Events Calendar

Core Class for the Certificate in Native Plants

The goals of the class are to explain qualities that plants share with other living things, as well as characteristics that set them apart, and to become acquainted with the range of different organisms that make up the plant kingdom.
Description: Specific topics that we will touch on include: living vs. non-living things, matter, energy, chemistry, cells and their functions, photosynthesis, respiration, natural and artificial selection, and the diversity of the plant world.
Preparing for class: Write down three questions about plants - things that you don’t know and are curious about - and bring them to class.
What to bring with you: It would be good to purchase a used general botany text online, at McKay’s Used Books, or your favorite bookstore. A copy of the TN Native Plant Society’s Wildflowers of Tennessee by Horn and Cathcart would also be helpful, as would What if Trees Could Walk?: A Sewanee Tree Book by Mary Priestley. If you have a 10X magnifier, that would be helpful.
Session objectives: By the end of the class, you will be able to 
1. Compare and contrast living and non-living things and between plants and other living things.
2. Discuss some basic functions of plants.
3. Recognize the variety of organisms that make up the plant kingdom.
Agenda:
9 am - 12:15 pm
What a plant is, how plants fit into the environment, and a basic biology primer.
12:15 pm - 12:45 pm - Lunch Break
12:45 pm - 4:00 pm
Survey of the Plant Kingdom: bryophytes, ferns and fern allies, gymnosperms, and angiosperms
(major families), touching on fungi, algae, and lichens. Weather permitting, we will take a short
walk to look at some of these organisms in the field.
Conclusion and assignments: Jack and the Beanstalk and My Adopted Plant

Instructors:
Richard Clements, Ph.D., is a Professor of Biology and Environmental Science at Chattanooga
State Community College. He has served on the board of the Tennessee Exotic Pest Council and
has conducted many programs on invasive species, local flora, environmental issues and
astronomy. Email: [email protected]
Mary Priestley is an associate of the Sewanee Herbarium. editor of the herbarium's newsletter The Plant Press, and coordinator of the Herbarium-sponsored nature journaling group. She is the author of William’s Wildflowers children’s guide to wildflowers, What if Trees Could Walk?