This course is an introduction to the identification of the commoner Grasses (Poaceae) for those with little or no experience of this group.
Grasses are extremely useful botanically as they can tell you much about a site ecologically. Unfortunately they do not have large obvious ‘flowery’ bits so many people are put off attempting to identify them. By observing those characters which help identify each species we will be able to understand why a species is what it is; in time we will also learn short-cuts as to how to recognise individual species.
The course, run by Mark Duffell, will cover plant structures, identification techniques, use of keys and what habitats the individual species occur in. Use of microscopes in the class room will back up those characters that we have looked at in the field using hand lenses.
Given the short duration of the course we will concentrate on the commoner and also more important members of this family and focus mainly on floral rather than vegetative characters.
The cost is £45 and pre-booking is essential.