botany practical

Preparing for the Lab Practical

Key Study Materials

  • Required readings, PowerPoint slides, and videos assigned for in-lab and at-home lab exercises.

  • Lab notes, drawings, and lab documents.

  • Application of botanical terms relevant to freshly collected and herbarium specimens.

Major Skills to Develop

  • Dissect and identify vegetative and sexual plant parts.

  • Use a basic key (Flora Novae Angliae) to identify specimens.

  • Write a floral formula for a specimen.

Content Overview

Leaves, Roots, and Stems Lab

Basic Features and Terminology

  • Roots, Stems, and Leaves: Recognize and describe crucial terms including:

    • Petiole

    • Stipule

    • Axillary bud

    • Node

    • Wood

Modified Structures

  • Describe and identify modified root and stem structures:

    • Rhizomes

    • Tubers

    • Bulbs

Leaf Descriptors

  • Leaf Arrangement:

    • Whorled

    • Alternate

    • Opposite

    • Spiral

    • 2 ranked

  • Leaf Venation:

    • Parallel

    • Palmate

  • Leaf Division:

    • Simple

    • Compound (twice-pinnate)

  • Leaf Shapes:

    • Ovate

    • Oblong

    • Acicular

  • Leaf Apices:

    • Acute

    • Acuminate

  • Leaf Margins:

    • Lobed

    • Pinnatifid

    • Serrate

Flowers and Inflorescences Lab

Flower Anatomy

  • Label and identify parts of a flower:

    • Stamen (anther, filament)

    • Carpel (stigma, style, ovary, ovule)

    • Perianth (petals/corolla and sepals/calyx)

    • Pedicel

    • Receptacle

Floral Features

  • Androecium: Parts that constitute the male structure (stamen).

  • Gynoecium: Parts that constitute the female structure (carpel).

  • Flower Classification:

    • Perfect/Imperfect

    • Complete/Incomplete

  • Fusion of Floral Parts:

    • Connate/Adnate

  • Floral Symmetry:

    • Radial

    • Bilateral

  • Ovary Positions:

    • Superior

    • Inferior

Inflorescence Types

  • Identify and draw determinate and indeterminate inflorescences:

    • Spike

    • Raceme

    • Capitulum

    • Cyme

  • Identify the parts of an inflorescence.

Fruits Lab

Fruit Anatomy

  • Label parts of a fruit:

    • Endocarp

    • Mesocarp

    • Exocarp

Fruit Classification

  • Identify different types of fruits:

    • Dry Fruits: e.g., legume, capsule, samara

    • Fleshy Fruits: e.g., drupe, berry, pome

  • Understand the difference between dehiscent and indehiscent fruits.

  • Distinguish between aggregate and multiple fruits.

Placentation Types

  • Describe and draw fruit or flower placentation types:

    • Axile

    • Parietal

    • Marginal

  • Know the number of locules in an ovary/fruit.

Keying Specimens with Flora Novae Angliae

  • Write a floral formula for a flower specimen.

  • Identify descriptors of vegetative traits (leaf arrangement, division, etc.) relevant for specimen keying.

  • Use Flora Novae Angliae to correctly identify specimens to family, genus, and species.