What Is That? The Arkansas Vascular Flora Committee Hosts Plant Identification Workshop

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — If you have mysterious, green woody things growing in your back yard, you may want to participate in a plant identification workshop in May.

The Arkansas Vascular Flora Committee is sponsoring a native trees, shrubs and vines identification workshop from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 17 at various locations around Arkansas. The deadline for workshop registration is May 5.

The workshop will teach participants how to identify families of plants, how to collect plants ethically, how to decipher technical terms and understand how plants are named, and how to press plants for posterity.

Locations for the workshop include Fayetteville, Jonesboro, Monticello and Conway.

Workshop registration is $10 for Arkansas Native Plant Society members and $15 for non-members (it will be $10 each for additional family members). The registration fee covers technical keys, microscope use and plant specimens. Participants are encouraged to bring copies of Flora of Missouri, Keys to the Flora of Arkansas or Trees, Shrubs and Vines of Arkansas.

Proceeds from the workshop will go to the Arkansas Vascular Flora Project, which is the first attempt to create a comprehensive, book-length treatise on the vascular plants of Arkansas. The project is being coordinated by the Arkansas Vascular Flora Committee, a team of professional academic and field botanists but relies heavily on the collections and assistance of amateur botanists. The committee includes experts from the University of Arkansas, Arkansas State University, Arkansas Tech University, Harding University, Henderson State University, Hendrix College, University of Central Arkansas, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, University of Arkansas at Monticello, University of Louisiana at Monroe and researchers at state, federal and private agencies.

The plant identification workshops help train amateur botanists in identification and collection techniques.

Current plans for the Arkansas Vascular Flora project include the release of a Checklist of the Vascular Plants of Arkansas in 2003, an Atlas of the Vascular Plants of Arkansas in 2006 and the complete Manual of the Vascular Flora of Arkansas in 2010.

To register for the plant identification project, please contact the following offices at each location:

Fayetteville (U of A Herbarium)

Contact: Johnnie Gentry

U of A Herbarium

Biomass Research Center 139

Fayetteville, AR 7201

(479) 575-4372

Jonesboro (Arkansas State University)

Contact: Staria Vanderpool

Dept. of Biological Sciences

Arkansas State University

P.O. Box 599

Jonesboro, AR 72467

(870) 972-3082

Monticello (U of A Monticello)

Contact: Eric Sundell

School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences

U of A Monticello

Monticello, AR 71656

(870) 460-1165

Conway (University of Central Arkansas)

Contact: Don Culwell

Dept. of Biology

University of Central Arkansas

Conway, AR 72035

(501) 450-5919