Medicinal and Edible Plants

Today we walked around outside the classroom and collected more plant samples for our Science Notebooks. In addition to identifying the plants, we also learned some of the uses of these different plants. We learned that you can eat most of the parts of the Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), that Ground Ivy (Glechoma hederacea) is used to cure a headache, Common Plantain (Plantago major) is good for bee stings and drawing out infection, and that Sour Grass (Oxalis europaea) is a good thirst quencher. We compared two very similar looking plants as well: Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) and Queen Anne's Lace (Daucus carota). No Homework, but there will be a quiz on Wednesday, October 13th on the water cycle, the carbon cycle and photosynthesis, and biocides in the food web.
Last week was block schedule, we had the field trip to New Hope Creek on Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday we tested our water samples for Phosphates, Nitrates and Nitrites, and Sulphates. After we summarized all of our tests and counting up the species present, we decided that the creek is pretty clean.