Mystery Plant Project

Zach Shriver & Shelby Perkins

December 5, 2014

I)

Identification of Species

We were able to use all the characteristics explained within this paper
to identify our mystery plant down to the species. Because we were growing
a plant, we knew that the Doman was Eukaryote and the kingdom Plantae.
Due to the presence of flowers, the plant was classified into the Phylum
Angiosperms. Angiosperms are characterized as plants that have flowers and
fruits. Class was also determined due to growth characteristics: Eudicot.
Eudicot translates into true dicot. To the naked eye, one can determine
that a plant is a dicot by the presence of 2 leaves protruding from the soil at
the beginning of growth and by network veins on the plants leaves. A
dichotomous key and previous knowledge of particular families were used to
classify the mystery plant further. Due to the square, fuzzy stem, strong
aroma, and opposite leaves, it was determined that the plant was part of the
Order Lamiales and Family Lamiaceae. The Lumiaceae, or mint, family
contains these previous mentioned characteristics within all its members.
Finally, the dichotomous key was used to determine that the Genus of the
mystery plant was Salvia, due in part to the flowers. Because of the short
growing time that the mystery plant project was conducted under, a cultivar

was used. This cultivar was Summer Jewel Pink. This was confirmed by Dr.
Sinha.
II)

Morphological Characteristics
a. Leaves

The leaves of the

dicot and the mint

plant were characteristic of a

family. True to dicots, the leaves

had a network of veins

that did not run parallel to

each other, as in

monocots. True to the mint

family, the leaves were

fuzzy and had a strong

aroma. The leaves consisted of

two larger leaves and two

smaller leaves arranged

opposite of each other on

the stem (10 cm and 5

cm, respectively). All leaves

were slightly lobed and were wider towards the petiole and got smaller as
they protruded. The leaves were soft and flexible to the touch, not being very
thick or waxy. All the leaves were dark green throughout the whole life span,
but some appeared to have dark spots on them in the final week. There
appeared to have been some type of invasion by pests on our plant. Towards
the bottom of the stem, leaves started gaining blotchy, dark spots. Because
the spots were so random, it was deduced that it could not have been due to
degradation or death of the leaf and petioles, but an insect. Thrips appeared
to have caused the discoloration of the leaves. Though many pests can
attack silvia plants, it appears that thrips were the most likely pest due to
the dark discoloration of the leaves. Spider mites, aphides, and white flies
are also common pests of salvia, but all produce lighter colored blotches on

the plant (University of Illinois Extension)( Salvia Divinorum Gallery 2).

Thrips, in both the larvae and adult form, feed on the flowers, leaves, twigs,
or buds on the plant. They have piercing-sucking mouth parts that lead to
the discoloration and malformation of the leaves. Some Thrips carry
diseases, so special care must be taken in dealing with the insect
(Introduction to Thrips). Hopefully, since the infestation was caught before
any malformation of the leaves, spreading of the insects can be maintained
so as not to harm the entire plant.
Leaves serve many important functions to the plant. First of all, the leaves of
our plant contained light capturing pigments: chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b.
During the process of photosynthesis, explained further later, light in the
environment is captured by the chlorophyll and the light is used to power
photosynthesis. Chlorophyll a and b only capture certain wavelengths of
light, however. The absorption spectrum is at blue, violet, and red light.
Because the pigments cannot capture green light, it is reflected from the
leaf, provided the characteristic green color to the human eye. Leaves also
function in water collection. The wide leaves of our plant created a larger
surface area for water to land and be used by the plant. Going along with
this function is the function of gas exchange. During the process of gas
exchange, explained further later, there is the potential for water loss. The
leaves of our plant are adapted to not only capture water, but to maintain
water loss so that the plant does not become flaccid. The leaves of our plant

are specially designed to efficiently do most of the metabolic processes of

the plant.
b. Stem
The stem was examined for any crystals. A piece of the stem was
ground with morter and pestle and a few drops of tap water until it became a
uniform fluid.

A wet

mount was

then made

on a slide and

examined

under the
microscope.

Crystals,

like raphides,

would have

been easy to

see because

of their characteristic thin and elongated shape. There were no crystals

within the stem of our plant. Raphides are a defense by the plant to deter
herbivores. Raphides contain toxins, that when ingested, irritate the skin and
throat of the herbivore. Because there are no raphides in our plant,
protection and defense must be obtained a different way.
A cross section of the stem was then taken. The stem was held vertical
in one hand, while the other hand was used to cut small horizontal slices of
the stem with a razor. The thinnest pieces were determined with a dissection
scope. These pieces were then stained with tuliodene blue and made into a
slide which was examined under microscope. Details of the anatomical
composition will be discussed in the microscopic structure section.

Another general function of the stem is to provide vertical support.

