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Science and Identification 2025

Science and Identification 2025

Fungi

Entangled lives: Exploring partnerships between plants and fungi - 06 and 13 May 2025

£80.00

Description

Tutor: Alan Wanke and Raphaella Hull
Date: Tuesday, 6th May 2025; Tuesday, 13th May 2025
Time: 10:00 - 13:00
Cost: £80
Location: Classroom

Land plants and fungi have a rich history of interactions across various environments and geological time periods. While some of these interactions can be harmful, leading to plant diseases, others offer mutual benefits to both partners. Notably, partnerships like the mycorrhizal symbiosis between plant roots and fungi play pivotal roles in supporting plant health and maintaining ecosystem balance. They enhance nutrient and water absorption, promote overall plant growth, and aid in stress resilience. This two-part course will unveil the largely unseen plant-fungal interactions that surround us in our daily lives. It will explore the intricate ways in which different kinds of plant-fungal symbioses shape our environment, influence agriculture, and contribute to sustainable ecosystems.
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Shrubs

Beginners' guide to botany - 08 and 09 May 2025

£155.00

Description

Tutor: Karen van Oostrum
Date: Thursday, 8th May 2025; Friday, 9th May 2025
Time: 10:00 - 16:00
Cost: £155
Location: Classroom

This lively, informative, hands-on course offers complete beginners a relaxed introduction to the world of botany. With plenty of plant material to look at in the classroom, we will investigate the vegetative (leaves, stems and roots) and reproductive (flowers, fruits and seeds) parts of flowering plants, and start to understand the roles that they perform. Outside in the Garden we can visit the Rising Path to consider the domination of the angiosperms (flowering plants) in the broader context of the whole plant kingdom, and we will make use of the plant collections to explore plant adaptations and the variety of flower forms. There will be time to explore how to use a field guide, with the opportunity to practice and develop your own plant identification skills.
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Tree branch

Identifying native trees - 19 May 2025

£80.00

Description

Tutor: Ros Bennett
Date: Monday, 19th May 2025
Time: 10:00 - 16:00
Cost: £80
Location: Classroom

Trees make up one of the most impressive and beautiful features of our landscape - undoubtedly one of the most important aspects of our natural heritage. The different seasons are reflected dramatically in their changing appearance throughout the year. Late May is a great time for looking at broad-leaved trees as their leaves are fully formed and some will still be flowering. This course is concerned with their identification. We will explore the natural history of our native trees and look at how to recognise individual species. The main emphasis will be on trees that are native to Britain, but we will also pay attention to well-established, introduced species. We will practise working with different keys to identification. Part of each day will be spent in the classroom, sorting through specimens, and getting to grips with the terminology of the different shapes of leaves and the different floral designs of those that are still in flower. We shall also spend plenty of time exploring the Botanic Garden for our native trees to put into practice what we have learned.
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Botanical keys

How to use a botanical key - 20 to 22 May 2025

£210.00

Description

Tutor: Ros Bennett
Date: Tuesday, 20th May 2025 - Thursday, 22nd May 2025
Time: 10:00 - 16:00
Cost: £210
Location: Classroom

Using a key is not rocket science but can be fun. The important thing is to understand the terminology used and to hunt carefully for the (often exquisite) distinguishing key features. This three-day course is designed to give you confidence to identify plants using botanical keys. In doing so, it will also give you a better understanding of botanical terms and flowering plant classification.
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Bumblebee

Attracting bees to your garden - 09 June 2025

£40.00

Description

Tutor: Beverley Glover and Paul Aston
Date: Monday, 09th June 2025
Time: 10:00 - 13:00
Cost: £40
Location: Classroom

This short course will introduce you to the fascinating world of bees and flowers, and help you develop planting schemes to attract more bees to your own garden. It will begin with a talk by the Director of the Botanic Garden, Professor Beverley Glover, on the relationship between bees and flowers; Beverley has been studying the interaction between pollinating insects and the surface structures of flowers for over a decade. This will be followed by a walk and talk amongst the plants in the Bee Borders with one of our expert horticulturists, Paul Aston, who is responsible for the design and maintenance of these beautiful beds.
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Garden

Flowering plant taxonomy and systematics - 16 to 20 June 2025

£460.00

Description

Tutor: Ángela Cano and Ros Bennett
Date: Monday, 16th June 2025 - Friday, 20th June 2025
Time: 09:30 - 17:30
Cost: £460
Location: Classroom

This five-day intensive course will introduce flowering plant families to committed amateurs, undergraduates, graduates and professionals. The aim is to help you develop an understanding of the evolution and systematics of the major plant families, and the practical skills needed when approaching the identification of plant material. Teaching will be through a combination of practical sessions and lectures covering exemplars of major flowering plant families, with an emphasis on those of North Temperate regions. The course will make extensive use of plant material and the living collections across the Botanic Garden and includes a visit to the University’s Herbarium, housed in the Sainsbury Laboratory. A lunch on the final day is included in the price.
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Mushroom

Introduction to mycology - 04 and 05 September 2025

£155.00

Description

Tutor: Nathan Smith
Date: Thursday, 4th September 2025 - Friday, 5th September 2025
Time: 10:00 - 16:00
Cost: £155
Location: Classroom

Covering fungal biology and ecology, the course will also examine the wider cultural impact of fungi in art, music and religion. Participants will be taught what makes a fungus, the fundamentals of fungal identification and introduced to some of the key debates in mycology today. Nathan will also direct participants to available resources and local groups should they wish to continue their fungal adventures.
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Fungal identification

First steps in fungal identification - 25 and 26 September 2025

£80.00

Description

Tutor: Nathan Smith
Date: Thursday 25th September 2025 - Friday 26th September 2025
Time: 10:00 - 16:00
Cost: £80
Location: Classroom

This course will focus on the practical aspects of fungal identification—covering the basics of basidiomycetes and ascomycetes. Participants will work with seasonably available fungi to learn spore prints, basic microscopic and chemical identification, and how to collect, dry, and record fungi for scientific analysis. The fundamentals of DNA-based identification will also be covered. This course assumes a basic knowledge of fungi equivalent to the level covered in "Introduction to mycology".
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Tropical Flower

Exploring tropical botany - 04 and 05 February 2025

£60.00

Description

Tutor: Ángela Cano
Date: Tuesday 04th February 2025 - Wednesday 05th February 2025
Time: 10:00 - 13:00
Cost: £60
Location: Online

Join our Deputy Curator, Dr Ángela Cano, on this two-day introduction to tropical botany. Travelling back in time, you will learn about the dynamic borders of the tropical region, with a focus on the fossil record. You will then study current patterns of geographic distribution of plant diversity on Earth, discovering that it is not homogeneous, but dramatically different between continents. You will fly over the tropical belt to understand which regions have the highest species richness, known as “biodiversity hotspots”, and face the strongest threats. Ángela will then discuss the main factors that threaten this biodiversity and the local and ex situ efforts that are in place to counteract their effects. The second part of the course will focus on plant systematics – understanding how plants have evolved and how taxonomists have classified them. You will focus on different tropical plant groups, starting with non-flowering plants, such as mosses, ferns and conifers and then briefly cover the most representative tropical angiosperm families of flowering plants.
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