Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Nature/Flowers

Flowers
Nature General Conference See also Flowers - Advanced	Skill Level 2
Nature General Conference See also Flowers - Advanced	Year of Introduction: 1928

Contents

Flowers present an exciting field of study to people of all ages. Though young boys may dismiss the study of flowers as something too "girly," they will soon discover that flowering plants are a truly fascinating subject. There are thousands of species of flowering plants all around us. Most have flowers for only a short time, and most are inconspicuous - not what most people would even call a flower, but would be quick to call a weed. If the student of nature is willing to expand the definition of "flower" to include any plant that produces flowers, a whole new world of flowers will be opened.

An example would be a plant known as loosestrife. Loosestrife is not a plant that most gardeners would consider cultivating - it looks very much like a weed. But upon close examination, the careful observer will find much about the plant to take delight in. Some species of loosestrife have yellow flowers, others have purple ones. The flowers themselves are on the smallish side, but they are quite beautiful. They attract bees, ants, and other insects. Being able to identify a "weed" can be very satisfying and requires careful attention to detail. I personally hunt out weeds whenever I am out for a walk - indeed, sometimes finding a new "weed" is the whole point of the walk. When I see one I do not know, I take a careful look. What color is the flower? How many petals does it have? Do the leaves grow from the stem in pairs, opposite one another, or do they take turns, growing alternately? Are the veins in the leaves branched or parallel? Does the leaf grow directly from the stem, or is it attached by a small stem of its own? Is the stem hairy? square? All of these questions are important clues to a plant's identity. When my walk is over, I turn to a field guide or to one of many sites on the Internet and try to identify the plant I have discovered. It is a thrill to me when I finally figure out what it is, and then I read everything I can about this new species in my arsenal. Is it a native plant, or was it introduced? Does it have edible parts? Does it have a medicinal use? What is peculiar about it? Why does it have the name it has? The answers to these questions are almost invariably fascinating! I invite you to study God's world through the flowers He created!

1. Draw or photograph 35 kinds of flowers and identify them correctly.

This website http://www.realtimerendering.com/flowers/flowers.html can help you identify flowers by entering in the answers to several questions. It would be a good idea to print out the form and take copies with you into the field. Some of the questions are difficult to answer unless you have the plant right in front of you.

Arctotis
Aster
Azalea
Begonia
Bladder Campion
Bluebell
Boneset
Carnation
Chamomile
Chrysanthemum
Clematis
Columbine
Crocus
Dahlia
Daisy
Forget Me Not
Forsythia
Geranium
Hollyhock
Hydrangea
Hyacinth
Lady's Slipper
Iris
Lantana
Lily
Lupine
Marigold
Nasturtium
Orchid
Pansy
Peony
Periwinkle
Petunia
Phlox
Poppy
Primrose
Rose
Starflower
Sunflower
Sweet Pea
Tansy
Tufted Vetch
Tulip
Violet

2. Draw and properly label, or point out the actual parts of a flower: pistil, stamen, petal, sepal.

The **pistil** is the green stem with the fork at the end. The **stamens** are the green stems with the yellow heads at the tips

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3. Name six flower families and their distinguishing characteristics. Name at least two flowers in each family.

Orchid

The Orchid family is the largest family of flowering plants, containing some 25,000 species. Orchids, like the grasses and the palms, which they resemble in some ways—for instance the form of their leaves—are monocotyledons. They have one cotyledon, or embryonic leaf, in contrast to the two of most flowering plants. Orchids have simple leaves with parallel veins. Their shape is highly variable between species.

Vanilla
Lady's Slipper
Orchid

Lily

Plants in this family have linear leaves, mostly with parallel veins, and flower parts in threes.

Turk's Cap Lily
Wild Garlic
Onion
Trillium
Fawn Lily
Tulip
Hyacinth

Mustard

The family was formerly named Cruciferae ("cross-bearing"), because the four petals of their flowers are reminiscent of crosses.

Cabbage
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Brussels sprouts
Mustard
Horseradish
Watercress

Pink

The leaves are almost always opposite, rarely whorled. The blades are entire, petiolate and often stipulate. These stipules are not sheathforming. The flowers are regular and mostly have 5-way symmetry, i.e. with 5 petals and 5 sepals, but sometimes with 4 petals. The sepals are free from one another or united. The petals are fringed or deeply cleft at the end.

