Field botany involves the identification and classification of local plants of the Columbia Basin area. Different biomes are studied with emphasis on the steppe and shrub-steppe vegetation common to this area. Students participate in seven field trips to collect native plants. Following field trips, students identify, press, dry, and mount collected plants in order to assemble a required plant collection. During laboratory sessions students learn to use a taxonomic key to identify and classify collected plants. NOTE: This is a field course with required field trips. Field trips often involve hiking over uneven terrain; students climb up slopes, both on and off trails to collect plant specimens. Any questions concerning these field trips may be directed to the instructor.
Upon successful completion of the course, students should be able to demonstrate the following knowledge or skills:
- Distinguish between standard, talus, meadow, aquatic, saline, sand dune, and lithosol vegetative zones.
- Proficiently use a dichotomous, taxonomic key to identify collected and unknown native plants.
- Define and use basic vocabulary words relating to the morphology and taxonomy of local, native plants.
- Appropriately press, mount, and label plants for a plant collection.
- Identify plants collected during the term from pressed herbarium samples and photographs, naming each plant’s scientific name, common name, family, and vegetative zone.
- Field identify major plant families based on each family’s common characteristics.
- Maintain a complete field collection record specifying when and where plant specimens were collected.
- Discuss the ethnobotany of the Columbia Basin as well as the history of plant identification in our region.
- General introduction
- scientific names and taxonomy overview
- descriptive terms of plant structures
- descriptions and identification of vegetative zones
- guidelines for plant collections, plant pressing, herbarium samples – mounting and labeling plants
- maintaining a collection record
- Field trips – tentative locations of field trips are listed below. Changes may be made at the instructor’s discretion.
- Sun Lakes / Lenore Caves area
- North Moses Lake, Sagebrush Flats, Monument Hill
- Ancient Lakes, Quincy
- Columbia National Wildlife Refuge
- Frenchman Coulee
- Jameson Lake area
- surrounding Moses Lake
- Keying of collected plants
- introduction to a taxonomic key and illustrated glossary
- keying strategies – beginning at the right spot
- keying sunflowers
- keying legumes
- keying grasses
- Plant family characteristics, historical use of plants in the Columbia Basin, history of plant identification and plant collectors in our region