These grass seeds are spread by the wind. When the seeds break off from the stem, the wind carries them to a new area where they can grow.
Here are some small berries containing seeds. This plant relies on birds, squirrels, and other animals to carry the seeds away from the original plant. The animals may simply drag them off where the fleshy tissue around the seeds will decompose, or they may eat the seeds and disperse them elsewhere after the fleshy tissue is digested.
Here are seeds from a grassy type plant. The seeds are very light, ideal for being carried away from their origin by wind. They are also very small and have a way of sticking to or getting caught on things very easily, things such as animal coats or clothing where they can also be carried away from their origin.
Berries for the birds to munch. And then crap out onto a windshield.
These seeds have the perfect little parachutes for catching the wind. There was another one that had seeds hanging off of it, about ready to blow off, but I couldn't get any good shots of it. So here's this one.
These almond seeds are examples of dispersal by ingestion. They could be ingested by an animal, such as a squirrel, and then germinate away from parental almond tree.
This is a picture of pine cones as an example of wind disperal. The wind could make the cones fall far from the parental tree.
I found these seeds on the ground by my house. I set out to take the pictures after the extremely windy day on Sunday so all of the seeds that were on the trees are now on the ground, finding their new home!
I found these berries along side the foresty area close to my house. These seeds get dispersed through animals eating the berries, and later the seeds come out in the animal's droppings.
All week I had been looking for a spot that looked like it was under stress. I finally found one. ONe problem is that the bed is on an angle. This also means the water runs off of it quite quickly. Up unil the rain we had the night before I took the picture, it looked incredibly dry.
For my fruit, I took a picture of an orange. I thought it would be an interesting fruit to find the seed coat and pericarp. The fleshy orange part is the pericarp and the coating of the white seed in the right half of the orange is the seed coat.
I found my high stress environment at a rental shop. Around here there is a lot of foot and machine traffic. Chemicals and machine fluids are present and trace amounts around the area. Also it is subjected to the sun, when it is out, and to a lot of heat.
I found this grapefruit in my parents refrigerator. They are becoming a good supply for my picutres for this class!!
This is a picture of what should be a grassy area. There were areas around here that had lush green grass. For some reason this area was now covered in a layer of sand that seemed to be preventing growth, except for some weeds.
So I'd say I kind of get a kick out of coming up with titles. The problem here is pretty clear. The earth is covered in rocks which provide almost no moisture retention for plants to live in. Of course, we have urban superweeds that could survive a meteorite collision, but other than that, there is almost no plant diversity in this area.
Alright, well, hopefully the important bits of this photograph can be seen, regardless of the blurriness. I'm guessing my camera was malfunctioning at the time, and I somehow didn't notice. This was part of an apple purchased from a grocery store. Nothing too remarkable.
This is a picture of an orange I got from the dining hall in Comstock. The pericarp is the peel surrounding the fruit. I was able to peel off some of the seed coat to show that the white is the seed coat and the brown is the seed.
Here is a pomegranate I bought at a local grocery store. I found it interesting how the seeds are symmetrically spread out inside, and how they occupy such a large volume inside the fruit relative to its size. The natural juice also tastes pretty good.
Here is an area of my yard with little plant diversity. This turf is in a highly shaded area in between two houses and underneath a pine tree. There is also a moderate amount of traffic through this area and I wouldn't be surprised if the soil conditions are stressful as well being underneath an acidic pine tree.
This is a picture from outside the step of my house. The area is distressed from high foot traffic, and lack of water. If you look closely you can see where the neighbor's yard starts, and our's ends, because they water their yard frequently...
I recently became a pickle fanatic and have been eating them all the time! I was munching on a few the other day, while thinking of what I could possibly do for this assignment, and then it clicked! I researched the pickle online and found that a pickled cucumber does indeed have a pericarp and seed coat.
This plant looks like it has been frosted with snow, even though it was 80 degrees out when I snapped this shot from my neighbor's flower pot. It's real though, I checked. The nodes are distinct and there are leafs, the flowers, branches and a long continuation of the stem.
I found this plant in a garden in my friend's front yard. The Primary Rachis is shown up through the center of the image and Secondary and Tertiary Rachis off to the sides of the image supporting the Pedicels and flowers. There are also Bracts growing on the sides of the flower.
My favorite is definitely the Phlox Paniculata.
I found this plant in one of my mother's many flower boxes around our house in Northern Wisoconsin. These multiple flowers are actually growing from a second rachis on this plant.
In this picture I had the opportunity to find a fruit growing at the node. There is also a leaf and more steming.
Hard to really tell whether this is a corymb or a compound umbel...or what. But this is actually from a bush at my sister's house, and I found it to be quite pretty up closer. The photograph does not quite show the peduncle, but if you can imagine what is behind that leaf on the bottom, you'll likely see a very kind, welcoming stem. That's it. And, of course, the remaining structures are labeled. There are no bracts on this plant that I could see.
These two flowers are actually growing in my garden, and they are among the last blooms on the plant that have not yet been pollinated. Plus they just look sad, which gives me the impression that they loved and lost.
As you can see, the focal node is defined in the photograph as the point from which the flower sprouts, a new branch is formed, and the original stem continues.
This inflorescence is from a weed I’ve been trying to kill for weeks growing in my lawn. It tastes like chives. Coming from below is the peduncle, which is about a foot long. Then we get to the flowers, which are all individually located off of a single point, which make it a umbel, I’m pretty sure. Then we can see the pedicels, one per flower, and then the white flowers.
-Mathew Ryden
I found these flowers outside on the left side of Coffman Union. There are small leaves at the node, a flower on the left side, and the continuation of the stem.
This is a picture of an inflorescence outside of Coffman Union. You can clearly see the peduncle, rachis, bracts, and some pedicels.
The first picture shows nodes along the stem. The second picture shows many pedicels. Both pictures were taken behind the radison on Washington Ave SE.
Here's my node! It is a plant that is growing around a tree in my back yard, I pass by it every day, and never noticed the unique structure of it! From the node three things are happening; there is a continuation of the stem, a leaf has formed, and there is a tiny bud about to open with a flower!
This is the picture of the inflorescences that I found. I was taking a walk, and noticed this plant in one of my neighbor's yards. It is a Compound Umble, and very pretty, I think!
Here is a node I found in Brainerd, MN that contains three of the four charactoristics we discussed. It has two leaves, two branching off stems, and an extension of the main stem.
Here is an inflorescence consisting of a peduncle, many rachises, and many pedicels leading to all the small flowers. This head shaped inflorescnce was found in Brainerd, MN where I spent the weekend.
