The Skunk Cabbage is a species from the Arum family and is located in the Eastern and Western North America. In the Eastern North America, the Skunk Cabbage is known as Symplocarpus foetidus, and in the Western North America, it is known as Lysichiton americanus. It is seen plants in the Arum family are monocotyledon flowering plants where the flowers are borne on a spadix, which is enclosed by a leaf-like bract called a spathe (Ito-Inaba et al., 2009). This plant was given the name Skunk Cabbage because of its distinctive “skunky” odour that it emits due to the breaking and tearing of its leaves. This odour will permeate the area where the plant grows, and can even be detected in old, dried specimens. Although, it produces such a pungent smell, it is not a poisonous odour; but it attracts its pollinators like flies, stoneflies, bees, and beetles and also serves another purpose to discourage large animals from disturbing or damaging this plant. Although, this plant is very unique due to the “smelly” odour it emits, it is also exceptionally due to its ability to maintain an approximate constant temperature of 20 degrees around it spadix, which bears both male and female flowers) even in below freezing conditions (Takashasi et al., 2009; Ito-Kikukatsu et al., 2004). This ability to grow in such conditions is due to its thermogenetic properties of the species of plant, the Skunk Cabbage is a thermogenic plant that blooms in early spring and maintains temperatures, as seen above in all-weather conditions. In this essay, I will focus on the Skunk Cabbage and its unique characteristics that allows it to survive and prosper by the means of being a poisonous species, distinctive odour, and unique metabolic mechanisms Anatomy an... ... middle of paper ... ... amount and it can be even found in below freezing conditions. Heat production in the Skunk Cabbage is seen mainly in the spadix which can generate enough to melt snow around it due to its temperature regulation mechanism found in the tissue. This mechanism shows the inverse relationship that the rate of respiratory heat production increases as the ambient temperature decreases. Secondly, thermogenesis is used to attract pollinators by volatizing odours and spreading them through the air. Insects that are attracted by the heat and/or scent of the Skunk Cabbage are encouraged to increase pollination, aiding in reproduction. Therefore, in the ability to getting to know the Skunk Cabbage we enter into a unique world, where a plant is no longer an ordinary plant, but one that has many distinctive features and mechanisms that allows for its survival and growth.
We placed elodea plants into three different beakers and labelled them. Since, we are trying to find how temperature can affect the rate of production of carbon dioxide, we had to place them in different temperatures. So, we labelled the first beaker “Elodea heat” and placed it in a water bath that produced sufficient amount of heat. We labelled the second one “Elodea cool” which was placed in an ice bath filled with ice. The next one “Elodea RT” where the elodea was placed under normal room temperature without any interference. And we named the last one “No Elodea” where we placed no elodea in it and kept the beaker in a dark
For over two thousand years, people have been cultivating and consuming Asparagus officinalis. During this time some people have observed a peculiar manifestation of an odd odor in their urine shortly after ingesting this vegetable (Mitchel and Waring 2014). This particular stench has been described as smelling like boiled cabbage (Mitchel et al. 1987, Pelchat et al. 2011). Many experiments have contributed this smell to sulfurous molecules found in the urine after asparagus ingestion, the most common molecules found being methanethiol and dimethyl sulfide (Lison et al. 1980, McDonald 2011, Mitchel et al. 1987, Mitchel and Waring 2014, Pelchat et al. 2011). It is thought that the digestion of the chemical compound 1, 2-dithiolane-4-carboxylic
This plant has a variety of names through out Montana. This plant grows in poor soil composing mostly of sand or gravel and is commonly found near Ponderosa Pine trees. Kinnikinnick and Bearberry are the most commonly used names in western society. The word kinnikinnick meaning that which is mixed, is derived from the Algonkian Indian’s language. Other versions came from western hunters who called it larb, Canadian traders called it sacacommis or sagack-homi, and the Europeans called it bearberry.
Unlike any other animal, wood frogs have the unique ability to witstand freezing conditions in their habitats during the winter months by undergoing a unique process allowing for 65% of their bodies to freeze. Once the temperatures begin to drop, ice starts to form in the habitat and after just one touch of ice, the wood frog starts to freeze. "Even more incredible is the fact that the wood frogs stop breathing and their hearts stop beating entirely for days to weeks at a time. In fact, dur...
