Class Details

The Desire for Botany: Botany for Herbalists
 

This class is designed to empower students to positively identify and increase their knowledge and use of wild growing medicinal plants. As the herbal community increases our collective ability to identify and use California native plants, we will notably add to the growing body of knowledge regarding California medicinal plants.
 

Upon successful completion of the course students should be able to

• Recognize plant parts and describe them
• Use botanical vocabulary
• Understand general concepts of botanical classification and groupings such as the families and genera
• Be familiar with the Jepson Manual key to families
• Understand how to use the family keys in the Jepson Manual for the Buttercup, Mint, Snapdragon and other families
• Recognize important medicinal members of Buttercup, Mint, Snapdragon, other families
• Definitively identify plants
• Communicate with colleagues regarding specific plants
• Understand the strengths and weaknesses of keys
• Locate online and media resources for plant identification and classification
• Understand the basics of ethical wildcrafting.