Scott's Botanical Links
Leigh's Links -- May 1998
Scott's Botanical Links Oklahoma
Past Links:
May 29, 1998 - The Internet
Science Room
- The Internet Science Room is described as a 'model of transition' for integrating Communication Technology into the
classroom, as teachers assume new roles as Facilitators, not Providers of Knowledge, while
students learn to search for the answers in all the right places on the internet. Composed
of 225 pages with 11 Megs of text and graphics files and over 1100 external links to
"good content and presentation," the site enables student research for Physical
Science, Biology, Chemistry, and Botany / Zoology classes for an academic year.
Botany Class introduces plant collecting and taxonomy with a focus on "Families
of Flowering Plants in Oklahoma." Family names bear links to the classical reference
drawings from Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M. J. "The Families of Flowering
Plants;" genera are illustrated with links to "The Vascular Plant Image
Gallery" at Texas A&M Univeristy. Labs and
assignments following the year's curriculum for each of the science classes and a host of
research tools for students complete this site by Jim Askew (Facilitator) and Frontier
Public Schools, Red Rock, Oklahoma.(****) -LF
May 28, 1998 - Trails and Wildflowers
- Near the headwaters of the Willamette River, on the western slopes of
the Oregon Cascade Mountains, are more than 100 hiking trails where former crop
physiologist Keith McCree and his wife Barbro venture upon scenic vistas and numerous
opportunities for photographing wildflowers. Expeditions along The Alpine Trail and Mt.
Yoran Trail are featured on the website along with a digital photo collection,
"Wildflowers of the Oregon Cascades." Those whose interest is really piqued may
write for the 500-page encyclopedia "Upper Willamette Trails and Wildflowers"
CD-ROM which may be perused and if desired, kept for a $10.00 donation! Summer travelers
to the Pacific Northwest will not want to miss this site by
Keith and Barbro McCree, Oakridge, Oregon.(****) -LF
May 27, 1998 - Plant
Pathology on the World Wide Web
- This introductory pathology course on the
web complements the text "Plant Pathology, Fourth Edition," by G.N. Agrios, and
can be taken for three undergraduate credits from University of Nebraska-Lincoln. A web
version open to the public is fully illustrated and covers Principles and Concepts,
followed by a notebook of agronomic, horticultural, and classic plant diseases
(semi-complete), with detailed information and additional links to relevant pathology
pages at other universities. A combination of philosophical questions posed throughout the
course material, study questions and case studies are used to nudge the student across the
threshold of real learning at this site by J.E. Partridge, Department of Plant
Pathology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska.(****) -LF
May 26, 1998 - Rutgers
Floriculture Homepage
- As part of its public outreach, the Rutgers
Cooperative Extension publishes this site for the "commercial floriculture producer
or enthusiastic hobbyist," though there is valuable information on diseases and pests
for anyone managing a greenhouse (as biologists and botanists sometimes wind up doing). An
award winning section on Weeds of New Jersey features images of 70 of the state's most
common culprits, with a brief text entry for each. Find also the Extension's online index
of 250 Fact Sheets in downloadable PDF files. Site by George Wulster, Plant Science
Department, Cook College, New Brunswick, New Jersey. (****) -LF
May 22, 1998 - Southern
California Natural History
- More than 700 images, text and sounds are presented in "Southern
California Natural History," describing the most common floral and faunal species of
the region. The modules bearing accounts of land vertebrates (20 amphibians, 52
reptiles, 172 birds, 41 mammals), terrestrial plants (62 families, 164 genera and over 200
species ), and vegetation types (24) of southern California were designed for use in
college courses in botany and vertebrate biology. Pages on individual species are
accessible by their community, family, genus or common name making the guide useful to
anyone keen on the southern Californian natural environment. Also included are general
descriptions of the climate and geography of the region. Site
by Howard Townsend, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California. (****) -LF
May 21, 1998 - Wits Botany
- At long last it has been announced
"You Cannot Live Without Botanists" in much the same manner as trying to survive
without oxygen, water, and food. Along with this illustrated Plants and People
presentation on the importance of plants in everyday life, Wits Botany Department, one of
the largest in South Africa, offers an Introduction to Cassava ( Manihot esculenta
Crantz), and for the advanced reader, the essay "Wits Cassava Research and
Development Programme" by Dr. V.M. Gray. Site by The Department of Botany of
the University of the Witwatersrand with page design by John Fletcher, Johannesburg, South
Africa.(****) -LF
May 20, 1998 -
Reed Biology- Course Materials
- Two biology educators at Reed are
pioneering the use of internet in their courses. Of particular note is Keith Karoly's Bio
332- "Vascular Plant Diversity," with fully annotated web resources
online for each week's lab, a Flower Identification Slide Show organized by families, an
Interactive Family Quiz (great!) and a beautiful image and descriptive catalog of
The Trees of Reed. For Bio 322 - "Plant Physiology" David Dalton has produced
The Nitrogen Fixation Pages, with a rare set of images demonstrating: Part I. The range of
organisms that can fix nitrogen; Part II. Physiology and anatomy of nitrogen fixation;
Part III. Ecology of nitrogen fixation. Site maintained by the Reed College Biology
Department, Portland, Oregon.(****) -LF
