Workshop on Recognizing our Native Flora

Blooms, Berries & Buds: Recognizing Our Native Flora
July 20-24 with Dr. Larry Mellichamp, UNC-Charlotte

This is meant to be an introduction to native plant identification. You will learn how to observe plants and to systematically analyze each plant for what traits to know for proper identification. We will practice on any and all flowering wildflowers and shrubs that we can find, even some in fruit. We will visit wild places, some spectacular; and some natural back yard collections where we can examine plants not easily found in nature. This is a good course for beginners, or those who want to learn professional techniques and approaches to plant identification. We will learn some plant families. We will describe which species are indicative of the habitats where we go for field trips. We will discuss cultivation of plants as appropriate based on the interests of the class.
Prerequisites & Prior Training: No prior experience is necessary, though the more familiar you are with common wild plants the quicker you can move into more difficult identifications. Advanced students may see species they have not encountered and they can practice using more difficult keys. We will see some rare species and rare habitats (such as the southernmost cranberry bog on the Blue Ridge Parkway). This would be a useful course for those working with natural area preservation or plant inventory work and who want more practice with plant identification.


The Highlands Biological Station, an inter-institutional research center of the University of North Carolina, is offering its 2015 series of summer courses and workshops that can be taken for undergraduate OR graduate credit toward your academic program. The following list of field-based courses and workshops are focused on the diversity of organisms in the region with special emphasis on identification and collection techniques as well as principles of evolution, ecology and conservation. Scholarships, Grants-in-aid of research for graduate students, and summer internships also available. Highlands, North Carolina, is located in the southern Blue Ridge Mountains, at an average elevation about 3,800 feet, and situated near the Nantahala National Forest, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Cherokee Indian Reservation, Appalachian Trail, and the Blue Ridge Parkway.

For more information and to apply, visit www.highlandsbiological.org/summercourses/ or call 828-526-2602.