kauri Pine, branches spreading and covered with leaves only at the top, is
ideally suited to maximising light capture.
Key Ideas: Rainforest grows in layers. Plants have designs that help them grow in those layers.
Inside the Conservatory: (See the Conservatory map)
4. Molineria capitulata - Weevil Lily
Unlike many flowering plants that have their flowers displayed above the leaves, this plant has yellow
flowers on the stem near the ground. At some times of the year only the brown, dead flower clusters
may be visible. Insects that live on the ground probably pollinate this plant. A weevil is one known
pollinator.
Key Ideas: Plants have many different designs, usually for a specific purpose.
5. Linospadix monostachya - Walking Stick Palm
The narrow straight trunk, attractive bamboo-like rings and strength meant thousands of these small
palms were harvested during World War 1 to make walking sticks for returned wounded soldiers. A
comfortable handgrip was carved from the compact root ball found underground at the base of the stem.
The small cabbage formed at the growing tip is edible as are the ripe small red fruits.
Key Ideas: Plants have designs that help them live in many different places.
6. Caryota no - Fishtail Palm
The fishtail shape of the leaves gives this palm its common name. It is capable of reaching 27 metres, the
same height as the tallest part of the Conservatory.
As it grows and spreads it will increasingly shade the understorey below providing a habitat for a wider
range of plants.
Key Ideas: There are many fascinating shapes and designs in the natural world if students take the time
to look.
7. Scindapsus altissimus - Climbers
Climbers are a common part of the rainforest, expending less energy to reach the light at the upper
canopy than trunk building trees.
The Scindapsus is using its roots to climb the trunk of the Palm tree. Another climber on the trunk uses a
spiralling stem, while to the right is a climbing palm which uses sharp, backward pointing spines along
the leaf mid rip to pull itself up into the canopy.
Climbers may eventually compete with the trees that support them for light, water and mineral nutrients.
Large woody climbers are called lianas and may run for a kilometre in length through the rainforest.
Key Ideas: Plants need light to grow. Some plants have special features to help them reach the light.
8. Cocos nucifera - Coconut
The fibrous material surrounding the coconut seed is used in the manufacture of coir matting. The large
leaves are often used to construct a thatched roof for tropical huts.
Almost every part of the coconut is used in some way, cooking, sap making, cosmetics, the finest
medicinal charcoal, drinks, etc.
A dwarf Coconut Palm can be seen opposite to the coconut just across the short exit pathway.
Key Ideas: Rainforests are home to millions of people around the world. The forest provides for all their
needs.
9. Asplenium nidus - Birds Nest Fern
Epiphytes such as this are prolific in the rainforest, growing on the trunks of larger trees without harming
them.
The spongy base, which resembles a bird’s nest, has fibrous material capable of trapping and holding
water.
The funnel-like display of leaves channels water and debris falling from above to the centre of the plant.
When decomposed the debris or food leftovers brought into the centre of the plant can also be a source
of mineral nutrition.
Key Ideas: Plants can have different methods of finding and storing nutrients and water.
10. Leaf Litter
Numerous small invertebrates and various stages of decaying leaves can be seen on the ground at this
spot.
Large amounts of dead leaves, flowers, fruits and branches are shed from the rainforest canopy each
year, up to 8-10 tonnes/hectare annually. This litter is decomposed by small insects and fungi, which
quickly return nutrients to the soil for the plants to re-use.
This process is rapid due to the warm, moist conditions on the forest floor.
This thin, recycled surface layer of nutrients is vital to the rapid growth of rainforest plants yet is quickly
leached away and lost when the forest is cleared.
Key Ideas: Leaf litter is a vital part of the rainforest ecosystem.
11. Drip Dry Leaves
Rainforests are constantly warm and wet. Plants have different features to keep dry and prevent fungi
from growing and killing the leaf.
Find leaves in this area with the following features deigned to quickly get rid of water:
♦ a waterproof waxy coating
♦ leaves on an angle
♦ drip tips at the bottom of the leaf.
These structures are best seen on new complete leaves.
This plant can be found at two locations, please refer to map.
Key Ideas: Too much water in rainforest can lead to attack by fungi, mosses and other small plants.
12. Alcalypha hispida - Red Hot Cat Tails
The attractive, furry red flowers and cat tail shape give the plant its common name of Red Hot Cat Tails.
Rainforests are warm all the time, so many plants flower throughout the year.
Key Ideas: There are not so many seasonal differences in rainforest due to a more constant climate than
our own.
13. Rainforest Leaves
This station is a chance for students to enjoy the diversity of living leaf designs to be found in rainforests.
From the upper walkway many attractive and diverse leaf shapes are evident. In general the leaves of the
rainforest plants tend to be large and dark green in colour in order to maximise light capture.
Key Ideas: Rainforest plants have dark coloured leaves to maximise photosynthesis.
14. Musa banksii - Wild Banana
This is the most common of native bananas with clumping stems to about five metres. The female part of
the flower develops into finger-like bananas, which yellow when ripe. Wild bananas are not generally
eaten because they have little flesh or flavour and are full of 4 millimetre long seeds.
Such wild plants are important as they maintain the “wild” genes, which may be called upon in the future,
should new pests and diseases threaten our cultivated species that are grown in farms. Farm grown
bananas have no seeds and are full of tasty fruit.
Key Ideas: Many foods originally come from wild rainforest plants.
