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Course Syllabus

NR 2425 Wildland Plant Identification

  • Division: Natural Science and Math
  • Department: Natural Resources
  • Credit/Time Requirement: Credit: 3; Lecture: 3; Lab: 0
  • Semesters Offered: Fall
  • Semester Approved: Summer 2024
  • Five-Year Review Semester: Summer 2029
  • End Semester: Spring 2030
  • Optimum Class Size: 24
  • Maximum Class Size: 24

Course Description

This course introduces general principles of identifying and classifying plants. Students will also learn the basic ecology and uses of wildland plants. Emphasis is given to 200 common North American wildland plants.

Justification

This course serves as an introduction to the larger field of plant taxonomy and ecology. It is an elective course for students interested in nature or who want to know more about the flowers and other plant life around them. It is particularly helpful for those in Elementary Education, Natural Resources and Agricultural areas. It is a requirement for those earning an AAS in Natural Resources at Snow College. This class is designed to transfer to other universities. This class will also prepare students for plant identification contests through the Society for Range Management.

Student Learning Outcomes

  1. Students will learn basic plant anatomy that is needed to identify plants.
  2. Students will learn the use of dichotomous keys in identification.
  3. Students will learn the characteristics and how to identify up to 200 wildland plants.
  4. Students will learn the scientific names, common names and taxonomy of up to 200 wildland plants.
  5. Students will learn the ecology and uses of up to 200 wildland plants.

Course Content

- Basic plant anatomy that is needed to identify plants.- Use of dichotomous keys in identification.- Characteristics and identification of 200 wildland plants.- Scientific names, common names and taxonomy of 200 wildland plants.- Ecology and uses of 200 wildland plants.- This course teaches students how diverse plants are, how they can be used in a variety of situations and how to identify ecosystem functions by the plants that are present.