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OBE Seminar today
12:10 Skaggs 117
Eric Aschehoug (PhD Defense)
“Indirect Interactions and Plant Community Structure”
Christina McBane & Hilary Bland
Blue Mountain
More Asteridae - big families!
Asteraceae
Apiaceae

Apiaceae - Carrot family
Inflorescence
umbel (often compound)

Apiaceae - Carrot family
Special Fruit type
schizocarp
= 2 fused achenes

Lomatium - Biscuitroot
- herbs w/ ferny leaves

- common in rocky grasslands
- flowers often yellow
- taproot edible (with processing)
Asteraceae - Aster or Composite family
Alternate name: Compositae
Distribution
worldwide, primarily temperate zone
extremely diverse: 1500 genera, >23,000 species

Asteraceae - Aster or Composite family
Inflorescence = a head with involucral bracts
Each “flower” is an inflorescence

Asteraceae - Aster or Composite family
Inflorescence = a head with involucral bracts

Asteraceae - Aster or Composite family
2 kinds of flowers in composite heads
-- disk flowers (radially symmetric, in center)
-- ray flowers (irregular, often sterile)
Involucral
bracts
Inflorescence
receptacle

Asteraceae - Aster or Composite family

Asteraceae - Aster or Composite family
Inflorescence
receptacle

Asteraceae - Aster or Composite family
Inflorescence
receptacle

Asteraceae - Aster or Composite family

3 kinds of inflorescences
ray flowers only
disk and ray flowers
disk flowers only
Not all composites are yellow -- this is just a sample!!
Asteraceae - Aster or Composite family
Fruit type = achene
often with pappus (calyx)
modified for wind dispersal

Asteraceae - Aster or Composite family

In Montana
largest family: 80 genera, 374 species
mostly herbs, some shrubs (ex. Artemisia or Sagebrush)
several Noxious Weeds (ex. Centaurea or Knapweed)
Asteraceae - Aster or Composite family
Leaves
alternate or opposite
entire, toothed or pinnately lobed
sometimes prickly (thistles)
often a basal rosette in perennial herbs

Aster - Aster
- >25 species in Montana
- annual or perennial herbs
- leaves simple, often linear
- disk and ray flowers

Centaurea - Knapweed/Star-thistle
- ~5 non-native weeds

- perennial herbs w/ taproot
- leaves simple, lobed, compound
- plants spiny
Artemesia - Sagebrush
- 20 species
- dryland shrubs
- leaves simple or lobed; hairy
- plants aromatic
- disk flowers only (not showy)

Lamiaceae
Boraginaceae
Scrophulariaceae
Solanaceae
Phlox
Dodecatheon
Campanula
More Asteridae - big families!
Asteraceae
Apiaceae

Exam 2 grade distribution
Mean = 80
Median = 81