Distinguishing characteristics of the seeds of garden flowers of Utah and a key for their identification
The purpose of this thesis has been to make a collection of the seeds of herbaceous dicotyledonous garden flowers of Utah, to examine their external structural characteristics and to prepare keys for their classification. A collection of the seeds of 146 species of garden flowers has been made, and...
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| Format: | Others |
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BYU ScholarsArchive
1954
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| Online Access: | https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/8028 https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=9028&context=etd |
| Summary: | The purpose of this thesis has been to make a collection of the seeds of herbaceous dicotyledonous garden flowers of Utah, to examine their external structural characteristics and to prepare keys for their classification. A collection of the seeds of 146 species of garden flowers has been made, and includes species of 41 families. The seeds have been cleaned and dried and a collection stored in labelled vials and left in the Botany Department of the Brigham Young University. Keys have been prepared for the identification of the families, genera, and species. As far as possible external characteristics--such as color, size, and texture--which can be seen without the use of magnification, have been used. For seeds which are too small or which have characteristics too similar to be distinguished with the naked eye, a millimeter scale and a binocular microscope have been used. The term "seed" has been used to designate any propagules. Descriptions of the families and species have been included with the keys. Drawings have been made of the seeds of each species reported. In preparing the drawings a "Camara Lucida" was attached to a binocular microscope and the outlines of the seeds carefully followed. Details of structure and texture were drawn by hand with the aid of a binocular microscope. The seeds were drawn to scale and the measurements included with the drawings. The photographed copies of the drawings were reduced to one-half the size of the originals. Although there has been no attempt to make this work all-inclusive, most of the herbaceous dicotyledonous garden flowers found in Utah have been reported. It is hoped that the study will be of value to those interested in seed identification and that it may serve as a step toward further work in this field. |
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