Assignment Detail:- ASSESSMENT ITEM: PLANT COLLECTION
Acquire a knowledge of the basic techniques of plant identification, both traditional and computer interactive
DESCRIPTIONStudents are required to make a plant collection in order to learn identification skills and techniques, particularly as these are required in many environmental studies- They will also gain an understanding of features associated with common plant families as they practice the skill of observation -
This assignment is to test your identification skills-
You are to collect a minimum of 20 specimens representing 20 different species of non-cultivated plants, i-e-, plants that HAVE NOT OBVIOUSLY BEEN PLANTED IN A GARDEN OR AS A STREET OR PARK TREE/SHRUB/HERB- The specimens must represent at least 10 ten different families- All material must be in a reproductive state i-e-, flowering and/or fruiting-
These specimens should be mounted on white paper of uniform size such as a small drawing block or A4- -Makes it easier to post even if internally, PLEASE DO NOT PUT ON A3 size-- Specimens may be attached with thin strips of tape or, a white glue such as Aquadhere, may be used- There should only be one specimen per sheet unless small and from the one locality- Photographs to be used as supplementary material if possible-
NOTE: If you are out of Australia then all material must be photographed to show detail and then submitted as a word document or you may set up Dropbox or send by powerpoint or some other digital means-
Each specimen is to be accompanied by a label which includes the following information: Each specimen is marked out of 18 initially, marks indicated in brackets
Family name and binomial - name to include the authority -this will all become clear after the third week-- The authority can be located using various sources, particularly Atlas of Living Australia -ALA-, Australian Plant Name Index -APNI-, Australian Virtual Herbarium -AVH- or TROPICOS at Missouri Botanical Gardens and many other sources-Locality and habitat - Be precise eg Cairns campus plus latitude and longitude , along creek in shade-Collector's name and date of collection Description of plant and habit when fresh e-g-, tree with yellow flowers etc-, leaves simple or compound etc- Source of identification and steps taken to reach answer, in case you have made a mistake I need to be able to determine where you went wrong and why-Presentation, if specimens are mouldy or scrappy in relation to size of paper then marks will be deducted- Photographs can be of assistance- A floral formula this is a shorthand method of describing the features of a flower - the symbols used vary according to the country of origin of the botanist - usual in Australia is K=calyx, C = corolla, A = androecium, G = gynoecium, various brackets are used to indicate degrees of fusion etc- details in lecture notes, Unit 7 --Hint: refer to Virtual Herbarium, Charles Sturt University for a good tutorial on this - Google-- -6- The Floral Formula must be from your specimen, a formula from literature is only for comparison-
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