Course Introduction
Welcome!
Course Overview
You are entering Native Plants of South Florida, an on-line course built by Dr. George Rogers and John Bradford, based on a collaboration dating back approximately ten years. See also our web site floridagrasses.org. The Gigapan images and most of the other photographs are by John.
For information contact George Rogers ([email protected]). Anyone is welcome to use the website.
The point is to learn 10 to 20 species per lesson spread over 16 "weekly" lessons. That learning adds up!
We believe in learning from repeated exposure to material through different angles. Each lesson will start with an interactive Gigapan image representing a habitat type. This will be followed by narrated slideshows embedded as Snapshots in the Gigapan images. Then come photos and transcripts of those slideshows as well as reference photos of additional species. You will take your own field trip to see the plants alive and in person. Each lesson has practice questions, all culminating in a weekly quiz. So, in each lesson you encounter the key species many times in several ways: Gigapan, Gigapan snapshot, voiceover with snapshot, snapshot images with transcript of voiceover, practice, field trip, quiz. The most important species turn up in multiple lessons.
Gigapan Interactive Panoramic Images
Speaking of repetition, let's slow down and go through all this again with a little more info. The class makes special use of Gigapan interactive high resolution panoramic images. Each lesson begins by exploring a Gigapan image with narrated snapshots reinforced later in each lesson by study materials including the snapshot images and typed-out transcript of the snapshot narration. The Gigapan image is meant to be fun and to place the species in their habitat contexts. You may notice that sometimes extra species have been "photoshopped" into the Gigapans. Look toward the end of the maroon menu bar above after Lesson 16 for "Gigapan Nav," which is a set of instructions for finding and navigating the Gigapan images.
Snapshot Information and Images and Reference Photos
You can't learn the species from Gigapans alone. All of the info from the Gigapan snapshots is repeated in the lesson with the narration script typed out, and the photos repeated for you to study. These "Snapshot Information and Images" pages built into lessons 3-16 define the official "required" species for the lesson.
Each lesson has also a Reference Photo collection to help you identify plants you encounter in the field. Yes, you go out and look at plants if possible!
Practice, Exams, and Quizzes
Practice: At the end of each lesson you will find a practice session.
Quizzes: Quizzes and three exams are built into the lessons. Every lesson has a built-in quiz at the very end. Find it below and try it. The quizzes and exams are computer graded with the scores reported to the instructors and to you.
Exams: Three larger multi-lesson exams are part of the class. Exam 1 is at the end of Lesson 5. Exam 2 at the end of Lesson 10. Exam 3 at the end of lesson 16. The exams are on-line and are graded by computer. You can see your results on-line.
Field Site Photos
As you visit field sites you will photograph plants and send the photos to George ([email protected]) to confirm your identification. Please only send images of wild plants - no mushrooms, backyard plants, garden species, or animals. Wildflowers should be in flower; attempting to properly identify them from just the leaf is rarely successful. Cell phone cameras are fine as long as the images are in focus. Try to capture the full leaf shape, any flowers, and fruits, and any additional potentially useful features. You will then combine the photos for any given site onto a single Word document and e-mail it to the instructor. Or if we set up a gallery you can post them there directly. Be sure it is labeled with your name, contact info, habitat type, and site name. Number the photos. For each habitat type you photo and identify 10 species. There can be more than one photo per species. For detailed instructions, and for how to put photos in a Word document, see the final item on the maroon menu bar above, Photo and Quiz Submittal Info.
Please note that following those instructions are the only formats in which photos will be accepted. If you can't make that work, contact the instructor to discuss an acceptable alternative.
You have two main resources to identify plants in the field. First, each lesson has a gallery of reference photos of plants you are likely to encounter in each habitat type. Additionally, we have prepared a field guide book for you to order and we expect you to use this book to help identify the species you encounter on your field trips.
Please restrict the photos you send to species covered in the class, i.e., in the Gigapan and its narrated snapshots, or the reference gallery, or the guidebook.
It IS ok to send photos to the instructor for ID help!
Book to Order
To go with this course (as originally taught at PBSC) we have prepared a species identification guidebook to be ordered online. Click on: Guide to the Native Plants of Florida’s Treasure Coast to go to the book publisher site in order to see a description of the book and to order it. Delivery can be slow. We make no money from the book. All revenue goes directly 100% into the fees for our web sites and instructional materials.
