Study the form and structure of plants: stems, leaves, roots and flowers. Learn how the elements relate to photosynthesis, reproduction and the relationship between plants and water.
The required text is Botany for Gardeners by B. Capon.

Learn the basic biology of mushrooms and other fungi. Important identification skills include how to collect mushrooms, use field guides, and make spore prints. You will learn key identification characteristics of summer and fall fungi. Class includes forays into the Arboretum. Dress for the weather. The required textbook, How to Identify Mushrooms to Genus I: Macroscopic Features by David Largent, is available at the Morton Arboretum Ginkgo Shop. Recommended field guides are: Audubon Guide to North American Mushrooms by Gary Lincoff and Mushrooms of Northeast North America by George Barron.

Make the landscape come alive by learning to identify local plants in their habitats. This class is the first in a three-season sequence in which you will learn the names and characteristics of native and introduced plants in the forests, prairies, wetlands, and other areas of Northeastern Illinois. The knowledge and skills you develop will be useful whether your interest is botany, ecology, gardening, or art.

Plant Families of the Midwest
Patrick Leacock, Department of Botany, The Field Museum

With a regional flora of over 2,500 species, the ability to recognize common plant families on sight is a big step toward plant identification. In this class you will study flower structure and other diagnostic characters of common plant families of the Midwest. This class will be useful to naturalists, gardeners, and botanical artists. A list of recommended books will be reviewed in class.