יומן של Plants Adapted to Moistures

*Unique adaptation :
Pinkladies:
it is of high drought- resistance, being able to grow in most of the area in the world.
It blooms both day and night, but typically in the pre-dawn hours, closing when the full sun hits them, so it attracts moths especially.
*Common adaptation:
2) All the plants have veins running throughout the leaf, in order to transport nutrients and sap to all parts of the leaf.
3) All the plants have adapted to moisture and can thrive in watery conditions.
*Phylogeny placement:
Setaria viridis AKA Green Bristle Grass
Kingdom: Plantae-->Clade: Tracheophytes;Angiosperms;Monocots;Commelinids-->Order: Poales-->Family: Poaceae-->Subfamily: Panicoideae--> Genus: Setaria

I chose phragmites australis, which is usually called reed.

It is found in rivers and lakes, along the banks of ponds and ditches. They are splendid in low wetlands and various open areas with water sources. Due to its strong reproductive capacity, it usually grows in patches.

The reed is tall, making it easy for the top leaves to contact sunlight for photosynthesis. The leaves, leaf sheaths, stems, rhizomes and adventitious roots of phragmites australis all have aerenchyma, which can promote the gas and water circulation of roots and ensure adequate nutrition.
Adventitious roots have the function of enlarging the absorption area of plants and enhancing the fixation or support of plants.

The observation I chose is Calliandra haematocephala, also known as stickpea. This flowering plant belongs to the family Fabaceae (or pea family), and the genus Calliandra. Its most recent ancestors include shrubs from the same genus Calliandra. If we go further back, we can find plants like the Silk Tree, Silver Wattle and even the common lentil as its recent ancestors.

One common adaptation that I found in our group project is that all plants observed were photoautotrophs: they have green leaves, indicating chlorophyll. So they are able to photosynthesize to make energy rich compounds, which other animals like ants and insects living nearby depend on.

One of my observations is a fig tree (genus: ficus) which has surface roots. This adaptation helps it acquire nutrients and water which it would have otherwise not gotten if it were underground, due to reasons such as compacted soil or lack of moisture.

One of the ten observed plants, silver grass, is also known by its scientific name, Miscanthus, which is a genus of plants in the true grasses family. It has 22 species and its most recent ancestors are maiden grass, Japanese silver grass, Pacific island silver grass, and small Japanese silver grass.

There are no outstanding common adaptations within the group, except the fact that all the plants have green leaves. This can be resulted from the difference in latitude, local climate as well as manmade factors.

One of the common adaptation that I found was that the plants all have relatively narrow leaves. This characteristic reduces the chance of their leaves being damaged by water current, it also stretches long so that they can get more sunlight and photosynthesis.