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Date: Tuesday 7 – Friday 10 April 2015 (optional field trip on Saturday 11 April)
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Time: 8h30-16h00
 Venue: Botanical Society Middle Stone Cottage, Kirstenbosch, Cape Town
 Pre-requisites: nothing other than a keen interest in fynbos plants
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Date: Sunday 21 to Thursday 25 June 2015
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Time: 8h30-16h00
 Venue: Old Church Hall, De Rust (near Oudtshoorn)
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Pre-requisites: nothing other than a keen interest in plants
 Date: Monday 13 – Friday 17 July 2015
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Time: 8h30-16h00
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Venue: Gold Fields Environmental Education Centre, Kirstenbosch, Cape Town
 Pre-requisites: nothing other than a keen interest in fynbos plants
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Date: Monday 5 October – Friday 9 October 2015
Time: 8h30-16h00
Venue: Gold Fields Environmental Education Centre Kirstenbosch
Pre-requisites: Identifying fynbos plants: an introduction
Date: November 2015 (final date still to be confirmed)
Time: 8h30-16h00
Venue: George Garden Route Botanical Garden, George
Pre-requisites: nothing other than a keen interest in fynbos plants
About the ‘introductory’ fynbos courses
I have run close to 40 different plant identification courses and no two courses have ever been exactly the same. Each course starts by finding out what the group knows and the course evolves from there. I reflect on what I have done before and develop new ways to explain about plants. Through trial and error, I gain insight as to how best to present to different audiences who have different kinds of background knowledge about plants and systems of classifying them. I use suggestions and comments from participants to change and hopefully improve the next course. The basic material that is covered is similar but the exact content of each workshop depends on the existing knowledge and experience of the participants and the sorts of questions that they ask.
Developing own system of pattern recognition
Making sense of the diversity of fynbos plants requires us to look for patterns which means we have to look carefully. A range of tools that participants can use to look, record and sort what they see into meaningful groups is presented. To prevent instant information overload, characters that are important for

dividing plants into large finite groups are highlighted and participants should be able to recognise the main fynbos families and why they belong there, by the end of the course. The framework used to classify plants (family, genus and species) will be explained and consolidated throughout the course.
Careful observation and using different ways of recording information about plants enables participants to develop their own system which they are encouraged to use once the course is completed. The focus is on becoming familiar with using family and generic characteristics and rote learning of species names is not expected.
Skills presented include
 carefully observing plants and looking for plant characters that may require a hand lens or microscope
 dissecting flowers and identifying the different sexual parts and counting them
 recording information through annotated diagrams and notes
 using new botanical terms
 reading the relevant botanical texts
 asking questions
 working with other people
Practical workshops
All workshops are practically orientated and participants have their own flowering plant material to work with. A range of different fynbos families are investigated, depending on what plants are flowering at the time. Explanation of the key features will be illustrated with a dissecting microscope and data projector but other dissecting microscopes will be available for participants to use as well.
Using keys
Keys for families and genera in the Levyn’s Guide to the Plant Genera of the SW Cape (prescribed text book) and the Manning fynbos Guide will be used to key out plants to family and genus level. Participants are introduced to the basic terminology and the framework used to classify plants. This will enable them to use plant guides and other botanical texts with more confidence. Throughout the course participants are encouraged to ask questions, to use existing knowledge and to feel comfortable with using new terminology.
Field trips
Depending on the weather, time will be spent on trips into the garden to practice what has been learnt.
About the ‘Identifying more difficult fynbos plant’ courses
Identifying fynbos plants is a lifelong process that we have to practice. This course aims to allow participants to practice what they learnt in the introductory course and to focus on one or two families.
This will entail getting to grips with the terminology and keys (electronic if available) for those families.
Field trips into the garden, a visit to the herbarium and if possible, discussion with the relevant specialists will be organised. Restios and geophytes are advertised but other plant groups could be covered on request. This is a collaborative process and I look forward to exploring with those who choose to attend.
Cost: R2600. NB two reduced price ‘bursaries’ are available on request for each course
Includes printed notes, dissecting tools, hand lens and relevant book in a bag, and light lunch
Contact Wendy Hitchcock Hitchcock@mweb.co.za
or 021-7123966 or 084-681 4385