Beginner’s Botany course can only be completed May – September when there are flowering plants!
Email us on [email protected] to be informed of when the course is available to book.
Do you want to learn plant ID, but feel daunted by the number of species? Are the field guides making you unsure of where to start? If so, our Beginner’s Botany course has been designed especially for you! This online, self-study course is ideal for beginners and those wishing to brush up their botanical skills. Botany is an important skill for ecologists and conservationists, as well as being a fascinating and enjoyable hobby.
Beginner’s Botany Course Description:
During this course we will give you an introductory knowledge of how to identify wild flowers using families, keys and field guides. This will provide you with the ideal platform from which to continue learning in your own time and at your own pace from the plants around you. During this course, you will become familiar with some of the most common flowering plants in different habitats. You will develop your confidence through self-study, and identifying plants in the field.
This course can only be taken between May and September as you will be required to collect and identify plant samples.
This beginners botany course will cover the following topics:
- Plant structure and features commonly used for ID
- Plant families and clues to their ID with examples for each family
- Using keys and field guides
- Examples of species from unimproved grassland and riparian habitat will be shown
- Includes tree workshop and some common grasses.
The tips you will learn from our experienced tutor will help you continue to learn how to identify the less common plants as you develop your new skill.
This a comprehensive course with a lot of content. Allow time to stop the videos frequently to make notes and refer to your samples and your ID book/chart.
Allow 12 hours to complete this course (equivalent of a 2 day field course).
What you will need:
At least one of these:
- Flower ID book:
- FSC Guides to flowering plants – grassland plants 1 and 2, trees, grasses.
- Or other flower ID book with trees and grasses in it.
Also:
A hand lens or magnifying glass.
A hard-back sketchbook (A4 minimum, A3 better) to collect your samples in (optional)
Sticky tape to stick your samples in your book (optional)
Beginner’s Botany Assessment
The assessment is in three parts:
- In the Part 4 video there is a plant quiz and tree quiz – submit your answers by email.
- You will need to collect some flowering plant samples and send a picture by email or WhatsApp or short video via WhatsApp of 10 identified flowering plant species with their common name, Latin name and family.
- At the end there will be a short quiz and if you get over 70% you will receive a Certificate.
Module 1
Plant structure and Habitats
Course format – Video:
Part 1
Plant structure and habitats Playing time: 1 hour 15 mins
Part 2
Plant families Playing time: 1 hour 12 mins
Part 3
Tree and grass ID Playing time: 1 hour
Part 4
Practice and Assessment Playing time: 46 mins
Really great course to learn the basics of botany. Definitely recommend and was a fun and visual course which also requires you to go out and explore on your own time as well.
The relaxed and friendly atmosphere made it easy to learn stuff without getting too bogged down
Sue’s friendly nature and excellent knowledge. The general layout of the course, with the opportunity to see the habitat in which the different plants grow.
I loved this course. The end of course quiz was a good challenge, especially the Tree Leaf part.
From no botany knowledge to knowing how to class and identify wildflowers and even some wild grasses is a significant leap after a 2 day training course. Thoroughly recommend this course to anyone who wish to start learning botany!
I really liked the ID guide we made for ourselves and the fact we could use that in the quiz on Sunday morning. Sue is a knowledgeable and engaging tutor and the whole weekend was very interesting and enjoyable. The balance between the classroom and the practical outdoor experience was spot on. As with all the courses, the learning builds up beautifully from session to session so I felt I had learnt so much by the end of the weekend.
If you are purchasing a course/s on behalf of another person, please follow these steps to ensure they can access their course/s:
- Add course/s to your basket.
- At checkout, if you can use the students email address when booking, please do so.
- Leave us a note in the ‘additional information’ box to let us know it was purchased for another person, please include their full name and email address.
If you do not provide this here or email us with this information, the student will not have access to their course/s.
If you have any problems with this process, please get in touch – [email protected] or 03301653024.
If you are purchasing courses on behalf of multiple other people, follow these steps to ensure they can access their course/s:
- Add the correct number of courses for all the students you are purchasing for. (example: If three people need to take Mammal ID, add it to basket three times)
If you would prefer to purchase via invoice (popular for companies), we are able to arrange this! Use the Email Address below to get in touch.
2. Once purchased, contact us directly to let us know the Full Names and Email Addresses for each of the students you have bought for.
If you have any problems with this process, please get in touch – [email protected] or 03301653024.
The final exam is designed to test whether you have learned the appropriate knowledge and skills during this course. If you take the final exam and do not pass, we encourage you to review the course material and ensure you have read, understood and remembered the lessons. We want you to get the most out of this course and provide you with the knowledge and confidence you need to apply what you learn to your job or career. You may retake the final test once you have revisited the course material.
Yes! We want you to get as much out of this course as possible. We encourage you to refer back to your course materials from time to time to refresh your memory and ensure that you are confident on the subject. Therefore, when you purchase this course, you will have lifetime access to the course materials.
