BIOL 528
Seasonal Flora
Maymester 2015
Dyer
Seasonal Flora
Maymester 2015
BIOL 528 (4 credit hours)
Instructor: Dr. Andrew Dyer
Phone: 641-3443
Office: SBDG 101E
email: andyd@usca.edu
Lecture/Lab: MTWThF 8:00-5:00 Sciences 107
Course text
Radford. 1968. Flora of the Southeastern US.
Course description
This course is an intensive course on plant identification with emphases on collection, keying, mounting,
and labeling specimens. The course content will include numerous field trips, plant collecting in the field,
practice using identification keys, familiarity with important traits and botanical terminology, and
mounting and preserving museum-quality specimens.
Objectives
 To acquaint the student with knowledge of the basic plant structures and terminology needed for plant
identification using dichotomous keys.
 To improve the students’ ability to find and use resources for identifying plants.
 To practice collecting, labeling and mounting plant specimens.
 To inventory the plants of a specific location as a class project
Competencies
By the end of this course, the student will demonstrate increased ability to:
 Identify unknown specimens of plants using dichotomous keys.
 Mount and label an herbarium-quality plant specimen.
 Use print and online sources to identify plants.
 Identify probable locations for finding specific plants.
Absences
Missing even one day of an 8-hr a day course that meets only 11 times will be detrimental to the final
grade. Every day will cover new material that will not be repeated. It will be hard to understand what is
going on if you have missed the previous session. If there are emergency reasons for missing a day,
contact Dr. Dyer unless absolutely unavoidable in which case there better be documentation of the reason.
Regardless of the reason for the missed class, it will still count as an absence.
Grades are calculated on a 10 pt scale: A>90%, B>80%, C>70%.
Points (approximate and subject to change)
Plant collection (50)
~200
Herbarium mounts (minimum 10)
~100
Final exam (terminology and identification)
~100
~400 pts
Additional comments
1. If you are having difficulty with any aspect of this course, please come see me as soon as possible. If
my regular office hours conflict with your schedule, you can make an appointment to see me at a more
convenient time.
2. If you have a physical, psychological, and/or learning disability that might affect your performance
in this class, please contact the Office of Disability Services, B&E 134, (803) 643-6816 as soon as
possible. The Disabilities Services Office will determine appropriate accommodations based on medical
documentation.
3. You will be expected to endorse the following Honor Pledge on assignments and exams:
On my honor as a University of South Carolina Aiken student, I have neither given nor
received any unauthorized aid in this assignment/examination. To the best of my knowledge,
I am not in violation of academic honesty.
Infractions of this honor pledge are taken very seriously. Any evidence of plagiarism will result in a
formal report to the Vice Chancellor. Make sure you understand ALL of the forms of plagiarism.
All official class communications, including class announcements, are made to USCA email accounts.
Check your USCA email account on a regular basis and use this account for communication with the
instructor. In order to protect the privacy of the student, the instructor will not reply to emails sent from
non-USCA accounts (e.g., Hotmail, Yahoo, etc.). Also, because of federal law, no grades or scores can be
communicated by phone or email; you must come to the instructor’s office.
CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR
It is the instructor’s right to remove from the classroom any student who disrupts or disturbs the
proceeding of the class. Offensive language including sexist, racist, religious, or personal comments will
not be tolerated. Disruption of the class also includes the use of any portable electronic devices unless
prior approval has been given to a student or unless required for the course. In extreme cases the faculty
member can request assistance from University Police. If the student who has been ejected causes similar
disturbances in subsequent meetings of the class, he/she may be denied admittance to the class for the
remainder of the semester and assigned a grade of F.
Class schedule 2015
1. USCA
2. Hitchcock Woods
3. Langley Pond
4. Heritage Preserve
5. Congaree Swamp
Tree key, backward keying
Memorial Gate, Sand River, roadside
basic local trees, Horse Creek
upland and riparian plants
(no collection)
6. Augusta Canal
7. Audubon Reserve
8. Aiken State Park
9. Brick Pond Park
10. Work day
weedy species mostly- high diversity
upland, but river influenced
mixed woods, riparian, open spaces
mixed mostly weedy and aquatic
manage collections
11. Work and finish day
12. Final exam