Lesson 2. Botany Activity
Class Discussion: How do Botanists identify plants?
It can be difficult to tell one plant from another, but each plant has something unique about it that can be
observed and used to classify it. Botanists can put plants into categories based on their DNA and physical
structure. Plants have common names, which we use, and scientific names in Latin used by botanists.
Botanists can use a key to identify a category of plants using shape, size, color and texture of the leaves
and flowers. Some large categories that we can put plants into are:
Grass: thin blade-like leaves with parallel veins and a non-woody seed stalk.
Vine: long woody stem that grows along ground, up walls, or wraps around other plants.
Forb: herbaceous plant with broad leaves and non-woody stems.
Shrub: has many woody stems growing from the bottom.
Tree: perennial plant with one main woody stem.
Review Questions:
What senses can you use to observe plants?
Why is it important to be able to identify plants?
What is the difference between a common name and a scientific name?
Worksheet & Activity: Hand out the Plant Study Sheet and the What Kind of Plant Is It Key. Use
clipboards. Take the classroom outside to a natural area or vegetable garden and have each kid pick one
plant to study. Have the kids start on the side of the worksheet with the drawing space, here they can
creatively name and draw it. They can come inside to complete the back of the worksheet if the weather
calls for it. Give a few volunteers the chance to share their plant in front of the class and see if anyone
can guess which one they picked. Ask if anyone can identify their plant as having a type of leaf listed on
the back of the Key for extra credit.
Vocab:
Botanist: someone who studies plants.
A Key can help identify a plant by narrowing the number of species that it might be.
Category: a group of things that have something in common.
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Plant Study Sheet
What Kind of Plant Is It Key
Clipboards
Plants to study