Co-sponsored by the University of Washington Herbarium, Burke Museum and the Washington Native Plant Society

Date:               August 23-24, 2016                                                          

Time:               8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Tuesday, August 23rd
7:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m., Wednesday, August 24th

Location:      University of Washington Campus
244 Hitchcock Hall, Seattle, WA

Field trip:       Locations in the greater Seattle area

Instructor:     Peter Zika, Research Associate, University of Washington Herbarium

Class Limit:   20 participants

Washington contains a rich assemblage of freshwater and marine habitats that collectively support an impressive diversity of aquatic plant species. Despite this diversity, most professional and amateur botanists have largely overlooked aquatic plants in the process of knowing the region’s flora.

In this workshop we will cover all of the major families and genera of aquatic plants including:

• Potamogetonaceae (pondweeds)
• Araceae (duckweeds and watermeals)
• Haloragaceae (milfoils)
• Lentibulariaceae (bladderworts)
• Hydrocharitaceae (waterweeds and water nymphs)
• Ruppiaceae (ditch-grass)
• Callitriche (water-starworts)
• Hippuris (mare’s-tail)
• Azolla (floating ferns), and others.

The all-day lab session will be a combination of lectures and identification sessions of fresh and pressed aquatic plants. For use in keying out plants, students will be provided with draft treatments from the revised Flora of the Pacific Northwest for all families and genera covered.

The all-day field trip will focus on field identification of plants covered in the lab and learning about which species grow in which aquatic habitats.  Transportation will be provided.

This workshop is geared for experienced botanists, both professional and amateur, who are proficient in the use of dichotomous keys and comfortable with technical botanical terminology.

Peter Zika received his undergraduate degree in Botany at the University of Vermont in 1983. His early botanical interest was the circumboreal sedges and rushes of New England, but his interests broadened to include the conservation of the flora of the entire region. He has worked as a rare plant botanist in Vermont, New York, and Oregon for the Nature Conservancy’s Natural Heritage Programs. Peter helped found the Washington and Oregon Flora Checklist projects, is a Research Associate at the Burke Museum’s University of Washington Herbarium, as well as author of several family treatments for the revised Flora of the Pacific Northwest, and several generic treatments for both Flora of North America and the second edition of The Jepson Manual.

Workshop Cost: $175 WNPS or Burke Museum members; $200 non-members

Registration for the class will be available online at the Washington Native Plant Society Web site (www.wnps.org) starting April 1st.

Register ONLINE or Download a Registration by Mail Form

For more information, contact David Giblin at 206-543-1682 or by email dgiblin@uw.edu

Items to bring to class:

• Please bring fresh local aquatic plants that you’d like to identify in the lab or share with others
• All are welcome to bring pressed aquatic plants to identify in the lab

Items to bring on field trip:

• Minimum 10x hand lens
• Notebook
• Footgear (e.g., Wellington boots) for walking in wet ground or standing water
• Appropriate field clothing (e.g., hat, raingear)
• Lunch and water

Optional references for participants to bring; at least one copy will be available at workshop:

• 2012 Jepson Manual
• 1993 Flora of North America (Vol. 22)
• 1973 Flora of the Pacific Northwest (copies available in class for all students)

Accommodations:  For those interested in overnight accommodations in the area, please contact David Giblin (dgiblin@uw.edu; 206-543-1682) for more information.

The Aquatic Plants Workshop is co-sponsored by the

University of Washington Herbarium, Burke Museum and the Washington Native Plant Society