Medicinal Plants Field Journal

American Bittersweet	Clinging vine, yellow/ red berries, 4in by 2in leaves, green leaves with bug bites, bark on stalk	Clinging to pine trees by road
Asiatic Dayflower	Small blue/ purple flowers with yellow disk	Mixed in with other thick foliage on the side of a parking lot
Blackberry	Fairly large bush with leaves  grown in groups of three with ridges, no fruit, no bark on stalks	Next to barn, surrounded by freshly-cut grass, at road intersection
Black-Eyed Susan	Yellow petals with black center, 2ft tall stems, leaves with bug bites	Surrounded by other flowers and ferns in front of a house
Bloodroot	1ft tall, diameter of 2ft, kelly green leaves, no flowers present, just leaves, leaves circular fan shape with long stems	Edge of meadow, deep forest, near a creek, little sunlight
Beetleweed	short to the ground, works as foliage to forest, grows in group, long stringy root, glossy leaves, no flowers	Found on the side of a mountain, near a creek, little foliage around
Bracken Fern	Very tall fern with thin ‘leaves’, lighter green, thick, covers ground completely from above	Surrounded by flowers by edge of a porch
Canada Thistle	fairly large plant, blooms are purple and tuff-like growing out of a green cylindrical base on the stem, this base has a triangular pattern covering it	In wet environment near stream where it has access to lots of sunlight
Cardinal Flower	grown in vertical rods, red blossoms branch off from head of plant, lots of red petals, leaves small and pointy	Near pond with stream, surrounded by tall grass and other marsh plants
Calendula	orange flowers, tall, as big as a 50 cent piece, 2ft tall, lots of leaves, strong stalk	Growing around lots of other vegetation, full sun exposure, no local water source like creeks or streams
Chicory	Blue flowers on vine close to the ground with darker disk	Mixed in with Queen Anne’s Lace and Goldenrod on the side of the road
Common Cattail	very tall stalks with thicker dark brown cylindrical pieces at the top, leaves long and smooth without ridges, dried tips are light brown, next to bank of pond	in marshy area surrounded by lots of other cattails, some are standing in water while others are on grassy area near bank
Common Blue Wood Aster	looks like purple daisy with yellow disk, smells great but is strong, grows in clusters	Lots of sun exposure, along banks of stream, many other marsh plants
Corn	tall plant, taller than Jasmine, green, having multiple ears of corn, silk covering top ends of ears, top of plant resembles hay	In an open field on rolling hills, lots of sun exposure, on a backroad, surrounded by other corn plants, large bug population present
Dandelion	small yellow flower, light green stalk, less than 1ft above ground	found in a yard near short grass and clover, area well traveled
Echinacea	purple flower with large pointed disk, light green foliage all around, disk is very dark, petals are small and rounded	Along fence line surrounded by sunflowers and creeping ivy, partial sun exposure
Fox Grape	large dark leaves with pale underside, bears fruit that makes excellent jelly, very little is touching the group because it is clinging to a tree	In shady area, clinging to to  tall hemlock tree, surrounded by pine trees and a phone pole
Jewelweed	1ft tall stalks with smooth dull leaves, orange blossoms, resembles a cornucopia slightly, with tiny red dots, leaves are somewhat triangular shaped	deep within marshy area of forest surrounded by decaying plants, animal pasture
Lady Fern	small fern, at least 13 sets of ‘leaves’ branching off from the base, light green, ‘leaves’ narrow to a point, ends at top curl up	near edge of forest under shade of other ferns and fallen trees
Lemon Balm	light green leaves, strongly resemble peppermint, edges are not straight and flat, curl up like pasley, appear to be bumpy but aren’t in actuality	Near a house, surrounded by other herbal plants like spearmint, peppermint, and chamomile, limited sun exposure
Maidenhair Fern	grows in basically a bush of ferns, darker green than lady fern, very defined line of ‘stem’ running down the middle	In dense forest on creek bank with little sun exposure, other fern populations present, very little other foliage around
Milkweed	leaves have no ridges on edge, very straight and strong, flowers have died for the most part, stalk contains white fluid when broken in half, lots of bugs around	In hay field, surrounded by tall grass, lots of sun exposure, yarrow and other meadow plants close by
Plantain	leaves fan out in a circular shape around base, tall stalk rises in the middle, leaves are also circular but definitely not exact	Found in backyard, around gravel and grass, commonly traveled area
Pokeweed	large bush-like plant, stems are purplish, berries are purple in places and green in others, leaves are very light green in comparison	In field surrounded by tall grass and thistles on edge of forest
Queen Anne’s Lace	small white heads of plant are tiny but look bigger in magnitude, 1-2ft tall, green stem, appear very delicate	Found on the side of the road with chicory and goldenrod
Red Clover	purple flowers, green stems, leaves have a lighter green ‘Y’ shape on them, reminded us of truffula trees from The Lorax	In a yard, surrounded by common grass, saved from feral, invasive bunny population
Sweet Goldenrod	2ft tall plant, yellow blossoms near the top of stems, leaves are long and straight, kind of pointy	On the side of the road with Queen Anne’s Lace and chicory, lots of sun exposure
Sweet Joe-Pye-Weed	very large bush with pink/purple/red blossoms covering it	On the side of the road, leaning over a creek, surrounded by goldenrod
Witch Hazel	kind of resembles a tree but we think it’s classified as a bush, no blossoms, the base and stalk have bark, branches out like a tree with green leaves that resemble cherry tree leaves, circular	Close to a creek containing many fish friends, in a field, surrounded by dense foliage
White Pond Lily	no blossoms, lily pads are fan shaped, some darker green while others are lighter, floating in water	in pond near bank with cattails and lily flowers nearby, water was relatively clear
Wild Chamomile	resemble daisies, small flowers with white petals, yellow disk, stems are long, have lots of tiny little white petals rather than larger ones	By the side of a house, surrounded by spearmint, peppermint, and lemon balm, limited sun exposure
Wild Indigo	no blossoms, leaves resemble clover but are smaller and spread out more, leaves are darker green on top and stem and underside are lighter green, grow on long stems branching out from the base like a bush	Surrounded by multiple pine trees, growing in thick layers of pine needles, limited sunlight, growing in a group of other wild indigo plants
Yarrow	1ft tall stalks, ‘leaves’ are small and delicate, blossoms resemble Queen Anne’s Lace	found in a field near tall grass, clover, and Queen Anne’s Lace

