Advising Notes
Montgomery College, Germantown Campus
Date reviewed: March, 2005
Discipline: Landscape
Technology [LN110]
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LN 110 - HERBACEOUS
PLANT MATERIALS
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Date |
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May 25 |
Introductions, Review Syllabus and Project Guidelines |
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June 1 |
How to Select Annuals & Perennials / Horticopia A to Z |
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June 8 |
Installation and Culture |
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June 15 |
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June 22 |
Lecture Exam 1 & Review for Lab Practical at Germantown Campus |
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June 26 |
Saturday field trip to Longwood Gardens |
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June 29 |
Lab Practical 1 |
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July 13 |
Lecture Exam 2. |
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July 20 |
Key Pests of Herbaceous Plants & Review for Lab Practical |
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July 17 |
Saturday field trip to Bluemount Nursery |
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July 27 |
Lab Practical 2 |
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August 3 |
Lecture Exam 3 |
LECTURE EXAMS:
Note: Lecture exams are not cumulative.
LAB EXAMS:
For each misspelled botanical name 0.5 points will be deducted from laboratory exam score(s). All laboratory exams are cumulative. These examinations require identification from cut specimens, plant pressings, landscape plants and slides, as well as requiring a command of taxonomic nomenclature. Students will be held responsible for only those species, varieties, forms and cultivars seen during prior labs.
MAKEUP TESTS:
Illness: Arrangements for a makeup of a lecture test must be made within 24 hours of the missed exam. Signature of attending physician or nurse required. Time for the makeup will be at the mutual convenience of instructor and student. Tests not taken earn 0 points.
OTHER:
If absence from a scheduled exam is necessary for religious observance or for participation in Montgomery College activities at the request of Montgomery College authorities, notification must be given to the instructor one week PRIOR to the scheduled exam or the right to a makeup is forfeited.
FIELD TRIPS:
This course requires two Saturday field trips and two in class field trips. There will also be one in class field trip. All field trips will be conducted rain or shine! Dress appropriately. Details of the field trips will be given out in class.
MAKEUP FIELD TRIPS:
If you are not able to attend a field trip on the assigned day you have the option of making up the field trip by submitting a special project. You have the option of handing in either three additional plant pressings, or six dried flower/fruit samples or twenty 2’’ x 2” slides colored slides. All samples & slides must be appropriately labeled to receive full credit. Another option is to do a digital project – See handout.
AUDIT POLICY:
Notify the instructor if you are taking the class for audit.
Attendance:
Attendance is expected for each of the classes and required field trips.
Academic honesty:
Students cheating on lecture or lab exams will receive a failing grade for that exam.
Classroom conduct:
The use of cell phones during lectures or exams is not allowed. Use of portable recording devices is not allowed in class unless students receive approval from the professor.
Support services:
A student who may need an accommodation due to a disability should make an appointment to see me during my office hours. A letter from Disability Support Services (DSS) authorizing your need will be required. The DSS office on the Germantown campus located in room 201, of the SA building. They can be contacted at 240-567-7783. For the hearing impaired the TDD number is 301-294-9672.
Other resources:
Additional student resources can be found at the Science Learning Center (SLC) on the Germantown campus. The SLC is located in the SA building, room 202. For hours of operation call 240-567-1987.
Cancellation of classes:
Class cancellation due to extreme weather conditions will be announced on local radio stations like WTOP and WMAL.
When you clip a sample from a plant for a pressing you should include: leaves showing characteristic features, flowers if possible, and enough twig or stem to show lenticels, leaf scars, leaf and flower buds, and pith. Do not try to press fruits, nuts, or berries in your press or you will make a mess. To keep the pressings as flat and as clean as possible, any fruit from a specimen should be put in a bag or small container. If you have a large twig you can take a razor or sharp knife to split it in half and then lay out the cut piece to show the pith. When you put the sample into your plant press, place it so that both the upper and lower surface of leaves can be seen. If possible, cut open the flower of a pressing to display its parts (petals, stamens, and ovary - the best keys for identification). Make sure to number each specimen and write down all the information you will need for the label before you press it. This will avoid any confusion between different specimens and make it easy for you to mount them when they have dried completely. Once in the press, specimens need 8 days or longer to dry completely. A wet or moist pressing will rot, mold, and lose its color when mounted on paper.
