Don’t Panic, It’s Just a Grass!

1250 Siskiyou Boulevard,Ashland OR 97520

08 June, 2023

Description

You know you love botany, but find grasses really hard? They all either look alike or differ by details way too complex or too small? Here’s a secret: every plant family has its own structure and vocabulary. Life becomes much, much easier once you learn the terminology and can apply it to the grass in hand. Cindy will show you lovely color photos of all the parts of grasses, so you will no longer be confused by lemmas or ligules, paleas or panicles. You will see a sample of the variation present in grass morphology, so you can recognize a spikelet in all its forms. And, since life is not complete without sex, or at least reproduction, Cindy will explain the combinations of gender found in grass genera: bisexual, monoecious, dioecious, gynodioecious, and more (like the boarding school separation of boys and girls). Also, the role of vivipary, pseudovivipary, apomixis, cleistogamy, rhizomes, and stolons. Once you’ve mastered the terminology, you’re ready to apply it in the field. As a follow up to her June 8th talk, Cindy will be teaching a one-day field workshop on grass identification. It is limited to 12 students so no one gets lost in the crowd. Using the Field Guide to Grasses of Oregon and Washington, the group will practice keying, identifying common genera on sight, and using the images to strengthen our understanding of the terms. Workshop price: $50 for Siskiyou Chapter NPSO members (only $25/year to become a NPSO member at any time!) and $220 for non-members. Bring your own copy of the Field Guide to Grasses of Oregon and Washington, hand lens and small mm ruler, a notebook, samples of grasses you want to know (optional). You will also need food and water, comfortable footwear, and sun protection.