SCIENCE
THE CLACKAMAS PRINT
May 30,1990
Page 5
Oregon wildflowers blossom big in Native Garden
by Scott Johnson
Contributing Writer
Located between the Pauling
buildings is a courtyard with an
array of native plants, aptly named
the native garden.
“A native plant is a plant
species which grows naturally in
an area, as opposed to an alien
or plant that was introduced by
man,” said Richard Marx, cura
tor of the Native Garden.
The Native Garden was built
at the same time as the Pauling
buildings to give representations
of plant life that grows in Ore
gon, especially the Willamette
Valley.
Students have been taking
care of the garden since it was
started. In the past weeds crept
into the garden and started to
take over.
Marx has somewhat reha
bilitated the garden and spends
a good amount of time working
there.
“It just needed someone to
give it a little attention,” Marx
said.
The plants in the garden were
collected from various trips, such
as Malheur, a lot of them were
started as seeds. Some of them
were donated by people who were
going to spray their property for
agricultural reasons, many of the
plants were also nursery grown.
However, the garden does not
only contain plants. There is also
a Geologic Time Scale, made of
ceramic tiles. The space between
each tile denotes a certain span of
time. These tiles track time from
the beginnings of the earth to the
present day.
At this time the garden is
showing it’s best bloom ever, with
a great variety of species.
"Especially our newest addi
tion to the Native Garden, the
Oregon Desert rock garden, is
ablaze with color," Marx concluded.
"I would like to encourage people
to come and enjoy the garden."
One of several beds in the Native Garden, which right now has a nice display of wild lupine.
Photo by Scott Johnson
A sampling of the 'mutant' tomatoes being used to study the effects of cosmic radiation.
Photo by Scott Johnson
Space tomatoes invade CCC
by Richard Marx
Staff Writer
Some biology students are
growing tomatoes from outer space
here at Clackamas Community
College.
Instructor Bob Misley and the
students in his 200 biology series
are experimenting with seeds sent
to the college by NASA These
seeds are only a tiny sample of
some twelve and one half million
tomato seeds that had just spent
six years in space.
“In 1984 seeds were placed
into the Long Duration Exposure
Facility (LDEF), a cylinder that
was placed into orbit around the
earth and was only recently re
trieved” explained Misley. “Upon
their return, they were then to be
distributed to various schools for
students ranging from fifth grade
up to university level.” •
Tomato seeds were chosen
because of their small seed size
(allowing a greater number in a
smaller space), their familiarity,
and for their hardiness which al
lows their cultivation over the
entire nation. They are all of one
variety, the Rutgers California
16 (M)
49.25
-0.16
0.01
17
38.62
-0.18
-0.04
18(B)
28.86
0.54
0.60
19
16.19
-0.05
0.73
Supreme. This is a non-hybrid
type which varies relatively little,
which makes detection of change
due to their exposure in space
easier.
“The main thing we are look
ing for is effects of cosmic radia
tion. Also weightlessness may
cause growth changes as well,”
Misley said.
The seeds arrived here early
in the year and were planted by
the students in March. Along with
those seeds that were in the LDEF,
there were also seeds of the same
variety that had not been sent into
space. These will be used for a
control group by which any un
usual expression in the space
tomatoes may be checked. They
were all planted individually into
the same commercial soil mix in
four inch pots
“Special report forms were
also sent for us to fill out. These
also will give us a guideline of
what unusual traits to watch for,”
Misley said.
When asked if they had ob
served anything unusual in the
LDEF tomatoes, Misley replied
that “the space seeds were slower
20
8.29
-0.81
0.19
21
3.44
-0.23
0.49
22
31.41
20.98
-19.43
23
72.46
-24.45
55.93
in germination than those of the
control group.” He also added
that their growth seemed some
what slower as well. The report
forms are to be sent back to NASA
no later than June 15th of this
year.
When the students leave, some
of the tomatoes will be taken home
for the summer for continued
growth. The rest will remain here
where they will be set out in a
garden here on campus. They will
be carefully tended and watched.
Any unusual characteristics which
did not show earlier will be re
corded.
Misley said that they anxiously
await for fruiting, which should
take about 85 optimum days from
germination. Though none are
expected to glow, there may be
some variation in fruit pigmenta
tion, size, and seed fertility.
“From the results of the ex
periments, we may have some
better idea of how prolonged space
travel affects not only plant life
but even man himself as he ex
plores the universe,” Misley con
cluded.
24
72.95
16.83
68.80
■ ■
25
29.37
13.06
-49.49
26
54.91
-38.91
30 77
27
43.96
52.00
30.01
Colors by Muriseli Color
The Science Department recently planted the Ginkgo biloba
behind the Pauling buildings.
Photo by Scott Johnson
Living fossil tree planted
in honor of Earth Day
by Angela Wilson
Feature Editor
In honor of Earth Day the
Science Department planted a
Ginkgo tree behind the Pauling
buildings.
The Ginkgo tree, Ginkgo
biloba, is a living fossil which
dates back to the Permian Period
280 million years ago.
Ginkgo biloba belongs to the
family Ginkgoaceae and of the
15 genera within the order of
Ginkgoales it is the only living
representative, hence classifying
it as a living fossil.
The Ginkgo tree is native to
China and Japan and is also known
to have once been native in dif
ferent parts of North America. It
was found planted around an
centimeters
28
82.74
3.45
81.29
29
52.79
50.88
-12.72
30
50.87
-27.17
-29.46
cient temples in China and Ja
pan.
“It had to be reintroduced
into North America as an orna
mental in the 1700’s,” said Bob
Misley, science instructor. *
The Ginkgo is a gymno
sperm, which means that the seed
is naked and not enclosed within
a fruiting structure. It is also dis
tantly related to the conifers or
cone bearing trees.
The Ginkgo is planted in
the wooded area directly behind
the Pauling lab building.
"Being a deciduous tree, it
was planted in a place where it’s
rich golden color will be shown
to best advantage among the dark
evergreen trees," Misley said.
"In the fall it will be beautiful."