When making the labels for your specimens it is a good idea to write them out on index cards before typing. Under ‘‘Herbarium of’’ type Montgomery College. Indicate the number of the specimen after No. The first plant collected in your life is plant number one, the second number two, etc. Even if you do not use or mount a plant it is still number two. Officially, you should keep a record of the plants you collect and keep tally of the numbers. There are professionals, who are at this moment collecting number 23,456 in their collection, so keep track. For the technical name, type the genus then the specific epithet. The first letter of the genus is capitalized with all following letters in lower case. All of the letters of the specific epithet are lower case. THE GENUS AND THE SPECIFIC EPITHET ARE ALWAYS UNDERLINED.
Example:
Salvia officinalis The genus and specific epithet
together make the SPECIES NAME.
A variety or a cultivar name sometimes follows the genus and the specific epithet (species). A variety is a group of plants, which display a unique character, which differentiates it from the species. Most of the seedlings (80%-90%) of varieties will display the unique characteristics of their parents but some will revert back to the regular species form.
Example:
Salvia officinalis var. nana The variety indicated by var.
and the name underlined.
A cultivar is essentially a cultivated variety. It is a variety, which is brought about through selective cultivation and breeding, then continued through cuttings, grafting, or continual crossing of the parent types, which produced the cultivar. The seeds of cultivars are not true to type (their parents) as varieties are.
Examples:
Lobelia cardinalis ‘Alba’
or
Lobelia cardinalis cv. Alba
The first letter of each cultivar name is capitalized just like a proper name. You may use the single quotes or cv. to denote cultivar. The cultivar name is not underlined. There can be a cultivar of a variety. Cornus florida var. rubra is the pink flowering form of the flowering dogwood. ‘Cherokee Chief’ is a cultivar of this variety, which has deeper pink, nearly red flowers. It is written as follows:
Cornus florida var. rubra ‘Cherokee Chief’
(variety = rubra/cultivar =‘Cherokee Chief’)
Crossing can also develop “new” plants. Two examples are interspecific hybrids and intergeneric hybrids. Interspecfic hybrids are produced by crossing two or more species in the same genus.
For example:
Epimedium x rubrum Is an interspecific hybrid between Epimedium alpinum and Epimedium grandiflorum
The specific epithet of ‘rubrum’ is a new name given by the breeder, and the lower case x in-between the genus and specific epithet indicates that it was created by crossing two species of Epimedium.
Combining the genetic characteristics of two or more species from different genera creates an intergeneric hybrid.
X Heucherella tiarelloides Is an intergeneric hybrid produced by crossing Heuchera brizoides with Tiarella cordifolia
The capital X in front of the genus indicates a new genus produced through a cross between two different species.
The Common Name of a label is variable. You should use the common name most widely recognized in the area in which you collect the specimen.
The Family indicates the larger group to which the species is genetically related and can be found in the text and other books.
The Locality is the location in which you collected the plant. Be as specific as possible: Germantown, Maryland, not simply residential lawn or woods.
Unless you collect in high altitude areas you do not need to include the-altitude (unless you happen to have an altimeter in your back pocket).
Be sure to give yourself, your friend, or others credit for collecting and identifying the specimen.
The Date the specimen was collected should be given Day-Month-Year (7-16-04 or 7/16/04) or Month-Day, Year (July 17, 2004).
For Habitat you can put woods, greenhouse, riverbank, residential landscape, abandoned farm, etc. Don’t forget to also specify the location from which you collected the specimen under the Locality heading along with noting habitat. Project:
The project involves collecting 10 different plant specimens. Students are limited to ORNAMENTAL HERBACEOUS PLANT MATERIALS (or woody ornamentals only if they flowers or fruits are present). You may submit more than ten pressings but you will only be graded on your ten best samples. All samples submitted must have sufficient size and have plant parts present to enable plant identification but small enough to fit on to herbarium paper (16 ½ “x 11 ½ “).
Plant specimens should be pressed and properly identified. Use the specimen labels provided in class or create your own facsimile. The following information must be printed or typed out on each specimen label and placed in the lower right hand corner of the plant pressing. Eight points will be taken off for each sample that does not have a printed/typed label!
Botanical name
Common Name
Family
Location & Habitat
Collector’s name
Date & Sample number
EXAMPLE - SPECIMEN LABEL:
Herbarium of No. #1
Botanical Name: Helleborus orientalis
Common Name: Lenten Rose Date collected: July 17, 2004
Family: Ranunculaceae
Location: Wheaton, Maryland. Habitat: Home landscape
Collected and identified by: Carolus Linnaeus
Plant pressings should be identified 1 through 10 in the upper right hand corner on the specimen label. Specimen labels and herbarium paper will be supplied to each student.
