This is a mounted specimen of oleander. The stem has thin, light green/yellow, smooth leaves extending from either side with bilateral symmetry until the top third of the plant. At the top of the stem, the leaves are arranged in a fan pattern with purple flowers clustered in the middle. Each flower measures approximately 4 cm, and the leaves can be up to 18 cm in length (although most leaves are closer to 14 cm). Overall, the 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:
- 400884
- Object/Specimen Description:
- Specimen Count:
- 2
- 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, Asteranae, Gentianales, Apocynaceae
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.