View allAll Photos Tagged Botany
Facing eastward. A contextual or habitat shot taken near the park's northern boundary, west of a marsh and in an open spot of an Black Oak savanna.
The plant of special interest featured in this photo is the tall-growing one at frame center, with a fully developed inflorescence leaning over toward the right. It is one of the leading cast members of the great American prairie, Switch Grass (Panicum virgatum). It's native to much of this continent.
I've always found the inflorescence architecture of the big genus Panicum particularly interesting, even though keying out some of its species can be a chore.
Fortunately, though, P. virgatum is easily identifiable, especially when you're wending your way through a Midwestern grassland of the wetter variety in late summer.
As is evident here, the inflorescence is a panicle that has an open, airy, and pyramidal aspect. Each of its spreading branches bears a few spikelets. These structures contain the florets—miniature flowers of a particularly minimalist design—and later the tiny fruits known as caryopses. Each caryopsis consists of a single seed sheathed in a hard, protective coat.
We'll get a closer look at the panicle shown here in this set's next photo.
You'll find the other photos and descriptions of this series in my Botany of Illinois Beach State Park album.
From left to right: Moisés Mendoza (a botanist form the Museo Nacional Noel Kempff Mercado in Santa Cruz), Daniel Santamaria (a botanist from the Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad in Costa Rica), and Fanol (our trusty driver). Here we are in a cactus-dominated forest between Cochabamba and Santa Cruz.
Independent Rail Australia loco 1432 on a mission of mercy, out to rescue a train failed in the Botany - Cooks River single line section. 9/7/07.
This is LESSON 3 of a 6 part lesson download for Middle School on Plants. Download Club members can download @ www.christianhomeschoolhub.spruz.com/science-1st---12th.htm (Under "Biological Sciences - "Botany (Study of Plants)") Works well with the Elementary curriculum also available!