Utah Flora BOT2100
Lecture 3Gymnosperms
Including:
PinophytaGinkgophytaGnetophyta
Utah Flora BOT2100Quiz
Specimens 1 & 2: A. Are the leaves simple or compound? B. Are the leave entire, palmately lobed, palmately compound or pinnately compound? C. Are the leaves opposite or alternate?
Specimens 3: A. A. Are the leaves simple or compound? B. Are the leave entire, palmately lobed, palmately compound or pinnately compound?
Specimen 4: A. Are the flowers irregular or regular? B. Are the petals fused or seperate?
Utah Flora BOT2100Introduction to Scientific Names
Family Names
family: -aceae
exceptions to family -aceae ending. Valid alternatives:
Cruciferae Brassicaceae (mustard) Leguminosae Fabaceae (pea) Guttiferae Clusiaceae (St. Johnswort) Umbelliferae Apiaceae (carrot) Labiatae Lamiaceae (mints) Compositae Asteraceae (daisy) Palmae Arecaceae (palms) Gramineae Poaceae (grasses)
Utah Flora BOT2100Introduction to Scientific Names
“Bluebell” is an example of a common plant name.
In Scotland, bluebells are: Campanula rotundifolia (Campanulaceae)
In Ireland, they are:Hyacinthoides nonscripta (Liliaceae)
In the United States, they are:one of a dozen species of Mertensia (Boraginaceae)
orone of a dozen species of Campanula
In Australia, they are:a climbing vine called Sollya heterophylla (Pittosporaceae)
In S. Africa or New Zealand, they are:any one of 200 species of Wahlenbergia species (Campanulaceae)
Common Names
Utah Flora BOT2100Introduction to Scientific Names
Common names are fine in the right place, but are never much use internationally, or even between states in the U.S.
For example: Brassica tournefortii, a weedy mustard of deserts in S. Utah, is native to
the Mediterranean region of Europe
A Utah Flora common name for this plant is “witch-wand”
The rest of the U.S., Europe, and Africa call it: “Tournefort’s mustard” or “African mustard”
Common Names
Utah Flora BOT2100Introduction to Scientific Names
A Google search of “witch-wand” and “plant” comes up with:a common name for a cultivar of Irisa common name for branches of Salix (willow) trees
Many common names in A Utah Flora are only used locally in Northern Utah, some were created and used solely by botanists at BYU.
No one outside of Utah will know what plant you are talking about if you use this common name.
For these reasons, primarily, I will not be using common names.
Also, common names from a Utah Flora or the Great Basin Wildflowers will not be acceptable for tests
Common Names
Utah Flora BOT2100Introduction to Scientific Names
•Binomial scientific names (i.e. a name with a genus and a species) were created for all living organisms to assist in the communication between scientists across the world and with scientists centuries from now
•Every scientific name can be traced back to a single specimen that represents the “species” as described by the person who first discovered it
•Scientists use these “type specimens” to compare with newly discovered plant species and to determine if they are species new to science
•Scientific names were NOT created to stabilize the application of names•This is a very common, false assumption•A species that remains unchanged, name-wise, for a decade or more in plants is rare
•The history of scientific names is one in which “change” is always occurring
The Format of Scientific Names
Utah Flora BOT2100Introduction to Scientific Names
•Any scientist can, if they choose, take any plant population and name it a new species, if they follow the format used by all scientists.
•Scientists during later studies (sometimes 20-50 years after it was named), will evaluate all these names applied to a particular species and determine whether or not each name is a new species, or whether it a duplicate of the same species (called a synonym)
•Synonyms are names in brackets under the genus and species in A Utah Flora
•Other scientists will look at the same specimens and arrange the species based on different characteristics and publish another paper with different species than the first
Scientific Names
Utah Flora BOT2100Introduction to Scientific Names
•Sometimes these alternate arrangements are based on an entirely different opinions, which are in conflict with the first’s
•Sometimes these alternate arrangements are based on new scientific information that was not available to the first
•The species name used in A Utah Flora is only one of two or three currently used species arrangements in use in the United States.
•Each are valid arrangements •Scientists are currently using new methods to test each of these species arrangements to find out which better reflects the evolution of plants in North America
Scientific Names
Utah Flora BOT2100Introduction to Scientific Names
•The first letter of the genus name is always upper case
•The first letter of the specific epithet (and subsp. or varietal epithet) is always lower case
•Latin genus and species names should always be italicized
•Latin family names are not italicized
•The author is not italicized
Astragalus utahensis (Torrey) Torrey & Gray
The Format of Scientific Names
Utah Flora BOT2100
Non-flowering, seed bearing vascular plants(no corollas or calyx or ovary wall)
Seeds & pollen are borne directly on a fleshy or woody bracts
Some species have male and female cones on different plants
(dioecous)
Others on different branches of the same plant(monoecious)
Cones – a cluster of seed-bearing or pollen bearing bracts along a central axis
Strobilus – an alternate term for cone
Gymnosperms
Utah Flora BOT2100
Major Divisions
Cycadophyta – cycads or fern-like trees with cones (tropical, native only in Florida in U.S.)