Carnivorous Plants Database">May 19, 1998 - Carnivorous Plants Database
- HP (Hewlett Packard) Project Engineer Rick Walker cultivates hundreds of
species of CP (Carnivorous Plants) in terraria in and around the home, is president of The
International Carnivorous Plant Society, and maintains the CP Database now of
more than 3,000 CP species. Various creative endeavors in plant education have produced
the online triumphs "Pings: a guided tour of care and cultivation," an
introduction to the genus Pinguicula, or Butterworts; and a slide show tutorial
on "Tissue Culturing CP in the Home Kitchen," with easy to follow technical
advice and recipes for media. Students, teachers, researchers, and the merely curious
won't want to miss this botanically intriguing site by Rick
Walker, Palo Alto, California. (****) -LF
May 18, 1998 - The Aril Society International
- Dedicated to what many consider to be the
most spectacular group of the cultivated iris, these pages help distinguish the aril from
the bearded and the aril from the arilbred. Monitoring extinctions is a snap compared to
keeping up with iris hydridization where subsection ancestry will determine if a plant is
oncobred; regeliabred, or, oncogeliabred. The system of classification adds "+"
or "-" to indicate that the iris is more than half aril or less than half aril,
more or less! Sources in the U.S. for obtaining aril and arilbred iris are provided, some
images, a list of Winners of the C. G. White Medal, and information on How to Join. Site
by the Aril Society International, Scott Jordan, president, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
(****) -LF
May 15, 1998 - Karolinska Institute Library
- The Swedish National Resource Library in
Medicine has free access to the journals Applied and Environmental Microbiology,
Infection and Immunity, Journal of Bacteriology, and the Journal of Virology and
Molecular and Cellular Biology. The Diseases and Disorders Section accesses a
resources for Animal Diseases page valuable for its leads to info concerning a wide range
of diseases of creatures, from domestic and wild animals to arthropods. Find also an
extensive set of Micro and Cell Bio resources under Biological Sciences, also covering
Genetics, Biological Phenomena, Cell Physiology, and Immunity. Site by the
Karolinska Institute Library, editor, Lotta Mathiesen, Stockholm, Sweden. (****) -LF
May 14, 1998 - Chemistry
Education/ Worldwide Chemistry Resources
- Two comprehensive sets of chem-links,
serving kindergarteners through teachers and professional chemists are provided by
the Hamilton Section of the Chemical Institute of Canada site dedicated to "
facilitating communication and interaction among people with common interests in the
chemical field." Essentially every field of chemistry is addressed, and students will
find hypertexts, periodic tables, a chemistry dictionary, software, in short, a complete
survival kit for the college years here at their fingertips. Bookmark a great library of
agrochem, biochem, phytochem and more at this site by The Chemical Institute of
Canada, Chair, Don Barclay, Webmaster, Kim Banfield, Hamilton, Ontario. (****) -LF
May 13, 1998 - Welcome to
AgHort 100, Living with Plants Home Page
- This Plants and People course has an
agronomic slant and the homepage offers resources including Lecture Links, brief notes on
the class, a list of the top twenty-five most economically important angiosperm families,
possible careers in agronomy and horticulture, as well as a glossary linked to
images. The image collection itself is the main prize, an excellent set of cultivated
(flowers) and food crops, in an easy to use index requiring no search terms or detailed
knowledge to find a plant. Each image bears genus, species, and family name, some
information on the plant's use and principal regions of cultivation. Site by Richard E.
Terry, Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, Brigham Young University, Provo,
Utah.(****) -LF
May 12, 1998 - Resource
Biology FSTY 1002
- Here is a useful model for teaching pages, these covering four main
topics of an Australian Botany /Dendrology course . Flower Morphology has a longitudinal
section diagram of the parts of a flower and examples of floral diagrams and floral
formulae. Broadleaf Species, billed as a page to "test whether your lab and field
notes are up to scratch" has images of various specimens as they appear on campus,
with closeups of flowers, fruits, and other parts, on a page bearing a checklist of
diagnostic characters to be filled in. Likewise eleven species of Eucalyptus and
the genus Angophora (Myrtaceae) may be reviewed, while a fourth section is
dedicated to The Conifers. Follow links to more about Australian forestry from this site
by John Banks, Ann Gibson, and Clive Hilliker, Department of Forestry, Australian National
University, Canberra, Australia. (****) -LF
May 11, 1998 - SOAR Searchable Online Recipe
Archive
- Among its index of 38,368 recipes collected
by food enthusiast and fifth year Electrical
Engineering/Computer Science student Jennifer Snider, are more than fifty categories in
which to find ethnic dishes for the traditional end-of-the-course ethnobotanical potluck
buffet. Recipes can be located by type of food (appetizer, snack, sandwich, stew, etc.),
type of ingredients, or type of diet, and with so much selection at the fingertips,
there's no reason to ever eat the same thing twice! Figuring out what to cook for any
occasion has never been so easy thanks to the diligence at this site by Jennifer Snider
with Elaine Chao, Alan Coopersmith, and J.C. Williams; University of California,
Berkeley, California. (****) -LF
May 8 1998 - Welcome to the World
of Lichenology
- Botanists taking a liking to fungal-algal symbionts will find plenty of
resources in this section of Clifford Smith's Hawaiian botany site devoted to lichenology.