Carnation
Bladder Campion
Swamp Milkweed
Common Milkweed
Butterfly Plant
Sand Milkweed
Whorled Milkweed
Deptford Pink

Buttercup

Plants in the Buttercup family are mostly herbaceous plants, but with some woody climbers (such as Clematis) and subshrubs (e.g. Xanthorhiza). Leaves are very often more or less palmately compound. The flowers have many free stamens arranged in a spiral and usually many free pistils. Flowers are most often grouped in terminal racemes, panicles or cymes.

Delphinium
Columbine
Marsh Marigold
Thimbleweed
Clematis
Hellbore
Larkspur
Buttercup

Cactus

Cacti are distinctive and unusual plants, which are adapted to extremely arid and hot environments, showing a wide range of anatomical and physiological features which conserve water. Their stems have expanded into green succulent structures containing the chlorophyll necessary for life and growth, while the leaves have become the spines for which cacti are so well known.

Saguaro
Barrel Cactus
Prickly Pear
Rabbit Ear

Rose

Members of the Rose family have 5 sepals and 5 petals which are flat and wavy at the margins. Each flower has at least ten stamens. All members of the rose family have a hypanthium, which is a bowl-shaped part of a flower consisting of the bottoms of the sepals, petals, and stamens stuck together.

Rose
Apple
Blackberry
Strawberry
Raspberry
Apple
Plum
Peach
Cherry
Pear

Bean

All members of this family have five-petaled flowers in which the superior ovary ripens to form a "pod", technically called a legume, whose two sides split apart, releasing the seeds which are attached to one or both seams. A significant characteristic of legumes is that they host bacteria in their roots, within structures called root nodules. These bacteria have the ability to take nitrogen gas out of the air and convert it to a form of nitrogen that is usable to the host plant. This process is called nitrogen fixation.

Bean
Lupins
Clover
Alfalfa
Peas
Peanuts
Soybeans
Lentils
Mimosa
Kudzu

Parsley

The parsley family has flower clusters being in the form of a compound "umbel". The small flowers are radially symmetrical with 5 small sepals, 5 petals and 5 stamens.

Cumin
Parsley
Carrot (Queen Anne's Lace)
Dill
Caraway
Fennel
Angelica

Smartweed

The seeds of the plants belonging to the smartweed family have a triangular shape. Leaves of these plants have a peculiar pair of sheathing stipules known as ocreae.

Buckwheat
Sorrel
Rhubarb
Knotgrass

Bellflower

The Bellflower family consists mostly of herbs, shrubs, and more rarely small trees, which usually have milky non-toxic sap. Leaves of these species are often alternate, more rarely opposite. They are also simple and without stipules. Flowers are bisexual, bell-shape, consisting of a narrow tube-like corolla with small spreading lobes. Flowers are fairly often blue. Fruits are often berries, but can also be capsules.

Bluebell
Harebell
Lobelia
Balloonflower

Mint

The flowers in the Mint family typically have petals fused into an upper lip and a lower lip. The leaves emerge oppositely, each pair at right angles to the previous one or whorled. The stems are frequently square in cross section, but this is not found in all members of the family, and is sometimes found in other plant families. The flowers are bilaterally symmetrical with 5 united petals, 5 united sepals. They are usually bisexual and have a flower cluster that looks like a whorl of flowers but actually consists of two crowded clusters.

Basil
Mint
Rosemary
Sage
Savory
Marjoram
Oregano
Thyme
Lavender
Perilla
Self-heal

Aster (Daisy)

Plants in the Aster family typically have one or both of two kinds of florets. The outer perimeter of a flower head like that of a sunflower is composed of florets possessing a long strap-like petal, termed a ligule; these are the ray florets. The inner portion of the flower head (or disc) is composed of small flowers with tubular corollas; these are the disc florets. The composition of asteraceous inflorescences varies from all ray flowers (like dandelions, genus Taraxacum) to all disc flowers (like pineapple weeds).

Aster
Common Daisy
Oxeye Daisy
Black-eyed Susan
Lettuce
Chicory
Sunflower
Safflower
Jerusalem Artichoke
Goldenrod
Chrysanthemum
Dandelion
Boneset
Strawflower
Ragwort

Snapdragon

The plants are annual or perennial herbs with flowers that are zygomorphic (can be divided by only a single plane into two mirror-image halves, much like a person's face), or rarely actinomorphic (can be divided into symmetrical halves by more than one longitudinal plane passing through the axis, much as a pie can be cut into several equal and identical pieces).

Butterfly Bush
Figwort
Foxglove
Mullein

Internal links

Hydroponics for orchid cultivation

Creative Idea: Use a foldable to record / organize this information. Go here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6K0RnlNM7E to learn how.