15. Large Leaves – Pitchardia pacifica
Encourage students to find the largest leaves near this station. Living in the dark on the rainforest floor
many understorey rainforest plants have large, water-repellent leaves. The large leaf surface area is
designed to maximise the available light for plant growth. Both large and small veins prevent paper-thin
leaves from flopping down.
Key Ideas: Rainforests have beautiful and functional designs.
16. Leaf Feel – Amomum queenslandicum
Feel the underside of the leaves, they are soft and velvety. They feel this way because of fine invisible
hairs. Apart from feeling nice, the hairs may protect the plant from leaf-eating insects or from losing too
much water.
Key Ideas: Plants need to protect themselves from both climate and animals.
A Rainforest Walk
Upper Primary
N
Adelaide Botanic Garden
Stations 1 to 3
Botanic Park
1
Friends Gate
2
Toilets
Hackney
Road
3
Plane Tree Drive
Toilets
Toilets
Restaurant
Kiosk
Education
Service
National
Wine Centre
Toilets
Royal Adelaide Hospital
North Terrace
Main Gate
Rainforest Walk Upper Primary
Plants in the Bicentennial Conservatory
Stations 4 to 16
Look for the small GREEN
tags on the plant labels.
Upper Path
Lower Path
Do not follow the large blue labels.
12
11
13
10
9
7
8
6
14
5
Around Here
15
4
Around Here
16
Entrance
STUDENT GUIDE
1. Strangler Fig
This tree can live high up the rainforest on a host tree
that it may eventually strangle and kill.
Note and feel the roots growing from the main trunk.
Describe their shape and strength.
___________________________
How could these roots strangle a host tree?
______________________
2. Moreton Bay Fig
The branches and leaves of these large rainforest trees form the roof or
upper canopy of the rainforest.
Move to the middle of this stand of trees and look up.
How does the canopy change the climate on the rainforest floor below ?
Sunlight_____________ Temperature_____________
How could they help the tree growing in wet soils ?
___________________________________________
3. Kauri Pine
The Kauri Pine is a rainforest giant that rises
above the canopy.
How does its shape help the leaves to catch light
high above the canopy ?
________________________________
Stand back and look to the top of this tree.
Why is this part of the rainforest not growing in
the Conservatory ?
________________________________
4. Weevil Lily
Rainforest flowers come in many different
shapes and sizes.
Find some flowers on this plant.
What are unusual about where they are
growing ?
____________________________
5. Walking Stick Palm
This small palm was used to make walking sticks for
wounded soldiers.
Give two reasons the shape of the plant makes it suitable for
walking sticks.
______________ _____________
6. Giant Fishtail Palm
Palms are common rainforest plants.
This palm will one day make the upper
canopy of the Conservatory.
Where do palms grow from ?
_______________________
Why is it called a fishtail palm ?
_______________________
7. Climbers
The rainforest floor is often dark.
Many plants climb quickly upwards.
What are they trying to reach ?
_________________________
What part of this climber is used to
pull it up the palm trunk ?
_________________________
Find a different climber nearby.
What is it using to climb?
_________________________
8. Coconut
The coconut is one of the most useful plants to come from
tropical regions.
Feel the brown fibre on the trunk near a leaf.
What common item could be made from this woven material ?
___________________________________
When building a hut how could the leaves be used ?
____________________________
9. Birds Nest Fern
Plants that live off the ground up in the rainforest
canopy are called epiphytes.
How does the pattern of leaves help this plant to
catch water.
___________________________
What else is trapped in the middle of the plant ?
___________________________
How might this material eventually help the plant ?
____________________________________
____________________________________
Find other epiphytes a little further down the path.
10. Leaf Litter
Where does the leaf litter on the ground come from ?
____________________________________________
____________________________________________
Carefully lift some leaves.
What can you see helping to rot the leaves ?
____________________________________________
____________________________________________
How do these rotting leaves help rainforest plants ?
____________________________________________
____________________________________________
11. Elephant Ears
Heavy rainfall means plants have to shed
water quickly before they are weighed
down and break.
Pointed drip tips on the ends of leaves form
droplets and shed water.
Find a plant with drip tips.
Its name is __________________
Look around and find a leaf that looks a little like Elephant Ears.
Touch it gently.
Apart from drip tips list two other ways it is able to get rid of water.
____________________ _______________________
12. Red Hot Cat Tails
Describe the feel of the flower.
________________________
________________________
Give three reasons ‘Red Hot Cat
Tails’ is a good name for this plant.
________________________
________________________
________________________
13. Rainforest Leaves
How many different leaf shapes can you count from this spot and the lower
walkway ? _________________
Circle the world which best describes the general size of the leaves.
Large
Medium
Sketch an interesting leaf shape.
Small
14. Wild Banana
This is a “wild” Australian banana that is
full of seed.
What do you think the fruit might taste like?
__________________________
Bananas we eat originally came from wild rainforest
banana plants but they do not have any seeds.
How would farmers be able to grow new plants without
using seeds ?
___________________________
15. Large Leaves
Find the largest leaves in this area.
How do large leaves help rainforest plants ?
_________________________
Sketch the pattern of the veins in a leaf on the drawing.
Veins transport materials, how else do they help leaves ?
_______________________________________________
16. Leaf Feel – Amomum queenslandicum
Plants often have to protect
themselves against leaf
eating insects.
Gently run your hand
along the underside of a leaf.
Describe the feeling.
____________________________
____________________________
How might this help protect the plant ?
____________________________
____________________________