Australian National Botanic Gardens

EDUCATION KIT ON THE WEB: AUSTRALIA’S FLORAL EMBLEMS…
and then some…

Getting Started – ideas for teachers

Challenge 1:

• Brainstorm: Anything Goes!
• Categorise: What Plant is That?
• Research: Check Your Choice!
• Writing About Your Plant: What’s in a Name?
• Collecting, drying and displaying your plant: In the Frame!
• Propagating your plant: Have a Hundred!
• Advertising your plant: Read All About It!
• More information on Australia's floral emblems
• Download PDF Floral Emblems of Australia Education Kit.

Challenge 2:

• Share your plant with us:
• Use the Floral Emblems of Australia Education Kit [PDF] for a great unit of work!
• To receive a copy of the Floral Emblem poster, write to the ANBG at Box 1777 GPO Canberra ACT 2601
• Email to ANBG: education@anbg.gov.au
  Be sure to supply your postal address
• Link to site where kids’ work is presented

TEACHERS’ GRAB-BAG OF IDEAS: Zooming in on your local species.

Select a floral emblem for your local area, school or class.

The objectives of this grab-bag of ideas can be achieved in an afternoon of discussion and fun activities. But by using any or all of the accompanying student activities it can be extended to a unit of work covering several weeks. It can be adapted to suit students from Year 4 to Year 8.

Objectives

• Starting at the national, state and territory level, students "zoom in" to the local level. In this way, students appreciate the significance of their national and state floral emblems by gaining a better understanding of species at their local level.
• Students have the opportunity to refine a wide variety of skills, from research and observation to written and oral communication skills.

Getting Started

Start with this simple exercise based on the poster and information sheets contained in the kit. If you want to extend this, use any or all of the student activities outlined below.

The poster illustrates Australia’s national, state and territory floral emblems, but it does much more than that! All these species are illustrated in their natural habitats. More information about these different habitats can be found in the individual sheets provided in the kit.

• Students can complete the following chart by closely observing the different habitats illustrated in the poster and by using the information provided in the sheets.
• This could be a class activity, or nine different groups could complete the nine different emblems separately then discuss their results.
• The first three questions should be completed before discussing the final one. The aim of the fourth question is to get students to realise through their own observation and knowledge of Australia that one reason the floral emblems were chosen was the close links with the state or territory in which they grow.
• But there are many more reasons than simply climate and soil type. Can the students think of any? For example, is it attractive? impressive? attention-grabbing?

• NB: Some sections are harder than others to complete by observation of the poster! If necessary, give your students some clues from the cheat sheet.

  [ Download the table below as a PDF sheet for use in class ]

[Download the teacher's example page below as a PDF sheet for classroom work]

Extra points for discussion:

• You have been using the term "habitat". What do you think it means? (It is important that you are clear on this if you are to proceed further. Refer to living and non-living elements of a plant’s habitat, such as other plants (eg. trees for the Cooktown Orchid) and rain.

• What is different about the habitats illustrated on the poster?

• Would the Royal Bluebell be a good emblem for the Northern Territory? Why not?
• Would the Sturt’s Desert Pea be a good emblem for Tasmania? Why not?

• Can you think of any other reasons why a particular plant would be chosen as a floral emblem?

• Why might you pick a very common plant, as in Victoria?
• Can you think of any reason why you might pick a rare plant?
• Would you pick a plant with ugly flowers? (You might – try to think of a reason why.)
• Can you think of any reasons why you wouldn’t select a particular plant?

• Which is your favourite of these floral emblems? Why? (Discussion of this point might raise even more reasons for how and why these emblems were chosen. There are no right answers! After all, the medal ribbon of the Victoria Cross is maroon only because that was Queen Victoria’s favourite colour!)

CHALLENGE 1: choose your own local floral emblem

Ideas for investigating your local patch of bush

These activities can be carried out as fun activities by individuals. They can also be adapted to use as class exercises. They are sequential, but not all activities need to be tried to get a positive result!

What floral emblem would you pick for your own local area, school or class?

1. Brainstorm: Anything goes!

If you are in a class or group,

• choose a scribe and write on the board every suggestion that everyone makes, however inappropriate, of what might be a suitable floral emblem for your local area, school or class
• without discussion (You can weed out the weeds later!)
• try for twenty or thirty suggestions, so that you have a good number to work with.

