• Texts and Required Materials:
  • Beck, C. 2005. An Introduction to Plant Structure and Development. Cambridge Univ. Press. (required)
  • Plant Anatomy Lab Manual — from GSCB (required)
  • Single-edged razor blades (there will be a supply in lab)

• Grading:
  • One lecture and lab midterm— Thursday, 14 October
  • One lecture and lab final, similar in format to the midterm, cumulative
  • Lab project — wood maceration competition
  • Subjective appraisal of field performance and techniques
  • Note: Most plant anatomy courses require a lab notebook with drawings. Great idea, but I don't require such.

• The Rhythm of the Course:
  • Lectures begin at 8:10. Please be there on time.
  • After a break lab begins. The labs involve you working through the manual at your own pace. Resist the urge to speed and try to finish early — you won't digest the material that way. There is a reason that the labs run to noon.
  • There is not a specific start and stop time for the labs, and each of you will probably work at slightly different paces. I'll keep track of your collective progress and feed you a sense of where you should be each day.
  • You are welcome to use the lab on your own time when other classes are not in the room.
  • The lab involves mostly looking through microscopes for 2-3 hours, twice a week. You will not be used to this at first, so be sure to exercise your eyes. After a few weeks you'll be fine.
  • Just before the midterm we'll have a review session where you'll all get to participate.
  • You will each be checked out a compound microscope, a dissecting microscope, and a set of prepared slides. You will be responsible for the maintenance and care of these items throughout the course.
  • Late in the course you will have an opportunity to observe and perchance use the Scanning Electron Microscope.

Back to Plant Anatomy Home