Weird plant project - for middle school or high school
Benjamin Blonder (bblonder@gmail.com)

In this project, you and a partner will work together to prepare a presentation on a weird plant of your choice. On the next page is a list of weird plants you can choose from. If the plant you choose has only one name (like Amborella) then the name represents a genus. You can either choose to talk about any species within the genus (each will be weird) or more generally about the genus as a whole.

Your project should answer eight questions: the five underlined questions, and three additional questions chosen from this list.

1. What is its Latin name? What family, genus and species is it?

2. What does it look like? How big is it, what colors does it show, what anatomical parts does it have? In addition to a description, you need to show us a visual: either a photograph from the internet, or a drawing of your own.

3. What part of the world does it live in?

4. What kind of habitat does it need?

5. What makes it weird? This should be your longest answer.

6. What are its common or native names?

7. Do people use it? How?

8. Is it threatened or endangered? If so, why?

9. How does it reproduce?

10. How do you think it is adapted to its environment?

You should answer these questions on a poster about your plant. You should also prepare a 5-minute presentation to the class about your plant. The presentation should have no more than ten slides and must include a photograph of your plant.

Remember to cite all your sources in APA style in a bibliography! Use http://citationmachine.net/ to help you.

We will grade you on 1) the quality of your research, 2) the clarity of your writing and 3) how enthusiastic you are about your plant during your presentation. You and your partner will receive the same grade!

Resources

There are many resources available to help you learn more about your plants:

- Google will often return useful search results from university plant resource guides if you add site:edu to your search - for example, search for site:edu "Sarracenia alata"

- Wikipedia will often have good pages on your genus or even your particular species

- Encyclopedia of Life (http://www.eol.org/) has good resources on the names, adaptations, and reproductive methods of plants

- IUCN Red List (http://www.iucnredlist.org/) has information on if species are threatened or endangered

- CalPhotos (http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/) and Forestry Images (http://www.forestryimages.org) have good photographs of many plants

- YouTube will have videos of many especially weird plants (for example see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uak3m_q-HDo for a whole 13 minute special on Sarracenia alata)

- USDA Plants (http://plants.usda.gov/) will have habitat information for some plants, but also has good links to other sites if you scroll down to the bottom of your plant's page.

Genus/species	Notes
Adansonia digitata	tree with water storing stem (baobab)
Aldrovanda vesiculosa	carnivorous, can move
Allotropa virgata	feeds on mushrooms
Amborella	evolutionarily old, only one species in genus
Amorphophallus titanum	giant stinky flower
Ananas comosus	pineapple
Angraecum sesquipedale	darwin's moth
Aponogeton madagascariensis	transparent underwater - holes in the leaves
Arachis hypogaea	because fruits grow underground
Araucaria araucana	monkey puzzle tree; weird
Argyroxiphium sandwicense	Hawaiian silversword
Ariocarpus fissuratus	living rock
Aristolochia californica	traps insects
Asarum	ant pollinated
Azolla plant and Anabaena cyanobacterium	bacteria help plant get nitrogen
Begonia pavonina	iridescent leaves
Boschniakia hookerii	parasitic
Brocchinia reducta	sucks insects in
Bursera microphylla	looks like elephant
Ceibas trichistandra	giant roots, food uses
Codariocalyx motorius	leaves track the sun
Codiaeum variegatum	weird colors
Colophospermum mopane	leaves move in sun
Corralorrhiza striata	no chlorophyll
Coryanthes	bee trapping flowers
Corypha umbraculifera	very tall, giant inflorescences
Cuscuta	parasitic, strangles other plants & finds them by smell
Cyanea leptostegia	Dr. Seuss-looking
Darlingtonia californica	carnivorous
Dendrophylax lindenii	ghost orchid
Dionea muscipula	Venus fly trap; carnivorous, moves
Dodecatheon	buzz pollinated
Drakaea	mimics wasp
Drosera rotundifolia	sticky to kill insects
Echinopsis chilensis and Tristerix aphyllus	stems punch through cacti, as parasite
Equisetum telmateia	weird stems and evolution, has silica
Euphorbia grantii	odd looking succulent
Ficus benghalensis	banyan - multiple new trunks
Fouquieria columnaris	dr seuss looking
Frasera speciosa	life cycle monocarpic, cool leaves
Genlisea margaretae	carnivorous, small genome
Gingko biloba	evolutionary relic, cool leaves/seeds
Gnetum gnemon	herbal usage, weird evolution
Helicodiceros muscivorus	dead horse - can temp regulate
Helosis	looks like a mushroom but isn't
Heracleum mantegazzianum	makes a sap that burns people
Hippomane mancinella	toxic sap
Hura crepitans	seed pods explode out of tree
Hydnora africana	looks like fungus with teeth
Impatiens capensis	exploding fruit
Lithops	looks like a rock
Mandragora officinarum	Mandrake (used in magic)
Melestoma	buzz pollinated
Mimosa pudica	touch sensitive
Monotropa hypopitys	no chlorophyll
Monstera	looks like swiss cheese
Mucuna holtonii	bats can hear it
Myrmecodia	ants live inside it
Neottia nidus-avis	mushroom symbiosis orchid
Nepenthes rajah	bat toilet
Nymphaea	live on water
Ophrys apifera	bee decoy
Ophrys speculum	wasp mimic
Opuntia	prickly pear
Orobanche ramosa	attacks crops
Pedicularis groenlandica	looks like elephant
Pholisma sonorae	looks like mushroom in the desert
Pilostyles thurberi	live inside other plants
Pinguicula macroceras	carnivorous leaves
Pinus aristata	oldest living non-clonal organism
Platystele jungermannioides	super tiny orchid
Puya raimondii	gigantic inflorescences
Rafflesia arnoldii	world's largest flower and parasitic
Rhizanthella slateri	saprophyte
Rhizophora	aboveground roots
Sarcodes sanguinea	big bright red parasite
Sarracenia	carnivorous
Sebertia acuminata	stores metals as bright blue latex
Selaginella lepidophylla	resurrects itself
Sequoia sempervirens	tallest
Sequoiadendron giganteum	largest
Silene acaulis	weird alpine cushion
Stapelia gigantea	weird stems
Strelitzia reginae	bird of paradise pollination
Stylidium	flowers have triggers and guns
Symplocarpus foetidus	regulates its temperature
Thallasia	underwater pollen
Tillandsia usneoides	looks like moss but isn't
Urtica dioica	stings you
Utricularia	carnivorous aquatic; “trapdoor”…
Vallisneria	weird reproduction
Vaucheria litorea green alga / Elysia chlorotica sea slug	plant lives in animal
Victoria amazonica	huge floating leaf
Welwitschia mirabilis	weirdest desert plant ever
Wollemia nobilis	endangered weirdo pine
Woolfia	smallest flowering plant
Zostera	underwater pollen