Textbook Companion

• Go to your textbook companion site:
  • http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072528400/student_view0/
  • Select this chapter from the drop down menu on the left.
• Click the Key Terms Flashcards item on the left.
• Go through the cards until you know all the terms.
• If there are terms that you are not certain how to pronounce,
  • click the glossary
    • Click the first letter of the term at the top of the glossary
    • Scroll down until you see the term. 
    • Click the term and listen to the pronunciation.
    • Practice saying and spelling the term until you are certain you know it.
• Take the test on terms for this chapter.
  • Scroll down to the bottom of this page and click the link "take quiz" below the heading saying  terms.
  • The test is timed and you will only have 15 minutes to take it.  Once you start the test, you must complete it or the test will be locked.  Make certain you watch the clock on the screen so that you submit it on time.

Return to Top      Go to grading rubric for this assignment

Course Companion: Web Links

1. Go to your textbook companion site:
   • http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072528400/student_view0/
   • Select this chapter from the drop down menu on the left.
2. Click the link for chapter web links
   • Look at several of the links you think might be interesting
   • Select one for which you want to do a report.
   • If none of them look interesting to you, consider selecting one of these instead:
     • Check these webs sites out for plant tissues.
       • http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/P/PlantTissues.html
       • http://carroll1.cc.edu/~jclausz/botany/PlantTissue.html
       • http://www.lima.ohio-state.edu/biology/celltype.html Picture Library
     • Ever hear of a science called Dendrochronology. This science has to do with using tree rings to date a tree. The rings really have to due with growth rings of a tissue called xylem (wood) which vary in width to environmental variations. Want to find out more, complete the two lessons at the first site listed below:
       • http://www-sci.lib.uci.edu/SEP/CTS/TreeRing.html
       • http://tree.ltrr.arizona.edu/dendrochronology.html
       • http://www.bsu.edu/teachers/burris/iwonder/realities/activities/ctr.html
3. Write a brief summary of what you learned from reading the report.  You must have at least three specific statements of things you learned (or found interesting).  You must include both the name of the reading and the URL in your summary.
4. Post your summary on the class discussion board as a reply to the appropriate thread. 
5. Read at least one of the summaries that your classmates have posted.  Reply to your classmate's summary with a list of at least two things you found interesting about that summary.  You must make an original reply.  Any replies that appear very similar to the replies of another student will not receive credit.  It would probably be best to reply to a summary that does not have a reply to make certain that your reply is unique.

Return to Top      Go to grading rubric for this assignment

Review/Discussion/Summary

At the end of the chapter, you will find a summary, review questions, and discussion questions for the chapter.  Read the summary, the review questions, and discussion questions.  Go to the class discussion board.  Click the thread for review/discussion/summary.  Read the postings of your classmates.  YOU MAY NOT post the same review question, discussion question or summary point as any of your classmates. 

• If you select a review question, you must state the question and then answer it completely.
• If you choose a discussion question, you must state the question and then answer it completely.
• If you choose a summary question, you must state the the summary point and then expand on it.  For example if you select summary 7 from chapter 1, you would answer something like:
  • Botany, the study of plants, apparently began with Stone Age peoples' practical uses of plants. Eventually, botany became a science as intellectual curiosity about plants arose.  Botany is considered because the scientific method which describes the procedures of assuming and testing hypotheses, is used when studying botany.

Your posting must be accurate and must use good grammar.  The subject of your posting should be:

• review # OR
• discussion # OR
• Summary #

where # represents the number of the item.

Return to Top      Go to grading rubric for this assignment

Lab Work

This lab will be a virtual outdoor lab where you will identify trees that can be found on a typical Western Michigan college campus (Kellogg Community College).  These are the steps to follow when doing this lab.

1. Look at how trees are identified
   • Look at page 205 in your lab manual. This will help you identify the terms that we will use when identifying the trees that we see on this field trip.  Focus also on the materials that start on page 213 through 218.
   • Read carefully the Introduction to Tree Identification at
     • http://www.backyardnature.net/woodtwig.htm  (to get an idea of what types of things are noted when identifying winter twigs)
     • But more importantly carefully study  http://gaia.flemingc.on.ca/~dhendry/trelec.htm .   Focus on the sections for
       • Several Leaf Types of Pinophyta about half way down the page
       • Winter identification can be a challenge about two thirds of the way down the page.  Note carefully, and copy images as well as notes to your lab notebook for ready reference (do you get the idea that figures like these labels may appear on the lab quiz?)
         • Terminal Bud
         • Lateral Bud
           • the arrangement of the lateral buds
             • Opposite Arrangement
             • Alternate Arrangement
             • Whorled Arrangement
2. Look at some samples of identification
   • http://gaia.flemingc.on.ca/~dhendry/nrstrid.htm
3. Practice identification
   • http://gaia.flemingc.on.ca/~dhendry/nrtwitst.htm
   • Check your answers when you are through
     • http://gaia.flemingc.on.ca/~dhendry/anstwig.htm
4. Having prepared yourself for identifying trees in the winter, you are now ready to Click here to go on  your field trip

