Plant Identification Lab

Plant Identification

Plants

1) Loropetalum (Loropetalum lanceum)-Bush that is a ground shrub but can get up to 12 meters tall. When it grows out, it has red tips around the outside of the leaves.

2) Angel's Trumpet (Brugmansia)-Can either grow as a tree or a bush. The leaves are large with flowers that point downwards in a trumpet bulb shape. They come in a variety of colors. The toxicity levels of the plant are very high making it poisonous to animals and humans who ingest it.

3) Hosta (Funkia)-Deer enjoy eating this plant, a leafy one with white around the edges.



4) Poison Ivy (Rhus radicans)- Clear liquid sap produced by the plant causes an itchy rash on most people. It takes the form of vines and shrubs. The leaves are three almond-shaped leaflets. (I am also highly allergic to it!?

5) Monkey Grass (Liriope muscari)- Tall grass used for boardering and filling out gardens. Long blades that come to a tip.

6) Elephant Ear (Colocasia esculenta)- Large leaves that are named after the shape and size of the ears of elephants as well as the flapping like quality.



Trees

1) Bradford Pear (Pyrus calleryana)- Native to China and Vietnam. They do not smell particularly pleasant, have been compared to the smell of dead fish. The tree has a flowering bud of white, five-petaled flowers. The leaves are an oval shape.



2) Willow Oak (Quercus phellos)- Medium-sized tree being very distinguishable because the leaves are shaped like willow leaves instead of the traditional oak leaves. The tree produces an acorn that animals eat from and the tree grows very rapidly so it is good for agricultural harvesting to use for making of paper and wood pulp.



3) American Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis)- Known for the flakey bark which comes from the stretching the bark goes through from the growth process of the tree. When the bark has flaked off, it can leave the trunk looking white or grey in color.



4) Pin Oak (Quercus palustris) - Medium-sized tree with leaves that have 5 or 7 lobes/teeth on them. The leaves have deep cut, U-shaped cuts in them. It also supports the growth of acorns.



5) Red Maple (Acer rubrum)- Medium to large sized tree, not as deeply lobed leaves. When there are five leaves together, the ones closer to the base are smaller than the other ones. It's more easily distinguishable than other maple species.



6) Chinese Chestnut (Castanea mollissima)- This tree has broad, toothed leaves and the fruit is a spikey ball that contains two to three chestnuts inside when broken open. This tree has been the most resistant to fungal disease that have attacked chestnut trees. American Chestnut trees were nearly wiped out by the fungal disease.



Ocmulgee River Lab

Clam Collection and Elevation Below Riverbank

Our class went to the Ocmulgee River to collect data on the elevation changes in the water under the riverbank as well as collect data on the amount of clams in different areas of the river.

To collect elevation data, we took two poles that were tied together with a string that was 10ft long. When you stretch them across the bank, you take the sting and put it to the bottom of the first pole and make the string level across to the second pole when standing the poles up vertically. The difference in heighth of the two poles is the change in elevation from the first pole to the second. You would just continue this across the river.

To collect data on the amount of clams across the river in different spots, you take a box sifter and a shovel and shovel in a scoop of dirt from the bottom of the river in different spots. You would then sift out the dirt into the water and count the amount of clams you found in that particular area. Another point of interest was whether the clams were alive or dead. You can tell this by seeing whether the clams are open or closed.

We did this data collection and it is posted bellow on the google map of the area and through the graph and table of data.



The path that is outlined is the path taken when doing the elevation below riverbank measurements. The faster flow of water tended to be in areas where the elevations was furthest below the riverbank.

Clam Collection Data

#1-5 Live clams with a slower current.

#2-2 Live clams with a slower current.

#3-2 Live clams with a slower current.

#4-5 Live clams with a medium current.

#5-On sandbar-1st scoop had 2 live clams and 5 dead clams and 2nd scoop lower with 8 dead clams.

#6-On sandbar-9 dead clams

#7-2 Live clams with a deeper elevation and faster current.

#8-No clams-deep elevation and fast current.

#9-No clams-deep elevation and fast current.

#10-Shallow water, riverbank-3 dead clams

#11-Shallow water, riverbank-9 dead clams

#12-Shallow water, riverbank-7 dead clams

#13-Shallow water, riverbank-over 20 dead clams

Conclusions

The clams tended to be living in medium shallow depths of the river and with a slower current. There was not really many clams found in the faster current areas. The shallow areas of land had many clams but they were all dead. The currents usually were faster in the deeper areas of land in the river.

Some possible explanations for these results: Faster currents drag clams down the river so slower current areas are better habitats for them. Also, the shallower areas of land may be an easier access for animals such as birds to pray on the clams thus there being many clams but they are not living.

Updated October 25th-Journey of My Plant

Here is my plant....he is known as my plant. I got him on September 8th and he is a sunflower. I water him everyday and put him on the windowsill to get light.
His journey is best described through pictures.

September 11th-Day 4

September 13th-Day 6

September 16th-Day 9

September 19th-Day 12

September 23-Day 16

He is getting really big as you can see. I think he needs a new bigger pot as well as he probably needs some help growing up. There are little baby green plants coming up in there as well. I am not sure what they are but they are pretty tiny.

Update

October 1-Day 24

 

October 5-Day 28

October 10-Day 33

October 15-Day 38

October 25-Day 48

My little plant is doing really well. He needs a bigger pot to stretch out his roots. That will be my next step to guiding him in the right direction.

Last Update:
November 29- Over 2 months old!

December 8

He still needs a bigger pot and some more sticks to hold him up since he is drooping.

More Details of My Happy Place

A Little More Detail On My Happy Place

(Pictures are my own unless otherwise stated and kiSwahili translations are given for some of the nouns)

The main attraction people go to Moshi for is to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro.

The staple crops of Tanzania are coffee (kahawa) and maize (mahindi).

(both of these were taken from bing images)

Honestly, the major animals we saw in Moshi consisted of mange-filled dogs (mbwa) and cats (paka), goats (mbuzi), and cows (ng'ombe)

The animals we saw were pretty much all the farm animals you would see in the states. This particular woman did have doves and pigeons as part of her farm animals that she would sell as well as eat.

The major insect you see in Moshi would be mosquitoes. You have to protect yourself from bites which can give you malaria so we stayed taking our Doxycycline the whole time and had our insect nets out every night. Bug in kiSwahili is mdudu. So we protected ourselves from all the wadudu that were around!

(taken from bing images)