Field Trip--The TAMU Campus Ethnoflora



The indoor and outdoor collections at Floriculture Greenhouse on the TAMU campus feature plants that serve to supplement the material you have studied in lab and lecture. 

Our objectives today:

1. Recognize plant families important for food, fiber, medicine, and ornament

2. Identify selected plants by family, genus, and specific epithet

3. Reinforce classification concepts--angiosperm vs. gymnosperm, monocot vs. dicot

*Please do not pick or eat anything unless you are specifically told to do so.  The TAMU collection includes poisonous plants.*
*If the greenhouse cats are inside when you visit, please do not let them out.*

Outdoor plants


Loblolly pine--Pinus taeda (Pinaceae)  This is an example of a gymnosperm.  Gymnosperm wood is classified as softwood, no matter the hardness.

Pomegranate--Punica granatum  (Punicaceae).  This is a small, non-fruiting (male) plant.  The fruit of a pomegranate is a berry.  The arils around the seeds are edible.  Pomegranate has been cultivated since biblical times.

Banana--Musa sp. (Musaceae)  Different species are grown for food, fiber, or ornament.  They are tropical but will set fruit locally if     protected from freezing for 18 months.

[beds in front of greenhouse]

Swiss Chard--Beta vulgaris var. cicla (Chenopodiaceae)   Swiss chard is the same species as beet.  Varieties cultivated for ornament may have red, yellow, white, pink, or orange petioles. 

Poppy--Papaver somniferum   Whether you call this opium poppy, bread poppy, or Oriental poppy, it's the same thing.  The seeds are used in cooking, and latex obtained from immature capsules is refined into opium and heroin.  This plant has been in cultivation so long that it has lost the ability to reproduce on its own.

Flowering cabbage or kale--Brassica oleracea (Brassicaceae)   Cultivars grown for ornament are just as edible as supermarket vegetables.  Most Brasica plants look this way if allowed to flower.

Bluebonnet--Lupinus texensis  (Fabaceae)   Has the typical papilionaceous flower with banner, wing, and keel. 

Asparagus "fern"--Asparagus densiflorus  (Liliaceae)  Not a true fern--will have white flowers and red berries.  Edible asparagus shoots, if allowed to develop, will have similar foliage.

Fig --Ficus carica, Creeping fig--Ficus pumila, and Mulberry--Morus sp.  (Moraceae)  These three plants are in the same family and all have a multiple fruit.  This fig bush is a clone of the oldest known fig in the world.  The creeping fig exhibits a difference between juvenile and mature foliage.  Mulberry leaves are the preferred food plant for silk worms.

Rose--Rosa 'Mermaid'--(Rosaceae).  If the plant is in flower, examine the typical Rosaceae flowers--5 sepals, 5 petals, many stamens. 

Stachys (?) and Rosemary--Rosmarinus officinalis  (Lamiaceae)   Members of the mint family with typical bilabiate corollas, square stems, and aromatic foliage.

Lemongrass--Cympogon citratum  (Poaceeae)  Note leaves with blade and sheath portion.  This plant is used in cooking for its lemony flavor.

Agave sp.  (Agavaceae)--Same genus as species used to produce pulque, mescal, and tequila.  Plants are monocarpic, flowering once and then dying.  (They usually produce offshoots near the base.)

Palm tree (Trachycarpus)-- at the corner of the greenhouse and date palm--Phoenix dactylifera behind the greenhouse  (Arecaceae)  Palms are the source of oil, edible fruit, fermentable sap, palm sugar, fiber, and building materials.  Compare with the coconut and palm-like cycads you will see indoors

 Coconut--Cocos nucifera (Arecaceae)  This is a whole coconut (husk and all) which has germinated into a young palm tree.

Calamondin orange--Citrus mitis  (Rutaceae)  Though a small plant, this has the features--hesperidium fruit, aromatic foliage--typical of all citrus fruit  (orange, tangerine, lemon, lime, grapefruit, kumquat, etc.)

Aloe spp. --(Agavaceae/Aloeaceae)  These plants are succulent monocots.  They have lily-like flowers.  Aloe vera has medicinal uses and now grows "wild" in TX, FL, and HI.

Hibiscus spp. (Malvaceae)  These plants are in the same family as cotton.  Kenaf, a fiber plant, is H. cannabinus. 

Coffee--Coffea sp.   (Rubiaceae)   Coffee is a shrub or small tree with white flowers and red fruit.  This family also includes quinine.

Pineapple--Ananas comosus  (Bromeliaceae)  Many bromeliads are epiphytes (growing on other plants for support), but the pineapple is terrestrial.

Vanilla orchid--Vanilla planifolia (Orchidaceae)   Plants must be hand-pollinated to produce the capsules which provide vanilla flavoring.  One of the few New World spice plants.

Gingers --Zingiber spp.  (Zingiberaceae)  Many species are cultivated for their flowers.  Z. officinale is the kind most used in cooking.


Monique Reed   25 March 2008