User:Emgray17/sandbox

Original Stub:

Emgray17/sandbox
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Order:	Alismatales
Family:	Araceae
Genus:	Peltandra
Species:	P. virginica
Binomial name
Peltandra virginica (L.) Schott
Synonyms
Arum virginicum L. Calla virginica (L.) Michx. Caladium virginicum (L.) Hook. Lecontia virginica (L.) Torr. Rensselaeria virginica (L.) L.C.Beck Alocasia virginica (L.) Raf. Peltandra undulata Raf. Arum walteri Elliott Peltandra undulata Schott Peltandra angustifolia Raf. Peltandra canadensis Raf. Peltandra hastata Raf. Peltandra walteri (Elliott) Raf. Caladium undulatum Steud. Peltandra tharpii F.A.Barkley Peltandra luteospadix Fernald

Peltandra virginica is a plant of the Araceae family known by the common names green arrow arum and tuckahoe. It is widely distributed in wetlands in the eastern United States, as well as in Quebec, Ontario, and Cuba. It is common in central Florida including the Everglades and along the Gulf Coast. Its rhizomes are tolerant to low oxygen levels found in wetland soils. It can be found elsewhere in North America as an introduced species and often an invasive plant.

This is an emergent perennial herb growing from a large rhizome and producing many large leaves. An individual leaf may have a petiole nearly a meter long and a blade half a meter in length. The leaves are quite variable in shape and size, but they are often generally arrowhead-shaped.

The inflorescence bears male and female flowers, as well as sterile flowers. The flower varies from whitish to greenish to yellow. The fruit is a brown berry containing a few seeds within a clear gelatinous pulp. Large number of seeds can accumulate in the soil of wetlands.

The fly Elachiptera formosa breeds in this plant, mating on the inflorescence and laying eggs there, so the larvae can feed on the rotting spadix.

The plant contains calcium oxalate crystals, making it unpalatable. Native Americans used most parts of the plant for food, however, cooking it for hours first to make it safe to eat.

Revised Article:

Introduction

Arow Arum, Peltandra virginica, is a member of the Araceae family and is more commonly known by the names Tuckahoe, Green Arrow Arum, Peltandre and Virginia Wake Robin. Based off of the basionym is has also been named Alocasia virginica (L.) Raf., Caladium virginicum (L.) Hook., Calla virginica (L.) Michx., Lecontia virginica (L.) Torr., Rensselaeria virginica (L.) L.C. Beck. Other synonyms include: Peltandra luteospadix Fernald, Peltandra tharpii F.A. Barkley, and the basionym Arum virginicum L.. It is a hydrophytic marshland aquatic plant pollinated by a chloropid fly through providing a brood site and releasing the pollen onto them. The primary dispersal mechanisms are via water and animal.

Description

Peltandra virginica is a Marshland aquatic plant, growing in North America bogs, ponds, and marshes. The roots and base grow into the bed of the body of water, and the leaves and inflorescences project up and out of the water. The roots form a perennial rhizome. Various forms of leaf blades have been observed, both in larger ranges and smaller individual populations. Petioles range from green to green-purple to purple with a medium green blade petiole lengths between 38 and 98 centimeters and blade length being between 9 and 57 centimeters. Lateral veins also have variable thicknesses. Inflorescences are generally pale green to white, being lighter within the spathe. Lengths for the inflorescense range between 7 and 25 centimeters with the spadix being about half the size to the full length of the spathe with greenish to white flowers, producing fruits that rot within the closed spathe. Fruits are pea green to mottled green and purple and range from 6 to 16 millimeters. In most of its range, it blooms from spring to late summer and fall and in warmer regions, it will bloom into the winter. It generally thrives in low saline environments.

Taxonomy

In the eastern United States and Canada where Peltandra virginica resides, one other Peltandra species exists, P. sagittifolia. P. virginica can be distinguished from the other extant taxon of Peltandra by the variation in leaf form, average greater size in non-reproductive structures, and the difference in color of the fruit. The fruit of P. sagittifolia is red with a white spathe, and the fruit of P. virginica are green to purple with a green to yellow green spathe. According to the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group, P. virginica hails from the Araceae family in the Alismatales, containing inflorescences' known from the order.

Distribution and Habitat

Peltandra virginica is a native aquatic plant to North America, its range spans the entire eastern Coast of the United States and goes as far west as Texas. It is also naturalized in areas of California up to Oregon and is present in eastern regions of Canada. It mostly inhabits the wetlands and swamps, including marshes and bogs.

