We have all done it before, walking with ours heads down glued to our gadgets. But if we looked up for a moment we would realize the marvelous world of nature around us. Have you ever looked at a tree and wondered “what is all that stuff was on the trees”? It is likely that these patches of different colors on the trees are some sort of lichen. Lichens vividly ornate the trees and can change in appearance. For example, on a more humid day subtle patches of green or bright yellow can appear on the trunk of the trees. When the air is drier, the lichens tend to appear cooler in color. (Sharnoff) Many species of lichens are unable to withstand in areas with poor air quality. When lichens grow on trees this indicates that the air is relatively clean. …show more content…
On the north eastern side on the campus right next to the Fitness and Aquatics center, a Myrtle Oak tree is growing at approximately 25.880930 and -80.246256 in longitude and latitude according to Google Earth. The Myrtle Oak is a small, slow-growing evergreen oak tree that rarely grows over thirty-five feet in height and has a rounded top. The trunk grows to about four to eight inches in diameter and as it grows, it forms extensive thickets or branches. This tree, also known by the scientific name Quercus myrtifolia, is usually found near saltwater and on the southeastern shores of the United States extending into Miami Dade and Collier counties (Gann). Myrtle Oaks can habituate in pinelands, scrubs and xeric hammocks, places with access to full sun. On the other hand, it has a low to moderate nutrition requirement. It can grow in soils that have relatively poor in nutrients. The barks of the Myrtle Oak tree is a light gray color on young trunks and as the tree continues to mature the trunk turns into a dark gray color with a rough texture. Also, older trunks are coated with lichens. The twigs of our tree are brown and pubescent. The myrtle oak has small leaves that are shaped like a spoon. The Leaves are simple, and alternate on either side of the twig. They are about one to two inches in length with an oval shape. The tip contains a spiny apex. The Leaf margins are entire with a …show more content…
On the north and west side of the tree we identified two types of lichens; dark and light green. The dark green lichen contained a higher percentage. On the south side, we found the same types of lichens as the north side but there was a higher percentage of light green. The east side of the tree was the only side to contain a lichen that was black in color but also contained light and dark green lichens as well.
Many trees house other plants within their branches. Our Myrtle Oak tree has a symbiotic relationship with the Tillandsia air plant. The Tillandsia species are epiphytes or air plants because they normally grow without soil while being attached to another plant. (MacCaskey) This type of plant has no need for soil because its source of water and nutrients are absorbed through their leaves. The leaves are long and whip-like in shape with a silvery green
Woop woop! Is the common sound heard in Beecher Terrace (housing apartments). There are 2.3 million people locked up in the United States. Kentucky spends about fifteen billion dollars per year incarcerating individuals from Beecher Terrace. Since the 1970’s the number of people locked up in the United States has grown from 300,000 to 2.3 million. Kentucky has been the center of this prison expansion. Charles McDuffie, Christel, Demetria, and Keith Huff all have something in common. Each of these individuals are repeat offenders, grew up or lived in Beech Terrace, and have some type of mental issue.
A young college student named Todd Graves had a vision that he could open a restaurant and only sell high quality chicken finger meals. He proposed his vision to his college professor as a business plan assignment and got a very low grade on the assignment. Later, he went to many banks offering his business plan and each time he got denied. Todd then went on to work and raise his own money for his dream. This eventually led him to working in Alaska. After Todd got back from Alaska, he returned to Baton Rouge where he opened his dream restaurant. This restaurant is known as Raising Canes.
« On your tree, use a compass to find out which side of the tree is
Uncolonized North America was once inhabited by many organisms that have now become extinct. The extinction of these organisms can be blamed on the over harvesting of valuable resources or the introduction of foreign diseases from importation. One of these extinct organisms was the American chestnut. The American chestnut once inhabited the Eastern portion of North America from Maine to Florida. The great tree was once a dominant species that inhabited the Appalachian Mountains. The tree provided a staple diet to pre-colonized North American inhabitants and the immigrants of Europe. The great tree which dominated the overstory deciduous forest would soon meet its demise from a foreign invader by the mid- twentieth century.