If you are on your own, simply think of as many plants as you can that might be suitable as a floral emblem for your area.

2. Categorise: What plant is that?

• When you have finished the first activity, you may well find yourself with a real potpourri of plants!
• So you now need to categorise them:

• Which ones are native to Australia?
• Which ones are introduced?

• More difficult still:

• Which ones are native to your local area?

Include blank map of Australia here for students to mark on their own local plant.

• Does it matter? Think about it!

• Would you choose as your national floral emblem a plant from another country?
• Would you choose as your local floral emblem a plant that only grew in the next town?
• Why/why not?

You might need help in working out which plant falls into which category. There are lots of places you can go for help:

• Go and talk to a local expert. How do you think you will find one?
• Write a letter or make contact with your local bushcare or landcare group.
• Use your local library – they are bound to have books on local flora.
• If you choose a grass, we can help you with identification here at the Gardens! Send us a voucher specimen (see below) and our experts here can identify it for you.

You should end up with a list of plants that are native to your local area.

So what do you do next?

3. Research: Check your choice!

• You have a list of local native plants, but you have to select just one.
• How are you going to pick which one is most suitable?
• Do you know enough about them to be sure of your choice?
• What sorts of things might you need to know to make your choice easier?

• Here are a few suggestions:
• Is it easy to grow?
• Is it attractive?
• Does it flower at a suitable time, eg at the same time as a local festival?
• Does it have any Indigenous significance, eg. did the local Indigenous Australians use it for food or medicine, tools or decoration?
• What else is special about it that might make it suitable to be your local floral emblem?

• You might also need to investigate some features that you don’t want in your floral emblem:
• Is it poisonous?
• Is it a weed somewhere else in Australia?
• Is its botanical name so silly that everyone bursts out laughing when they first hear it. After all, you don’t want to do heaps of research, pick your plant, and then find out that its name is really Fatbottomis picknosii!

So, work out a list of the things you need to know before making your final choice of plant.

This sheet might assist you. Download it here. ( suggestions-page.pdf )

Where do you find out the answers to these questions? There are lots of places you can go for help:

a). First of all, just go out and have a look!! Many of the questions you are researching can be answered simply by observing the plants in their natural environment. Is it attractive/common/prickly/etc? Does it smell nice? The answers to these questions may well assist you in your choice!

WARNING! Some plants may be poisonous!

b). When you have found as much as you can by observation, there are also other places you can go for help if you still can’t decide:

• Use your local library – they are bound to have books on local flora.
• You can also ask the people who have lived in the area for a long time. Older people might remember lots about the local native plants.

Having found out as much as you can, it’s time to choose. How are you going to do this?

• Have a vote?
• Draw up a chart using all the criteria you have used, and see which one gets the most ticks?
• Use just one criterion, eg. the prettiest flower? (Good luck! Everyone is sure to think differently!)

4. Writing about your choice: What’s in a name?

Simply selecting a plant species is not enough. There’s more work yet! First, you need to describe your plant, so that other scientists will know what it looks like, how it grows, when it flowers etc. etc. Look at the sheets that came with the kit – every floral emblem is accompanied by a description called What the plant scientists say…

How will you describe your plant? A lot of the observation and research that you have already carried out will help you here. You can base your description on a lot of the questions you have already answered. For example, the sheet you downloaded for activity 3 should provide you with lots of answers!

5. Collecting, drying and displaying your plant – making voucher specimens: In the frame

A warning before you start!! Don’t take plants or seeds without permission, both from the person who owns the property and from the necessary authorities (especially if your plant is rare, threatened or endangered – or poisonous!!). In other words, find out where you are with the law before you part picking things. You might even need a permit from the local authority.

Some plants are easier to dry than others. If you have chosen a succulent or a fungus, you might run into difficulties! So only try this activity if you think your plant is suitable.

