Module 1 - How to identify plants

Question 1

What are flower stalks called?

Answer 1

Peduncles. Also the stalk bearing fruit.

Question 2

What is the internode?

Answer 2

The distance on the stem between leaves/nodes/buds

Question 3

What is a petiole?

Answer 3

Leaf stalk

Question 4

T/F: the parts of parsley that we most commonly eat are the leaves.

Answer 4

True and false. The leaf is everything that comes off the main stem. The leafLETS and petioles are what we generally eat.

Question 5

What is a rachis?

Answer 5

The ‘stem’ that compound leaves (or, more accurately, the petiolules) attach to.

Question 6

What is a petiolule?

Answer 6

The stem of a leaflet.

Question 7

What is an umbel?

Answer 7

A cluster of flowers whose stems arise from a common center point. Parsley family is good example - actually umbels on umbels.

Question 8

What is a stipule?

Answer 8

“a leaf-like appendage”, usually at the base of the leaf/petiole. Often look like two little tiny leaves or cotyledons at the base of the petiole.

Question 9

What are basal leaves?

Answer 9

Leaves that grow from the lowest part of the stem. Basal generally refers to the base of the stem. Think of thistles and how the leaves often come from a similar origin near the base/soil.

Question 10

What does basal mean when referring to trees?

Answer 10

Generally, tree stems. Basal area = total cross-sectional area of all stems in a stand measured at breast height. Expressed per unit land.

Question 11

What is a compound leaf?

Answer 11

A leaf broken up into leaflets which are joined to a single stem (the petiole).

Question 12

What does it mean if the petiole is ‘sheathing’?

Answer 12

Wraps around the stem.

Question 13

What is the sepal?

Answer 13

The green part at the base of a flower that encapsulates it before it opens. e.g. strawberry hull.

Question 14

What does ‘the inflorescence’ refer to?

Answer 14

Group of flowers

Question 15

What is a schizocarp?

Answer 15

A dry fruit that separates into multiple mericarps (carpels) when mature.

Question 16

What is a carpel?

Answer 16

The female reproductive organ of a flower. Includes stigma, style (the tube that goes from stigma to ovary), and ovary

Question 17

What parts make up the male reproductive organs of a flower?

Answer 17

The stamen is the male part, which consists of a filament (stem) and anther (looks like a coffee bean on top of the filament).

Question 18

What is a raceme?

Answer 18

A flower cluster resembling a compound leaf; i.e. a main stem (petiole) with multiple flower stalks (of roughly the same length) coming off at equal distance from each other. The flowers at the bottom develop first.

Question 19

What plants are in the Asteraceae family?

Answer 19

Sunflowers, daisies, marigolds, lettuce, artichokes, chamomile

Question 20

Name some plants in the Fabaceae family

Answer 20

Peas, beans, chickpeas, acacias, carob, broom, gorse, clover, lucerne

Question 21

Name some plants in the Lamiaceae family

Answer 21

Loads of culinary herbs: rosemary, thyme, basil, savory, sage, mint, oregano, marjoram, chia, teak,

Question 22

Name some plants in the Rosaceae family

Answer 22

Roses, ‘drupe’ fruit’, e.g. apricots, peaches, and other stone fruit; ‘pome’ fruit, e.g. apples, pears; compound fruits, e.g. raspberries, blackberries, strawberries

Question 23

Name some plants in the Rutaceae family

Answer 23

The citrus family; lemons, limes, oranges, etc.; boronia, Sichuan pepper

Question 24

Name some plants in the Solanaceae family

Answer 24

Potatoes, tomatoes, capsicums, chillis, tomatillos, cape gooseberries, chinese lanterns, wolfberry, tobacco, petunia, mandrake,