Field Botany Starts

Field Botany is designed for anyone who wants or needs to improve their native plant identification knowledge and skills: native plant enthusiasts, professional and student botanists, biologists, arborists, and ecologists! This five-week course has been approved for 15 Master Gardener credits, and will meet on Wednesday evenings.

The course,  focused on native plants of Southwest Michigan, exposes participants to basic botanical taxonomy and ecology. We will get a close-up look at plant parts; discover botanical terminology, and basic identifying characteristics.  In two classroom sessions, we will learn about Michigan’s diverse natural vegetation, emphasizing basic ecological principles of plant distribution, historic and contemporary influences on Michigan’s major vegetation types.

During field sessions, you will develop skills in using plant family characteristics and dichotomous keys to identify plants. We will learn common and scientific names and the ecological relationships of 40 to 50 plants in three main habitats including wetlands, forests and prairie-like clearings.

Pre-registration is required by July 18. Registration is $160 for members, $180 for non-members. For more information, including registration links and course schedule, visit the Field Botany page.