We asked you to tell us what interests you have in botany. This is a very diverse group of answers. Here is what you said you wanted to learn more about:
Gardening/Houseplants/Ornamentals..............26
While the focus of this course is wild plants, learning about plant families will help you, because wild and cultivated members of a family are similar in structure and often in preference for growing conditions. Monique has a degree in Floriculture, so you can ask her lots of questions...
Everyone likes to get flowers.
In Lecture and Lab--We really won't talk too much about cut flowers and floral arrangements in this course, but we will go over major plant families that common florist's flowers come from--Caryophyllaceae, Rosaceae, etc. If you keep your eyes open, you will learn about your favorites.In the Field--Look for plants that have cut-flower potential. Wouldn't some of the native grasses be nice? In the fall, look for the ornamental berries of holly, snail-seed, and beauty-berry.
Plant Collection--You could collect only things you think would make good arrangements. One for the press, one to key from, one for the vase!
Websites Related to Cut Flowers (no endorsements implied)
Calyx and Corolla
How to Make Cut Flowers Last
How to Preserve Leaves and Flowers with Glycerine
How to Dry Flowers--But do NOT do this for your plant collection!!!
Boy, are you in luck! This is the main thing we deal with--What is that plant? How can I tell it from all the others? Where else does it grow? The whole lab and lecture are geared toward giving an understanding of the major families and their distinguishing features. Just by staying awake in class, you should learn plenty. We will also talk about the origins and distributions of plants--which ones are cosmopolitan, which strictly New World, which Old World, etc.
Books--We have manuals and floras that cover the whole state and many parts of the U.S. These will help you identify plants. We also have picture books which will give you an idea of what's out there in a non-scientific way. If it's classical taxonomy and learning how to identify plants you want, we have good books on those, too. Just tell Monique what you want, and she can steer you in the right direction.In the Field--Practice sight-identification of major families and genera. Quiz yourself and your friends. Try to botanize in as many different places as possible. Make notes, take pictures, draw. Bring back unknowns to identify.
In Lab --Really study and learn the key characters for families and genera. Practice with keys. Work on getting that "feel" for what's what. Make good use of the lab space and books available.
Taxonomy-related Web sites:
We will definitely talk about ecology and conservation in this class!
Dr. Wilson has included some information on medicinal plants in his lectures, and there is some in your text. In addition:
This is our most favorite thing! The study of what's out there is called floristics. Dr. Wilson and Monique both have interests in the local flora.
You are going to learn so much general stuff and soooo
much plant trivia this semester that you will be amazed. Have a look at
Mabberley's The Plant Book--there is something fun on every page.
Also try talking to Monique. She is a veritable fountain of bizarre and
esoteric information... If we say something this semester that intrigues
you, let us know. We'll be glad to steer you in a direction to find out
what you need to know. Have a look at the other topics discussed here.
You might also look into taking Botany
328--Plants and People, a course devoted to food, medicine, drug, dye,
fiber, and fuel plants. In the meantime, there's a lot of general
fun stuff at Wayne's
World.
Books-- We have some good references on useful and cultivated plants. Kindscher's Edible Wild Plants of the Prairie and Medicinal Plants of the Prairie have information on how Native Americans used plants. We also have the monumental Native American Ethnobotany and volume 1 of The Useful Wild Plants of Texas (etc.). Then there is the great work World Economic Plants. We can also dig up works on fiber plants, weaving, and dyeing for you.In Lecture--Dr. Wilson knows a lot about ethnobotany. He has done a lot of research on Chenopod and Cucurbit crops of the Americas. He will also talk about wheat and other crop plants.
In the Field--Really examine the plants you see. Which could be used for fiber? Basketry? Shelter? Dyes? Useful plants are all around you.
Plant Collection--You could focus your collection on potentially useful plants, test all of your samples to see if they make good dyeplants, or research any useful properties of whatever you find.
Web sites related to Ethnobotany
Mexican Folk Remedies
Plants for a Future-- Database
Ethnobotanical Leaflets--an electronic journal
Ethnobotany--academic resources
Kew's Ethnobotanical Links
Books--We have two good sets of books on aquatic and wetland
plants (including coastal)--one set for the Southeast, and one
for the Southwest. Both have
good illustrations. We also have the Flora of the TX Coastal Bend and Plants
of Southernmost
TX, both of which are useful.
Correll and Johnston does cover the coast. We have books on tidal marsh
plants. We have
access to some government publications,
too. The botany staff has done a lot of bog-trotting in the last couple
of years, so we
can be of more help with wetland
plants now than ever. We have two books specifically about wildlife
habitats, the Eastern
and Western volumes of Field
Guide to Wildlife Habitats by Benyus.
In the Field/Plant Collection--You
are welcome to collect aquatic angiosperms. Be aware of two things, however.
1--There
are cultivated plants that occasionally
escape along the coast or into waterways--these may not be keyable. 2--In
the damp
environments, things take longer
to dry. There are special techniques for collecting floating plants--ask
Monique to show you.