Each of the samples should be submitted between sheets of newspaper with its specimen label. DO NOT COVER pressings with plastic wrap, wax paper, etc.
Selected plant samples will be permanently mounted at the college. Remaining pressings will be discarded.
IMPORTANT!
Ø Don't forget to identify each sample with a sample number. Please remember to fill out and hand in the project grade sheet (see attached) with your project.
If you have any questions please ask them and/or refer to the examples of pressings. Have fun!
Website – Gives instructions on how to press plants.
http://www.funsci.com/fun3_en/herb/herb.htm
Equipment needed: *Plant press, & hand shears
*Sources for plant presses or plant press components:
BioQuip Products, 17803 LaSalle Avenue, Gardena, CA, 90248-3602
(310) 324-0620 Fax: (310) 324-7931 e-mail: bioquip@aol.com
Sell plant presses and components
Dick Blick Online Store
www.dickblick.com
The part number for the ream of newsprint was
10204-1007 All Purpose Newsprint 12" x 18" 500 Sheet Ream
Cost approximately $7.99 a ream
The part number for the Indian blotter paper was
10212-1005 19" x 24" White Blotter Paper about 65 cents a sheet
Minimum Order — is $4.99
You can cut each sheet in half to fit in your plant press.
Shipping will run about 10.00 for both items.
Plantus namus ‘Confusus’
Reprinted from: The Landscape Contractor, October 1987
Contrary to popular belief, overgrown plant names were not devised to confuse us. There actually is a method to the madness and a reason for the tongue twisters.
Thanks to Carolus Linnaeus and other botanists, we use a universally understood system of taxonomy that classifies plants according to similarities in characteristics, says Michelle Eggerss, horticulture assistant with University of Illinois Cooperative Extension Service in DuPage County.
There are seven basic units in this nomenclature system: division, class, subclass, order, family, genus, species (specific epithet). A division contains the largest number of plants and every category after that gets smaller and more specific. At the base of the system stands the binomial, with each plant receiving two names. The first name, called the genus, should be capitalized. Every plant with a genus possesses similar characteristics such as the same number of petals in their flowers or the same type of leaf arrangement.
People usually refer to the second name as the species, but actually it is the specific epithet; the two names together form the species name. The specific epithet is not capitalized and both names should be italicized in print or underlined if handwritten or typed.
Sometimes you see a capitalized name in single quotes following the species. Referred to as a cultivar or cultivated variety, that plant has been improved by man in color, form or other desirable quality.
Totally confused? Here’s an example. Maples belong to the genus Acer. Acer sacchrum is the species name for the well-known sugar maple. Acer palmatum (Japanese Maple) has hand-like leaves, thus the palmatum. Those who would like a tree with dark purple foliage could select the cultivar Acer palmatum ‘Atropurpureum’.
Now, with a little practice, we can all sound impressively knowledgeable by simply throwing a few multi-syllable scientific plant names into our vocabulary.
NAMES OF HYBRIDS
by Ruth Kvaalen, Extension Horticulturist
Among cultivated plants, the term hybrid is commonly used to designate plants at three levels:
Plants developed by crossing inbred lines within a species, resulting in an F1 generation which exhibits certain traits and hybrid vigor as compared to the parents’ F1 hybrids generally are seed-grown plants such as tomatoes and marigolds.
Plants developed by crossing two or more species in the same genus (interspecific hybrids).
Plants developed by crossing two or more species from different genera (intergeneric hybrids). [“Genera” is the plural of the word Genus.]
To form hybrids between members of different species or genera is not always possible, but occasionally closely related plants will produce hybrid offspring.
Names of the three kinds of hybrids are explained below.
Economically important F1 hybrids often are given cultivar names. The multiplication sign (x) is not used in cultivar names
An interspecific hybrid may be given a name of its own. Before this happens, or if it does not receive a name, it is referred to by a formula composed of the parents. Names connected by a multiplication sign, under guidelines set forth in the Code of Nomenclature for Botanical Plants. If it is given a new name, the multiplication sign is retained, placed between the genus name and the new species name (specific epithet).
Intergeneric hybrids also may be designated by a formula (consisting of the names of the parents connected by the multiplication sign) or by a new generic name. New generic names for intergeneric hybrids are formed by combining parts of the parents’ names, unless four or more genera are involved.
Foliage Digest, November 1987
ln110sy04 - 5/19/2002