Do Now

• Name 3 characteristics that make a plant a weed

1

Weeds are not always small plants or small trees

• Norway Maple, not a native tree• It grows on city streets, or in forests

• It can take over a forest

How can we create an aim for today?

How to identify,Very large palmate leaves, Deep sinuses between lobesMilky sap when leaves are broken off.

Fruit a samara

• In a healthy forest in the Northeast you should see hickories, oaks and native maples (red maple) to be the most common trees.

• When the Norway maple moves in, in a few years the most common tree is the Norway maple.

Why would that not be good for the area?

Describe this tree

What plant family do you think this is in?

Albizia julibrissin, Silk tree

• Another tree that will grow anywhere.

• Has very pretty flowers, but the plant is susceptible to disease

• Also known to be a type of sensitive plant, very closely related to the sensitive plant in our greenhouse. The leaves on this tree close after it’s been damaged/touched.

Can you tell what this is?

• Look at the fruit and the stems, what type of plant is this?

Rosa multiflora

Describe the leaves and the fruit. Learning these will help you recognize the plant in the wild.

• Rosa multiflora can be found growing in wooded areas.

• It forms dense stands that become impenetrable by large animals

• Why would forming dense stands be detrimental to native plants and animals?

Sure it looks pretty, but it does not allow anything else to grow

What kind of plant do you think this is? Look at the stems.

Mexican Bamboo, or Japanese Knotweed

• Actually, its not a bamboo.

• It also forms dense clumps in which little or no other vegetation survives

• This is a hard to kill plant because of its large network of rhizomes (underground stems).

Mexican bamboo, Polygonum cuspidatum

• Commonly used as an ornamental bush.

Can you think of any vines that are weeds, invasive?

English ivy, Hedera helix

• Commonly sold as an ornamental ground cover

• It can quickly cover the ground of a forest and climb up trees suffocating everything else

The mature (flowering stage) of the plant looks different

This is too pretty to be a weed right?

Wrong

• Campsis radicans, trumpet creeper• Another invasive vine• Grows over walls, and trees

Describe growth form and flowers (look at petals)

Lonicera japonica, Japanese honeysuckle

• This is a very fragrant ornamental vine. • Like all the others so far, it can take over large

areas• It can grow in the deep forest or on the side of

a road

How would you learn to recognize this vine in the wild?

• The fruit are identifiable, they are bright red with bright yellow capsules

• What arrangement do the leaves have?

• How about the shape of the leaves?

Homework