Plants and people

Question 1

How old are Homo sapiens

Answer 1

500,000 ya

Question 2

When did humans reach North America

Answer 2

14,000 ya

Humans spread from Africa to Eurasia to North America during periods of climate change

Question 3

Cultivation

Answer 3

Prepare land for crops

Question 4

Crop Domestication

Answer 4

The process of artificially selecting plants to increase their suitability to human requirements: taste, yield, storage, and cultivation practices

Domesticated become dependent on humans

Question 5

Archaeobotanists

Answer 5

Botanist that study the history or plants

Question 6

Fertile Crescent

Answer 6

Home of earliest civilizations aka cultivation

Question 7

Mesoamerica

What crops were important to mesoamerica

Answer 7

Squashes
Maize
Potatoes
Quinoa

Question 8

Domestication syndrome

Answer 8

Suite of declared traits:
-reduction or loss of means of dispersal
-brittle rachis
-reduced grain shattering
-reduction or loss of dormancy
-more compact growth habit
-early maturation
-increased size and biomass of plant structures
-photoperiod insensitivity (flower independently of photo Hours)
-reduction or loss of toxic compounds

Question 9

Kale, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, kohlrabi, cabbage and cauliflower are all the _______

Answer 9

Same species!!

Variants of it

Question 10

New world crops

Old world crops

Answer 10

Maize
Pineapple
Vanilla
-These are monocots!!!

Sugar
Wheat
Rice
Sorghum
Banana (we use hybrid of 2 species today)
Millet
-mostly grasses besides banana

Question 11

Zea mays is from what family

Answer 11

Poaceae

Question 12

Modern agriculture is highly ___ and _____

Answer 12

Mechanized
Specialized: 14 kinds of plants

80% of caloric content makes up most of our diet!!!!!
-corn
-rice
-wheat
-potatoes
-manioc
-sweet potatoes

These plants do not provide a balanced diet

Question 13

How many families make up anthophyta

Answer 13

450

Question 14

Diagnostic character

Answer 14

Strong indicator of Taxon, but is not proof

Characteristic list

Question 15

What families of anthophyta have the largest number of plant species

Answer 15

Orchidaceae 30,000
Poaceae 10,000

Eudicots
Asteraceae 23,000
Fabaceae 19,000
Cucurbitaceae 980

Question 16

Orchidaceae characterisitcs

Answer 16

-largest family
-zygomorphic in 3’s
-highly modified petals
-entomophily: euglossine (pollinated by insects)
-pollinia: paired anthers
-herbaceous
-bisexual flowers: perfect flowers
-fruit: capsule
-seeds: no endosperm
-embryo: single cotyledon, very small, immature at dispersal

Question 17

Poaceae characterisitcs

Answer 17

-10,000 species
-cereals (grains)
-wind pollination (anemophily)
-herbaceous
-unisexual or more commonly bisexual flowers
-fruits: single-seeded caryopsis (dead coat fused to ovary wall)
-embryo: single cotyledon=scutellum

Question 18

Asteraceae characterisitcs

Answer 18

23,000 species
-largest family of eudicots
-herbs, shrubs, trees
-especially diverse in temperature regions
-inflorescence: head-actinomorphic but some flowers are zygomorphic (ray flowers)
-septal modified: bristles or scales (Pappus) or fully for dispersal: dandelion
-fruit: Achene: single seed attached to fruit wall at a single point

Question 19

Fabaceae characrerisitcs

Answer 19

-19,000 species
-herbs, shrubs, trees, vines
-zygomorphic flowers in 5’s
-one carpel
-seeds: little or no endosperm-transfer to cotyledons
-embryos with fleshy cotyledons
-leaves alternate, compound, pinnate
-symbiotic associations with nitrogen fixing bacteria

Question 20

Cucurbitaceae characteristics

Answer 20

-940-980 species with 97 genera
-herbaceous, vines (squash, pumpkin, melon)
-actinomorphic, unisexual flowers
-monoecious, some dioecious
-fruit: berry (fleshy or dry, many seeds)
-5-angles stems, tendrils