Grass Identification Class    October 10 & 18, 2025

Back by popular demand, the AZ Native Plant Society and the University of Arizona Herbarium will offer a  two-day combination lecture and hands-on workshop for students serious about doing grass ID work. The course goals are to impart sufficient knowledge for students to make wise decisions regarding collection of grasses, to provide complete information on grass morphology, and to teach the use of keys for identification of many Arizona species. Handout materials, dissecting scopes, tools, and pressed grass specimens for study will be provided. The first day will be lecture mixed with hands-on work. The second day will offer a local field trip to learn to ID some grasses in the field and how to press a grass specimen.

Total enrollment for the class is twenty students. Last year the class filled rapidly, and a waiting list was established. This year we will consult the 2024 waiting list and offer class slots to individuals on last year’s waiting list who wish to take the course this year.

Instructors: AZNPS members Sue Rutman, Linda Kennedy, Dr. Lyn Loveless, Dr. Shelley McMahon, Herbarium Curator and Associate Professor, UA, George Ferguson, UA Herbarium Collections Manager, and John Scheuring, AZNPS Conservation Committee Chair, for the field trip.

Sponsors: University of Arizona Herbarium and Arizona Native Plant Society

 When: Classroom, October 10, 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Field Trip: October 18, time TBD

Where: University of Arizona Herbarium, Herring Hall

Cost: $40

For Registration Contact: Douglas Ripley, jdougripley@gmail.com, 520-909-3132