Download Lecture 18

BIOLOGY 3404F
EVOLUTION OF PLANTS
Fall 2008
Lecture 18
Tuesday November 25, 2008
Monocots
Phylum Magnoliophyta, Class
Liliopsida
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Order Acorales - Sweet Flag
Order Alismatales - Water Plantain, etc.
Order Dioscoreales - Yams and relatives
Order Liliales - Lilies and relatives
Order Asparagales - Asparagus and relatives
Order Arecales - Palms
Order Commelinales - Spiderwort , etc.
Order Zingiberales - Gingers, bananas etc.
Order Poales - Graminoids and bromeliads
Acorales: Acoraceae, Sweet Flag
Rhizomes of Sweet Flag have been
used as food and medicine around the
northern hemisphere. They are said to
have a pungent and bitter taste, perhaps
why they were sometimes candied.
Chewing on a fresh piece of rhizome
(preferably with the mud washed off) is
said to be good for relieving toothaches
or for teething children; also for
relieving tiredness among trappers (the
northern version of coca leaves). Not
recommended by the FDA.
http://caliban.mpiz-koeln.mpg.de/~stueber/thome/band1/tafel_042_small.jpg
Order Alismatales
• Families
• Alismataceae - water plantains
• Araceae - aroids (includes Lemnaceae – the
duckweeds)
• Hydrocharitaceae - various “waterweeds”
• Potamogetonaceae - pondweeds
• Zosteraceae - eelgrass
Alismataceae
Saggitaria (arrowhead lilies, left)
and Alisma (water plantains,
below) are common aquatic plants
http://biology.smsu.edu/Herbarium/Plants
Araceae, the Aroids
Anthurium (left) and Arisaema (Jack-in-the-pulpit, right) are classic
aroids, with spathe and spadix inflorescences
Duckweeds: Lemna and Wolffia (Araceae, formerly Lemnaceae)
Wolffia borealis flower (Araceae, formerly Lemnaceae)
Flowering plant of Lemna gibba (Araceae, formerly Lemnaceae)
Hydrocharitaceae - various “waterweeds”
Valisneria, or freshwater eel grass (Hydrocharitaceae)
Elodea (top left, a
common aquarium plant)
is a monocot and
member of the
Hydrocharitaceae, but
Myriophyllum (top right)
and Ranunculus aquatilis
(lower) are both eudicots
– all adapted for life in
water.
Potamogetonaceae - pondweeds
Pondweeds may have broad floating
or emergent leaves, and grass-like or
filamentous submerged leaves;
flowers are inconspicuous.
http://www.mikrojezioro.met.pl/atlas_ro
s/original/potamogeton_natans_rys.jpg
Zosteraceae – eel grasses
www.nature.shetland.co.uk/ brc/seawatch.htm
Eel grass (Zostera marina) is an important
food of many marine animals, including
brant geese; flowers are rarely seen and
very inconspicuous at the base of the
leaves.
http://www.eeb.uconn.edu
Order Dioscoreales:
Dioscoreaceae - Yams
Progesterone (birth-control) pills and cortisone are
manufactured from cultivated yams (Dioscorea)
Order Liliales
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Families
Liliaceae
Smilacaceae
Trilliaceae
Zygadenus
(Liliaceae)
Smilax, known
as greenbriers
Order Asparagales
Alliaceae (incl
Amaryllidaceae)
Asparagaceae
(incl Agavaceae)
Iridaceae
Orchidaceae
Yucca and
Asparagus
(Asparagaceae)
Alliaceae - onions and Amaryllis
Iridaceae
http://www.frogsonice.com/photos/flowers2/iris.jpg
Orchidaceae – the orchids
Pollinating an orchid can be dangerous!
Order Arecales:Arecaceae
(Palmae) - the palms
Coconut, oil
palm, palm
nuts
(pejibaye),
palm hearts,
…
Order Commelinales
• Commelinaceae - spiderworts
• Pontederiaceae - pickerelweeds
Order Poales - graminoids,
bromeliads and relatives
Families
• Bromeliaceae - bromeliads
• Cyperaceae - sedges
• Eriocaulaceae
• Juncaceae - rushes
• Poaceae (= Gramineae) - grasses
• Typhaceae (incl. Sparganiaceae) - bullrushes
• Xyridaceae
Bromeliaceae - bromeliads
Cyperaceae, Typhaceae
Carex, a sedge
Typha, cat-tail or bullrush
Poaceae (= Gramineae) - grasses
Order Zingiberales
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Heliconiaceae - heliconias
Marantaceae - marantas
Musaceae - bananas
Zingiberaceae - gingers
http://floredumonde.online.fr/
photos/heliconia.jpg
Heliconia
A ginger
Maranta, Marantaceae
Musa, the banana
Importance
• Economic: HUGE! List some of the major monocot
crops. What other products, other than food, do we
obtain from monocots?
• Ecological: HUGE! Grasses, and in cooler, wetter
areas sedges, form the dominant vegetation over large
areas of the globe.
• Evolutionary: Second and fifth largest (in number of
species) flowering plant families: Orchidaceae (20k)
and Poaceae (9k). Tremendous diversity and huge
impact on evolution of other groups organisms, from
microbes to vertebrates.