Lesson 02: Up Close and Personal
Who would have thought that a few blades of grass extracted from the neighbor's lawn would stimulate such interest. It all began with a few simple questions:
The first species identified was perennial ryegrass; the ridged adaxial (upper) leaf surface contrasted sharply with the smooth, sharply keeled, glossy nature of the abaxial side of the leaf. In the Kentucky bluegrass sample, both surfaces were smooth and dull; a prominant midrib was evident on the adaxial side while a distinct keel could be seen running down the center of the abaxial surface. Finally, a small clump of tall fescue yielded stiff, flat, relatively broad leaves sharply ridged on the adaxial surface.
When several leaf samples were carefully processed in the lab to generate thin sections on a microscope slide, an examination revealed a consistent relationship between the internal (anatomical) and external (morphological) structural arrangements of the plants. The ridges observed on the ryegrass and fescue samples were associated with parallel veins within the leaves while the smaller veins of the smooth bluegrass leaf were not associated with ridges.
As you reflect on these observations, consider the following questions:
In this lesson you will review information on Anatomy and Morphology. Throughout this lesson you will be prompted to do self-checks. If are able to answer all the questions in the self check correctly, you will have the option to skip over some of the material presented in this lesson, of course you can review everything if you want.
When you are finished going through the lesson, access the Lesson 02 Quiz. You can take the quiz up to 5 times. Practice! The questions are just like those you will find on the exams.