Download Lamberton Conservatory Lab

Lamberton Conservatory Lab
Plant Diversity
Roy Ronalds
Nov 9th, 2005
Seasonal Plant Display:
Chrysanthemums probably have two types of flowers in their inflorescences because
there is a group of anther like structures in the center of the whole thing that are different
from the more obvious ray flowers. In the Jerusalem Artichoke, these structures were
separate flower structures, so they probably are in the ‘mums as well. In order to get the
‘mum to flower in the summer, keep it in a darkened place to simulate the longer nights.
In order to get the ‘mum not to flower in the fall, just keep it in a well light place for part
of the night.
Epiphytes, orchids, ferns, and exotics:
Distinguising features of the cycad are its frond-like leaves, its rough, herbaceous stem,
which apparently is used for storage. Features that it has in common with other plants are
its leaf formation, which is like that of ferns and palms, and its stem structure, which is
like palms.
Scent for orchids attracts their pollinators. If an orchid has no odor, then it probably
relies upon birds or some other animal that has does not have a good sense of smell. The
unflowering orchids still have exposed white roots that arc out from the central stem.
The only fern that seemed to be the same as the ones that we saw last week were the
staghorn fern and the other one with broad fused leaves. The adaptation of the round
basal leaves is probably to provide stability to the herbaceous photosynthetic leaves that
will in some cases have to extend horizontally from the branch or trunk of a tree.
The circular spots on the stem are probably the result of some type of blight.
Tropical Rainforest Room:
The stem of the banana tree, travelers palm and fishtail palm, is underground. Large
leaves require structural strength to keep what is a rather floppy, paper thin light catcher
from simply drooping and not being perpendicular to the light. The development in fruit
that develop parthenocarpically must both cut out fertilization, which means that there
will be no endosperm or embryo in the fruit. Bananas simply propagate asexually, so
they probably spread through their rhizoid system, and when a rhizoid breaks, two
different plants arise out of it. As well, crop bananas are able to rely upon humans to
spread more plants, whether through cuttings, transplantation, or the like.
Desert environment:
CAM plants would have malic acid (the storer/carrier of the CO2 that they will use
during photosynthesis) in their flesh, so a chemical test is probably the best method of
categorizing a CAM plant. Succulence must be linked with CAM because the plants will
need to have a large capacity for storage of the malic acid to provide for their
photosynthesis during the day.
Carniverous plants:
In the Carniverous plants terrarium there were quite a few interlopers that were not
carnivorous, but at least 8 of the plants that were present seemed to have structures for
catching insects.
Houseplants:
A good houseplant is hardy, doesn’t take excessive amounts of watering, has low light
requirements, and doesn’t require a lot of space, whether above (branches and leaves) or
below the ground (roots). Personally, aside from a spider plan that has survived with me
for an extremely long time, I have made it my policy to stick to plants that either smell
good or even better, are edible. So far, this policy has not lent itself to choosing good
houseplants that are able to survive well, however. My main problem at the moment is
that I have no place with access to any useful amount of light. Perhaps you might know
of some offhand?
Three plants and their differences:
Century Plant
Orchid
Banana Tree