Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Plant material identification skills are basic to all parts of the horticulture/landscape industry. The focus is on deciduous trees and shrubs which exhibit fall interest. In this course students are required to identify plant materials by both botanical (scientific) and common names. All of the plants studied are used in landscapes in the Pacific Northwest.
 

Upon successful completion of the course students should be able to:

1. Identify and discuss deciduous landscape plants in the field based on botanical characteristics.
2. Communicate about plant taxa (clients, plans, work orders etc) by using Latin binomials and common names.
3. Match plants to site conditions based on cultural requirements.
4. Organize plants into groupings based on cultural requirements, size and form.

Lecture time will provide the basic botanical information needed to make accurate field identification decisions and will cover the general requirements for growing healthy, useful plants.

Lab time is spent in the field directly observing plant characteristics for identification.

The electronic plant reference requires students to pull information from a variety of sources to organize plants learned in the class, as well as other plants they may be interested in, into a usable guide for plant selection based on site conditions and cultural requirements of the plants.

Student learning is assessed by:

Plant identification quizzes in the field (3-4 per term)

A written exam at the end of the term that tests

A final plant identification exam in the field

Evaluation of the course project (Electronic Plant Reference)

• Field Identification of 100 - 110 plants
• Plant Information
  • Botanical and Common Names
  • Family
  • Plant Type
  • Form
  • Growth Rate
  • Mature and Landscape Sizes
  • Physical Characteristics
  • Exposure
  • Soil Requirement
  • Water Requirement
  • Diseases and Pests
  • Propagation
  • Landscape Use