Plantae Example Organisms

Plantae Example Organisms

• 1.
  Lunularia cruciata It is native to the Mediterranean, but The Crescent-cup now can be found all Liverwort over Europe, in is the only species in Australia, and its genus and family growing in California
• 2.
  Dendroceros Nees This isa species of This genus of hornwort that hornworts prefers grows on trees. At humid a distance, it is environments often mistaken for moss
• 3.
  Sphagnum moss (peatmoss) Sphagnum cristatum Spagnum is probably the most useful genus in the moss phylum. When dried, as above, it has been used all over the world as fuel for millennia, and is still used today. This particular species is antiseptic, and was used as absorbent in Native American diapers, and also to dress soldier’s wounds in world war II.
• 4.
  Psilotum nudum Note whiskferns’ This plant can be distinctive lack of found in the tropics leaves. and subtropics of continents bordering the pacific. The latin name means extremely naked fern
• 5.
  Equisetum arvense Unlike other horsetails, this species’ stem tips are not Common Horsetail photosynthetic, awkward considering horsetails’ small leaves. Horsetails are mostly either male or female, but E. arvense can produce spores of both on the same plant! Horsetails such as this were used to scrub pots with before washing machines were invented.
• 6.
  Lycopodium volubile This is the climbing Club Moss. It is native to Australia (Queensland), Java, and New Zealand. It can, and does, climb vegetation to get better access to sunlight. This species grows bets on the outskirts of the bush and on disturbed turf.
• 7.
  The least adderstongue range is wide, but empty. For Unlike the example, it can be average plant, this found to the western adderstongue coat of Europe, and in grows in winter Israel, but nowhere in and dies off in between. It can also summer be found in Australia and S. America
• 8.
  Azolla caroliniana Wild mosquito fern The wild mosquito fern looks more like a moss than a fern, but it is an excellent example of ferns’ adaptability and niche- finding. Pond ferns such as this The reason that it looks like a sometimes become moss is simply that the surface to pests. This species can mass ratio of the plant had to be double its mass in three greatly increased in order to days under good allow it to float on ponds. conditions.
• 9.
  Cycas rumphii Sago paste,the staple of some Its native range is cultures in the the islands tropical eastern between Siam pacific, is obtained and Australia from the pulp of this Although it is called a cycad. This makes it palm, it is not even in one of the very few the same phylum. conifers to have an The visual important role in resemblance is sustaining human superficial populations.
• 10.
  Their seeds lookand taste like nuts, although they are not truly, and are thought to have many health benefits in East Asian society. The traditional remedies are not supported conclusively by science. The last of its Ginkgo biloba phylum, the gingko is considered a living fossil These trees have been cultivated by Chinese monks for hundreds of years, (maybe thousands). These monks record that there are ginkgoes 3000 years old.
• 11.
  sequoiadendron giganteum Giant sequoia These impressive trees are slow giants, some reaching an age of 3,500 years. Their cones can take 20 years just to open! The largest conifer, it reaches heights of 90+ft, diameters of 17ft, and volumes of over 42,500 cubic feet.
• 12.
  Welwitschia mirabilis This plantis the only known member of the order Welwitschiales,. It is only found in the Namibian dessert, and as the last of its order, it is considered a living fossil. Although it doesn’t look like it, this plant only has two leaves, which grow for as long as the plant is alive and split into long straps due to weight and damage. The plant gets a significant portion of its water from dew, as its leaves are able to open like pores and absorb condensation during the night. It is the only gymnosperm to use CAM carbon-fixation
• 13.
  Cat tail Typhalatifolia It may not look appetizing either, but the base of the This plant grows in stem if filled with a white riverbanks. Though starchy powder which can be they may not look used as flour. The flowers are like it, those brown high in protein. lumps are it’s flowers.
• 14.
  Rubus fruticosus Common Blackberry This plant is itself perennial, but each of it’s vines are biannual, leading to a gradual buildup of old, dead vines if pruning is not done. Alternating generations: However, these The vines grow their first dead vines still year, then produce fruit serve the plant the second, before dying. by protecting it from grazing animals.
• 15.
  Viscum album, EuropeanMistletoe This plant is a hemi-parasitic vine found in trees in many parts of the Old World and North Although it’s a parasite, recent America. studies have shown that junipers benefit from its parasitic presence, making their Mistletoe can complete its life relationship mutualistic. cycle without touching the ground, it uses the tree for nutrients it cannot get from bird droppings and photosynthesis. Mistletoe was sacred to the ancient Celtic druids.
• 16.
  Speaking of which… •Merry Christmas, readers!