You might ask yourself the following questions as you are looking at the trees from the list below:

1. list the identifying characteristics (twigs and conifer leaf)
2. List the scientific name (Genus and species)
3. List general characteristics, i.e. environment, buds present, needle cluster, opposite, alternate etc.

Here are the trees you will see on your virtual field trip on the campus at Kellogg Community College:

1. Sycamore
2. White Birch
3. Red Osier Dogwood
4. Staghorn Sumac
5. Weeping Willow
6. Red Oak
7. White Oak
8. Quaking Aspen
9. Cherry
10. Maple
11. White pine
12.  Scot Pine or Scotch Pine
13. Concolor Fir
14. Blue Spruce
15. Red Pine

Return to Top      Go to grading rubric for this assignment

Chapter Quiz

There will be a 20 question quiz for each chapter.  The quiz is open book and notes, but it is timed and you will only have 15 minutes to answer the 20 quiz questions.  However, you may take the test as many times as you want.  Each time to take the quiz, you will be presented with 20 questions randomly selected from the chapter test pool.  NOTE:  For the midsemester exam you will NOT be allowed to use notes or take the exam more than once, but the questions will come from the test pools for chapters 1, 3,4, 5, and 6..  To take the chapter quiz,

• Scroll down to the bottom of this page.  (Click assignments, intro assignment to get back here)
• Click the "take quiz" link below the Chapter Quiz label.
• You only have 15 minutes for the quiz, BUT
• You may take it again and again as often as you want until the due date for the assignment is past.

Return to Top

Grading Rubric:

[Return to Top]

Field Trip

Winter Twigs Field Trip to KCC campus

These are the things we learned on our field trip.  You may click the image shown to see a larger version of the image that shows more detail.  Please note that there will be a 2nd indoor lab where you will identify the twigs from the trees you see on this trip (and a few more common specimens).

It is important to look not only at the tree but the surroundings as we begin to understand the structures and the environment they best survive in.  For example, the Platanus we are standing near is found near floodplains.  Note it is located near a pond on KCC's campus.  Here we start our field trip with a large old tree.  Look closely.  What do you see that is distinguishing on this tree.

 
Platanus occidentalis:  Sycamore  Note the "mottled"(thin plate-like scales) bark on this tree

  
Branches of the Platanus tree above. Many of these braches bear the fruit (achene)  a ball drooping from the ends of the branches.

Note here on the Platanus( sycamore) the terminal bud scales at the end of the darker  wood then the new growth as seen in the lighter bark on the stem. Note the terminal bud at the end of the stem.  The bud inside will swell as warmer spring weather appears and eventually these bud scales will fall off as the new emergent leaves appear.

Pinus strobus:  Eastern White Pine.  Looking carefully at this tree you will see the soft flowing needles 7-12cm long and arranged in bundles of 5.  This is our Michigan State Tree.  It is moderately shade tolerant and has been a  major specie of the lumber industry in Michigan.   You will see this on next lab's twig identification even though it is not in your lab tree key.

Picea pungens: Colorado Blue Spruce.  Note the needles are much shorter, pointed and arise singularly from the stem.  The spruces are "spiny" or sharp to the touch.  All spruces belong to the genus Picea.

Picea sp.  A landscape spruce near the lake on KCC's campus

Picea Pungens: Colorado Blue Spruce   Note this is a Medium tree 10-15 meters high.  Its trunk is straight and its leaves are short appearing grayish green.  This tree grows well on upland soil and tends to be drought resistant, shade tolerant and slow growing.

Picea Pungens:  as we look closer we see the leaves (needles) appear spirally arranged, 1.5cm long and the new foliage is bright bluish gray.

