Recommended Texts

Sunset Western Garden Book.
Available at UW Bookstore, as well as many other bookstores.
There is a new edition out that is worth the approximately $30 that it costs. There are, however, plenty of copies of the old version (which is still OK) available at used bookstores.

Plant Identification Terminology: An Illustrated Glossary by James and Melinda Harris.
This book has good definitions and pictures of the terms we will use in this class. Very useful, especially if you will continue to study plants.

Other Useful Texts

Muenscher's Keys to Woody Plants by Edward A. Cope.
Useful to those of you that plan to go on and learn additional species.

Flowering Plant Families by Wendy B. Zomlefer.
Contains descriptions of many flowering plant families with many drawings. Descriptions are technical but the book is very helpful for looking up information at the family level.

Botany in a Day: Herbal Field Guide to Plant Families by Thomas J. Elpel.
This book contains information on plant families as well as the herbal uses of plants. Descriptions are made in a very basic way with the technical term included in parenthesis - very easy to use for novice botanists!

Otis Douglas Hyde Herbarium at the Center for Urban Horticulture contains specimens of most of the species covered in this class. While looking at a herbarium specimen can be very different from a live plant, it can be very useful for reminding yourself about key features. It allows you to look at all of the plants you have learned in a quick way and you can lay out all of the plants that confuse you, side by side. We strongly encourage you to use the herbarium to review the plants you have learned in the class. The Miller Horticultural Library (located in the same building) is also an excellent resource.

DO NOT attempt to take plant parts from campus or Arboretum plants in order to make your own "herbarium." This is very damaging to sometimes rare and expensive plants! If you are caught doing this in the Arboretum you could be fined!

Location
Center for Urban Horticulture, Merrill Hall.

Spring quarter hours (March 27-June 9)
Monday: 1:30 pm to 8 pm
Tuesday: 8:30 am - 10:00 am*
(2nd & 4th Tuesday of each month open until 2 pm)
Wednesday: 8:30 am - 12:00 noon
Thursday: 8:30 am - 1:00 pm
Friday: Closed

You can also arrange a time to use the specimens by contacting Sarah Reichard or by contacting the collections manager, Wendy DesCamp, at (206) 685-2589 or e-mail her at hydeherb@u.washington.edu.

Here are some very useful websites.

Brockman Memorial Tree Tour (UW Campus)
http://www.washington.edu/home/treetour/
Print out a map and take yourself on a tour of the many trees found on the UW campus.

UW Herbarium's Plants of Washington
http://biology.burke.washington.edu/herbarium/imagecollection.php
Wonderful photographs of plants found in Washington State. The focus is on natives, but many ornamentals are shown as well.

CalPhotos: Plants
http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/photos/flora/
Tons of photographs of plants of California. Website is from the University of California, Berkeley.

Landscape Plants
http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ldplants/
Website is from Oregon State University. This site provides great pictures of many common landscape plants. There are several picture for each species, which often include close-ups of leaves and/or flowers. For some plants there are side-by-side picture comparisons for similar species. Also includes brief descriptions at the family and genus level.

Flowering Plant Families
http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/carr/fpfamilies.htm
Website is compiled by the University of Hawaii's Botany department. It includes descriptions of some (not all) flowering plant families and many picture.

The International Plant Names Index
http://www.ipni.org/index.html
Use this website to check the spelling of plant names. Also contains bibliographic information.

Plants Database - USDA
http://plants.usda.gov
Also good for checking the spelling of plant names. Includes distribution within the US, plant characteristics and additional references.

Botany 117 - Plant Identification and Classification
http://courses.washington.edu/bot113/Spring/
Website for BOT 117/317 taught by Dr. Olmstead. Even if you aren't taking this class, the website is worth exploring. Lectures discuss family characteristics and are posted on a weekly basis. Although BOT 117/317 and BOT/EHUF 331 don't cover all the same families, there is a great deal of overlap. This website has pictures to review family characteristics and also a section of conifer pictures. Web readings cover the basics of plant taxonomy.

Trees of the Pacific Northwest – Online Dichotomous Key
http://oregonstate.edu/trees/
Easy to use online key to native trees of the PNW. Based on the book "Trees to know in Oregon". The book is very non-technical, has fun drawings and is only $5! Information on ordering the book is also on this website.