Identifying Asteraceae

This course is fully booked on this date but you can join the waiting list (by scrollling to the bottom of the page) in case space becomes available or it is run on another date.

The largest flower family in the world brightens our landscapes with glorious drifts of colour, but telling the species apart can be a real challenge. Much of the course will be devoted to helping participants increase their confidence and competence in using scientific keys to identify the look-alikes that are such a notorious feature of this family. High summer is an excellent time to sort out the hawkweeds from the hawkbits, the mayweeds from the chamomiles and the many other lookalikes

The habitats around Slapton harbour a rich selection of members of this family and the course will be designed for those who have previously shied away from them. It is not designed for the more advanced botanist who may wish to learn to distinguish between the different microspecies of Hieracium (Hawkweeds) and Taraxacum (Dandelions).
This accredited course is run jointly with the University of Birmingham.

Ros Bennett is a botanist and ecologist. She was formerly a full time tutor at FSC Flatford Mill and then organiser and leader of courses for FSC Overseas. She has written books on flowers and has taught courses on wild flowers to all age groups. *BI

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