A Note About Plant Names
English names for plants can be confusing in many ways. Some English names are applied to multiple species. Many are misleading…Saw Grass is not a grass, Rose-Apple is not an apple. Different books and web sites use different English names for the same plants. Some books and web sites make up their own English names. Most wild plants do not even have English names. Whether or not English names are capitalized has no rules.
All that is why we have botanical names. But be careful here too. The application of botanical names is a 400-year-old matter of worldwide multilingual scientific interpretation, and different authorities in different times and places can wind up assigning more than one name to a plant, and different authorities can interpret species boundaries differently. This is commonplace and goes with the territory. That is, in different books it is common to encounter different names for the same species, or what is arguably the "same" species. There is not always "one" definitive name to use, and species do not have set borders. The most recent name is not necessarily "correct." It is merely the most recent interpretation. "They have changed the name of that species" is simplistic, pseudo-authoritative, and a path to fool's arguments. There is no definitive ultimate truth on these matters. Such extra botanical names are called synonyms. They are not dismaying and are not the result of nefarious mischief. The best approach is to find a current botanically professional authority and follow it. We suggest the USF Florida Atlas of Vascular Plants for botanical names. This resource is professional, thorough, well researched, constantly updated (oh no!), and university-based.
Summary of Weekly Lesson Steps (Weeks 3-16)
The lessons proceed sequentially 1-16, with 1 and 2 being introductory material.
For each lesson (from lesson 3 onward):
1. First: Explore a Gigapan and its snapshots. Each snapshot contains a narrated slideshow.
2. Then review: The words and images in the snapshots are repeated in print on a page in each lesson entitled "Snapshot Information and Images." Learn the names of the plants and key points about each species. Call this the "assigned species list" for the lesson. These are the species in the practice sessions (see below) and quizzes.
3. After that, go out and look at plants for the habitat of the week, if possible. Use the gallery of reference photos provided with each lesson and use the "Guide to the Native Plants of Florida's Treasure Coast" book available from www.blurb.com. Shoot photos of 10 plants you encounter, and identify them as far as you can. Then, following the instructions as noted send the photos in a single Word document (not as separate e-mail attachments!). to one of the instructors, who that is, depending on which time the class is being taught. You will receive individual instructions on this in an e-mail. No fair sending unidentified species unless you tried real hard first. A page accessed from the maroon menu above will help you find examples of each habitat type near you, and another page gives info on submitting the photos. Explore the menu bar!
Obviously Florida has some outdoor hazards: lightning, biting and stinging arthropods, heat illness and dehydration, sunburn, poisonous snakes, allergens, bloodthirsty gators, grumpy hogs, rabid otters, weird people in the woods (really), rusty nails, broken glass, and more. Don't get lost in a site! It happens. Don't stand in fire ants. It happens. Use common sense and proper precautions. Do not go to the field alone, check the weather radar, wear sensible shoes, do not eat the plants, stay on the trail, look before you step, and make sure you know what poison ivy looks like! It is common locally. And most of all, take water and stay hydrated.
In the maroon menu bar there is a list of suggested sites arranged by county and by habitat type. Some of the sites are small and user-friendly. Some (mostly to the west) are vast, complicated, and appropriate only for students who want to explore or who know the area. Check out the web site for a field site before going there.
On the suggested site page we list a site under a given habitat because that habitat can be found within the site, NOT because the entire site is occupied by that habitat. Most of the sites are mixed in terms of habitats.
Important note: We "require" only one field trip per habitat type. There are cases where a given habitat type spans more than one lesson. For example, there are three lessons on scrub. We suggest taking only one scrub field trip. Ditto for other multi-lesson habitat types. Thus a total of 5/6 outings.
4. Almost done: Before or after your field trip, be sure you can answer the practice questions at the end of each lesson.
5. Take the built-in quiz at the very end of each lesson.
Vocabulary
We will hold the botanical terminology to a bare minimum, but a few terms must be shared to talk about plants. So please learn the following few terms in order to read the lessons:
Alternate leaves = attached one at a time along the stem, as opposed to opposite or whorled leaves
Bracts = specialized leaves (often very small and/or colorful) associated with flowers
Compound leaves = leaves with separate leaflets (mini-leaves). Most compound leaves are pinnately compound, with the leaflets along a stalk, like many fern leaves. Some are doubly compound or more. Some are palmately compound with the leaflets radiating from a single point, for example a legal medical marijuana leaf. Compound leaves seem to cause more confusion than any other key botanical term. Make sure you understand what they are. Google "compound leaves" to see many examples. You cannot identify plants if you don't distinguish between compound and simple (non-compound) leaves.
