Seedless vascular plant walk and talk
This term the area around the mango trees is undergoing leveling, ruling out starting the walk on an eastward arc into that area as I have done the past few terms. On the other end of campus an area where I had found Macrothelypteris torresiana and Pteris tripartita excavation had occurred for a greenhouse.
The class began at A101 and headed west to the plants behind the south faculty building. There I found a fertile Microsorum scolopendria frond and a Davallia solida frond under the Cestrum jasminoides. There was also an Asplenium nidus in the Jasminum sambac, which allowed me to discuss sori, pinnae, and mention frond shape. The SVP presentation groups were assigned last Thursday, in the previous class, with students picking a partner and then picking a group. The students had the group description sheet. Today I handed the sheet out again, this time with their names on the sheet in the area that they chose. This allowed me to reference specific groups when I spoke about specific plant features, and led the students who were covering a plant or life cycle to focus a little more intently when I was speaking about what they were to present upon. I also handed out the Google Docs SVP plant sheet.
From there the class headed to the sidewalk between the dining hall and the learning resource center where Nostoc can be found. After a brief visit with the Nostoc, the class headed into the grass to encounter Dicranopteris linearis.
Via-marie demonstrated a prime use of Dicranopteris linearis - as a sun hat. On the left Justin examines the binary bifurcations that are the naming characteristic of Dicranopteris.
I did not relocate the Lycopodiella cernua I saw last week and had to circle back around to the patch I used last year. Harvesting for decoration remains problematic and there really is nothing I can do about this - the harvesting is not always done by our students and staff.
From there we walked down the men's residence hall. There the Plumeria obtusa has excellent examples of sporophyte bearing mosses. One could see the operculum on some of the spore capsules. This afforded a chance to cover haploid/diploid, gametophyte/sporophyte.
On one plumeria I found Lemmaphyllum accedens. Once one learns to distinguish this plant from Microsorum scolopendria, one sees the fern everywhere.
We then went directly out onto the trail via a new cut through the Hibiscus tiliaceus at the back of the area where the greenhouse will go. I saw no Lycopodiella cernua in the field, that has never recovered from heavy harvesting after the fire in the field a few years ago.
The area at the top of the hill was the final stop on the hike. For the most part I had students remain there while I circled around showing ferns and sharing fronds. A Nephrolepis spp. fern frond is on the left above, the lycophyte Huperzia phlegmaria with strobili is in the center of the image.
Haploteris elongata on the same tree.
Venister along with the rest of the class at the top of the hill.
Asplenium laserpitiifolium is nearby as is Angiopteris evecta and Cyathea nigricans. I had to walk down slope a short ways to locate a fern I tentatively have identified as Asplenium polyodon. A tropical Pacific fern expert would be a nice visitor to have.
I have yet to confirm a name for this fern with sori in the tips of pinnae.
Prileen and, behind her, Brenda, apparently enjoying the outing.
The class began at A101 and headed west to the plants behind the south faculty building. There I found a fertile Microsorum scolopendria frond and a Davallia solida frond under the Cestrum jasminoides. There was also an Asplenium nidus in the Jasminum sambac, which allowed me to discuss sori, pinnae, and mention frond shape. The SVP presentation groups were assigned last Thursday, in the previous class, with students picking a partner and then picking a group. The students had the group description sheet. Today I handed the sheet out again, this time with their names on the sheet in the area that they chose. This allowed me to reference specific groups when I spoke about specific plant features, and led the students who were covering a plant or life cycle to focus a little more intently when I was speaking about what they were to present upon. I also handed out the Google Docs SVP plant sheet.
From there the class headed to the sidewalk between the dining hall and the learning resource center where Nostoc can be found. After a brief visit with the Nostoc, the class headed into the grass to encounter Dicranopteris linearis.
I did not relocate the Lycopodiella cernua I saw last week and had to circle back around to the patch I used last year. Harvesting for decoration remains problematic and there really is nothing I can do about this - the harvesting is not always done by our students and staff.
From there we walked down the men's residence hall. There the Plumeria obtusa has excellent examples of sporophyte bearing mosses. One could see the operculum on some of the spore capsules. This afforded a chance to cover haploid/diploid, gametophyte/sporophyte.
On one plumeria I found Lemmaphyllum accedens. Once one learns to distinguish this plant from Microsorum scolopendria, one sees the fern everywhere.
We then went directly out onto the trail via a new cut through the Hibiscus tiliaceus at the back of the area where the greenhouse will go. I saw no Lycopodiella cernua in the field, that has never recovered from heavy harvesting after the fire in the field a few years ago.
The area at the top of the hill was the final stop on the hike. For the most part I had students remain there while I circled around showing ferns and sharing fronds. A Nephrolepis spp. fern frond is on the left above, the lycophyte Huperzia phlegmaria with strobili is in the center of the image.
Haploteris elongata on the same tree.
Venister along with the rest of the class at the top of the hill.
Asplenium laserpitiifolium is nearby as is Angiopteris evecta and Cyathea nigricans. I had to walk down slope a short ways to locate a fern I tentatively have identified as Asplenium polyodon. A tropical Pacific fern expert would be a nice visitor to have.
I have yet to confirm a name for this fern with sori in the tips of pinnae.
Prileen and, behind her, Brenda, apparently enjoying the outing.
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