In Lecture/Lab--Keep an
eye out for families which have aquatic members or which are salt-tolerant
or otherwise adapted to
aquatic or marine life.
Aquatic Plant and Water-Gardening Web Sites
Books--We have several books dedicated to the trees of North America. Nothing beats T. S. Elias' Complete Trees of North America, which includes good info on wood properties and uses. We have an atlas of tree species, which shows range information for important hardwoods and gymnosperms. Then there's the Woody Plant Seed Manual, full of seed yield, germination, and production figures for a number of species.In Lecture and Lab--While we won't be discussing forestry per se, we will be talking about important timber plants and their families, especially when we discuss the Hamamelidae.
In the Field/Plant Collection--Study the timber trees in the region--oak, hickory, elm, ash, and so on. Notice how the local area is all second and third growth, except for a few spots deep in the bottomlands. You may want to collect mostly tree species, though we do hope you won't neglect the region's many beautiful herbs.
Web Sites devoted to Forestry
Texas Forest Service
Texas Big Tree Registry--Find out where the giants are
Links to State Forestry Associations on the Web
USDA Southern Research Station Forestry Links
Many different plants have been smoked throughout history, both for recreational and medicinal uses. When we discuss the Cannabaceae and Solanaceae in class, we'll talk about what makes these plants so popular.
Plant Collection--You might want to make a collection of just range plants--useful or harmful. You could focus on wild relatives of cultivated crop plants such as cotton, alfalfa, or sorghum. Collect plants that interest you.
In Lecture and Lab-Pay special attention to important grazing and crop plant families like grasses and legumes. On the field trip, we will see and talk about what happens to overgrazed pastures and how ungrazed pastures go back to prairie and forest.
Web sites related to Livestock and Range Plants
This course will introduce you to various teaching tools--dissection work, field trips, lectures, videos, slides, plant collection, and the Internet. You will also try several types of exams and quizzes. The teaching techniques we use on you this semester may help you define what sort of teaching style you want to adopt.
Plant Collection-- If you would like to keep your plant collection to start your own teaching collection, you are certainly welcome to do so. You might want to focus on large, common families that will be present wherever you end up teaching.
Websites
There are lots of good teaching websites out there. We
like to think our Lab
Tutorials and our on-line Lecture
Notes are good examples.
We won't be talking too much about turf this semester, but we will talk about the Poaceae, the family to which all grasses belong. Grasses, as monocots, have some special growth characteristics, and we'll point these out, too.
Turfgrass
Links
Texas Turfgrass Association
Turfgrass
Info from the Texas Extension Service
Turf at A&M
Lots
and Lots and Lots of Turf Links
Plant Collection--You might want to make a collection of just relatives of crop plants, or perhaps weed pests of crop plants.
In Lecture and Lab-Pay special attention to important crop plant families like grasses and legumes.
Web sites related to Agriculture and Farming
Future
Harvest--Sustainable and eco-Agriculture worldwide
Genetically-engineered
Crop
Issues
Eating
Locally
In the Field--Learn to recognize our local poisonous plants. Practice sight-identifying families that have many poisonous members. Avoid eating wild plants unless you KNOW what they are...
Plant Collection--It would be interesting to make a collection of just poisonous plants. Or you might work at determining any poisonous properties of whatever plants you do collect.
In Lecture and Lab--We'll discuss poisonous plants and families which have many poisonous members. On the field trip, we will talk about what to eat and what not to eat.
Web sites related to Poisonous Plants
We really won't be doing much with gymnosperms this semester (other than mention them as different from angiosperms) since this is a Flowering Plant course. Still, you will learn a lot about the plants gymnosperms hang out with, and you'll learn how angiosperms have adapted to the same habitats that gymnosperms have.
Some Gymnosperm
Links
Gymnosperms--Taxonomic
Info
A
Lecture on Conifers
This is fun stuff, and you can bet Monique and Diane will be interested in anything you attempt. We can probably even point you in the direction of useful books like Delena Tull's A Practical Guide to Useful and Edible Wild Plants of Texas. We may not talk much about this in lecture or lab, but the local flora offers all sorts of raw materials for basketry, dyeing, weaving, pressed flower craft, and paper-making. Experiment! (Just try not to harvest too much of anything in any one place.)
Plant-Crafty
Links
How
to Preserve Leaves and Flowers with Glycerine
How
to Dry Flowers--But do NOT do this for your plant collection!!!
Dyes, Including Natural
Dyes
A jumping-off point for Basketry
A bit about Paper-Making
with natural materials
Something new--Flower
Pounding--(the project described is weird, but the technique sounds
like fun!)
We're sure your grandmother will be very
impressed with all the botanical knowledge you acquire this semester.
You can show off what you've learned in the garden, on a walk, or at the
local salad bar. You may also find that a plant-collecting expedition
with a parent, grandparent, child, or friend can be a real "bonding" experience.
Botany loves company!