Adventist Adventurer Awards/Trees

Trees
Sunbeam

Read several Bible verses about leaves. List the kinds of leaves you find. edit

Psalm 1: 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

Jeremiah 17: 8 He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

Revelation 22:2 Through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

Genesis 2: 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

List the kinds of leaves

1. Simple Leaves edit

It is a single leaf with undivided leaflets that are directly attached to the stem. It is always attached to a twig by its stem or the petiole.

Examples: Maple, oaks, banana, guava, mango, black cherry, black gum and, sweat gum.

2. Compound Leaves edit

A leaf that is composed of multiple leaflets that are attached to the midvein, and having their own stalk.

Examples: Neem, rose, clover, desert cotton, poison ivy, horse chestnut and, baobab.

Based on the types of leaf veins and their arrangement in the lamina, compound leaves are further classified into two types:

a) Palmately compound leaf

They are leaflets radiating outwards from the end of the petiole, similar to fingers of the palm of our hands.

Based on the number of leaflets, the palmately compound leaf is categorized into the following types: i) unifoliate – one leaflet, ii) bifoliate  – two leaflets, iii) trifoliate – three leaflets, iv) quadrifoliate – four leaflets and, v) multifoliate – five or more leaflets.

Examples: Citrus limon (unifoliate), Bauhinia yunnanensis (bifoliate), Acer cissifolium (trifoliate), Oxalis (quadrifoliate) and, Umbrella plant (multifoliate).

b) Pinnately compound leaf

They are leaflets arranged symmetrically along the center of the leaf, where each leaflet appears to be attached or pinned to the midrib making the leaf look like a feather.

Depending on the number of times the leaflet is attached to the midrib, pinnately compound leaves are categorized into the following types: i) unipinnate – single compound leaf attached to the midrib in an opposite fashion, ii) bipinnate – single leaflets of the unipinnate leaf gets replaced with unipinnate leaves and, iii) tripinnate – single leaflets of the unipinnate leaf gets replaced with bipinnate leaves.

Examples: Azadirachta indica (unipinnate), Mimosa pudica (bipinnate) and, Moringa oleifera (tripinnate).

Types of Leaves Based on the Plants and Trees They are Found in

1) Fronds – Leaf of fern plants such as club-mosses and horsetails

2) Leaves of conifer – Found in plants such as fir and pine

3) Leaves of angiosperm – Leaves of common flowering plants such as rose, dahlia and, sunflower

4) Sheath leaves – Elongated and tubular leaves as found in variety of grasses

5) Specialized and unusual leaves – Leaves of insect-eating plants such as pitcher plant and venus flytrap.

Collect 10 leaves from different trees. Press and dry. Identify edit

Paint one leaf with chocolate. edit

Tell how trees scatter their seeds and collect or draw five different seeds. edit

Plants cannot walk around and take their seeds to other places, so they have developed other methods to disperse (move) their seeds. The most common methods are wind, water, animals, explosion and fire.

Wind dispersal

Have you ever blown on a dandelion head and watched the seeds float away? This is wind dispersal. Seeds from plants like dandelions, swan plants and cottonwood trees are light and have feathery bristles and can be carried long distances by the wind. Some plants, like kauri and maple trees, have ‘winged’ seeds. They don’t float away but flutter to the ground. With wind dispersal, the seeds are simply blown about and land in all kinds of places. To help their chances that at least some of the seeds land in a place suitable for growth, these plants have to produce lots of seeds.

Water dispersal

Many plants have seeds that use water as a means of dispersal. The seeds float away from the parent plant. Many aquatic plants and plants that live near water have seeds that can float, and are carried by water.  Plants living along streams and rivers have seeds that float downstream, and therefore become germinate at new sites.  The size of the seed is not a factor in determining whether or not a seed can float.  Some very large seeds, like coconuts, can float.  Some small seeds also float.

Animal dispersal

Birds often fly far away from the parent plant and disperse the seeds in their droppings. Some seeds have hooks or barbs that catch onto an animal’s fur, feathers or skin. Plants like pittosporum have sticky seeds that can be carried away by birds. Humans can also spread seeds if they get stuck to our clothing or shoes – and if we throw fruit pips and stones out of the car window!

Fire dispersal

There are some species(Abbreviation sp. or spp.) A division used in the Linnean system of classification or taxonomy. A group of living organisms that can interbreed to produce viable offspring. of pine tree that require the heat from a fire before their cones will open and release seeds. The intensity and timing of the fire is important. It needs to be hot enough to trigger the cones to open, but if fires are too frequent, there is not enough time for the plants to grow big enough to make new seeds.

Adaptation and seed dispersal

Adaptation is an evolutionary process that helps an organism make the most of its habitat. Seed dispersal is an example of adaptation.

Make two different leaf rubbings. OR Make two pieces of stationery, using a leaf design. edit

Discover the trees and leaves in your neighborhood. Learn something special about each one. Report your findings to the class. edit

Put your dried leaves in a “Leaves” Scrapbook. edit

External Resources edit