Lecture 3 Flashcards
What family did we review in the Arecales order?
Arecaceae (palm family)
What families did we review in the Commelinales order?
Commelinaceae
Ponteridaceae
What families did we review in the Zingiberales?
Musaceae
Zingiberaceae
Cannaceae
What families did we review in the Poales order?
Bromeliaceae
Typhaceae
Juncaceae
Cyperaceae
Poaceae
What are some characteristics of poales?
Found globally
Mostly wind pollinated
Some very important food plants
Lots of flowers that are missing parts due to evolution of wind pollination
List some common traits of the Arecaceae family
- Big meristem at top of plant
- Strong fibrous cells
- Restricted to tropics because no dormancy mechanisms
What family is the banana in?
Musaceae
What family is tumeric, ginger, galangal,in?
Zingiberaceae (ginger family)
What are some traits of Bromeliaceae family?
Pineapple family
Epiphyte of the American tropics, family diversifies very recently close together, overlapping leaves can hold water
What is the habitat of the Typhaceae family (cattail family)?
Found throughout the world in freshwater wetland habitats
What are the two genera in Typhaceae family?
Sparganium (bur-reeds)
Typha (cattails)
Describe typha flowers
Staminate flower: 3 stamens and bristle perianth
Carpellate flower: single ovary and bristle perianth
Achene fruits with pappus
Describe Sparganium flowers
Carpellate flower: 1-3 fused carpels
- 2-6 scale-like tepals
- unisexual flowers in unisexual heads
Staminate flower: 1-8 stamens
- perianth of 1-6 scale-like tepals
- at a later stage, with carpellate flowers already fertilized, anthers open on staminate flowers
Achene fruits
What are similarities between Typha and Sparganium?
- Rhizomatous perennial herbs
- Usually emergent aquatics, some with floating leaves
- Linear leaves; parallel veins
- Monoecious (both male and female unisexual flowers on same plant)
- Fruits dry, indehiscent (not opening), 1-seeded
What are differences between Typha and Sparganium?
Typha:
- inflorescence a dense cylindrical spike
- perianth of bristles
- ovary with a small stalk
- fruits wind-dispersed
Sparganium:
- inflorescence globose unisexual heads
- perianth of small tepals
- ovary sessile
- fruits dispersed by water or animals
Describe Juncaceae’s traits
Perianth of 6 papery scale-like tepals
6 stamens
3 fused carpels; many ovules
3 stigmas
round spongy stems; 3-ranked leaves
Superior ovary
Capsule fruit
Where can Juncaceae family be found?
Globally, most wetland or facultative wetland
Some upland species; none of economic importance
What are Cyperaceae’s (sedge family) vegetative features?
Triangular stems (sedges have edges)
Close leaf sheath
Node where leaf is attached
3-ranked leaves
What are Cyperaceae’s floral features? How are the flowers pollinated?
Flowers are in spikes (may be called spikelets-several or one per stem)
No petals or tepals (same as in Juncaceae)
Perianth of bristles surrounding anther and pistil
What family is Carex genus a part of? What are its features?
Cyperaceae (sedge family)
- unisexual flowers
- No perianth
- Ovary enclosed in perigynium (a little sac around the ovary)
- spikes unisexual (all male of all female florets) or mixed
- 3-ranked leaves
- stem triangular
- leaf sheaths closed
- stigmas 3 matches three-sided fruit
- stigmas 2 matches two-sided fruit
- achene fruit
Why is the Poaceae family economically important?
Crop grasses for farmland
50% of humanity’s calories are from grasses
- wheat, barley, oats, rye, sorghum, rice, maize, corn, sugarcane, etc.
What are the vegetative features of Poaceae?
Stem surrounded by base of leaf blade
Leaf sheath usually open
Ligule: The membranous appendage arising from the inner surface of the leaf at the junction with the leaf sheath
Auricle: small, clasping outgrowths that may or may not be present on the leaf collar
Node/joint where sheath is attached to stem
2-ranked leaves
Stems are hollow (grasses are hollow all the way to the ground)
What is the Poaceae floral structure?
