Herbology Homework #1

What does Amore Fraterno mean? Where does the name come from? Why is the name strange?

* Amore Fraterno means brother's love.
* The name is Italian, and comes from it's origin city of Rome. It is named after the brothers, Romulus and Remus, who had built Rome. It was named for them because the plant can often be found in many places around Rome.
* The name is peculiar because Romulus killed his brother Remus. But while strange it's also fitting, as the brothers had determined the course of Rome, whether through love or betrayal. So too does the care of the plant determine the course of its development.

This plant is an excellent example of adaptation. Think of two plants and write how they adapted. 1 inch of parchment per plant, please.

* The cactus, which has adapted to an enviroment with little rain and lots of sun, has had leaves that shrank to needles, found a way to store water, and has a waxy coating on its trunk. It also blooms right after the rain and propagates quickly.

* Many plants of the rainforest, and especially ferns, have either broad leaves to get as much sunlight as possible, and a place to put all the water they receive. Ferns may have small leaves, but they in essence create one large leave in the way it works.

Why would the devil's snare adapt the way it has? 2 inches of parchment.

Two things noticable about the devil's snare, outside of its dislike of sunlight, is that it's viney and spread out, and it's also rather grayish. The gray shows that it's had a lack of sunlight, and found ways of thriving without it. The fact that it's viney and spreads out means that in early days it probably sought sunlight wherever it could. As it couldn't find it, it had to adapt without.

Those surviving plants still needed energy for processes and likely adapted to eat various creatures in order to get nutrients that it normally would have gotten from photosynthesis. Because it had to adapt so well to the darkness, it developed a sensitivity to light. Upon a sudden exposure to sunlight after evolving so long without it, it now shies away and burns in the light.



Herbology Homework #2

What other things could be done with cross-pollination? How would you use it?

Cross-pollination can be used in many different ventures. Experimentation, hybrids, producing stronger and more viable plants, producing plants with a larger yield. Most things I use it for are a secret, though I do often experiment with it.

People brought up genetics in class. Considering the rarity of multi-color and true silver seeds, would it be effective to try and get silver seeds from silver plants? What would happen if only silver plants were pollinated?

As discussed in the Advanced Herbology class, this is normally ineffective, often creating multicolored seeds rather than silver seeds, or seeds of any sort of color, dependant on the lineage of the plant. It takes an extreme rarity in the genetics of the plant in order to create two silver plants that produce silver seeds of any volume.



Extra Credit Work:

Mendel experimented with pea plants. Yellow and green peas, and red and white flowers. Knowing what you do, 'create' genes for each of these colors, two plants each, and make a Punnett Square to show the breeding of these plants.

Y | G
Y YY| YG
--------
Y YY| YG

R | R
W RW| RW
--------
W RW| RW

Take a chart and find your favorite color. How many different unique genetic combinations can create that color? (Hint: just count the boxes) Do you think it could be mistaken for another color on the chart? How might that throw off a plant breeder?

Pure white can result from three seperate genetic variations. Of course, the eyes do not distinguish a pure white very well. A light enough blue can appear to be a pure white, for example. Pure white is also a fairly pure genetic combination, so the introduction of blue could pollute the strain. Also, if two light blue seeds are mistaken, then it would be producing blue seeds.



Herbology Lesson #3 Notes

Grafting is the joining together of two plants, causing them to grow as one plant. The host is the rootstock, or simply stock. The plant that is being grafted to the stock is the scion.

Grafting is used to force and increase production. create hybrids, for root strength, or as artwork. It can also be used to create dwarf plants.

Methods include the Cleft Graft, Stub Graft, Side Graft, Bark Graft, Awl Graft, Veneer Graft, and Bud Graft (which was done in class).

Grafts must have a method of full contact in order for a network to be formed to transport water and nutrients.