Lecture 6: Superrosids Flashcards
Are Fabaceae plants economically important
Yes: 2nd most important economically after Poaceae since it includes the bean family, hay, cover crops, peanut, soya bean, clover, etc.
What are the three largest plant families?
Orchidaceae
Asteraceae
Fabaceae
Fabaceae and N-fixing
Fabaceae have symbiotic associations with Rhizobium bacteria to fix nitrogen
- high in protein, good cover crops, presence or absence can impact ecosystems, community composition of plants
What is domestication syndrome? What are some examples?
Traits in common across many domestic plant
Example:
- uniform seed germination
- annual growth pattern
- decrease in bitterness, other toxic compounds
- larger edible part
- harder stems, firmly held grain
What are the 3 subfamilies of Fabaceae?
Caesalpinioideae
Mimosoideae
Faboideae
What are the stem/leaf characteristics of Fabaceae/Faboideae (subfamily of Fabaceae)?
Trees, shrubs, herbs, or vines with alternate, often pinnately compound leaves or trifoliate leaves
What are the floral characteristics of Fabaceae/Faboideae (subfamily of Fabaceae)?
Flowers perfect, papilionate: with 1 standard (banner) petal, 2 wing petals and a keel of 2 fused petals
Often with fused sepals
Stamens diadelphous (in two parts), forming tube around the ovary.
- Usually 9 fused and 1 free stamen
One simple pistil (i.e. made up of 1 carpel) with 1 or more seeds on marginal placenta
Superior ovary
Flowers often in racemes
What type of fruit does Fabaceae/Faboideae produce?
Legume fruits
Floral parts in Faboideae
- 1 Banner or standard petal
- Keel (2 fused petals)
- Wing (2 fused petals)
- Free stamen and fused stamens
- Pistil
- Calyx
What are common features of Rosaceae family?
Woody or herbaceous plants
Alternate leaves with stipules
- many have compound leaves
Perfect, radially symmetrical flowers
Hypanthium, either adnate or free from gynoecium
- nectaries at the top of hypanthium
Numerous stamens
Various fruit types (such as achene, drupelet, follicles, drupe, pome, etc.)
What is the pericarp?
All of the layers of the ovary tissue
Rhamnaaceae
Buckthorn family
Invasive species group
Not very commercially important
Rhamnus cathartica and Frangula alnus (both invasive)
What are some of Ulmus (genus of the Ulmaceae family) stem/leaf characteristics?
Trees with alternate leaves
Leaves with oblique bases
- double serrate, with a scratchy surface texture
- sometimes have uneven base to their leaf (or always?)
What are some of Ulmus (genus of the Ulmaceae family) floral characteristics?
Small perfect flowers in clusters
5-9 sepals, 5-9 stamens opposite them
Ovary of 2 fused carpels with a single ovule
Superior ovary
What kind of fruit does Ulmus genus produce?
Samara fruits
Is the Cannabaceae group commercially important?
Yes: cannabis, hops
What are the stem/leaf characteristics in Urticaceae (stinging nettle) family?
Herbaceous plants
Opposite toothed leaves
What are the floral characteristics in Urticaceae family?
Inflorescences of tiny, unisexual flowers
Often with stinging hairs containing formic acid
Monoecious or dioecious
Where are Urticaceae plants found?
Many species common in floodplains
Are Urticaceae plants commercially important
No, but is the stinging nettle family (has medicinal properties)
What are characteristics of the Cucurbitaceae (cucumber) family?
- Vines with alternate leaves and tendrils
- Monoecious
- Leaves palmately lobed
- Flowers unisexual
- Radial symmetry: 5 fused sepals, 5 fused petals, 5 stamens OR 3 fused carpels
- Inferior ovary
What type of fruit do we find in the Cucurbitaceae family?
Fruit a pepo or capsule
What order is the Cucurbitaceae family found in?
Cucurbitales
What are three families we have seen in the Rosales order?
Rosaceae
Urticaceae
Ulmaceae
What are three families we are studying in the Fagales order (catkin-breaking trees and shrubs)?
Fagaceae (fagus, quercus, castanea)
Juglandaceae (carya, juglans)
Betulaceae (alnus, betula, carpinus, corylus, ostrya)
What is a catkin?
Highly reduced inflorescences, usually bearing unisexual flowers with very reduced perianths
Each unit is a reduced branch with bracts that often fuse to or subtend the tiny perianth parts
Due to the extreme reduction, the units of the catkin are often difficult to interpret as individual flowers
Always wind-pollinated groups that have catkins since they are designed for wind pollination
What are stem/leaf characteristics of the Fagaceae (oak) family?
Monoecious trees or shrubs
Leaves alternate, pinnately veined, may be pinnately lobed
What are the floral characteristics of the Fagaceae (oak) family?
Unisexual flowers with reduced perianth
Staminate flowers in catkings
Carpellate flowers in small clusters
What type of fruit in the Fagaceae family?
Fruit a nut, surrounded (at least partially) by an involucral husk that opens at maturity, called a cupule (this is the cap of acorns, for example)
What is a nut?
A dry, single seeded fruit with a hard outer shell, not splitting open at maturity
Often bracts become a dry or fleshy outer layer surrounding the fruit
What is the distinction between a nut and an achene?
The distinction is based on how large the fruit is and how hard the outer layers are
- small fruits with very hard outer layer might be called an achene or nutlet
What is a cupule?
A cup-like structure made of coalescent bracts at the base of some fruits
What are some traits of Fagus grandifolia?
- Monoecious tree
- Unisexual flowers in unisexual clusters
- Alternate simple leaves
- Inferior ovary
- Pair of flowers with involucre (one or more whorls of bracts surrounding flowers)
- Tiny sepals
- 3 stigmas
What are the tree/leaf characteristics of Junglandaceae (walnut) family?
Monoecious trees
Leaves alternate, pinnately compound
What are the floral characteristics of Junglandaceae (walnut) family?
Flowers unisexual, with reduced perianth
Staminate flowers in catkins
Carpellate flowers in clusters or racemes
What type of fruit in Juglandaceae family?
Fruit a nut with a husk surrounding it
Or drupes?
What are the tree/leaf characteristics of Betulaceae (birch) family?
Monoecious trees or shrubs
Leaves alternate, simple, usually double-serrate
What are the floral characteristics of Betulaceae (birch) family?
Flowers unisexual, grouped into staminate and carpellate catkins
- carpellate catkin: each unit is derived from a branch with 3 carpellate flowers; green structures are fused bracts; pink structures are the stigmas, two per ovary
- staminate catkin: each unit is derived from a branch with three staminate flowers