Epiphyte = airplant = smaller plant perched on a larger plant. Many Bromeliads and Orchids are epiphytes. (EPP-ah-fight)
Inflorescence = flower cluster (in-floor-ESS-ence)
Opposite leaves = attached in pairs along the stem. Only a minority of plants locally have opposite leaves. Develop the habit when approaching a plant of noting if the leaves are opposite, alternate (single), or whorled (3 or more together). If you see opposite leave, that narrows the field of possible identifications. If opposite, consider members of the Coffee Family (Rubiaceae), Dogwood, Florida Privet, Maples, Stoppers, and the Verbena Family. Very few plants groups locally have opposite compound leaves: Bignonia Family, Elderberry, and some Asteraceae.
Pubescent = hairy
Serrate = sawtoothed (usually refers to leaf margins)
Stipule = one or two small flaps where the leaf stalk joins the stem. Develop the habit of seeing these. Some plants have them, some do not. If a plant has opposite leaves AND a triangular stipule (or fringed stipule) between them think Coffee Family.
Whorled leaves = attached in groups of 3 or more
We will hold the botanical terminology to a bare minimum, but a few terms must be shared to talk about plants. So please learn the following few terms in order to read the lessons:
Alternate leaves = attached one at a time along the stem, as opposed to opposite or whorled leaves
Bracts = specialized leaves (often very small and/or colorful) associated with flowers
Compound leaves = leaves with separate leaflets (mini-leaves). Most compound leaves are pinnately compound, with the leaflets along a stalk, like many fern leaves. Some are doubly compound or more. Some are palmately compound with the leaflets radiating from a single point, for example a legal medical marijuana leaf. Compound leaves seem to cause more confusion than any other key botanical term. Make sure you understand what they are. Google "compound leaves" to see many examples. You cannot identify plants if you don't distinguish between compound and simple (non-compound) leaves.
Epiphyte = airplant = smaller plant perched on a larger plant. Many Bromeliads and Orchids are epiphytes. (EPP-ah-fight)
Inflorescence = flower cluster (in-floor-ESS-ence)
Opposite leaves = attached in pairs along the stem. Only a minority of plants locally have opposite leaves. Develop the habit when approaching a plant of noting if the leaves are opposite, alternate (single), or whorled (3 or more together). If you see opposite leave, that narrows the field of possible identifications. If opposite, consider members of the Coffee Family (Rubiaceae), Dogwood, Florida Privet, Maples, Stoppers, and the Verbena Family. Very few plants groups locally have opposite compound leaves: Bignonia Family, Elderberry, and some Asteraceae.
Pubescent = hairy
Serrate = sawtoothed (usually refers to leaf margins)
Stipule = one or two small flaps where the leaf stalk joins the stem. Develop the habit of seeing these. Some plants have them, some do not. If a plant has opposite leaves AND a triangular stipule (or fringed stipule) between them think Coffee Family.
Whorled leaves = attached in groups of 3 or more
Practice
1. Summary of steps in each lesson---one more time (yes, we believe in redundancy):
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1. Summary of steps in each lesson---one more time (yes, we believe in redundancy):
- A. Explore the interactive panoramic Gigapan image and watch the slideshows that open in the snapshots.
- B. Review those same species under "Snapshot Information and Images." These are "the" assigned species each lesson.
- C. Go to a field site corresponding to the habitat of the week. Use the reference photos provided in the lesson and use the book you ordered to identify and photo 10 species, having the instructors check your identifications. (Only one field trip per habitat type.)
- D. Answer the practice questions.
- E. Tke the quiz.
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2. Did you order the book from www.blurb.com we require as a ticket to the course? Please place your order before moving forward.
3. What is the name of those panoramic images at the beginning of each lesson? Have you become adept at navigating these, and opening the slide shows in each snapshot? (See Gigapan Nav link on menu bar.)
