Download Weed Identification - National Railroad Contractors Association

National Railroad
Contractors Association
Plant Biology
 Plant
growth stages
 Plant life cycles
 Plant types
 Plant construction
 Plant growth factors
 Seedling
 Vegetative
 Reproductive
 Mature
 Annual
 Biennial
 Perennial
 Annuals
complete their life cycle in one
year.
 Winter
annuals
 Summer
annuals
 Seeds
germinate late summer to early
fall,
 Flower
and produce seed in mid-to late
spring, and
 Die
the next summer.
 Seeds
germinate in the spring,
 Flower,
produce seeds mid-to late
summer, and
 Die
in the fall.
 Ex-most
everything
 Live
for two growing seasons.
 Seeds germinate in spring, summer, or fall of
first year.
 Plants over winter as basal rosette with
storage root.
 After exposure to cold, plants flower and
produce seeds in summer of second year.
 Die in the fall.
 Produce
vegetative structure that
allows them to live more than two
years.
Rhizomes – horizontal underground stems
 Tubers - thick underground stems on the ends
of rhizomes
 Bulbs - modified underground leaf tissue
 Stolons - horizontal above ground stem
 Creeping roots - underground root modified
for food storage and vegetative reproduction,
deeper in soil, resistant to control

• Overwinters by a perennial root
• Reproduce entirely by seed
 Overwinters
 Produces
new plants from
reproductive structures
 Most
also reproduce from seed
Stolons
 Creeping
roots
Soil line
 Rhizome
http://www.wildlifeanalysis.org/movabletype/archives/rhizome.jpg
 Tuber
 Bulb
reproducing
 Grasses/Sedges
 Broadleaves
 Vines
 Trees
 Ferns
(forbs)
• One leaf at germination
• Fibrous root system
•Growing point at soil surface
•Narrow upright leaves
•Parallel veins running length of
leaf
• 2 leaves at germination
• Broadleaves
• Netted veins
• Growing points all over
• Tap root system
 Woody
plants
• Trees - perennial, single main stem or trunk
• Shrubs - perennial, more than one principal
stem, shorter than trees
 Vascular
bundles in
grass
 In
forbs
woody plants
Xylem moves
water and
herbicide from
roots to leaves
 Temperature
 Soil
 Water
 Describe
the sizes of the soil particles.
 These separates are typically named
clay, silt, and sand.
 Soil texture classification is based on
the fractions of soil separates present
in a soil.
 The soil texture triangle is a diagram
often used to determine soil textures.
Clay Increases
Leaching
Adsorption
Herbicide Use
Sand Increases
Organic Matter (OM )
Increases
 Cuticle
 Stomata
 Chlorophyll
 Photosynthesis
 Protective
waxy
covering of the top of
the leaf
 Cuticle
tends to be
thicker on the top of
the leaf
Green part of plant
Manufacture of nutrients for plant