Envirothon

and

FFA Forestry CDE

1. American beech***2. American sycamore**3. Bald cypress***4. Bitternut hickory***5. Black cherry**6. Elm*7. Black locust**8. Black oak9. Black walnut***10. Ponderosa pine*11. Blackgum**12. Cottonwood*13. Alder*14. Devil’s walking stick**15. Douglas fir*16. Flowering dogwood**17. River Birch***18. Green ash***19. Aspen*20. Grey birch*21. Lodgepole pine*22. Mockernut hickory***23. Eastern hemlock*24. Northern Red oak***

25. Sassafras**

26. Norway maple*

27. Longleaf pine*28. Sugar Maple

Trees You Should Know29. Norway spruce*30. Pecan*31. Catalpa32. Persimmon**

33. American White birch*34. Pignut hickory***

35. Pin oak

36. Atlantic white cedar***37. Pitch pine38. Red maple***

39. Virginia pine**40. Scarlet oak**41. Eastern red cedar***42. Shagbark hickory**43. Shortleaf pine*44. Silver maple***

45. Loblolly pine***46. Southern red oak*

47. Sweetbay Magnolia**

48. Sweetgum***

49. Red pine*50. Water oak**51. White oak***

52. American Holly**

53. White pine***

54. Willow oak**

55. Eastern red cedar***

56. Yellow-poplar***

Common names are given to all plants and are for the everyday person to use, they are easy to pronounce and are usually descriptive. BUT:

• trying to communicate with someone from a different region or country can be difficult.• sometimes the same plant has many different common names • different plants may have the same common name• some plants are so rare that no common name is given.

The Father of Botany• Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778)

– was the first to consistently use a system of binomial nomenclature which literally means two names.

– Scientific names of plants consist of a generic name and a specific epithet, in Latin either underlined or in italics.

Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778)

• also known as: Carl von Linné • Carolus Linnaeus• Known as the Father of

Taxonomy• Taxonomy – systematic

classification of plants• Devised a method of

hierarchical classification • binomial nomenclature• Named approx. 250,000

plant species

Quercus falcata Michx.

Linnean herbarium (S-LINN)

Department of Phanerogamic Botany Swedish Museum of Natural History

(S)

• We live on a planet called Earth. Biologists call the Earth and its atmosphere -- the Biosphere.

• The Biosphere is composed of organic and inorganic matter

• Organic matter (stuff containing carbon) is again divided into living and non-living objects

• All living beings are currently divided into five Kingdoms

Kingdoms of All Living Beings:• Plantae - the plant kingdom, studied in the field of

Botany• Fungi - the kingdom of fungus and molds, studied as

Mycology • Animalia - the animal kingdom, the domain of

Zoology • Protoctista - a catch-all for all other "higher-order"

organisms from single-celled microbes to large seaweeds (algae)

• Monera - consists of bacteria -- small-celled microorganisms without true cell nuclei

Plantae: The Plant Kingdom• Plants nourish our bodies and souls• Plants provide the oxygen we breathe and the food

that sustains us • Plants provide shade over our heads and cool carpets

under our feet • Surround us with beautiful colors and marking the

change of seasons • Prominent plants determine

ecological communities such as "Redwood-Tanoak Forest" or "Oak Grassland" and dictate the animals, fungi found there, and climate as well.

Plant Classification

• Plants are classified into 12 phyla or divisions based largely on reproductive characteristics;

• they are classified by tissue structure into non-vascular (mosses), and vascular plants (all others)

• by "seed" structure into those that reproduce through naked seeds, covered seeds, or spores;

• by stature divided into mosses, ferns, shrubs and vines, trees, and herbs.

• All of these higher-level groupings are decidedly lopsided: the vast majority of the 270,000 plant species are flowering herbs.

