Field Botany of San Diego
San Diego County is rich in plant species, having more species than any other county in the United States. This program, taught by expert botanists from academia, museums, and environmental consulting, will empower participants to learn the common plants of several of the major plant communities in our area, and to learn the skills needed to identify, collect, and survey plants and plant communities.
For more information, please contact:
Ph: (619) 594-7700
Email: outreach.global@sdsu.edu
Instructors
- Dr. Michael Simpson, Course Coordinator
- Brenda McMillan
- Scott McMillan
- Margaret Mulligan (M.S.)
- Tom Oberbauer
- Dr. Jon Rebman
- Jessie Vinje
Courses
The course is designed for the serious amateur botanist, environmental consultant, or employee of an environmental governmental organization to acquire the basic knowledge and skills of plant taxonomy, native plant identification, and plant community assessment. After taking this course, students should be able to: identify many of the common, native and naturalized plants of San Diego County by scientific names; identify an unknown taxon using a taxonomic key and specimen comparisons; learn the characteristics and be able to recognize about 15 angiosperm families; learn how to properly collect, document, and process a plant from the field; properly use the collections of an herbarium; learn the major plant communities/vegetation regions of our area; and learn basic plant community surveying techniques.
Participants must be in reasonable physical condition to take moderate hikes on required field trips.
Please note this course is only offered once a year in the Spring term
Instructors For this Course:
- Dr. Michael Simpson, Course Coordinator
- Brenda McMillan
- Scott McMillan
- Margaret Mulligan (M.S.)
- Tom Oberbauer
- Dr. Jon Rebman
- Jessie Vinje
Next Session: Spring 2025, 1/25-5/24
- Section:
- 25SP 99166 XC
- Location:
- Classroom
- Day(s):
- Saturday
- Time:
- 8:30am – 4:00pm PST
- Instructor
- Michael Simpson
It’s recommended to first enroll in the program (it’s free and no obligation!) Then register for the course(s) you intend to take!