This is a mounted specimen of leaves from a common fig tree. The leaves are large, broad, and green; with two deeper divots on the top of each leaf and two shallower divots at the base of each leaf. The leaves are about 14 cm long, although there are some leaves larger and smaller than 14 cm. The overall mount measures approximately 41 cm x 30 cm. This specimen description was written remotely based on images as part of Amber Kreiensieck's internship in Fall 2021.
- Catalog Number:
- 400883
- Object/Specimen Description:
- Specimen Count:
- 1
- Collector:
- N. Erwin
- Precise Locality:
United States Botanic Garden backup greenhouse
- Locality:
- US Mid Atlantic (PA, NJ, MD, DE, DC, VA, WV)
- Collecting Date:
- 03 Jun 2013
- Collecting Locality:
- North America, United States, District of Columbia
- Upper Level Taxonomy:
- Plantae, Equisetopsida, Magnoliidae, Rosanae, Rosales, Moraceae
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.