  
Pinus resinosa: Red Pine.  This is a large tree20-30 meters high.  Note the bark is thick, reddish and flaky.  You can see the twigs tend to be orange-brown. 

A student has removed a "cluster" of the leaves to note they are arranged in 2's.  Note they are 10-17cm, come to a sharp point. They are flexible yet snap apart when bent

Male pollen cones appear in dense clusters in April-May at the base of last year's shoots. 

 
Note carefully the vascular arrangement (2 needles) size of pine cone to determine the specie
Note this is not on the key that appears in your lab book but will be on next weeks key quiz.

 
Salix babylonica:  weeping willow   This tends to be a large tree with a short trunk and long slender branchlets drooping  gracefully.  The winter twigs tend to be yellow with the terminal bud absent.  This tree is shade intolerant and is found in moist to wet habitats usually near river beds.

 
Note the weeping branchlets and look for the terminal bud. Also noting the bud arrangement is opposite.

 
Note on this Salix the drooping branchlets in their winter yellow color

 
Quercus rubra:  Red Oak     This tends to be a large tree nearly 30meter high.  Note its leaves are winter persistent. The fruit is an acorn.  It is fast growing, shade tolerant, free of insect disease pests yet threatened by gypsy moths.

Note the shape of these two Oak leaves.  One appears bluntly rounded and the other appears sharply pointed on its ends.  It tends to be easy to remember them in this way

Ways to remember the shapes of the leaves of oak trees

• Red Oak:  Red man shoots arrows (pointed edges) back leaf
• White Oak:  White man shoots bullets (blunt ends)  front leaf

 
Populus tremeloides: Quaking aspen  This is a medium tree with wood a characteristic smooth creamy white to gray.  This tree is often found in lowland sites such as swamp margins as is true on out campus.  It can be compared in this view to the Betula sp. Birch tree which has characteristic white bark.

Purnus serotina  Black Cherry   Note the bark of this cherry tree is broken into irregular plates giving it a "burnt potato chip" appearance.  Notice the winter buds are alternate with a terminal bud present. The twigs appear reddish with lenticels present.  When crushed a bitter almond smell is present and the pith is continuous.

 
Rhus Typhina:  Staghorn sumac    This is a Michigan big shrub appearing with many branched stems around 10 meters high.  The winter twigs appear to be velvety and the fruit is a dense cluster at the terminal end.

 
Acer rubrum:  red maple  This is a medium sized tree.  The bark is light gray in the young trees and the older trunks appear dark gray. This is a fast-growing, shade tolerant tree. Its fruit is dry and is called a samara

Note the winter twigs on this Acer.  The bud arrangement is opposite with a terminal bud present.  The twigs appear reddish.

   
Abies concolor:  white fir   Note the needle arrangement is spirally arranged in rows.  These leaves tend to be a sea foam green or silvery blue gray.  When crushed the aroma is citrus.  These are flat needles that tend to be blunt ended.  Thus, firs are flat.

 
The Concolor Fir tree grows well in upland soil , is slow growing, long lived and relatively insect disease free.

      
Betula paperfera: White birch.  Although it is difficult to see on these images, one of the distinguishing characteristics of this tree is the "catkins" that appear on the ends of the terminal branches. NOTE:  you may see this on a winter twig in the twig identification lab.

Betuala spp.  This is a student project from the botany class of 2002.  They studied the moist area and chose landscaping using the River birch with spring wildflowers encircling it as color attraction.

Taxus yew

Purple Loosestrife:  This is an introduced ornamental wildflower growing around the lake on campus.  It has become highly invasive, overriding our native wildflowers.  Currently it is a illegal to plant this.  There is research attempting to find a natural predator of this to eliminate it without having to use chemical means.  There are projects and studies going on to attract students to become involved in the elimination of purple loosestrife.

In addition to the trees above we viewed on our campus field trip, there are others that appear common in the Michigan Landscape that will be on your twig identification lab: 

Black Locust can be seen at:  http://cal.nbc.upenn.edu/poison/plants/ppblack.htm

Sassafras can be seen at http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Horticulture/kytreewebsite/commonnamefiles/text/sassafrasinfo.htm

Scots (Scotch) pine can be seen at http://www.fishing-in-wales.com/wildlife/plants/trees/scotpine.htm and the sites listed here

• http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/dendrology/syllabus/psylvestris.htm
• http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scots_Pine
• http://aginfo.psu.edu/news/december01/perfect.html

Return to start of Field Trip       Return to top     Return to the Lab Work