The stem was very hard and very strong, which is ideal to holding up the
plant. The stem was also a sight for leaf attachment by their petioles. Finally,
the stem was the sight for vertical growth. At the top tip of the stem was the
stem apical meristem. This is the point of cell division that increases the
height of the plant. This is the location of the youngest parts of the plant.
Through the stem apical meristem, the plant was able to reach a height of 49
cm. This was the average height of all nine plants that were grown.

c. Flowers
Flowers are reproductive
structures that evolved from
leaves. The flowers on our plant
contained all four distinct
whorls: sepals, petals, stamens,
and carpels. Because the
flower contained all four whorls,
it is described as being complete. Because the flower contains both the
stamen and carpel, it is described as perfect. The flowers were bisexual,
therefore the plant was monecious, meaning that the plant contained both
male and female reproductive parts and did not have a designated mother
and father plant. Collectively, the sepals form the calyx and the petals
form the corolla. The stamen is made up of the filament and anther, while
the carpel is made up of the ovary, style, and stigma. A carpel is a leaf like
organ that encloses one or more ovules.
The flowers began as small buds. These buds were closed petals
appearing out of the enclosed sepals. As they matured, they started to
expose light pink petals. When in bloom, the flowers were pink and white.
The top of the flower was tube shaped. The bottom of the flower was two
fused petals that exposed the inside of the flower. The bud began to open
through maturation to expose the stamen and carpel. As pollen was given off

of the stamen and collected on the

stigma, the plant became pollinated.
When the flower lost its pollen, it
became shriveled to expose the
seeds that matured within the ovary.
The cavity within the ovary is the
locule.
Flowers have many functions. One such function, alluded to previously,
is to house seeds and pollen. The seeds are housed and grown within the
ovary because of the nutrition that is available there. Flowers are the perfect
place for pollen to be located, because they attract pollinators. Due to the
pink color and shape of the flower, hummingbirds would be an ideal
pollinator. However, hummingbirds do not have a great sense of smell as
pollinators like bees have. Bees trade off this great sense of smell for the
ability to only see short wavelengths of light, which include blue, indigo,
yellow, and white. Because our plant is a cultivar, existence is maintained by
propagation. Plants use their specialized color, size, shape, odor, and
mechanics to have specialized pollinators.
d. Roots
Our plant featured a central, primary taproot system with many
secondary lateral roots branching off of it. In dicot plants the primary root
develops from the embryonic root, known as the radicle, and grows vertically
into the ground. Its primary functions are to anchor the plant in the ground

and aid in the absorption and conduction of water

and

nutrients. It also serves as the starting place for lateral

root

development. Our plant contained many lateral roots

that branched from the original
primary root. These lateral roots
greatly increase the surface
area available to be used in the
absorption of water and minerals, as well as

aid in

anchoring the plant securely in the ground.

Both the primary root and lateral roots grow via the root
apical meristem (RAM) and consist of four differentiated
regions known as the root cap, Region of Division, Region of Elongation, and
Region of Maturation. At the terminal end of the root is the root cap which is
composed of parenchyma cells that protect the RAM as the root grows and
penetrates into the soil. Behind the root cap is the RAM which produces cells
and gives rise to the three primary meristems: the protoderm, procambium,
and ground meristem. This region which is responsible for root growth is
known as the Region of Cell Division. Past the Region of Cell division is the
Region of Elongation which is responsible for cellular expansion through the
uptake of water in cellular vacuoles. This expansion pushes the apical tip and
root cap forward, thus causing deeper penetration into the soil. The final
zone of the root where the differentiation of the primary tissues is completed
and cells become fully developed is known as the Region of Maturation. The

epidermis arises from the protoderm, the xylem and phloem arise from the
procambium, and the ground tissue arises from the ground meristem. This is
also the region where the growth of lateral roots occurs.
Our plants taproot had a length of 14 cm when extended
and a width of 1.5 mm. The dozens of lateral roots that
extended from the primary root were an average
length of 10 cm. Plants can also have a variety of
adventitious roots, however our plant did not.
III)

Microscopic Structure

When a cross section was taken of the stem, many cellular

components became obvious. Along one of the walls of the square stem, a
prominent cuticle was seen. This cuticle along the outside of the stem helps
decrease water loss from the plant. The next inner layer to the cuticle was
the epidermis. The epidermis is the skin of the stem. The epidermis was
covered in the multicellular hairs, trichomes, that also aided in decreasing
water loss. These trichomes were present on both the upper and lower
epidermis and are notoriously responsible for generating the oils that give of
the distinct minty smell to plants in the mint family (Sharma et al, 2003).
Inside of the epidermis was the xylem tissue, which is primarily parenchyma
cells. The xylem tissue is living and is important for transport of water and
nutrients from the roots, up through the stem. Innermost of the cross section
of the stem was the phloem. Unlike the xylem, the phloem is made of living
cells like sieve tube members, sieve plates, companion cells (parenchyma

