Carnivores, Cacti, and Creepers
ASPB Objectives
3. Land plants evolved from algae like ancestors.
7. Plants are diverse in size and shape.
9. Plants defend themselves against pests and diseases.
10. Water is the major molecule in plant cells.
12. Plants live in and adapt to a wide variety of environments.
Summary
This lesson will use the diverse collections at the UIUC Plant Biology Greenhouse .
Students will be led on a scavenger hunt to find plants that rely on specific adaptive
strategies for various environmental stresses. For example, succulent leaves are
found in desert plants and carnivorous plants can be found growing in nutrientlimited conditions. Following the scavenger hunt, there will be a short summary
lecture describing the role of natural selection and evolution in forming the diverse
shapes and growth habits that the students observed. Students will photograph a
plant demonstrating their favorite adaptation, and the following week in the
classroom, students will demonstrate their understanding of this adaptation through
a short video lesson that they will create during next week’s lesson.
Prep
First and foremost, ensure that safe transportation of the students has been
established (School bus with driver, University vehicle with pre-approved driver,
etc.).
Project leaders should meet with chaperones (graduate students) to give them a
private tour of the greenhouse. There are approximately eight (8) rooms in the
greenhouse in which students will tour. A graduate student should be stationed in
each room and one in the hall. (This will depend upon the size of the group. If there
are only 10 students touring the greenhouse, then there will not be a need for more
than 2-3 graduate students.) This will make it easier to navigate students and more
informational as each graduate student only needs to remember facts about his/her
room. Each graduate student should refer to the Greenhouse Tour Guidelines
before going.
Remember to update the scavenger hunt when you tour the greenhouse. Many
plants are moved when not in season or when being propagated.
Greenhouse Tour Guidelines
The Staff of the University of Illinois Greenhouses welcomes visitors to participate in
educational tours. Here are some important steps to a meaningful facility visit.
Please allow 3 weeks to schedule the tour and arrange for the appropriate tour guide(s) to
be lined-up. Tours are limited to groups of 25 or less and are scheduled during the following
times based on availability:


Monday and Wednesday afternoons from 1:30 to 3:30 pm
Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 9:00 to 10:30 am
One adult chaperone should accompany every three children who are between 2
and 5 years of age. One adult chaperone should accompany every five
children/students who are between 6 and 12 years of age.
Greenhouse tours start at the main (East) entrance of the Plant Sciences Laboratory on
Dorner Drive. The building is wheelchair accessible.
Parking is generally available on Dorner Drive and in the parking lot on the south side of the
Plant Sciences Laboratory greenhouse in metered spaces. Parking meters all require a
quarter per half hour (quarters only). If you need to arrange parking for a bus, please let us
know when requesting the tour.
Please note that the greenhouse is a working teaching and research facility. As such, some
hazards such as wet floors, hard bench edges, and spiny or poisonous plants may be
present.
Please take these facility rules seriously:
1. Look at the plants, but do not touch them.
2. Move carefully in the greenhouses.
3. Stay on the walkways.
Please stress the importance of these facility rules to students and chaperones
before the visit.
Teachers/chaperones are responsible for the behavior of their
children/students.
If your class has special requirements, please contact us ahead of time.
Tour Contact Information
For tours of the conservatory and tropical plant collections contact Debbie Black at (217)
333.7857 , or email at [email protected].
For tours of the Plant Care Facility greenhouses contact: Ruth Green at (217) 333.3058, or
email at [email protected].
Lesson Plan
Have students divvy up into buddy groups (2-4 depending upon the number of
students). Each pair is in group is in charge of reporting if someone is missing when
changing rooms/locations.
When students arrive, they should congregate outside of the Conservatory and each
group should get a Scavenger Hunt worksheet (below) and a private
tour. Remember not only to point out cool facts about the different plants, but also
why they evolved this way (or the hypotheses behind their adaptations). During tour,
show how the environment is managed: misters, fans, evaporative coolers, shades,
and white wash. Each room represents a biome. Explain ecological units such as a
species, biome, population, population, etc. If needed, include a diagram with the
Scavenger Hunt worksheet.