4. Describe the life history of a particular flower, including the part played by insects or wind in pollination.

A seed needs warmth and water to grow roots.
The flower sprouts up and down at the same time, send a shoot upwards, and a root downwards.
The flowers grow more leaves.
The blossoms open.
Bees and other insects pollinate the flowers.
The flowers form seeds.
The seeds are dispersed and take root.
The cycle repeats.

5. Name at least two plants that are poisonous to touch, and state which, if any, are found in your locality.

Poison ivy	Poison oak
Poison sumac	Wild parsnip (Pastinaca sativa)

Poison Ivy, Poison Oak, and Poison Sumac all fall into this category. Poison ivy grows all over North America, and is most fond of disturbed areas such as stream banks and roadsides. Poison oak grows primarily in Texas, Oklahoma, and the Southeastern and Western United States. Poison Sumac is found in subtropical and warm temperate regions throughout the world, with the highest diversity in southern Africa.

Another plant to watch out for is the wild parsnip (Pastinaca sativa). This plant has an edible tuber, and indeed was cultivated for this for centuries. But if contact with the plant is made with wet (or sweaty) skin, followed by exposure to sunlight, it can cause a purple rash that can last several weeks. In some cases, the discoloration caused by the rash can be permanent.

6. Do three of the following

a. Arrange, draw or photograph a series of at least six flowers showing in order the colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet.

It is sometimes difficult to assign a color to a flower. Some varieties of a flower in a given species will have blossoms in one color, while another variety will have them in another. Some flowers are difficult to call blue or violet, as the color lies somewhere in between. Red and violet flowers can also be in between. Use your best judgment to meet this requirement. We present a few possibilities here, so do not feel constrained by this list.

Red	Orange	Yellow	Green	Blue	Violet
Columbine Rose Tulip Cardinal flower Sweet William	Daylily Marigold Spotted touch-me-not Butterfly weed	Goldenrod Daffodil Dandelion Butter-and-eggs Evening Primrose Sunflower	Maple (tree) Solomon's seal Skunk Cabbage Jack-in-the-pulpit Hellebore	Bluebell Pansy Lupine Violet Hyacinth Hydrangea	Clematis Self-heal Tufted Vetch Periwinkle Orchid Lady's slipper

b. Submit fresh, pressed or dried flowers which have: five petals, four petals, three petals, no petals.

The following are some possible flowers for your collection.

Five petals	Four petals	Three petals	Apetalous
Wrinkled rose Wood sorrel Cinquefoil Bladder campion Bouncing bet Chickweed Strawberry Blackberry Nightshade Columbine	Virginia meadow beauty Bunchberry Lily of the valley Sundrops Common Evening Primrose Cranberry Clematis	Trillium Arrowhead Dayflower Spiderwort Orchid	Lamb's quarters White calla lily Hog-peanut

c. Distinguish and name two out of five wild or cultivated flowers by their odor, while blindfolded.

This requirement is a fun activity that your Pathfinders are sure to enjoy. Select the flowers carefully, either from your garden (or one you have permission to "raid"), or from a store that sells flowers (a florist or a grocery store). Smell them to be sure they each have a discernible odor, and then determine their identities (you can use a key to do this). Cultivated flowers will generally have a stronger aroma than wild flowers. Allow each Pathfinder to sniff all the flowers without blindfolds so they can learn the smells. When a Pathfinder is ready, apply the blindfold, and hold the flower near the nose. Allow each flower to be sniffed and have the Pathfinder announce its supposed identity. If the Pathfinder cannot get two out of five in the first, try, allow him (or her) to smell them again without the blindfold and be sure the flower can be identified without the blindfold. Then try again.

d. List flowers that you have observed being visited for food by the following

1. Birds:
2. Honeybees:
3. Bumblebees:
4. Butterflies:
5. Moths:

It may be necessary to use a pair of binoculars for this requirement, as birds are highly unlikely to visit any flower a Pathfinder is hovering over. Hummingbirds are the most likely avian visitors you will see visiting a flower for food. Bumblebees can be distinguished from honey bees by their size (bumblebees are two or three times larger).

e. Watch a flower for at least ten minutes in the sunshine, and at least ten minutes after dusk, and report on insect visitors. State the number and kind of visitors and name of flower.

This can be an excellent activity for a campout. The post-dusk observations are quite suitable as a vespers activity, and the daytime observations work well during the Sabbath morning services.

Compare this requirement with requirement 7 of the Shrubs honor.

References