These are 2-dimensional mounts of Dutchman's breeches specimens. The roots, stem, leaves, and flowers are all present. Each individual leaf is in a fan shape, although the fan has several divots in it, and the leaves are clustered. The leaf clusters measure around 8.5 cm. Some of the specimens have pale white flowers that are attached directly to the stem, and each flower is about 1 cm in length. All leaves and flowers are located at the top of the stem. There are multiple specimens associated with this catalog number, but the mounts are generally about 30 cm x 22 cm and the specimens themselves around 23-25 cm in height. This specimen description was written remotely based on images as part of Amber Kreiensieck's internship in Fall 2021.
- Catalog Number:
- 400870
- Object/Specimen Description:
- Specimen Count:
- 5
- Collector:
- N. Erwin
- Locality:
- US Mid Atlantic (PA, NJ, MD, DE, DC, VA, WV)
- Collecting Date:
- 10 Apr 2013
- Collecting Locality:
- North America, United States, Maryland, Montgomery County
- Upper Level Taxonomy:
- Plantae, Equisetopsida, Magnoliidae, Ranunculanae, Ranunculales, Papaveraceae
Dicots begin their lives as seeds nourished by two seed leaves (cotyledons). The leaves provide nutrients to the developing seed until it grows its first real leaves that can make food by photosynthesizing. Most flowering plants are dicots, which includes many of the foods humans enjoy: grapes, squash, soybeans, strawberries, tomatoes, potatoes, peanuts, etc. You can tell a dicot by its characteristic branching leaf veins. Not only do dicots feed us, they also cloth us; cotton, linen, and hemp are dicots. Because dicots and conifers are the only plants able to form wood, they are central to our building industry. Wood is extra plant tissue for transporting water and nutrients (vascular tissue). It forms when cells specialized for growth (meristems) continue to divide. The result is that the tree grows, adding to its width and height. Maples, oaks, and hickories, all sources of wood, are dicots.