Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Requirements include Saturday field trips around state for hands-on field identification. Check schedule for dates. Audit available. This is an introductory plant identifications course. The class covers plants from four botanical zones in Oregon, Willamette Valley, Oregon Coast, Cascade Mountains and Central Oregon. The emphasis is on describing plants in relationship to the plant community they occupy in nature.

Upon  completion of the course students should be able to:

1. Identify major plant communities in Oregon.
2. Explain the role of geology, natural and manmade forces and climate in the formation of plant communities.
3. Identify and explain the concept of plant associations and the location of plants within a plant community.
4. Demonstrate a basic working knowledge of "climax" and "sub-climax" phases of plant community development.
5. Identify common native plants of Oregon in relationship to their plant communities.
6. Use the requirements of a given plant's "plant community" as a basis for selecting that plant for ornamental and restoration plantings.

The Instructor prepares hands-on labs/plant walks before class (e.g. find sites, verifies plants. Instructor visits field trip sites in advance and prepares plant lists based on bloom times). During the lab period, the Instructor teaches plant identification skills through active lecture/demonstrations in real time at each specimen plant. Students observe plants and add notes, sketches, photos to their plant lab notebook. In addition to their lab notebooks, students develop a comprehensive database of the plants studied (including identification and culture information) organized into functional groups. The databases are submitted and the Instructor evaluates the reports outside of class time - providing a score and feedback on technical accuracy and completeness.

Assessment for this class is in the form of a term project and on field participation with the class. The project will require the student to document a minimum of 30 (thirty) native plants along with a detailed accounting of the environment where the plant was growing and a source of information on the plant. The content will include, but not be limited to, the following:

• Plant Family
• Full Scientific and Common Name(s)
• Location Where Observed: including plant community type
• Exposure
• Soil and/or growing medium and moisture
• Physical description of plant
• Growing habit
• Abundance: rate of occurrence in community
• Information source

1.0 Oregon geographic zones
    1.1.1 Describe the major geographic zones of Oregon
        A. Oregon Coast
        B. Coast range
        C. Siskiyou Mountains
        D. Willamette Valley
        E. Cascade Mountains and foothills
        F. Columbia Plateau
        G. Blue Mountains
        H. Wallowa Mountains
        I. High Lava Plateau
        J. High Desert
         1.1.2  Explain how the effects of geologic history, geology and climate within geographic areas create plant     biomes.
2.0 Plant Communities
    2.1.1 Define the term "plant community"
    2.1.2 Explain the difference between plant community and plant associations.
    2.1.3 Describe how climatic and environmental variations impact plant communities including:
        a. elevation
        b. sun/shade exposure; slope exposures
        c. wind patterns
        d. yearly precipitation regimes
        e. soil characteristics
        f. degree of slope; drainage
        g. impacts of fire, animals, man
        h. amount of surface cover
3.0 Plant Associations
    3.1.1 Explain how and why plants within a given plant community form associations.
    3.2.2  Within a plant association explain the layering effects that form layers:
        a. herbaceous
        b. ground cover
        c. shrub
        d. understory
        e. overstory
4.0 Native plant identification
    4.1.1 Be able to identify native plants and determine the elements of the growing environment that the plants are     taking advantage of.
    4.1.2 Document and develop a report on the plant information
    4.1.3 In the field, study the plants and their associations for the following botanical zones:
        a. Willamette Valley
        b. Oregon Coast
        c. Cascade Mountains: north-central zone
        d. High lava plateau - sagebrush region