Plants and Fungi
Emojis Have Meanings to Guide You!
📚--->Supplemental Resource!
📚 Pictured above is a blooming dwarf lake iris (Iris lacustris), a federally threatened species and Michigan's state wildflower.
What do the terms mean?
Plant
"A living organism of the kind exemplified by trees, shrubs, herbs, grasses, ferns, and mosses, typically growing in a permanent site, absorbing water and inorganic substances through its roots, and synthesizing nutrients in its leaves by photosynthesis using the green pigment chlorophyll."
-Oxford University Press
Fungus
"Any of a diverse group of eukaryotic single-celled or multinucleate organisms that live by decomposing and absorbing the organic material in which they grow, comprising the mushrooms, molds, mildews, smuts, rusts, and yeasts"
-American Heritage Science Dictionary
Image Source: Maria Ontivero
Image Source: Toppr
In Focus: Lake Huron Watershed and Your Place
Defense Adaptations
Plants evolved to have both internal and external defense systems against predators, weather and disease. Fungi produce chemicals (secondary metabolites) to deter predators.
Examples include:
the deep roots of Midwest native grasses that allow for high levels of grazing by herbivores with continued plant growth;
trichomes (hair like, on stems and leaves, what stings you on a stinging nettle (Urtica dioica)) and thorns (modified branch ends, ex. Douglas hawthorn (Crataegus douglasii));
symbiotic relationships with fungi or insects to support the plant when is being attacked. The bottom graphic highlights the mechanism called Herbivore Induced Plant Volatiles (HIPV).
📚 Suit up to learn about more defense mechanisms.
📚 Meditation or an adult beverage? Check out how plants handle stress in this 5-minute video.
Image Source: MI Natural Shoreline Partnership
Cold Weather Adaptations
Evergreen trees utilize waxy coatings and a conical shape to protect their leaves and continue photosynthesis. Deciduous trees may drop their leaves to conserve water or hold onto dead leaves for insulation (ex. most oak (Quercus sp.) species in Michigan).
Woody species take advantage of the sun with their usually darker-colored bark to warm up in the early spring and activate growth process (think about what the ground looks like during maple syrup season).
Many prairie grasses and flowering plants utilize dense and deep root systems to store nutrients through the winter (dormancy). Think about the consistency of temperature in the soil versus in the air during winter.
Some fungi form mutually beneficial relationships with algae (lichen) or with plants (mycorrhizal fungi).
Mycorrhiza
Reproductive Adaptations
Seeds that require stratification must experience a period of freezing and the breaking of a dormancy to activate growth. In the Midwest, plants like marsh marigold (Caltha palustris), coneflower (Echinacea sp.), and common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)require this process.
Plants use a variety of seed physical structures to spread via wind, water and animals. Fungi make use of both asexual and sexual reproduction.
Abundant Species
Some plant and fungi species may have high population numbers in a given area due to natural processes (competition, soil type, co-evolution, etc.) or human influence (planting, development, etc.). In some cases and from some perspectives, one abundant species may be beneficial to the ecosystem or human system; in other cases and perspectives, that same species may be a nuisance or determinant to health (ecosystem or human).
📚 The classic case of lawn weeds may help your thinking. Review a positive perspective and a negative perspective.
📚 This Forest Service guide highlights mushrooms common to forest types that occur in Michigan.
Rare and Threatened
In Michigan, over 400 plants species are recognized (either at the state level or both federal and state) as Endangered, Threatened, and Probably Extirpated. This page will help identify which rare plant species are known to occur in a given county.
📚 Curious how much the vegetation cover in your county has changed since 1800? Take a look!
📚 Pictured above is the federally threatened pitcher's thistle (Cirsium pitcheri) which occurs throughout the Lake Huron watershed.
Changing Hardiness Zones
Plant hardiness zones helps us determine what "plants are most likely to thrive at a location". As our climate changes, these hardiness zones are shifting north at a rate of about 13 miles per year.
📚 This graphic displays the change in zones from 1990-2006.
📚 View the projected zones in 2040 and read more on this topic.
Teacher Perspective
👥 Community Partner Connections 👥
Who are some of the partners that focus on Plants in the Great Lakes basin and Michigan?
✅ U.S. Forest Service
📚 Find contact information for the Huron-Manistee National Forest and more about what they do here.
Noting that Michigan is also home to the Hiawatha National Forest in the UP.✅ MDNR Forest Resources Division
📚 Find contact information for the service center, management unit or field office nearest to you here.
📚Supplemental Resources📚
Region Specific Plants
MSU outlines plants in the Southern Lower, Northern Lower and Upper Peninsulas that are native to the area and support ecosystem services.
As an example and pictured to the left, wild columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) provides food (as nectar) for birds and is a larval host for butterflies.
Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center
This comprehensive database allows for a variety of search parameters to identify plants native to your area for specific site elements or needs.
For example, by searching for Michigan native evergreen suited for a dry soil area with limited sun, four species are returned. Eastern white pine (Pinus strobus) is pictured to the right.
