Lab 2 Hand-In (Converted)

98 ENSCI 111 NAME ______Introduction to the Environment

Lab #11: Plant Identification and Ecology HAND-IN SHEET

Do you know an oak from a maple? An ash from a hickory? Poison ivy?????? Sketch and learn to identify the following species of plants, to prepare you to recognize them during the field trip to Oakland, as well as for the rest of your life, as you walk down city streets. Draw their leaf shape and arrangement, but also draw or describe any other identifying characteristics (fruit, bark, etc.), as noted below. Also note any other interesting facts that you learn, such as medicinal uses, and whether it is a native plant, invasive, or poisonous.

Make sure to take a look at the different reference books available on plant identification, ecology and uses. If you become interested in one of the plants, you might want to look it up, and see what else you can learn about it. These books will be available for a few weeks, in case you would like to identify plants from off campus at another time.

Simple-leaved Trees

Maples: Draw the characteristic palmate leaf, as well as their “helicopters”, the twin seeded samaras. How do you think these seeds are distributed? ______There are many species of maples, describe how to tell two of them apart. Some are native, some are street trees originally from Europe (can you guess which one? ______), which have become invasive.

One tree has maple-looking leaves, but is not a maple, the sycamore. Draw its fruit. It is a common street tree, and has bark that peels off, leaving the trunk looking like an army camouflage uniform. 99 100 Oaks: Draw the characteristic pinnate leaf, as well as the fruit, the acorn. How are acorns distributed from the tree and planted? Oaks are divided into two groups, white oaks and the red oak group (red oaks, black oaks, etc.). How are their pinnate leaves different?

Tulip tree: Interesting shaped leaf with a notch in the end (truncated). Also has flowering structures that look somewhat like orange tulips, hence its name.

Compound-leaved Trees The trees below all have compound leaves. How can you tell them apart?

Black locust: A somewhat invasive tree, native to the more southern US, but survives as a street tree, and has gotten into native forests. A member of the bean family, check out its fruit! Also has very fragrant, white flowers in the springtime.

Ash: A native tree, with very strong wood, from which baseball bats were often made. Grows in fairly wet areas. Fruit is a samara, but single, instead of two winged like the maples.

Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus): A very invasive tree, found growing on the sides of buildings, in cracks of pavement, wherever a bit of soil can be found. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was written about this tree. Has a characteristic gland at the base of every leaf blade. Feel for it. Produces lots of fruits in big bunches, which are very visible in autumn.

Some Important Native and Invasive Herbs (smaller plants)

Poison ivy: You need to know this plant! There is a lot of it at Oakland Ravine. It is a native, but an unpleasant one in some ways. It exudes an oil that contains a compound called urushiol. This compound, when it gets on the skin, produces a very unpleasant itchy rash, that lasts about two weeks (seems like forever).

“Leaves in three, let it be!” The leaves are arranged in whorls of three. The leaves are shiny, red in spring and fall, green in summer. It is a vine, which means it twines its way up walls and fences, and the trunks of other plants, using them for support. So you can think you are leaning against a friendly oak tree, and get poison ivy all over you. Prevention? Recognize it and don’t touch it. The cure? Wash with detergent and cold water when you get home and launder your clothes, to remove the oil if you think you have touched it. If you do come down with it, my sympathies. There are a number of remedies, check the course website for helpful links. 102

Virginia creeper: Another vine, with leaves in whorls. Also very common, with red leaves in spring and fall, green in summer. Doesn’t cause a rash. How can you tell them apart? What do you think, is it native to the US? ______

103 Mugwort: An invasive plant, that can cover empty lots, and covers the upper meadow at Oakland Ravine. It and its relative, ragweed, produce a lot of pollen, which causes allergies during the summer months. It does contain a compound called artemisin (check out its scientific name) which is very helpful in treating malaria.

Phragmites: A very pretty reed that grows in wet areas along waterways and beaches. It is thought to be native, but has become invasive due to our (European colonists) disturbance of wetland habitats. It now out competes other wetland plants that provide more diversity and food value for animals, such as cattails, which you will also see at Oakland.

Goldenrods: A very pretty group of plants that bloom in late summer and fall. Native. They are given a bad rap as causing allergies from their pollen, as ragweed and mugwort do. Not so. Their pollen is distributed by bees, not by the wind, so it is heavier, and rarely found in the air currents where it may disturb sensitive sinuses. Found in the upper meadow at Oakland, with mugwort. 104

Draw and make notes about two or three other plants that interest you.

There are invasive animals as well as invasive plants. Review the literature on Asian Long- horn Beetle. Make notes. You might want to check your home neighborhood for signs of infestation, and report back to class. Extra credit or project if you do it thoroughly and write it up.

105 Dichotomous key: Study the dichotomous key in your lab handout. Then use that key to identify the four plants on herbarium sheets labelled A,B, C and D.

A. ______

B. ______

C. ______

D. ______

Extra credit possibility: Identify 10 or more of the street trees in your neighborhood, on campus, or anywhere you like. Make a dichotomous key to distinguish them from each other. Try it out on your family or fellow students. Does the key work to let them identify plants they didn’t know? There are probably about 30-40 common street trees throughout New York City. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a simple key that would allow almost anyone to learn the names, and then maybe useful facts such as their care, common pests, etc., so that people could learn to take care of them? 98

Stree t Tree Data SheetTree Observers' biltmore clinometer biltmore d-tape nursery canopy canopy % "watershed # Tree name Date initials ht (ft) ht (ft) dbh (in) dbh (in) dia. (in) length (ft) width (ft) canopy area" (sq ft)

For each tree measured above, make notes here regarding 1. its health (evidence of Asian-longhorned beetle? Dead leaves or branches, galls or other insect damage?). 2. describe how you calculated the “watershed area” of the tree ( e.g. tree pit only, surrounding lawn, nearby rooftop raingutter delivers water to tree, etc.) Insert an extra page if necessary. 98 Analysing the Data: While you do not yet have the whole class’s data to analyse, begin to think about what question you would like to answer, and how you would go about doing it.

1. Write the question below. 2. Why might this question be important? 3. Describe in sequential order the steps you plan to take to do the analysis, including: what columns of the spreadsheet you would use, what formulae you would write (Averages? Sums? Standard deviations?), how you might need to sort the data, what columns you would select to graph, and what kind of graph you would use. You may need to produce more than one graph, and compare them.