Conservation

Based on the Red List of Threatened Species 2016, P. virginica is a taxon of Least Concern, this is because of its range in eastern and central North America. In some areas within the range of P. virginica the populations are diminishing and range borders retreating. It has also been found in the Western United States namely in California. With the largest part of the range listing it as a Least Concern, in Iowa it is listed as Endangered.

Etymology

The generic name derives from the Greek words for shield, pelte, and for man, andos or aner, making Peltandra. This generic name was published by Rafinesque in 1819, and the specific epithet by Linnaeus in the synonym Arum virginicum in 1753 and then later assigned to Peltandra by Schott in 1832. Thus creating the name Peltandra virginica.

Pollination Biology

In the pistillate stage of P. virginica the spadix is entirely covered by the spathe, not allowing insects to pollinate them. Pollination is achieved by the plant utilizing brood-site-based pollination, the frit fly, Elachiptera formosa Loew, forms a symbiotic relationship with the inflorescence. The flies are attracted to the odor of the flowers in the staminate stage where they feed on pollen and mate then find oviposition sites, flowed by the development of the larvae and maturity of the flies.

Ethnobotany

Historical accounts suggest that Native Americans may have used Peltandra virginica as a food source. It is mentioned that they may have eaten the seeds and fruits as well as leaves and roots. The section of P. virginica 's range from Pennsylvania to coastal Virginia, where its populations are higher are where they were most utilized for food. Other times it has been used as an ornamental plant or used to stabilize sediments in beds of small bodies of water.

Wildlife

Peltandra virginica is considered a low percentage of various animals food sources. According to Yarrow in Managing wildlife, it makes up 5-10% of the diet of small mammals that reside within its range and makes up 10-25% of the diet of water birds that share its range. According to Martin in American wildlife and plants: A guide to wildlife food habitats, it makes up 5-10% of the diet of water birds that share its range.

Toxicity

The non-reproductive structures of Peltandra virginica are known to contain Calcium Oxalate crystals, that can irritate the gastrointestinal system of animals and people and has been linked to build up of stones in the kidneys.

References

Gray Article Evaluation:

Selaginella lepidophylla

Selaginella lepidophylla

Article Selection

Parameters of Articles and Sources:

• Is the article's content relevant to the topic?
• Is it written neutrally?
• Does each claim have a citation?
• Are the citations reliable?

Sources

• THE POLLINATION BIOLOGY OF TUCKAHOE, PELTANDRA VIRGINICA (ARACEAE)
• The Germination and Growth of Peltandra virginica in the Absence of Oxygen

Evaluating Content

• Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you?
  • Yes, the article mainly talks about what S. lepidophylla is used for and where it originates from. Though the GIF of it reviving is quite distracting since its a moving picture.
• Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?
  • Nothing looks to be out of date, though there are definitely some places that could use some citations.
• What else could be improved?
  • Some of what is stated doesn't have citations to back it up, the way that its written from makes it sound as though its from personal experience rather than other sources. It mentions where it comes from but has no citation to the USDA or any other reliable source that gives the ranges of various species. It also states that it is easily confused with another plant by the same name but has no citation to state so, but if you look at the wiki page for the plant it is supposedly confused with there is a citation for the same fact. At the end of the Uses section it also goes back into common names and it is unclear if the drink or the plant is what they are referring to, it could be omitted from that section.

Evaluating Tone

• Is the article neutral? Are there any claims that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
  • The tone of the article seems to be neutral, though it really does irk me a little about the lack of citations for the range. The only part that could be leaning towards a particular position is that of the common names and the comparison to the plant it gets confused with.
• Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
  • In the fact that its a stub there is an copious amount of underrepresentation.

Evaluating sources

• Check a few citations. Do the links work? Does the source support the claims in the article?
  • 3 and 4 just cite that the common name is present on the referenced pages, but 4 doesn't even have the correct words: the citation is on stone flower but the source only says flower of stone.
• Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference? Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?
  • No, some facts are just stated like that of all the common names, the range, and the history of how colonizing Spaniards used it.
  • The information comes from the author until otherwise cited, what sources are present are neutral.
  • A present bias is what common is shared with another plant, the other plant page has a reliable source that states otherwise.

Checking the talk page

Now take a look at how others are talking about this article on the talk page.

• What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic?
  • The biggest debate is that of if its a tumbleweed or not.
• How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?
  • It has been rated start, and mid-importance.
  • It is part of the WikiProjects Plants.
• How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?
  • Only one person seems slightly educated on how the plant differs taxonomically whereas everyone else just talks about how if it looks like a duck then it probably is one(referring to most of the people calling it a tumbleweed, kudos to the guy whose asking for a refence that states that.)
  • We spoke about its relation to other plants and its classification but they're just talking about its resurrection and how old Spaniards used it.