A Trip to the Wiegand Herbarium and the Mulholland Wildflower Preserve at Six Mile Creek
Cindy Skema and Shannon Straub

Plant systematics involves the study of species and evolutionary relationships among plants. Studies can be monographic, concentrating on related species or groups, or floristic, emphasizing the assemblage of plants in a particular area.

This exploration will provide a brief overview of the local flora. We will first visit the herbarium, the collection of dried plants from which we often work and which is located off campus on South Hill. The students will learn how the collections are made and maintained as well as the importance of such collections. We will then visit the Mullholland Wildflower Preserve at Six Mile Creek and the students will learn to recognize some of the most common plant families. The importance of systematics to ecological and biodiversity issues will be emphasized.