Pinophyta – pines, junipers, yews, and redwoods
Ginkgophyta – ginkgo tree
Gnetophyta – tropical llanas (woody vines), Welwitschia, and Mormon or Indian tea
Gymnosperms
Utah Flora BOT2100Pinophyta
Cupressaceae
Worldwide 15 genera 140 species
Utah (Native or Introduced) 1 genus 4 species
The other 4 genera and a dozen species are cultivated plants that do not persist due to the lack of viable seed
Utah Flora BOT2100Pinophyta
CupressaceaeJuniperus osteosperma
•Common juniper across all of the southern Great Basin
•Monoecious, male and female cones on same plant
•Scale-like leaves on thick branchlets (over 1 mm in diameter)
Utah Flora BOT2100Pinophyta
Cupressaceae
Juniperus scopulorum
The higher elevation, montane juniper
•Monoecious, male and female cones on same plant
•Scale-like leaves on thin branchlets (less than 1 mm in diameter)
Utah Flora BOT2100Pinophyta
CupressaceaeJuniperus communis
•montane to alpine, shrubby juniper
•Monoecious, male and female cones on same plant
•Needle-like leaves in whorls of 3
•Juniper “berries” are cones with 1-3, fleshy, fused scales
Utah Flora BOT2100Pinophyta
Pinaceae
Worldwide 10 genera 150 species
Utah (Native or Introduced) 4 genera 11 species
•Trees with needle-like leaves
•Leaves in fascicles (groups) of 1 to 5
•Cones with woody, not fleshy scales
•Pinus, Abies, Picea, and Pseudotsudga are the genera in Utah
Utah Flora BOT2100Pinophyta
Pinaceae
Pinus monophylla
•The pinion pine of western Utah
•Monoecious, male cones and female cones on same plant
•Needle-like leaves single, rarely in fascicles of 2
Utah Flora BOT2100Pinophyta
Pinaceae
Pinus edulis
•The pinion pine of eastern Utah
•forms hybrids with P. monophylla
•Monoecious, male and female cones on same plant
•Needle-like leaves in fascicles of 2 -3
Utah Flora BOT2100Pinophyta
Pinaceae
Pinus flexilis
•A common alpine tree
•female cone scales with large, terminal, unarmed umbos
•Monoecious, male and female cones on same plant
•Needle-like leaves in fascicles of 5
Utah Flora BOT2100Pinophyta
Pinaceae
Pseudotsuga menziesii
•A common montane tree
•female cone scales flattened, with 3-lobed, exserted bracts
•Monoecious, male and female cones on same plant
•Needle-like leaves single, flattened
Utah Flora BOT2100
Worldwide 1 genus 1 species
Utah (Cultivated) 1 genus 1 species
GinkgophytaGinkgoaceae
A common street tree in the northern tier of states in the U.S.
Utah Flora BOT2100Ginkgophyta
Ginkgoaceae
Ginkgo biloba
•Native to China, cultivated in Utah (a few on campus)
•Probably extinct in wild due to overharvesting of lumber
•female cone scales fleshy
•Dioecious, male and female cones on separate trees
•fan-shaped leaves
Utah Flora BOT2100
Worldwide 1 genus 40 species
Utah (Native) 1 genus 5 species
Ephedra is the source of the drug ephedrine, a vascular constrictor
Ephedrine is found only in Ephedra from China
Pseudoephedrine is found in the North American species and is much less concetrated
GnetophytaEphedraceae
Utah Flora BOT2100
Sepals
GnetophytaEphedraceae
Ephedra nevadensis
•Common desert Ephedra of S. Utah
•Dioecious
•Branches divergent, grayish
•Scale-like leaves 2 per node, opposite
•Nodes whitish to grayish
•Often rhizomatous and clonal
Utah Flora BOT2100
Sepals
GnetophytaEphedraceae
Ephedra viridis var. viridis•Common montane Ephedra
•Dioecious
•Branches upright (broom-like), greenish
•Scale-like leaves 2 per node, opposite
•Nodes blackish
Utah Flora BOT2100
Sepals
GnetophytaEphedraceae
Ephedra cutleriEphedra viridis var. viscida
•restricted to sand dunes in E. Utah
•Dioecious
•Branches upright, greenish-yellow
•Stems covered in a sticky resin (viscid) often with sand grains stuck to the stem
•Scale-like leaves 2 per node, opposite
•Nodes grayish to blackish
Utah Flora BOT2100
Sepals
GnetophytaEphedraceae
Ephedra torreyana
•common sandy soil, desert species in central and S. Utah
•Dioecious
•Female cones with broad scarious scales (thin, dry and membraneous)
•Branches divergent, grayish
•Scale-like leaves 3 per node, whorled
Utah Flora BOT2100
Worldwide 1 genus 1 species
Utah (Cultivated) 1 genus 1 species
GnetophytaWelwitschiaceae
Can only be grown under professional cultivation in U.S. Due to its long-life and the need for a 8-9 foot high tubular pot, it is
only found at University greenhouses in the United States. Specimens are also very expensive to purchase, which makes them out of the price range for sale at commercial nurseries
Utah Flora BOT2100
Sepals
GnetophytaWelwitschiaceae
Welwitschia mirabilis
Images Copyright © 2008 by Fabian A. Michelangeli
•Restricted to the Namib Desert in Africa
Utah Flora BOT2100
Assignment
•Draw and label species provided in lab
•Make sure to label those morphological features that helped you identify the sample (i.e. needles in 1,2,3,5’s, cones fleshy, etc)
•Identify & label all samples to family and genus
•Use A Utah Flora to identify & label all samples to species (other than the ones we determined in class together)