cells that are connected by plasmodesmata to sieve tubes). The function of

the phloem is to transport sugars to the sieve tube members.
We also examined the epithelial tissue of the leaves of the plant. We
used a technique where nail polish was painted on the underside of a leaf.
Once the nail polish was dried, it was peeled from the leaf so that it removed
with it the top layer of the epithelial tissue and
anything connected outwardly to it. From this
thin layer we were able to observe stomata
located on the leaves, under the microscope.
Stomata are small pores on the surface of the
leaf which function in controlling gas
exchange between plants and the
atmosphere. The stomata in our plant were
located on the underside, scattered throughout
the leaf, and composed of a central pore surrounded by two guard cells and
subsidiary cells. The guard cells serve as gates which can open and close
the pores depending on the concentration of water. When water is absorbed
by the guard cells they bend and reveal the pore between them, however,
when they lose water they shrink and close off the pore. Our sample
contained open stomata, indicating that there was an adequate amount of
water present and gas exchange was taking place.
A cross section was also taken of the roots. Because the tap root was
so small, a single layered sample was hard to obtain. The sample that was

observed could see the xylem and phloem not contained in vascular bundles,
but assorted throughout the sample. There were
none of the protective structures that were seen on
the other cross sections, because the root doesnt have
to worry about water loss or uv harm.
IV)

Reproduction

Methods of reproduction in land plants have evolved overtime to

provide great advantages to plants. Our plant, being an angiosperm, has a
dominant sporophyte stage and produces both spores and seeds. Flowering
plants such as ours attract
pollinators to aid in their
reproductive efforts.
Pollination occurs when
the pollen from the plants
stamen is transferred to
the stigma. This fertilizes
the plant and begins the production of the seed. Our plant produced fruits
and seeds within the sepals, inside of the ovary. There was an average of
three to four seeds within each fruit. Reproduction via seeds is unique to
angiosperms and gymnosperms. This evolved method of reproduction has
many advantages because seeds are able to stay dormant, they have
greater dispersal, they are surrounded by nutritive tissue, and they are
diploid, which promotes genetic diversity. Cultivars such as Summer Jewel
Pink however are reproduced using methods of artificial propagation.
V)

Energy Production and Storage

Our plant, like the vast majority of land plants, produced its energy
through photosynthetic reactions. Photosynthesis is the process by which
light energy from the Sun is converted into usable chemical energy through
what are known as the light and dark reactions. The process begins with

the collection of light energy at the antenna complex which is transferred to

the essential primary pigment chlorophyll a, located in the reaction center.
As mentioned above, chlorophyll a absorbs wavelengths of light in both the
red and blue ends of the visible spectrum and reflects wavelengths in the
green part of the spectrum; thus giving the leaves of our plant a green color.
Electrons transferred from the reaction center go through a series of electron
transport chains to ultimately produce ATP and NADPH that can be used in
the dark reactions. In the dark reactions, the previously produced ATP and
NADPH are used to power the Calvin Cycle to ultimately generate usable
organic molecules such as glucose, amino acids, fats, or other
carbohydrates. The overall process that outlines the energy production in our
plant can be summarized as: 6CO2 + 6H2O ------> C6H12O6 + 6O2.
VI)

Secondary Compounds

Secondary compounds are organic compounds which function outside

of the growth, development, and metabolism of a plant. Although they are
not directly involved in metabolic processes of the species, they play an
extremely important role in the survival of many plants. Since plants are for
all intents and purposes stationary organisms, they must rely on these
secondary compounds for a variety of reasons; including, but not limited to,
defense against herbivores, water retention, UV protection, attract
pollinators, and defense against microbes. Plants belonging to the Lamiaceae
family, such as ours, are notorious for their highly aromatic fragrances which
are produced by terpenoids and phenolic compounds (Sharafzadeh, 2012).

Monoterpenoids located in the oils of our plant are known to function as

antimicrobial compounds to defend the plant against microbe attacks. These
particular secondary compounds are located in the trichomes of the leaves
where they can be easily released in case of contact with an herbivore or
other foreign object. The primary phenolic compounds in our plant are known
as flavonoids. These flavonoids include anthocyanin pigmentspelargonidins
in particular-- that are responsible for the beautifully colored pink flowers
which function in the attraction of pollinators.
VII)