1. Select a specimen. Don’t pick it yet!
2. Look carefully! What are the features that you want to preserve? The number of petals on the flower? The distinguishing details of the leaves? The seeds? It is easiest to note this while the specimen is still attached to the plant. Taking a photo might be a good idea at this stage to help you later.
3. Still don’t pick it! Where is it growing? Make a note of such things as the soil conditions, how close it is to water, how shaded it is and exactly where the plant is situated. You might have chosen your plant for its rarity – in which case you need to be really careful about getting the appropriate permission. Make a map showing exactly where your plant comes from. Another photo might be useful here to add to your research.
4. Now you can pick it. Select the specimen you want to preserve. You might need to take a couple of cuttings if you want to preserve several aspects of the plant, such as buds, flowers, leaves, seeds etc. You should never take the whole plant. You might also need to come back at different times of the year, eg. first the flowers and later the seeds.
5. Place your specimens in a plastic bag so that they remain nice and flexible until you get them home or back to school. If they dry out before you want them to, it is too hard to arrange them for display later! But if you leave them in plastic for too long, they will go mouldy. Timing is obviously important here.
6. Arrange your specimens on a sheet of newspaper, making sure that they are displayed to best advantage – you can’t make changes later on! Tweezers are a good idea here. Smooth out leaves and petals.
7. Cover them with more newspaper, then several heavy books – the heavier the better.
8. Leave them to dry! With plants that contain a lot of moisture, you might need to change the newspaper occasionally until the specimens are quite dry. But in most cases, it’s best to forget about them for several weeks – they might go mouldy if you keep opening them up to have a look before they are properly dry!

When your plant specimens are quite dry, they will last for a very long time – but only if you display them properly, as dried plants are very fragile. They will fall to bits of you handle them!

It’s easy to display your plants – this is called a "voucher specimen":

• Cut out a rectangular piece of white cardboard. The size is up to you.
• Arrange your plant specimens the way you want them.
• Spray them with fungicide so that they last even longer. Glen-20 is quite effective.
• Immediately place a sheet of clear Contact adhesive film over the entire specimen and tuck in the overlap. The Contact should be larger than the piece of cardboard so that you get a good tuck-in.
• Label your display. You might like to include all sorts of different information, such as:
• its botanical name
• its common name
• your name
• when you collected it
• where you collected it
• why you collected it
• But you don’t want a whole essay – choose what you think is the most important information and make a label.

Where are you going to display it? At home? In your classroom? In your school hall? In your local Council Chambers?

6. Propagating your plant: Have a hundred

You might like to grow more specimens of your plant for all sorts of reasons:

• to give to the people who have helped you with your research
• to sell at your school fete
• to make jam from the fruit
• to make a good display in your school garden
• to preserve for coming generations: if you have selected a rare plant to be your floral emblem, you might want to increase its numbers.

7. Advertising your plant: Read all about it!

Now you need to let people know what you have done!

Who do you want to tell?

• the rest of your school?
• your parents?
• the rest of your community?
• the rest of Australia?

It depends on how serious you are, but if you are pleased with what you have done, why not tell people?

• Write an article for your school newspaper
• …or for your local paper – maybe invite a journalist to your school and show off your project.
• Have a "launch" and invite your local Member of Parliament.
• The only limit is your imagination!

CHALLENGE 2: let us know about it here at the Gardens

But best of all, send it to us here at the Australian National Botanical Gardens! When you have completed your activities, let us know about what you have done. Email us your information, and we might include it here on this website for everyone to see!

Or you could send us your poems, plant descriptions, research – anything you are proud to have done. Until November 2001, the Floral Emblem Exhibition will be here at the Australian National Botanic Gardens in Canberra. This is your chance to be part of this Exhibition. Send us what you have done! You might have:

• written a poem about your plant
• collected particularly good voucher specimens
• made a plaster or papier mache model or
• painted a picture.

Send it in, and if we display it in the Exhibition, we will take a digital photo of your item on display and send it to you. Have a look at an examples below. Who knows - yours could appear here too!

• Milly & Angie 2005 Kilvington, Victoria
• Antonio Park 2005, Mitcham, Victoria
• Antonio Park 2003, Mitcham, Victoria
• Port Macquarie Distance Education Centre - Jack Denmeade
• Didgey Ridge Primary School (sample page)
  

* * *

There are all sorts of other things you can do with your plant. The previous activities were just a few. You might also like to:

• Have a special festival where your class or school thanks all the people who have helped you with your research – you will, of course, needs lots and lots of examples of your plant to make a good display! Maybe all the people who helped you could be given one in a pot?
• Plant a special school garden that features your plant.
• Make jam out of the fruit (if suitable!!)
• Other "bush tucker" suggestions?
• Design new school letterhead, based on drawings of your plant.
• Design a new school logo, based on your plant.
• Write a poem about your plant.
• Stop only when your imagination runs out!

There are all sorts of categories you can investigate. Here are just a few suggestions: suggestions-page.pdf