Natural Science Forum / Biology / Botany / September 2006

I'm new to the botany world and have been using BBC's plant finder to try
and identify some flowers by color and type but the example pictures there
aren't always the best quality. I've had luck with a few but still need
help with 10 more. If you can help identify any of these or ...

Give that alleles are different codings of the same gene - does that
mean the different alleles are the same length?  It must also be true -
right? - that different alleles encode for different proteins (else
there would be no difference in their manifestation.)

I have a question about what plant names to capitalize. I am
identifying weeds and pests in lawns and i am using plant names in the
subject header. I already know that the genus name is capitalized, but
the species name is not. And the two are usually italicized.I f for

I have a question about what plant names to capitalize. I am
identifying weeds and pests in lawns and i am using plant names in the
subject header. I already know that the genus name is capitalized, but
the species name is not. And the two are usually italicized.I f for

I've read in several places (can get references if necessary) that oaks
( Quercus spp.)  hybridize very easily.  If so, wouldn't - over
millennia - speciation be lost and all oaks blend to a single
homogeneous oak?  If hybridization is so easy - what keeps the species

Do you know what is the latin name of tree, which belongs this leaf?:
http://img226.imageshack.us/img226/6354/img8352bf9.jpg
http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/1034/img8351ub2.jpg

I live in Houston, TX.  A few days ago, two interesting looking shoots
came up together in my back yard.  The stems are hollow, and they
currently don't seem to have any leaves.  What they do have is flowers
(they bloomed today).  The flowers are red, six of them, arranged in a

The news this morning is that the county has found 300 marijuana plants
over the summer by helicopter.
Is there something about marijuana that makes it easy to identify from
the air, or could you do this with any plant of the same size?

after some books i discovered grass is very multifarious.. i still
wonder about this:
http://hirnsohle.de/pics/gras.jpg
what plant is that exactly? (it is not so orange in real as shot on

berries are now (september, the Netherlands), from small, hard and
green, to red and soft. no thorns
http://www.terwiel.com/diversen/DSCN0652.JPG
http://www.terwiel.com/diversen/DSCN0653.JPG

I've heard that the FDA defines what is
legally "organic" food, but I've never seen
the legal definition. I was once told that
organic food can be made with some

Is this some kind of Sorbus ?
http://www.terwiel.com/diversen/DSCN0650.JPG
http://www.terwiel.com/diversen/DSCN0651.JPG (tip of individual leaf)
http://www.terwiel.com/diversen/DSCN0654.JPG (this tree is drastically

Think about it now, if you keep good care of your catus it can live
forever, and is one of the only plants that can do this.  When it grows
to big to support itself, you can just take a cactus cutting and plant
it in fresh cactus soil.  So one cactus man can grow into an army.

For some years now I have tried to buy a copy of SILVICS OF NORTH
AMERICAN HARDWOODS, Russell Burns and B. Honkala, June 1990. Which was
a US govt printed book sold for $33 in the 1990s but appears to have
gone out of print and put onto computer format to download. Trouble is

I'm an undergraduate reading plant science and I have always found
"Plant Physiology" by Taiz & Zieger very helpful.
http://www.amazon.com/Plant-Physiology-Lincoln-Taiz/dp/0878938230
It is a very comprehensive book and easy to understand.