4. Have you become adept at using the menu bar in this class web site?
5. Where do you find a list of field sites corresponding to the habitat types you can visit?
6. When a plant has "extra" botanical names, what are those extra names called?
7. Is it possible to look up THE final and definitive name for a species?
8. What resource do we suggest using as your source for selecting species names, and their spellings? Have you visited that web site, if not, go back and visit it now. Try it out. Get the hang of navigating it. Determine the botanical name used on that web site for Jamaican Capertree. (Find the pulldown menu on their welcome page that allows you to search on a common name.)
9. When you go to a field site (not alone) how many photos is your "assignment"? Do you have to go outside for all 16 lessons? Why not? How do you send the photos to us? What method of sending photos to us is denied? Are you aware of the size of the site before going? Are you aware that the habitats on a site may be mixed, so that you may not arrive at the parking lot at "the" habitat type you seek? Do you have a companion, and are you prepared to avoid the expected hazards, including the most common problem---getting lost?
10. How do you know poison ivy when you see it?
11. What sort of compound leaf does poison ivy have?
12. Are you familiar with alternate, opposite, and whorled leaves?
13. What is a doubly compound leaf?
14. What is that little flap in some plants where the leaf stalk joins the stem?
15. What is the word for a "flower cluster"?
16. A sawtoothed leaf margin is said to be ___________________.
Quiz 1.
NOW here is the first quiz. Try it. Click: Quiz 1
3. What is the name of those panoramic images at the beginning of each lesson? Have you become adept at navigating these, and opening the slide shows in each snapshot? (See Gigapan Nav link on menu bar.)
4. Have you become adept at using the menu bar in this class web site?
- How do you open the main lesson page each week?
- Where do you find a typed list of the "required" plants for each lesson?
- Where do you find the galleries of reference photos for each lesson?
- Where do you find an index to all the lessons?
- Where do you find an index to the plant species?
- Where do you find guidance to additional resources?
- How do you insert photos into Word documents?
- How do you take quizzes?
5. Where do you find a list of field sites corresponding to the habitat types you can visit?
6. When a plant has "extra" botanical names, what are those extra names called?
7. Is it possible to look up THE final and definitive name for a species?
8. What resource do we suggest using as your source for selecting species names, and their spellings? Have you visited that web site, if not, go back and visit it now. Try it out. Get the hang of navigating it. Determine the botanical name used on that web site for Jamaican Capertree. (Find the pulldown menu on their welcome page that allows you to search on a common name.)
9. When you go to a field site (not alone) how many photos is your "assignment"? Do you have to go outside for all 16 lessons? Why not? How do you send the photos to us? What method of sending photos to us is denied? Are you aware of the size of the site before going? Are you aware that the habitats on a site may be mixed, so that you may not arrive at the parking lot at "the" habitat type you seek? Do you have a companion, and are you prepared to avoid the expected hazards, including the most common problem---getting lost?
10. How do you know poison ivy when you see it?
11. What sort of compound leaf does poison ivy have?
12. Are you familiar with alternate, opposite, and whorled leaves?
13. What is a doubly compound leaf?
14. What is that little flap in some plants where the leaf stalk joins the stem?
15. What is the word for a "flower cluster"?
16. A sawtoothed leaf margin is said to be ___________________.
Quiz 1.
NOW here is the first quiz. Try it. Click: Quiz 1
Additional Resources
We suggest that you take the class working from the resources provided with the class: this web site, the book from www.blurb.com, and the instructors. The lessons are geared for that. However, as you get deep into the class and want to go beyond, in order to keep on learning you will need more advanced resources.
There are some useful books available, and we suggest discussing your interests and location with the instructors before purchases.
The UF Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants is already known to you..
You will soon encounter plant groups with multiple species, such as milkworts, not sorted out in the present class. Our intention is that your main early resource for that purpose is our book from www.blurb.com.
We have some additional resources of our own:
John has an web-accessible resources to help with identification of images:
Plant Images grouped by Family
Our blog Treasure Coast Natives looks more deeply into the biology and ethnobotany of individual species---to go beyond "how do you know it when you see it."
We have a website dedicated to grasses, sedges, and rushes: www.floridagrasses.org
Especially for persons with landscaping interests, George offers through Palm Beach State College ($20) a book:
"Native Plants, Weeds, and Sustainable Landscapes in South Florida". 382 pp. 2013. (e-mail Maura Merkal for this [email protected])