Gigapan Numero Dos!

It has been a couple weeks since we last looked at our trees located within the gigapan’s we took the first time. When we went back to find our marvelous group of trees, we notice they changed! The leaves have either fallen off, or changed into pretty colors! The three species of tree I had identified in my first blog post did not look that same as before, and compared to each other they looked nothing alike. Well, except for one, the Ashe Juniper. The Ashe Juniper is an evergreen, which means it will not lose its leaves. Therefore, it looks as green and luscious as it did a few weeks ago! The other two trees, however, made quite a difference!  The American Hornbeam had lost mostly all of its leaves, and the few little guys that were still hanging on, had changed into a bright red, which is common for this specie of tree. The leaves of the American Hornbeam can change into a redish color, deep scarlet, and orange. The leaves of this tree also began to fall in autumn; therefore they are right on target! My third and final specie of tree was the Spanish Oak! The Spanish Oak’s leaves had not fallen off yet, however they were turning into and orange and red color.  The American Hornbeam and the Spanish Oak both lose their leaves because they are deciduous, which is different from the Ashe Juniper!  All the trees change/ drop their leaves at different times, because they are different types of tree species. If they were the same they would drop around the same time, however, that would be no fun! All trees are different some each other in one way or another. That’s why it’s so pretty in the fall!

Gigapan Numero Uno

             Sweet Briar campus has trees located on every section of the campus; whether you are at the Art Barn, the horse barn, or on the other side of campus near Guion. I chose to take a closer look at the trees located by Guion, which you can see in my Gigapan. That particular picture was taken near the butterfly garden. Out of all the beautiful trees I identified three different types! I identified the American Hornbeam, the Ashe Juniper, and the Spanish Oak. At this point in time, which is early October, the trees are still mostly green, with the exception of a few that stay green year round.  However, most of them will start to change soon, if they have not already. That brings up the question: Why do tree leaves change color in the fall?

The answer to this question is simple; during the winter there is not enough sunlight or water for photosynthesis to occur. So the trees will live off the food they stored during summer time.  During this time, the chemical chlorophyll disappears from the leaves, and they will eventually start to turn different colors (Even though the different colors have been located in the leaves the whole time, they were just covered by the green chlorophyll). Within the three trees I identified one tree does not change colors in the Fall/Winter. The Ashe Juniper is an Evergreen, which means photosynthesis occurs all year round, and they never run out of chlorophyll. The other two types of trees (The American Hornbeam, and the Spanish Oak) are both deciduous. Which means chlorophyll is not there year round, and the green pigment is lost in the leaves.

                

Cotton as Currency

A plant that I believe, could be used for currency in an American society today would be cotton. Cotton could be used as currency because, it is very useful to everyone and almost everyone in the world owns something that cotton is contained in. Being able to be grown very easily, Cotton would be an ideal form of currency.  In paper currency today, three/fourths of it, is made out of Cotton. So why not just make the whole thing cotton? It is so valuable across America today; it would not fail as a form of currency. Cotton is grown, and harvested each year, therefore there would never be a shortage. Society is defined as a community of people living together in a particular region and having shared customs, laws and organizations. If this is true about society, then cotton can be found in any society, whether it be in the mountains, or in the city. Therefore, with cotton already being a major product in America that is used daily, and is already located in a part of our currency system; Cotton would be a reliable and useful form of currency, in any society in America.