Seminar in Floristic Taxonomy

1 unit

This weekly seminar provides an introduction to/overview of Plants, each semester progressively covering orders and families in a sequence derived from the Angiosperm Phylogeny Website (http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/Research/APweb/welcome.html); in Spring 2015, the seminar will cover several crown orders of the monocots, including grasses and relatives. Weekly presentations include a summary of all relevant information (molecular, chemical, anatomical, embryological, morphological, ecological, geographical, historical/paleontological, etc.) about the plant group under consideration, review of the classification/phylogeny of the group, examination of fresh and/or preserved specimens, and discussion of relationships, human uses, and other relevant aspects of the biology of that group. Credit will be contingent on one (or two) seminar presentation(s) per student, regular attendance and active participation in group discussions.