Very reduced flowers, inflorescences are composed of sections called spikelets
Within spikelets are found florets (or individual grass flowers)
3 stamens with long filaments
2 feathery stigmas
What is a glume?
a bract (leaf-like structure) below a spikelet in the inflorescence (flower cluster) of grasses
What is a rachilla?
the stem within a spikelet in grass
What is a lemma?
Outer bract on the floret of a grass
What is a palea?
Inner bract on the floret of a grass
What is an awn?
A stiff, narrow, pointed structure that some species of grass have on either the tips or backs of one of their glumes or lemmas
What are common traits of Poaceae, Cyperaceae and Juncaceae?
- Perianth reduced to small scales, bristles, or nothing
- No nectaries; wind or self-pollinated
- Superior ovaries
- Linear leaves with parallel veins
- Many wetland species
Where are Cyperaceae commonly found?
Wetlands, peatlands
Where are Poaceae found?
Wetlands, grasslands and savannas
What are unique traits/differences of Poaceae, Cyperaceae and Juncacaea?
Poaceae: 2-ranked leaves, ligule, round stem, 3 stamens, 2 stigmas
Juncaceae: 3-ranked leaves, no ligule, sheath often open, round stem, 6 stamens, 3stigmas
Cyperaceae: 3-ranked leaves, no ligule, sheath closed, triangular stem, 1-3 stamens, 2-3 stigmas
What is the difference between native and introduced Phragmites australis?
Native:
- lighter yellow-green
- most leaf sheaths missing or very loosely attached to over wintering culms
- susceptible to disease (or fungus?)
- smaller
Introduced:
- darker blue-green
- nearly all leaf sheaths present over wintering culms
- larger
What are characteristics of swamps, marshes, and shallow open waters?
- Generally nutrient-rich, productive sites
- Water pH is usually near neutral
- High OM content in soil, but well decomposed
- Water levels tend to vary seasonally and across years–influx of sediments
- Oxygen deprivation is not usually a serious problem–although low oxygen compared with upland soils
What do drainage patterns determine in wetlands?
They determine the type of wetland
Salt vs. freshwater
Amount of oxygen in soil/water
Type of dominant vegetation
What are marshes and what are some characteristics of them?
Wetlands that are periodically inundated by standing or slow-moving water and hence are rich in nutrients
- Wet, mineral soil areas
- Well-decomposed OM is present
- Emergent vegetation of reeds, rushes or sedges, with few woody plants
- Subsurface is continuously waterlogged; standing water may or may not be present
What are swamps are what are some of characteristics of them?
Standing or gently moving waters occur seasonally or persist for long periods, leaving the subsurface continuously waterlogged
Vegetation dominated by forest or tall shrubs
Standing water may or may not be present
What are floodplain forests? What are some characteristics of them?
Forests located next to rivers or lakes that are flooded only seasonally
Somewhat open canopy (could be a swamp or more dry, depending on soil texture and topography)
Often high silt content in soil
Subsurface may or may not always be inundated, so floodplains are not necessarily swamps
What characterizes shallow open water?
Surface waters are 75% free of emergent vegetation, but floating, rooted, aquatic plants may be present
Depth of water usually less than 2m at midsummer levels (could vary seasonally)
- most of the year has water covering soil
Includes lakes and river edges and ponds
List some swamp and floodplain plants common to Southern Quebec that we saw in the field
Acers (rubrum, saccharinum), alnus incana, ulmus americana, thuja occidentalis, salix, osmunda regalis, osmundastrum cinnamomeum, matteuccia struthiopteris, onoclear sensibili, impatiens capensis, etc.
List some common marsh plants, families and genera we learnt in this class?
Salix, alisma, sagittaria, typha, sparganium, iris, phragmites australis, phalaris arundinaceae, potamogeton, lythrum salicaria, osmunda regalis, osmundastrum cinnamomeum, Cyperaceae (carex), juncaceae, poaceae, nymphaceae, etc.