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Species
DICOTS
Nettle-leaved Giant-hyssop (Agastache urticifolia)
Dalles Milk-vetch (Astragalus sclerocarpus)
Narrow-leaved Brickellia (Brickellia oblongifolia)
Yellowish Paintbrush (Castilleja lutescens)
Atkinson's Coreopsis (Coreopsis atkinsoniana)
Whited's Halimolobos (Halimolobos whitedii)
Munroe's Globe-mallow (Sphaeralcea munroana)
MONOCOTS
Lyall's Mariposa Lily (Calochortus lyalli)
Porcupine-grass (Stipa spartea)
FERNS
Basic Characteristics of Flowering Plants and Ferns
These two groups are multicellular eukaryotes (cells with membrane-bound
nucleus and organelles) that produce their own food by photosynthesis.
Most are terrestrial but some plants have returned secondarily
to water during their evolution.
Stems and leaves are generally coated with a waxy cuticle that
helps prevent loss of water. Carbon dioxide and oxygen diffuse
in and out of the plants through microscopic pores in the leaf
surface. Photosynthesis takes place in cells organelles called
chloroplasts containing green chlorophyll and a variety of yellow,red
and orange plant pigments.
Plant cells have walls made primarily of cellulose. Carbohydrate
is stored in the form of starch, generally in chloroplasts and
other cell organelles.
Adaptations
To obtain water and minerals from the soil, while also absorbing
light and taking in carbon dioxide, these plants have both an
underground root system and an above ground shoot system. Neither
system can live without the other. Lacking chloroplasts and living
in the dark, roots would starve without nutrients imported from
the leaves of the shoot system. Conversely, leaves and stems depend
on the water and minerals absorbed by roots. A system of tubes
transport materials between shoots and roots.
Classification
Vascular plants are divided into those without seeds, mostly ferns
and some mosses; and those with seeds, mostly flowering plants
and cone bearing trees. Of the two groups of seed plants, gymnosperms
(conebearers with naked seeds) appear much earlier in the fossil
record. They lack the enclosed chambers in which angiosperm seeds
develop.
Ferns (Division Pterophyta)
The earliest vascular plants were seedless and the ferns belong
to one of the four living divisions of plants that have retained
this early condition. Of all seedless vascular plants, ferns are
the most extensively represented in the modern flora. Ferns disperse
via spores, rather than seeds. Unlike seeds, each spore has half
the complement of genetic material. Sexual reproduction occurs
later in the life cycle.
The leaves, or fronds, of ferns are compound, meaning each leaf
is composed of several leaflets called pinnae. The frond grows
as its coiled tip, the fiddlehead, unfurls. The leaves usually
sprout directly from a horizontal underground stem called a rhizome
such as they do in brackens and sword ferns.
Large tropical tree ferns, by contrast, have upright stems many
meters tall. The leafy fern plant familiar to us is part of the
life cycle called the sporophyte generation. The gametophyte stage
is usually very small. With their swimming sperm and fragile gametophytes,
the majority of ferns live in relatively damp habitats. The
Hairy
Water-clover (Marsilea vestita) and the Mosquito
Fern (Azolla mexicana) are two rare aquatic ferns that
live in the dry southern interior of British Columbia.
Flowering Plants (Division Magnoliophyta)
Flowering plants, or angiosperms, are split into two classes:
monocots (Liliopsida), which have one embryonic seed leaf, and
dicots (Magnoliopsida), which have two seed leaves. Monocots and
dicots also have several other structural differences including
the arrangement of major veins in their leaves.
Many angiosperms require insects or other animals as dispensers
to transfer pollen from male to female sex organs. This makes
pollination less random than the wind-dependent pollination of
gymnosperms.
Dicots - Peas, Buttercups, Sunflowers, Oaks and Maples
Among the many dicot families are roses, peas, buttercups, sunflowers,
oaks and maples. Many dicots have a taproot system, consisting
of one large, vertical root (the taproot) that gives rise to many
smaller lateral roots. Penetrating deep into the soil, the taproot
provides a firm anchor.
Some taproots, such as carrots, turnips, sugar beets, and sweet
potatoes, are modified roots that store larger amounts of food.
The plant draws on these food reserves when it flowers and produces
fruit. Dicots generally have a multi-branched network of major
veins in their leaves and floral parts in multiples of four or
five. There are many dicot plant species that are endangered,
threatened or rare in the dry southern interior of British Columbia
including:
Nettle-leaved Giant-hyssop (Agastache urticifolia)
Dalles Milk-vetch (Astragalus sclerocarpus)
Narrow-leaved Brickellia (Brickellia oblongifolia)
Yellowish Paintbrush (Castilleja lutescens)
Atkinson's Coreopsis (Coreopsis atkinsoniana)
Whited's Halimolobos (Halimolobos whitedii)
Munroe's Globe-mallow (Sphaeralcea munroana)
Monocots - Grasses, Orchids, Palms, Lilies, and Yuccas
Monocots include: grasses such as wheat, corn, bamboos, and rice;
orchids, palms, lilies, and yuccas.
They generally have fibrous root systems consisting of a mat of
threadlike roots that spread out below the surface rather than
a taproot.
Most monocots have parallel major veins that run the length of
the leaf blade and floral parts usually in multiples of three.
Examples of endangered, threatened and rare species of monocots
in the Okanagan and Similkameen valleys of southern British Columbia
include:
Lyall's Mariposa Lily (Calochortus lyalli)
Porcupine-grass (Stipa spartea)
Endangered Species
The species listed above are a few of the many endangered, threatened
and vulnerable species of plants living in the Okanagan and Similkameen
valleys of southern British Columbia. Due to loss of suitable
habitat, some of these species may become extinct without protection.
Grasslands, dominated by bunchgrasses and shrubs are the primary
habitat of concern in the dry, southern interior region of the
province. The ecosystem is poorly known, unlike the high public
profile of an old-growth forest, and yet is one of the most threatened
natural habitats left in Canada. this section sponsored by: |
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