Although considered faster and cheaper, this approach to providing other alternative resources to food is slowly but significantly drying up our plant and is compromising human health. Because of the increa...
The Brassica rapa plants were bred to live in the colder states of America, such as Michigan and Wisconsin. Up there they have very few times it is actually warm enough for plant growth. So to take advantage of those few short moments, Dr. Williams bred a ...
Aim of the research: The aim of this investigation is to determine what kind of effect will the increasing temperature have on the plasma membrane of a beetroot cell.
'Tis an unweeded garden / That grows to seed. Things rank and gross in nature”(1.2.135-137). This metaphor used by Hamlet has a few interpretations that can relate to either Gertrude or the entire state of Denmark. “Tis an unweeded garden,”(1.2.135) relates to how the State of Denmark is like the Garden of Eden before it was corrupted. Once a state of purity, Denmark grew into a defiled corrupt nation through the death of King Hamlet and the incestrous marriage of Gertrude. Or on the other hand, Hamlet is speaking about his mother. That once she was like the Virgin Mary, sexually untouched and pure alike the Garden before it was breached. This portrayal shows how atrociously Hamlet views King Claudius. By saying that Gertrude was like the Virgin Mary and The Garden of Eden he insists that King Claudius is Satan or Satanic. This metaphor portrays King Claudius as a Satanic figure that breaches the Garden or his mother and corrupts her with his bed “stewed in
Janick. J. (2011). Center for New Crops & Plant Products - Department of Horticulture and
This essay has therefore discussed the most popular classes of plant chemical defences, namely terpenes, phenolics, nitrogen-based defences and allelopathy. The effects of these defences on herbivores has also been touched on. Many of these compounds produced by plants have later been extracted by humans for use as insecticides. Compounds such as tannins are also used in the wine industry. These chemicals thus have a very strong economic influence.
The “Fast Plant” experiment is an observation of a plants growth over the span of twenty-eight days. The objective is to observe how plants grow and use their resources throughout the span of their life. In our lab we observed the Brassica rapa, a herbaceous plant in the mustard family which has a short cycle which makes it a perfect plant to observe in this experiment. Like other plants the Brassica rapa must use the resources in the environment to create energy to complete itʻs life cycle and reproduce. By observing the plant it is easy to see in what organ or function the plant is using itʻs energy and resources and if overtime the resources switch to other part of the plants. By conducting this experiment we are able to observe where and how plants allocate their resources throughout their life by harvesting plants at different points in their life.
Over the years, meat eating has grown dramatically in many countries. Demand for meat production increased at a fearsome speed, which led to producers using pesticides and fertilizers on their crop. Because of our exponential population we could not begin to feed the population of the world without them. Farmers will need to increase the amount the chemicals used on their crops and animals to accelerate production process i...
The stevia plant is a perennial shrub native to Paraguay and Brazil. Native Americans in these regions realized that the leaves were sweet, and used them to season teas and other foods. The plant is also sometimes called sweetleaf or sugarleaf, in a reference to the natural sweetness held in the leaves. As Europeans began to explore the foods consumed by Native Americans, they were introduced to stevia.
The tundra is known for its’ cold temperatures, but also its’ limited plant species. The growth of the vegetation is primarily low to the ground and the biomass of plants is concentrated in the roots. Here the plants reproduce more likely by division and building than by flower pollination. Some of that growthforms that you will find in the tundra include tussock, mats or cushion plants, rosettes, and dwarf shru...
Conventional farming practices are responsible for many negative health and environmental issues. One of the main issues is the creation of monocultures in the farming environment. Specifically growing the same species of plants or animals in mass quantities without variation every season is not natural. Monocultures do not exist in nature (Pollan 67). Nature practices diversity and for good reason. In nature and organic farming, if there is a threat to one species, there are others to balance the decrease in the threatened species. Conventional farmers and the modern food industry argue that planting the same crop year after year is convenient and profitable because it cuts down on the different types of farm equipment necessary in production, and initially, in the types of pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers needed. However, in this unnatural environment, tremendous amounts of pest...