1. Lecture Periods

Meeting: Monday 8:30am-9:20am; meets in HORT 117

Main Objectives: Lecture periods will be used to introduce and provide an overview of woody plant characteristics and usage for each weeks group of plant materials. Plants are grouped by a single usage theme or function, and should be thought of as loose associations since alternative groupings could be made. These groupings as the beginning of a framework upon which you will build knowledge about each plant's functional usage. Click here to get weekly Plant Groupings in PDF format.

It is important to bring Lecture Notes for each week's plants to the lecture to use for note-taking. Use of these notes will allow more time for viewing plant images during lecture, and require less for writing. Importantly, new information is presented in lectures that is not included in the lecture notes (see more about lectures). Lecture Notes in PDF format can be obtained via Blackboard.

2. Plant Walks

Plant walks begin in HGRH 1104 except for one scheduled to begin at Horticulture Park (see course calendar). Click here to get the Plant Walk Maps for each week, and bring the appropriate map with you to the field.

Main Objectives: These 2 hr and 50 min plant walk sessions will be used for instruction in the recognition and identification of woody plant materials found growing on and near the Purdue campus. Three unannounced 25 point "pop" quizzes will be given at the teaching assistant's discretion and based on plants covered during previous weeks' plant walks.

For all outdoor field work, be prepared to walk as much as 2 to 3 miles during the plant walk period. Wear comfortable shoes and prepare for any weather conditions. It is extremely unlikely that field-walks will be cancelled due to inclement weather.

3. Characteristics Quizzes and Exams

Meeting: Wednesday 8:30am-9:20am; meets in HORT 117

Main Objectives: Wednesday's characteristics quizzes and exams will be used for evaluating student retention of plant knowledge related to plant characteristics and identification, with primary focus given to characteristics. Students will be given a total of 8 characteristics quizzes and 3 midterm exams, plus a final exam (see course calendar). The characteristic quiz with the lowest score will be dropped and not included in the final grading.

Weekly characteristics quizzes will not be cumulative per se*, but instead cover all material associated with plants of the current week's lecture and plant walk. Likewise, midterm exams will not be cumulative*, but instead cover material from the four preceeding plant groups. The final exam is cumulative of the entire course. Click here to learn more about Characteristics Quizzes and Exams.

*Instructors reserve the right to ask questions based on any previously covered material, and it should be expected that one or two questions on these quizzes and exams will be drawn from previous weeks.

4. Identification (ID) Quizzes

All ID quiz sections meet at HGRH 1109.

Main Objectives: Thursday's ID recitations are used primarily for evaluating student retention of knowledge related to plant identification. Students will be asked to identify live landscape plants growing on or near the Purdue campus primarily. However, students should also be prepared to identify plants based only on shoot cuttings, twigs, fruits, flowers, color photographic slides, or others. A total of 12 ID quizzes will be given during the semester (note that 3 additional ID quizzes will be given during the plant walk period as pop quizzes). The ID quiz with the lowest score will be dropped and not included in final grading.

Weekly ID quizzes will cover material from the current week's plant group primarily, except that you may also be asked to identify one or two plants that were presented in the preceeding week as well. Just as for the characteristics exams however, the instructors reserve the right to ask questions based on any previous material. Click here to get more detailed explanation of the ID Quizzes.

5. Homework Assignment

Main Objectives: You will be asked to read the required texts, take the practice quizzes, and then take an online quiz available to you in WebCT (Reading Assignments and Online Quiz ). This homework is assigned on the first day of class and the quiz must be completed by midnight Tuesday of the second week of class. You may be tested over this material.

6. Grading System: A=90%+, B=80-89%, C=70-79%, D=60-69%, F= < 60%

Special notes.

Failure to complete course assignments without documented extenuating circumstances will result in the grade of F. If valid extenuating circumstances are provided in advance, the student will be given an I (incomplete).

Plagiarism or other forms of cheating constitute grounds for dimissal from the university, and students discovered committing these offenses will be dealt with accordingly.

7. Attendance: Your attendance is required at all times, except by prior arrangement with the instructor. Because one characteristic quiz and one Plant ID quiz will be dropped and not included in the final grade, there will be no make-up characteristic quizzes or make-up Plant ID quizzes given without proof of extenuating circumstances. Make-up of midterm exams must be arranged with the instructor prior to the exam. There is no make-up of unannounced "Pop" Plant ID quizzes.