When they enter each room, the graduate student tour guide should ask them to talk
about the biome being represented (humidity, light intensity, etc.). Many students
will assume there is a lot of light and water available in the tropical rainforest (not on
the floor!) or forget how important herbivory, wind, and cold night temperatures are in
a desert.
After they receive a tour of one room, they should try to fill out as many answers on
their scavenger hunt worksheet, and move to the next room.
After they have toured all of the rooms, they should get 10-15 minutes to go back
and look at anything they found particularly interesting and finish their scavenger
hung.
At the end of the tour, compare scavenger hunt sheets and see who got the most
right answers. Finish with a final question review asking the following:






What was your favorite adaption?
What is a species?
What is a biome?
Why, do you think, there are no tundra or prairie rooms in the greenhouse?
(too cold, prescribed fires).
How different are plant species from one another?
What causes the differences between different plant species?
Budget
Item
Price
Worksheets
$3.00
Transportation
Pencils
$3.00
Total
Video
1. Student Interview:
a. Have each student stand next to their favorite plant and explain why it
is so cool. If possible, ask what causes the characteristics that make it
so cool.
b. Have students answer the questions from the end review.
Scavenger Hunt Worksheet
Cool Adaptations that many Plants have!
1)
a)
2)
a)
3)
a)
4)
a)
Find ways plants climb or use other plants for support.
____________________________________
Give examples of ways plants guard against herbivory.
____________________________________
Find one way plants protect themselves from too much light.
____________________________________
Find ways some plants have protected themselves from lack of water.
____________________________________
Plants with Cool Adaptations! A plant that never has more than two leaves!
a)
____________________________________
2)
A “totally” spicy tree
a)
____________________________________
3)
An unsinkable plant
a)
____________________________________
4)
Green and purple plants with the same name
a)
____________________________________
5)
A plant that collects its own water
a)
____________________________________
6)
A very sensitive plant
a)
____________________________________
7)
A cactus that does not like the sun
a)
____________________________________
8)
Cacti that celebrate holidays!
a)
____________________________________
9)
Plants that pretend they are rocks!
a)
____________________________________
10) A Crrrrrrrazy Plant!
a)
____________________________________
11) Smallest flowering plant in the world!
a)
____________________________________
12) A plant that smells like a corpse
a)
____________________________________
13) A plant we ALL LOVE
a)
____________________________________
14) A plant with a “no fly zone”
a)
____________________________________
15) A Mouse-eating plant.
a)
____________________________________
16) A plant that lights our houses!
a)
____________________________________
Scavenger Hunt Worksheet Answers
Cool Adaptations that many Plants have!
1)
a)
2)
a)
3)
a)
4)
a)
Find ways plants climb or use other plants for support.
Vines, tendrils, and epiphytes.
Give examples of ways plants guard against herbivory.
Thorns, Toxins, Hairiness, Symbiotic relationships, Variegation, and Others?
Find one way plants protect themselves from too much light.
Very hairy, Dusty surface, Dark Pigments.
Find ways some plants have protected themselves from lack of water.
Waxy cuticle, reduce leaves, no leaves, drop leaves, hairy leaves, succulent leave
Plant with Cool Adaptations!
1)
a)
2)
a)
3)
a)
4)
a)
5)
a)
6)
a)
7)
a)
8)
a)
9)
a)
10)
a)
11)
a)
12)
a)
13)
a)
14)
a)
15)
a)
16)
b)
A plant that never has more than two leaves!
Welwitchia,
A “totally” spicy tree
All spice
An unsinkable plant
Any floating plant (lily, lotus, Water Hyacinth)
Green and purple plants with the same name
Oxalis regnelii
A plant that collects its own water
Bromeliad
A very sensitive plant
Mimosa pudica
A cactus that does not like the sun
Old Man Cactus (others with similar hair)
Cacti that celebrate holidays!
Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter cacti
Plants that pretend they are rocks!
Lithops
A Crrrrrrrazy Plant!
Insanity Plant
Smallest flowering plant in the world!
Wolffia
A plant that smells like a corpse
Titan arum
A plant we ALL LOVE
Olive tree
A plant with a “no fly zone”
Venus fly trap
A Mouse-eating plant.
Pitcher plant
A plant that lights our houses!
Many of the ferns