Hello everyone! My name is Thomas, I am 22 and I am a biology major, looking to go into physician assisting! Biology has always been a area of study that has deeply fascinated me so getting a biology degree is a dream come true. Growing up in a rural area has always made me appreciate the outdoors and being able to literally study the outdoors has just made me appreciate it so much more. I am very excited for this class, getting to learn more about the flora native to Alaska is going to be a blast. Unfortunately my knowledge of native flora is very limited but I suppose thats why I am here! Very excited to meet all of you and look forward to a awesome semester!
Thomas Moser
I have attached a image of a sunflower, the sunflower is my favorite plant due to some of the amazing properties and interesting traits it has!
Welcome Thomas,
the sunflowers is a very special plant and considering the recent invasion of Ukraine, it has taken on an even more special meaning. There are native sunflowers, well at least members of the sunflower family (Asteraceae) are found in Alaska. All of these plant show the characteristic structure of the head, the capitulum in Asteraceae. The yellow structures that you see in the sunflower are actually individual flowers, and the inner brown part is composed of a different type of flowers as well. See below for a diagram.