RED SEAL LANDSCAPE HORTICULTURIST IDENTIFY PLANTS AND PLANT REQUIREMENTS I (NAKANO) Michelle Nakano Kwantlen Polytechnic University Book: Red Seal Landscape Horticulturist Identify Plants and Plant Requirements (Nakano) This text is disseminated via the Open Education Resource (OER) LibreTexts Project (https://LibreTexts.org) and like the hundreds of other texts available within this powerful platform, it freely available for reading, printing and "consuming." Most, but not all, pages in the library have licenses that may allow individuals to make changes, save, and print this book. Carefully consult the applicable license(s) before pursuing such effects. Instructors can adopt existing LibreTexts texts or Remix them to quickly build course-specific resources to meet the needs of their students. Unlike traditional textbooks, LibreTexts’ web based origins allow powerful integration of advanced features and new technologies to support learning. 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This text was compiled on 09/18/2021 TABLE OF CONTENTS Red Seal Landscape Horticulturist Identify Plants and Plant Requirements is an adaptation of KPU HORT 1155 Introduction to Plant Materials Lecture Notes. This first edition supports student achievement of the Level 1 and 2 learning goals for Red Seal Landscape Horticulturist Line F2. UNIT 1: PLANT IDENTIFICATION 1.1: INTRODUCTION TO PLANT IDENTIFICATION 1.2: INTRODUCTION TO TAXONOMY 1.3: INTRODUCTION TO TAXONS 1.4: INTRODUCTION TO BINOMIAL NOMENCLATURE 1.5: CONVENTIONS FOR BINOMIAL NOMENCLATURE 1.6: NOMENCLATURE REVIEW 1.7: THE MEANING OF PLANT NAMES 1.8: PLANT GROWTH 1.9: INTRODUCTION TO PLANT CLASSIFICATION 1.10: CLASSIFY PLANTS BY LIFE CYCLE 1.11: INTRODUCTION TO DICHOTOMOUS KEYS 1.12: KEY TO PLANT CLASSIFICATION 1.13: INTRODUCTION TO PLANT MORPHOLOGY 1.14: PLANT MORPHOLOGY - LEAVES 1.15: PLANT MORPHOLOGY - CONIFERS 1.16: PLANT MORPHOLOGY - FLOWERS AND FRUIT 1.17: PLANT FAMILY CHARACTERISTICS UNIT 2: PLANT REQUIREMENTS AND USE 2.1: PLANT HABITATS 2.2: PLANT USE 2.3: PLANT GROWTH CHARACTERISTICS 2.4: CHARACTERISTICS OF WEEDY SPECIES 2.5: PLANT HARDINESS 2.6: PLANT REQUIREMENTS BACK MATTER INDEX GLOSSARY GLOSSARY 1 9/18/2021 CHAPTER OVERVIEW UNIT 1: PLANT IDENTIFICATION 1.1: INTRODUCTION TO PLANT IDENTIFICATION 1.2: INTRODUCTION TO TAXONOMY 1.3: INTRODUCTION TO TAXONS 1.4: INTRODUCTION TO BINOMIAL NOMENCLATURE 1.5: CONVENTIONS FOR BINOMIAL NOMENCLATURE 1.6: NOMENCLATURE REVIEW 1.7: THE MEANING OF PLANT NAMES 1.8: PLANT GROWTH 1.9: INTRODUCTION TO PLANT CLASSIFICATION 1.10: CLASSIFY PLANTS BY LIFE CYCLE 1.11: INTRODUCTION TO DICHOTOMOUS KEYS 1.12: KEY TO PLANT CLASSIFICATION 1.13: INTRODUCTION TO PLANT MORPHOLOGY 1.14: PLANT MORPHOLOGY - LEAVES 1.15: PLANT MORPHOLOGY - CONIFERS 1.16: PLANT MORPHOLOGY - FLOWERS AND FRUIT 1.17: PLANT FAMILY CHARACTERISTICS 1 9/18/2021 1.1: Introduction to Plant Identification Learning Objective Describe the development of plant identification. All living organisms on earth rely on the process of photosynthesis for food energy and oxygen. Humans depend almost entirely on plants for clean air and a livable climate as well as for food, medicines, materials, and well being. Around the world, groups of people with their own distinct history, culture, and society have learned to identify plants and their properties. For Indigenous peoples, the accumulated traditional knowledge of plants has allowed them to thrive in diverse environments for thousands of years. Traditional knowledge passed among generations through the oral traditions of hunter-gatherers influenced the naming and grouping of plants. With the settlement of agricultural communities and the domestication of plants about 10,000 years ago, written records documented their use. Early systems of plant classification emerged in Eastern and Ancient Egyptian cultures and botany, the scientific study of plants developed in Ancient Greece. Taxonomy, a branch of botany, is defined as the systematic classification, naming, and identification of plants. This orderly system arranges related plants with similar characteristics into groups called taxa and uses a convention called bionomial nomenclature to give a unique name to one group of plants. In addition to classification by morphology (external form) and anatomy (internal structures), botanists now use genetic sequencing and biochemistry to decode the evolutionary history of relationships among plants. As a discipline, taxonomy has continued to develop over centuries of botanical study and this knowledge is available to students of plant identification. The ability to identify plants and their requirements has always been an essential skill for horticulturists who manage plant growth and health. However, with more than 300,000 known species in the world, the plant kingdom – Plantae, is both diverse and complex. No two species of plants will be exactly alike, and while some common characteristics may be easily seen, others are so different that few if any relationships can be observed. Furthermore, the progression of evolution never stops and relationships among plant groups continue to change over time. To address this challenge, this book introduces students of plant identification to a systematic approach to classifying, naming, and identifying unknown species. Review An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://kpu.pressbooks.pub/plant-identification/?p=158 Michelle Nakano 1.1.1 9/4/2021 https://bio.libretexts.org/@go/page/40062 1.2: Introduction to Taxonomy Learning Objectives Describe the scientific system of plant classification and naming. A working knowledge of taxonomy is useful for classifying, naming, and identifying unknown plants. Theophrastus (370-285 BC), a Greek philosopher, first used taxonomy to describe and group plants according to their morphology (shape), growth, and reproductive traits. In the 18th century, a scientist named Carl Linnaeus applied binomials (two-term names) and classified known plants into a hierarchical system of classification. Classification and Naming The most effective classification systems are hierarchical and comprised of a nested series of categories or ranks. A good analogy is a computer filing system. Certain kinds of information reside at each level (drive, library, directory or folder, sub- directory, document, etc.), with file names (or labels) that signify the sort of information found there. Every level in the hierarchy is more inclusive than the one below it and the more of the filing system that is investigated, the more related information is uncovered. Similarly, the categories used in plant classification provide an organizational framework into which the names of naturally occurring plants are slotted. In this framework, species of plants that are most similar to each other are grouped together. Groups or taxa (plural) are arranged in a hierarchical sequence of taxons (singular), from least inclusive rank at the bottom to most inclusive rank at the top as shown below in the plant classification hierarchy. In other words, the taxa “family” may include numerous plant genera, and within a genus (singular of genera) there may be any number of species, whereas within a given species, a subspecies may describe only a few populations or individuals. Within taxa – family, genus, species, etc., there are identifiable characteristics common to each group. For example, plants in the cypress family typically have broad, flattened, scale leaves, while plants in the pine family exhibit needle-like leaves. Once organized into a sensible system that recognizes similarities or relatedness, the grouping becomes easier to