Wednesday, April 9, 2014

L.A. County Arboretum and Botanic Garden Plant Identification Class Syllabus Spring 2014

Spring 2014 Session. Five Fridays, April 11, 18, 25 and May 2, 9 from 2pm - 4pm in the Bamboo Room


Instructor: Frank McDonough -Arboretum Botanical Information Consultant
Phone: (626) 821-3236
Email: Arboretum e-mail, Gee maighle
Office Hours: 9-5 Tuesday-Saturday.

Additional lesson material will be available at:
http://laarboretumplantid.blogspot.com/
I will be posting photo albums of plants to be covered during the next class up to the day before class. These pictures will have GPS coordinates so you can view the map to them by clicking on the properties bar in the description that can be seen to the right of the photo when viewing the photos individually.

Plant families in bold indicate plant families or orders we will study specimens of.  

This fall session will be field oriented, at least half the class-time will be out on the Arboretum grounds learning field techniques for identifying plants (we’ll be using those jeweler’s loupes!) Plant families and/or orders covered will be determined by availability of plants that are flowering or have sufficient characteristics to facilitate identification.
Also, if you have a family or plant group you would like to cover please bring it up to me and I will try to cover it.


Session 1:
Class Introduction: The History of Botany
Hunter Gatherers
Greeks
Romans
Chinese
India
The European Age of Exploration
The Enlightenment
Modern

Plant Structures
               Inflorescence and Flowers
                              Flower structure
                              Inflorescence structure
               Plant type

Current Hierarchy

Plants
               Gymnosperms
               Angiosperms
                              Order:
                                             Magnoliales
                                                            Family:
                                                                           Magnoliaceae
                                                                                          Genus: Michelia
                                             Ranunculales
                                                            Family:
                                                                           Rananculaceae
                                                                                          Genus: Nigella
                                                                           Papaveraceae
                                                                                          Genus: Romneya
              


Required: Jewelers loupe 10-20X; available on Amazon.com

Text: How To Identify Plants  by H. D. Harrington    


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