Find Links to Lichens and Lichenologists, the International Association of Lichenologists
with its International Lichenological Newsletter and Endangered Lichens feature,
and a dozen images of various lichens photographed by the author. Site by Clifford W. Smith, Department of Botany, University of
Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii.(****) -LF
May 7 1998 - Home Page of Clifford
Smith and the Cooperative Studies Unit, University of Hawaii (CPSU Hawaii)
- This is a botany/conservation biology
cool-site published by the Unit Leader of the University of Hawaii Cooperative Studies
Unit, concerned with Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk (HEAR). The Unit provides resources
(technology, methods, and information) for statewide resource managers in the battle
against invasive weeds. Online articles include "The Impact and Spread of Rubus
ellipticus in 'Ola'a Forest Tract Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park," and in Weeds of
Hawaiian Native Ecosystems, "An Annotated Bibliography of the Genus Psidium,
With Emphasis on P. cattleianum (Strawberry Guava) and P. guajava
(common guajava), Forest Weeds in Hawaii. (A section on Biological Control is still under
construction.). Site by Clifford W. Smith, Department of Botany, University of Hawaii,
Honolulu, Hawaii.(****) -LF
May 6, 1998 - Curtis Clark
- Former Graduate Teaching Assistant at University of Oklahoma Biological
Station (May-Jul 1973; May-Jul 1974 ) and in the Department of Botany and Microbiology (
Sep 1972-May 1973) Curtis Clark, has gone on to pursue research programs for the
phylogeny of Eschscholzia (Papaveraceae) and phylogeny of Encelia
(Asteraceae). The highlights are published on the website bearing his name with images and
California distribution maps of the two genera currently online. The paper "Vascular
Plants of the Undeveloped Areas of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona"
documents florisitic composition of part of a coastal sage scrub and adjacent ruderal and
disturbed lands on campus following a 1989 summer wildfire which burned more than 80% of
the area. Find also tutorials for publishing web pages,
essays and diversions at this site by Curtis Clark, Biological Sciences Department,
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, California. (****) -LF
May 5, 1998 - Mosses and Liverworts in Wales
- This site is the work of the Countryside
Council for Wales (CCW) Area Ecologist for West Wales, as well the British Bryological
Society Recorder for the vice-county of Cardiganshire, who also happens to love making web
pages. With his own photo collection and firsthand knowledge of the land of his concern he
has summarized the status of Mosses and Liverworts in Wales, from laws governing
their conservation and collection, to habitat descriptions and species distribution. Basic
Facts has a one page introduction to the Bryophytes outlining the differences between
mosses and liverworts. Likewise the descriptions of bogs (raised and blanket) and fens
gives an outstanding explanation of these wetlands and their distinctions through the eyes
of an ecologist. Site by Alan Hale, Aberystwyth, Wales. (****) -LF
May 4, 1998 - The
Ant: A Morphological Tour of the Super Organism
- The author has chosen the "intellectually and aesthetically
appealing" form of the Fire Ant (Solenopsis invicta) as a photographic
subject for the scanning electron microscope, achieving both
new heights of exposure for antdom, and a final project for Biological
Structures (Bio 344). The impressive photo series is
displayed within interesting descriptions of the organism's external anatomy, whose
structures are labeled and provided with a scale. With good use of color and layout, the
final result is a cool, never boring text useful for introducing ant morphology to levels
all the way from Middle School to Invert Zoo. Get a good look at the ant's sting and
discover that ants too have petioles at this site by Jason Libsch, Wesleyan University,
Middletown, Connecticut.(****) -LF
May 1, 1998 - Cultural
Botany
- Bota 250, a five credit course, introduces
the structure of plants, their requirements and human uses of plants, to lead up
to the development of gardens and world garden styles. Following a unit on leaders in
world garden history, three units are dedicated to Asian Gardens, European Gardens, and
American and Natural Gardens. The online course units provide illustrated readings and
challenging assignments at the end of each. This is a perfect link for Plants and
People, Horticulture, Landscape Architecture, and Ethnobotany resources, and as well is a
course which would greatly interest and could be utilized by persons with a keen interest
in gardens. Site layout design by Stephanie Carter; course content by Dave Martin,
Centralia College, Centralia, Washington. (****) -LF
