HORT 217

Identification (ID) Recitation Periods

Come prepared every Thursday at your designated section time to HGRH 1109 (Horticulture Greenhouse) to be quizzed over plant material covered primarily in the current (and immediately preceeding) week's lectures, plant walks, and supplementary material. From HGRH 1109, a teaching assistant will lead you in an outdoor quiz wherein you will be asked to identify up to 10 plants by family, genus, specific epithet, and common name. For each plant, you are also required to know all the cultivars for each species listed in the lecture note outlines. On ID quizzes, you will be asked to identify one of those cultivars based specifically on a description given by the TA, or the presentation of a living specimen. If no cultivar is given in the lecture note outlines for that species, you will be asked to provide a one or two word answer to a TA's question about the plant instead.

For these ID quizzes, students will be asked to identify landscape plants growing on or near the Purdue campus, primarily. However, students should also be prepared to identify plants based only on shoot cuttings, twigs, fruits, flowers, or color photographic slides.

Weekly ID quizzes will cover material from the current week's plant walk primarily, except that you may also be asked to identify one or two plants that were presented in the preceeding week. Just as for characteristics exams however, the instructor reserves the right to ask questions based on any previous material covered during previous weeks.

At the teaching assistant's discretion, you will be given only a few minutes to identify and record the information before being asked to move to the next quiz plant. After recording your answers for each plant, give your answer sheet to your instructor.

To get a quick overview of nomenclature go to Plant Scientific Names. Plant nomenclature is according to the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.

Points will be lost in plant ID quizzes for the following reasons. One letter misspelled on the family, genus, specific epithet, cultivar, or variety results in loss of 1/2 point. Two or more letters mispelled results in loss of one point for that name. Not underlining the genus or specific epithet will result in 1/2 point loss per missed underlining. Not capitalizing the family and genus, or capitalizing the specific epithet, will result in loss of 1/2 point per error. Variety must begin with a small case letter, be underlined, and preceeded by var., whereas cultivar must be capitalized and have single quotes, or else 1/2 point will be lost per missing component. In a few cases, we use the trademark or patented name instead of official cultivar name. In these cases, a small superscripted ^TM or ^® should be placed after the capitalized name instead of quotations (just as it appears in your lecture notes), or 1/2 point will be lost. Each quiz is worth 25 points. Your score per quiz is the percentage correct out of the total points offered multiplied by 25.

You should bring a clipboard and two #2 pencils. Quiz sheet paper will be provided (see ID quiz sheets). Backpacks, hats, and all other non-essential materials should be left at home or in HGRH 1109. Umbrellas are acceptible in case of rain.

Students will not be allowed to talk once the group has left HGRH 1109 and during the entire outdoor quiz period except when the instructor asks for responses. Once the group stops at a plant quiz specimen, each person should distance himself or herself from others in the group (preferably by at least 10 feet). For the entire 15 weeks of the course, the teaching assistants have been instructed to continuously, and sternly, request students to separate from each other during these quiz periods. Please don't be offended since this is only done as a precaution.