TAXONOMIC CLASSIFICATION

King David Came Over For Good SpaghettiI I L R A E PN V A D M N EG I S E I U CD S S R L S IO I Y EM O S N

Use of Scientific Names• Smallest two categories in the classification system• Binomial nomenclature• Latin and Greek languages (no longer spoken, does not change)• Common names confusing and inconsistent• Universal recognition, one name per plant species• Professional horticulturalists need to know both names• Written in italics or underlined• Examples: Acer rubrum Acer plantanoides

Acer saccharinum Acer palmatumAcer saccharum Acer ginnala

• Credit is given to the founder: Betula nigra L.• Variety vs. cultivar – intentional or unintentional genetic variation• Ex: A. rubrum ‘Red Sunset’ or A. rubrum cv. Red Sunset

Delaware has over 60 species of trees!

• It is hard to know every tree in the forest so taxonomists have constructed dichotomous keys to help identify them.

The Key to Knowledge

• A tool used to identify a specific object by using two comparative questions

• Dichotomous Keys consist of a series of two-way choices along the route from the unknown to the known.

• At each fork in the road the user is asked a pair of questions. Each question is designed to divide a set of species into smaller groups until there is only one left.

Tree Keys• Keying is a way to identify a plant or tree by looking at

the similarities and differences that exist among them. • A tree key would begin with a group of trees that are

split into two groups by comparing different expressions of the same character (flower color red or white).

• The first major separation would be whether or not the tree is coniferous, bearing cones or deciduous, sheds its leaves annually.

Keying takes practice!!

• Most tree keys use characters such as leaf shape

• Or seed descriptions to create groups

• User must be familiar with the terminology used to describe these characters to be successful.

Basic Terminology• Opposite: 2 or 3 leaves are directly across from each other on the

same twig• Alternate: leaves that are staggered along stem • Simple leaf: one leaflet, a petiole and a bud at its base• Compound leaf: a single leaf that is made up of many leaflets Petiole:

the stalk of a leaf that connects it to the tree• Needle-like: leaves long and narrow, thick in the shape of a needle• Scale-like: leaves in the shape of small, flat thickened triangles that

hug the stem• Entire: leaf edges is smooth no teeth or lobes• Lobed: leaf has wavy edges• Toothed: leaf has jagged edges

Leaves

• Shape• Margin• Lobes• Base• Vein pattern• Apex style• Simple vs compound• Surface texture

1Leaf Blade

2Apex

3Base4Petiole

5Margin

6Lobe

7Notch

8

9

Midrib

Spine & veins

Twigs

• Types of buds

• Terminal bud

• Lateral/axillary bud

• Bud arrangement

• Leaf petiole scar

• Lenticles

• Pith

• Bud scale scar

1Terminal Bud

5Petiole Scar

2Lenticels

9Pith

3Lateral/axillary bud

6Bud Scale Scar

4Internode(space between

nodes) 7One years growth

8Vascular Bundle Scar

Leaf Types

Simple vs. Compound

Simple

Trifoliate Compound

Palmately Compound

Pinnately Compound

Bi-Pinnately Compound

Types of Simple Lobed Leaves

Tri-LobedPalmately Lobed Tri-lobed

Tri-LobedPalmately Lobed

Tri-LobedPalmately Lobed Pinnately Lobed

Leaf Shapes

Ovate

Obovate

Lanceolate

Oblanceolate

Orbicular

Linear

Oblong

Oval

Leaf Apexes

Acute (sharply pointed)

Cuspidate (curving to a point)

Obtuse (Rounded or Blunt)

Emarginate

(notched at the tip)

Leaf Bases

Cuneate

Rounded

Cordate

Truncate

Leaf Margins

Entire

Dentate

Doubly Serrate

Serrate

Crenate

Crenate-Serrate

Types of Buds

Sessile

(w/o stalk)

Stalked

Imbricate Scaly

(many scales)

Valvate

Scaly

(2 scales)

Leaf & Bud Arrangements

Opposite

Alternate

Whorled

Fascicled

(clustered on a spur)

Types of piths

Hollow Generous

Diaphragmed

Solid Chambered

Stellate

Other characteristics to look for when keying

• Texture of leaf or bark

• Smell or odor when leaf is crushed

• Hairs, glands, scales or lack thereof on bottom of leaf

• Milky or clear sap when stem is pinched

• Habitat found growing

• Leaf surface shiny or dull

Usually the first question about the leaves will be their arrangement: alternate, opposite, or whorled

Second division will be the leaf type: compound or simple.