1. National Railroad Contractors Association Plant Biology

2.  Plant growth stages  Plant life cycles  Plant types  Plant construction  Plant growth factors

3.  Seedling – Small succulent – Stage most easily controlled  Vegetative – Rapid growth  Reproductive – Flowers and seeds  Mature – Post reproductive

4.  Annual  Biennial  Perennial

5.  Annuals complete their life cycle in one year.  Winter annuals  Summer annuals

6.  Seeds germinate late summer to early fall,  Flower and produce seed in mid-to late spring, and  Die the next summer.

7.  Seeds germinate in the spring,  Flower, produce seeds mid-to late summer, and  Die in the fall.  Ex-most everything

8.  Live for two growing seasons.  Seeds germinate in spring, summer, or fall of first year.  Plants over winter as basal rosette with storage root.  After exposure to cold, plants flower and produce seeds in summer of second year.  Die in the fall.

9.  Produce vegetative structure that allows them to live more than two years.

10. Overwinters by a perennial root Reproduce entirely by seed

11.  Overwinters  Produces new plants from reproductive structures  Most also reproduce from seed

12. Stolons horizontal above ground stems

13. Creeping roots  Underground root modified for food storage, vegetative reproduction  Grows deep in soil  Resistant to control Soil line

14. Rhizomes horizontal underground stems http://www.wildlifeanalysis.org/movabletype/archives/rhizome.jpg

15. Tubers thick underground stems on the ends of rhizomes

16. Bulbs modified underground leaf tissue Reproducing parts

17.  Grasses/Sedges  Broadleaves (forbs)  Vines  Trees  Ferns

18. One leaf at germination Fibrous root system Growing point at soil surface

19. Narrow upright leaves Parallel veins running length of leaf

20. 2 leaves at germination 2 leaves at germination

21. Broadleaves Netted veins Growing points all over Tap root system

22.  Plant with a weak stem that needs support from climbing, twining, or creeping along a surface

23.  Trees - perennial, single main stem or trunk  Shrubs - perennial, more than one principal stem, shorter than trees

24.  Largest group of seedless, vascular plants  Grow in moist places  New fronds (leaf) form from rhizome

25.  Xylem – moves herbicide, water, nutrients up from roots  Phloem – moves herbicide from foliage down to roots

26.  Grasses have vascular bundles that contain xylem and phloem in one unit

27. Water  Transports nutrients and herbicides from root to leaf  Moves sugars and foliar applied herbicides from leaf to roots  Water is key in photosynthesis  Rain carries herbicide to root zone

28. Soil Soil texture depends on percentages of sand, silt, clay

29. Soil Coarse or light soil is high in sand

30. Soil Fine or heavy soils are high in clay

31. Soil Dark soils are high in organic matter (OM), decaying plants and animals.

32. As ClayAs OMAs Sand Adsorption Leaching Herbicide Use Application Rate

33. Temperature As Temperature Plant activity Speed of herbicide effect Warm soils Persistence of herbicide