Our class goal is to identify every plant on campus. To do this, we will have to go outside more than once and choose plants that haven't been identified yet. The plant that I decided to identify, which I think is Running Club Moss, was not on Vital Signs, so I had to submit it as a project.
You might want to do a little research or thinking about plants and winter and oxygen... Do plants produce or consume oxygen, or both? And if snow was smothering the plant to kill it, why do so many plants die back before the snow falls?
And just because a plant dies back in the winter doesn't mean it's an annual. Lots of plants in our gardens, for example, are perennials - they die back in the winter and sprout up again in the spring. Japanese knotweed, irises, columbine, grass, and many reeds are perennials.
How could you figure out, or find out, if your plant is an annual or perennial?
Submitted by vitalsleuth on Thu, 2011-02-10 23:04.
Looks like some healthy Lycopodium to me! Nice summary of what you're up to and what you saw.
Your #8 piece of evidence caught my eye. You state that the plant is perennial because it "didn't seem to be dying during the fall." I just want to clarify that lots of Maine perennials go dormant (look like they're dying) in late fall and winter, but they do not die. Their living roots put up new shoots and leaves in the spring when conditions are right. So what makes a plant a perennial is that it grows for two or more years before dying, not that it dies back in the fall.
I went outside to visit my plant yesterday and made some new observations. My plant is annual because it was dead when I went to go check on it. I think it died over the winter because the snow was piling over on top of it, and it couldn't get any oxygen.
Comments
plants and oxygen
Hi there, 7RS19.
You might want to do a little research or thinking about plants and winter and oxygen... Do plants produce or consume oxygen, or both? And if snow was smothering the plant to kill it, why do so many plants die back before the snow falls?
And just because a plant dies back in the winter doesn't mean it's an annual. Lots of plants in our gardens, for example, are perennials - they die back in the winter and sprout up again in the spring. Japanese knotweed, irises, columbine, grass, and many reeds are perennials.
How could you figure out, or find out, if your plant is an annual or perennial?
lively roots
Looks like some healthy Lycopodium to me! Nice summary of what you're up to and what you saw.
Your #8 piece of evidence caught my eye. You state that the plant is perennial because it "didn't seem to be dying during the fall." I just want to clarify that lots of Maine perennials go dormant (look like they're dying) in late fall and winter, but they do not die. Their living roots put up new shoots and leaves in the spring when conditions are right. So what makes a plant a perennial is that it grows for two or more years before dying, not that it dies back in the fall.
I went outside to visit my
I went outside to visit my plant yesterday and made some new observations. My plant is annual because it was dead when I went to go check on it. I think it died over the winter because the snow was piling over on top of it, and it couldn't get any oxygen.