This is our field journal for our project. I thought this was a really cool assignment that really helped me see that Alleghany County is a very diverse county in terms of the plants found here. If I were to do the project again, I wouldn't really change much besides preserving the plants immediately after they were collected instead of doing so that night. 

Our Collection Project

We have been working really hard on our collection project, and now it's finally finished.
This is our presentation. Medicinal Plants by Jasmine Kimber, Laura Walker, and Jackson Williams.

Week Number Four

  This week in Biology, we took our first unit test on Monday and then we started our next unit on genetics. I was really looking forward to this one because I think it's really cool how such small substances like DNA can determine who (and what) you are. Mr. Vogler took over ‘principalling’ duties on Wednesday so we had time to work on Study Island and our genetics packets. I was feeling pretty under the weather that day, though. We had two pop quizzes this week, one on Tuesday and one on Thursday. We also did a lab on Thursday where we "extracted" DNA from peas using alcohol and meat tenderizer.

As for the collection study, my group has stayed after school two times this week to work on painting our boards which we will later mount the plants on. I know our grade will come from our multimedia presentation but that doesn’t mean we can’t care what the collection looks like. I recently discovered what chamomile looks like and found a few plants on our property. I had heard of it in passing when one of my friends had herbal tea but I had never known what the actual plant looked like.

One of our recent additions to the collection.

Replication- Graphic Organizer

Week Number Three

This week, a woman from a state program came and taught a lesson on Monday. She talked about neurotransmitters and hormones and her teaching style was... interesting. Not bad, just interesting. We also had a lab this week where we tested 6 liquids (sugar water, corn starch, an egg mixture, vegetable oil, and two unknown substances) with iodine, Sudan #3, and Beirut. We were later asked what we thought the unknown liquids were. My group had a little trouble with iodine testing so we did that part twice. Before we started, Mr. Vogler said that this would be more of a chemistry lab. I didn't think I would like it because in the past I have had issues with chemistry but this one was pretty cool. On Friday, I could have gone on the field trip with my Principles of Tech I class but I wasn't really into being stuck on a bus for four hours with mostly guys. I don’t think it would be worth it. So, instead, I came to school like normal and our review on Friday was great. We went through all of the topics for this unit to prepare for the Unit Test on Monday.

My partners for our collection project and I have been working on developing some way to present our collection of medicinal plants and I think we have finally decided on a layout. 

This is one of our specimens.

Week Number Two

We didn't have school on Monday, Labor Day, which was really nice. On Tuesday we finished our group posters on mitosis and did a strange carousel group sharing of them where one partner moves around the room listening to other's presentations on the mitosis cycle while the other stays and presents their own. I only call it strange because it actually seemed to help me remember the different stages in each because of the repetition and having to "teach" it.

My group and I have decided we want our collection project to be on plants with medicinal properties like yarrow, wild indigo, and chicory. We talked to Mr. Vogler about it and he said that that would be fine.

We had a pop quiz on Wednesday and on Friday. I was definitely prepared for the one on Wednesday but the other I struggled with. We also did a microscope lab on Wednesday looking for different stages of mitosis in onion root cells. On Friday we walked up to the Lion’s Club and did a field study assignment. Jasmine knows a lot about mushrooms and it was really cool listening to her talk about them. We found some slugs, spiders, a turkey, and quite a few plants. 

Crash Course has some really useful videos -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQK3Yr4Sc_k&list=PL3EED4C1D684D3ADF&index=8 <-