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Wildflower Lab Report - 2

Richa Sharma completed a biology project where she identified, collected, and pressed at least 35 wildflowers from early April to late May in Sandy Spring, Maryland. The purpose was to learn about local wildflowers and their habitats. During the project, she developed research questions about how rainfall, sunlight, and the prior year's blooms affect wildflower growth. She used materials like field guides, computers, and albums to carry out identification, data collection, and specimen preservation. Her findings showed trends in habitats and blooming times for different plant families. She concluded that more sunlight leads to denser wildflower populations based on her observations of species in sunny versus shaded areas.

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163 views3 pages

Wildflower Lab Report - 2

Richa Sharma completed a biology project where she identified, collected, and pressed at least 35 wildflowers from early April to late May in Sandy Spring, Maryland. The purpose was to learn about local wildflowers and their habitats. During the project, she developed research questions about how rainfall, sunlight, and the prior year's blooms affect wildflower growth. She used materials like field guides, computers, and albums to carry out identification, data collection, and specimen preservation. Her findings showed trends in habitats and blooming times for different plant families. She concluded that more sunlight leads to denser wildflower populations based on her observations of species in sunny versus shaded areas.

Uploaded by

api-462026476
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Richa Sharma

5/17/19

Lab Report

Introduction:

The Wildflower Project is a Biology project where we identified, collected, and pressed

at least 35 wildflowers. The project started in early April, and ended in late May. The purpose of

this project was to learn about the wildflowers in our area, and their habitats. We learned about

species that are plentiful in our area, as well as species that are endangered that we could not

pick. In addition, this project helped us with organization and time-management in large scale

projects. A majority of the flowers I collected were in the Sandy Spring, Maryland, area. From

the observations I made over the course of this project, I developed research questions. Firstly,

how does the amount of rain affect how fast the wildflowers bloom? Secondly, how does the

amount of sunlight affect the amount of flowers that grow in a certain area? Lastly, how does the

amount of wildflowers blooming one year, affect the amount of wildflowers blooming the next

year?

Materials:

We used many materials during the project. Firstly, to press the flowers, we used paper

towels and a large textbook. We used Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide to identify, and recorded

data in the database with a computer. Next, we used photo album pages to mount the flowers,

and used paper labels. Finally, we included each mounted flower in a binder.
Procedure:

1. Create the wildflower database.


2. Identify the flowers. First, find the code for the flower, by identifying the number of
petals, and the structure and shape of the leaves. Use that code to lead you to a
dichotomous key, which will take you to a page in the book. Finally, identify the flower
on that page.
3. Pick the flowers from the bottom of the stem, but without the roots. Always pick the
leaves along with the flower.
4. Press the flowers in a paper towel, in a heavy book.
5. Let the flowers dry for one to two weeks.
6. Mount the flowers in your Wildflower Book.
7. Label each flower.

Discussion:
Over the course of the Wildflower Project, I learned about habitats, blooming time, and

more. I learned that many wildflowers bloom for a short time, so it was important to go out

picking periodically. A mistake I made was not immediately entering each flower in the

database, but I corrected that mistake over the course of the project. If I were to do this project

again, I would set specific picking times. Each weekend I would designate an hour to picking

wildflowers, rather than picking a few at a time throughout the week. Identifying flowers went

well, and it was not as difficult as I had originally thought. In addition, staying on track with the

flower check-ins was not difficult for me. I did not have any tricks that helped me, other than

staying organized and making this project a top priority. I enjoyed picking and identifying the

wildflowers.

I found a few trends in my data. First, all of the wildflowers I collected from the mint

family were growing in sunny areas, with many other flowers nearby. I collected Ground Ivy, a

Purple Dead Nettle, and a Henbit from the mint family. Second, all of the wildflowers from the

buttercup family were found in the shady parts of the woods, near a stream. These included a
Lesser Celandine and Rue Anemone. Finally, I found that all flowers I picked from the mustard

family bloomed in the early spring. These included a Small-Flowered Bittercress, a Cut-Leaved

Toothwort, Common Winter Cress, and Garlic Mustard.

Conclusion:
My first original research question was: how does the amount of rain affect how fast the

wildflowers bloom? My data did not provide enough evidence to come to a conclusion, because

we did not record weather. My second research question was: how does the amount of sunlight

affect the amount of flowers that grow in a certain area? When I referred to my data, I found that

all of the flowers growing in the sun were nearby other flowers of that same species. None of the

flowers I picked in the sun were by themselves. Therefore, a larger amount of sunlight will cause

more flowers to grow. My last research question was: how does the amount of wildflowers

blooming one year, affect the amount of wildflowers blooming the next year? I could not come

to a conclusion about this question, because I do not have data from last year. If I did this project

again next year, I would have different research questions. Firstly, how does the moisture of the

soil affect the height of the flower? Secondly, how does the amount of shade affect the height of

the flower? One scientific claim I can make is that species growing in the shade are less densely

populated than species growing in the sun. My data supports this claim. I found that species

growing in the sun were never by themselves. Species in the shade were very rarely found in big

clusters of flowers.

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