IH front tour, 4/26/01

* Materials: hand lenses (one/student), field guides (assign students to
	carry), HCl (goggle, vinyl gloves), philips screwdriver,
	pocket knife, paper matchsticks,
	first aid kit (bandages, swaps, water bottle),
	Ash flower galls, Honey Locust pods
* Concepts: diversity, role of native plants in local ecosystem.
	Role of fire and plant adaptation.  Effect of glaciation on soil.
	Flower parts.  Why more stamens than pitstils?
	More staminate than pistillate flowers? 
* Start from east end of prairie
  Plants: Indian Grass, Switch Grass, Black-eyed susan, Ratibida pinnata,
	Coreopsis (palmata? tripteris?), (Canada Wild?) Rye.
  Volunteers: Canada Thistle, Cottonwood, Black Willow, Dame's Rocket,
	Ox-eye daisy, Yarrow
* West end - open woodland
  White Pine Pinus strobus
	5 needles/bundle.  Layerd branching.  Fragrant resin.  Resin can
	polymerize in oxygen-poor sediment to form amber.
  Norway Maple Acer platanoides(?), Aceraceae: opposite branching (MAD)
	Mostly male flowers, some perfect flowers, emerge soon after leaves
	Pollinated by bees.  Bud scales; annual bud scale scars, milky sap?
	Samaras on ground? negligible seeds eaten by birds & squirrels.
  Red Oak Quercus rubra, Fagaceae
	Acorns - husk inside silky-haired.  Mostly male flowers in catkins
	Leaves: cynipid wasp galls?
  Rock: erratic from glaciation or construction debris?
	Note sediment layers;	Any lichen/moss?
	Test with HCl for limestone/dolomite (goggle, gloves)
	Dolomite from marine animals in Silurian shallow
	tropical sea, 400-500 MBP.
  Ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanicus?), Oleaceae: opposite branching.
	Dioecious flowers - mostly males planted; apelatous (no petals)
	Look for flower galls (use samples if cannot find).
	Compound leaves
	Lichen on bark
  Garlic Mustard. Brassicaceae (Cruciferae. same family as Dame's Rocket) 
	4-parted flower (crucifix), 4 stamens, 1 style)
	crush leaves
  Daffodils: Narcissus pseudonarcissus, Amaryllidaceae family, Liliales order
	Use matchsticks for hand-pollinating.  Bulb poisonous
	6 sepals, 6 united petals, bell corona: 6 stamens, 1 pistil
	monocot; parallel veins.
  Honey Locust Gleditsia triacanthos, Leguminosae
	Podless tree (from branch cutting with male flowers?)
	Compound leaves
	Does NOT form Rhizobium nodules, does NOT fix nitrogen
  Bluebird box: erected 1995?  1.5 inch diameter entrance
	Nest in tree cavities and abandoned woodpecker holes.
	Declining due to house sparrows, starlings, 1978 N.A. Bluebird Society
	Nest a neat grass cup, unlike house sparrow. Others: swallows, wrens
  Scots pine Pinus sylvestris, Pinaceae. European origin
	Pollen cones, Seed cones, look for evidence of seeds
	Needles grown in fasicles (bundles), twisted
	Disease due to Pine Wilt? (nematode carried by sawyer beetle)
  Austrian pine Pinus nigra, Pinaceae. European origin
	Needles do not snap when bent, why few cones?
	Diplodia tip blight, Dothistroma needle blight
  Bur Oak Quercus macrocarpa, Fagaceae
	Look for acorns on ground.  Exit holes of weevils?  Cut open.
	Squirrel midden?
	White oak acorns sweeter than red oak, mature in 1 year,
* Wrap up