Botany boot camp is a crash course in plant identification focusing on herbaceous flowering plants. This course is designed to build the skills needed to look at any plant and ask, “what is this, why does it look that like that, why does it grow here, and how does it fit into the natural history of Vermont?”

Students will be introduced to plant morphology, learn how to dissect fruits and flowers, and interpret their parts. We will develop skills reading taxonomic guides starting with Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide and then advancing to The New Flora of Vermont.

We will focus on both diagnostic features as well as the functional traits of plants emphasizing habit, life-history, pollination syndrome, and fruit and seed dispersal. Our field observations will be placed in context of the big picture of plant classification, and biogeography of New England.

Part of NBNC’s Biodiversity University series.