Field Botany

I am not a botanist. I am merely a passionate plantsman who has the privilege of teaching field botany. I follow in the footsteps of local legends like Larry Mellichamp and Paula Gross.

Gone are the days of only using Vascular Flora of the Carolinas – though its use was my rite of passage and is still a mainstay. Gone are the days of climax communities – the ever changing world and climate change make it impossible to perhaps reach such a thing.

Here are the days of thinking about Plant Communities and how families fit within them. Here are the days of iNaturalist.

I am a lifelong gardener and use my garden to demonstrate the interrelatedness of plant familes, flowers, and fruit.

If you’re looking for common native woodland flowers, ferns, or pines of the Southeast I’ve made videos on each of them. In fact there’s even more on my YouTube page.

I’ve also enlisted the help of exceptionally artistic students to develop mnemonic devices that are specific to plant families. Reach out to me if you’d like a copy of my presentation with plant families well-represented in the Southeast.

Ana the Rana – our character representative of the Ranunculaceae. She has veins (palmate venation), a hood and spurs in her eyes (like petals in this family), and numerous spiral stamens on top of her head.
This is Fabe the Babe, our character for the Fabaceae. She’s a bean (legume), has wings, a keeled boat in the background, and a banner (all petal parts in this family).

In a separate but related agroecology project, I’ve recently received funding from the Charlotte Green Initiative to install a food forest exhibit in front of the Mellichamp Native Gardens!