The vegetation is mostly trees. There are many types of trees, Some of the trees are coniferous trees and deciduous. It is all scattered in the southern part of the Canadian Shield. The forests are all mixed with birch trees, aspen trees, tamarisk trees, black and white spruce trees, willow trees, hemlock trees, pine trees and balsam fir trees. The mixed forests are beautiful in the fall when the leaves of the deciduous trees change color.
Pinus lambertiana, commonly known as the sugar pine, is found on the west coast in the mountains of Nevada, California, Oregon and Mexico. The sugar pine is the tallest of all pines and has the longest cones of any conifer. It is very important in these regions for both economical purposes and the environment. (Habeck)
First, the kukui tree is one that can be easily recognized due to its unique physical characteristics. Simply based on its size, the tree can grow up to 80 feet with trunks that are three feet in diameter. Also, the tree stands out very much because of its silver-green colored leaves that darken with age (World Agroforestry). These characteristics of size and color are very distinguishable from a distance but that is not all that the tree has to offer. The nuts hidden within the leaves only grow up to around two inches in diameter but are still distinguishable. Also, the tree contains small bunches of flowers but these are harder to notice (World Agroforestry). These features attribute to the plant’s appearance but more importantly serve some adaptive purpose.
After several miles of tromping through the thick, slimy mud, I reached the hill with the tree upon it. Panting, I raced towards the hill and begin to climb it. My foot slid on the slick ground, but I persevered. I reached the top of the hill and felt disappointed. Trees were supposed to be surrounded by other plants and teeming with wildlife. Not this tree. The mud I trudged through covered the hill, coating the tree’s roots. There were no other plants. In fact, as I looked around, I noticed tha...
Bottomland hardwoods across the southern portion of the United States offer a variety of species composition
On the forest floor, there is a wide covering of low growing lichens, mosses, small plants, such as Oxalis, wild flowers, and grasses (Melody Shaw, 2003).
Nearly all of the trees, shrubs, herbs, mosses and lichens, are found in the uplands or the wetlands. The large amount of moisture in the wetland sites sustains dense vegetation. Uncultivated fields in parts of the wetlands are revegetated by pitch pine and shortleaf pine. In the western margin, Virginia pine and red cedar are scattered. The Pine Barrens uplands are largely forested. The Pine Barrens shrubs, especially low bush blueberry and hog huckleberry can be found here and the ground beneath the pines is covered by fire sedge, orange broom sedge, switch grass or other grasses. Also, herbaceous plants are meager in the upland forest. In the northeastern section, scarlet oak is widespread while southern red oak is widespread in the southern section of the Pine Barrens. In the Pine-Oak Forest, black oak, chestnut oak, scarlet oak, and white oak cover about 25 percent of the ground while pitch pine covers about 30 percent. Moreover, in Bergen County some common plants are baneberries, sugar maple, red maple, hazel alder, bog rosemary,
Lignin is one of the key elements that allowed for plants to be able to evolve to a point where they were able to survive on land. Lignin is a macromolecule that serves to bind cellulose together and create strong structural support for plants. A plant’s ability to grow is especially limited by their strength, making lignin crucial for vascular plants. Plants lacking lignin are often non-vascular, and are less evolved than those plants with lignin present. Without lignin land plants would not be able to stand upright, which would interfere with many things necessary to plant growth, such as the conduction of sunlight as well as shade avoidance, or being able to grow out of lightless areas.
own roots (not just the plant kind), this meant they needed a structure that was different than
Pleased, Grand Pine Tree said, “You are the first tree to ask me this personal question. It may appear that way, but I believe you will understand what I am about to share with you. There comes a time when each ornamental tree chooses to plant its roots into the ground. The tree no longer needs to roam around looking for answers because the answers are all found within oneself,” Grand Pine Tree paused, to allow Robust Pine Tree to consider his last statement.
“This new composite organism behaves as a single independent plant, the green algae manufacturing sugars by photosynthesis and the fungus living off these foodstuffs and making up the bulk of the plant body” (Hale, 1969). Aside from their distinctive physical biology, lichens also come in a variety of colors. These include vibrant colors ranging from orange to red and then more neutral colors such as gray, brown, and black. No matter their color, though, they are beautiful and interesting organisms to look at and notice. “They vary in size from less to one millimeter to long, pendulous forms that hang over two meters from tree branches” (Nash, 1996).