11/07/14 - 13/07/14
Grasses and grass-like plants form a key component of most plant communities yet are notoriously difficult to identify. Accurate identification is essential for site survey and management and a botanist's skill is often judged by his/her ability to 'do' grasses, sedges and rushes. This course will cover the formal taxonomic differences between the three families Poaceae, Cyperaceae and Juncaceae, and enable participants to identify the most common members of each.
The countryside around Juniper Hall offers a great range of habitats from roadsides and improved grassland to water margins, calcareous grassland and woodland. Field visits will be made to a range of contrasting sites, providing plenty of material from all three families, some of which will be examined in detail in the lab. Classroom sessions will precede the excursions, enabling participants to become familiar with the diagnostic features and terminology that is peculiar to these plants. Diagnostic characters are often small, so participants will be able to become confident in the use of handlenses and also to make use of the microscopes at the field centre. They will look at the available field guides and floras, use diagnostic keys and learn how to press specimens.
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