Ecological Importance of Plants

Plants play enormous roles in maintaining a functional ecosystem as

well as aiding humans with ecological and utilitarian uses. Our own existence
would not be possible without the O2 respiration and CO2 uptake of plants
such as ours. They are also the primary producers that convert the suns
energy into usable organic compounds that heterotrophic species such as
our own depends on. Our mystery plant is not only capable of providing
these essential ecological uses, but also a handful of utilitarian uses. A
study by the Iranian Department of Agriculture found that plants in the
Lamiaceae family, ours included, produce the polyphenolic compound known
as Rosmarinic acid, which serves many medicinal purposes (Sharafzadeh,
2012). Rosmarinic acid is a strong antioxidant and is used for its antiviral,
antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory properties. The terpenoids and phenolic
compounds mentioned above that contribute to the plants survival are also
widely used in pharmacological practices. These secondary compounds

found in the oils of the trichomes are used by humans for their antiulcer,
chemopreventive, and anti-inflammatory characteristics. Being a cultivar
however, our plants primary use is simply for decorative purposes in
landscaping. The therapeutic nature of its delicate pink flowers earned our
mystery plant first place in the 2012 All America Selection award; an award
given to the most highly praised plant in the horticulture community.
Because our mystery plant is on the cultivar is Summer Jewel Pink, it is
maintained through propagation because of its color and use in landscape.

Lab Notebook
8/25/2014

Planted seeds into potting soil,

Shelby

covered with plastic wrap to keep

9/1/2014

heat and moisture in

No signs of germination

Zach
9/3/2014

First germination, removed plastic

Shelby

wrap; two cotyledons present

(indicative of dicots)

9/5/2014

Plants are starting to grow; plant

Zach
9/8/2014

height 1 cm
Second set of leaves emerging;

Shelby

plant height 3 cm

9/10/2014

No noticeable changes; plant

Zach
9/12/2014

height 3 cm
Plants continuing to grow, bottom

Shelby

watered for the weekend; plant

9/15/2014

height 4 cm
First signs of margined leaves;

Zach

plant height 5 cm

9/17/2014

No noticeable changes; plant

Shelby
9/19/2014

height 5 cm
Plants continuing to grow, bottom

Zach

watered for the weekend; plant

9/22/2014

height 6 cm
Plants looked a little dry after the

Shelby

weekend, watered individually and

bottom watered again; plant height

9/24/2014

6 cm
Plants look healthy again; plant

Zach

height 7 cm

9/26/2014

Visible hairs (trichomes) running

Shelby

the length of the stem, bottom

watered for the weekend; plant
height 8 cm

9/29/2014

Plants continued to grow, new set

Zach

of leaves emerging, plant height 9

10/01/2014

cm
No noticeable changes; plant

Shelby
10/03/2014

height 9 cm
New leaves began growing, bottom

Zach

watered for the weekend; plant

height 11 cm

10/06/2014

Plant has continued growing; leaves

Shelby

6 cm, plant height 12 cm

10/08/2014

New leaves are emerging; plant

Zach

height 14 cm

10/10/2014

Plants continued to grow, bottom

Shelby

watered for the weekend; plant

10/13/2014

height 15 cm
New leaves emerging, plant

Zach

continuing to grow, plant height 17

10/15/2014

cm
First sign of preliminary flowering

Shelby

structure at the top of the stem;

plant height 18 cm

10/17/2014

Plants looked dried-out, watered

Zach

individually and bottom watered for

10/22/2014

Fall Free Days; plant height 18 cm

Plant still look dry, continued to

Shelby
10/24/2014

grow; plant height 22 cm

Plants look much healthier,

Zach

continued to grow, bottom watered

for the weekend; plant height 23
cm

10/27/2014

Flowers have begun to bloom; plant

Shelby

height 25 cm

10/30/2014

Flowers continuing to bloom, plant

Zach
10/31/2014

height 26 cm
No distinct changes over this

11/14/2014

period, Plant continued to fully

Shelby &

bloom, one started wilting but the

Zach

rest look healthy; plant height 36

11/17/2014

cm
Flowers fully bloomed, pink petals

Zach

and bilateral, plants continuing to

grow; plant height 39 cm

11/24/2014

Almost every flower has wilted, 2

Shelby

plants appear to be dying; plant

height 44cm

Works Cited

Sharafzdeh, Shahram. "GROWTH AND SECONDARY METABOLITES OF

BASIL, MINT AND THYME AS AFFECTED BY LIGHT." International Journal of
Pharma and Bio Sciences 3.1 (2012)

Sharma, Shruti. "Developmental Process of Essential Oil Glandular

Trichome Collapsing in Menthol Mint." Current Science 84.4 (2003): 543-50.
Web.
Graham, Linda E., James M. Graham, and Lee Warren. Wilcox. Plant
Biology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2003. Print.
"Introduction to Thrips." Introduction to Thrips. 6 Mar. 2013. Web.
<http://www.entomology.umn.edu/cues/inter/inmine/Thripa.html>.
Salvia Divinorum Gallery 2." Salvia Divinorum Realityshift. Web.
<http://www.psykick.de/salvia/en-gallery-problems.html>.
"University of Illinois Extension." Hort Answers -. Web.
<http://urbanext.illinois.edu/hortanswers/plantdetail.cfm?
PlantID=745&PlantTypeID=2>.