Course: Plant Identification using the Vegetative Key - 1 Day

The ability to accurately identify plants is a skill that can be employed (and enjoyed) by a wide variety of people, from those with an interest in their local plants, foragers, to professionals wanting to assess the value of habitats for conservation, development and land management.

This beginner to intermediate course will guide you through what may at times seem like a daunting amount of botanical terminology, and help you to build confidence in using the vegetative key for successful identification.

This course will cover:

• Developing understanding of what vegetative features are important in identification.
• A chance to have observed many of the botanical features used in the ‘Vegetative Key’, including the diversity of hair types that are used as key identification features for some groups.
• Developing ability to use the ‘Vegetative Key’ to identify many of the species you may come across.
• Increasing awareness of the limitations of the ‘Vegetative Key’ for some particular genera/species groups.

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

1. Distinguish the major vegetative parts of a range of taxa and identify a range of common plants to species level using the vegetative key.
2. Recognise and name the major types of characters e.g. leaf arrangement, leaf forms, hair types, and other key identification structures that are widely used within the vegetative key.

This course is eligible for a student discount. If you are a current student, please use the discount code BioStudent20 at checkout for 20% off.

Please refer to the Field Studies Council website for further information and to book.