Tyler Starr
8 October 2008 from 1810-1825
Location: The Japanese Gardens between Collins and Olin
Weather: 58 ̊ F, clear skies, no wind
General: I noticed that the garden has a great diversity of plant life that demonstrates plant evolution. The simplest of the land plants are the mosses, part of the bryophyte division. They were among the first plants to colonize the land. Various mosses cover the ground, most of the rocks, and part of the trees in the garden. Mosses still depend on water for reproduction, and do not have vascular tissue and so cannot grow tall. The next division of plants is the pterophytes, which are represented in these gardens by ferns. There is a particular type of fern bush with fronds that are between 1 and 2 feet long. The pterophytes developed ways to grow taller, such as vascular and support tissues, but were still very dependent on water for reproduction. The next division is the cone-bearing plants, or the gymnosperms. There is one conifer tree, and several cone-bearing bush-like plants. One particularly interesting gymnosperm shrub looks like a fallen branch, but it actually is growing down from a support branch on top (see picture). The last division of plants is the angiosperms, which are highly represented in the gardens. The angiosperms are the flowering and fruiting plants. There are about 5 trees, and various flowering shrubs and grasses. The ground is littered with their fruits, including the horse-chestnut fruit, along with small “helicopters.”
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