Cactus to Creosote: Identifying Plants in the Field

Unravel the mysteries of common desert plants through field observation and botanical keys! This class covers terminology, plant dissection skills, and identification fundamentals including botanical keys and online resources. Take your newfound knowledge out for a walk to practice identifying desert plants in the field.

• This class is held at Black Rock, with the classroom portion taking place in the Black Rock Nature Center education room.
• This beginner-friendly class is suitable for beginner to intermediate botanical explorers. No expertise or experience is required.
• No park pass is required.
• No meals or equipment are provided.

The indoor portion of this class is ADA accessible. It requires very little travel with ADA accommodations, such as accessible parking, available.

The outdoor portion is leisurely and can be modified to accommodate participants. It requires less than 2 miles of walking with shade, seating, consistent terrain, and little to no elevation gain. Please email desertinstitute@joshuatree.org if you need specific accommodations.

Instructor Melanie Davis: Melanie Davis lives in Joshua Tree and is a research field ecologist and botanist at UC Riverside's Center for Conservation Biology in Palm Desert. She has been working in the California deserts since 2017. Her field research brings her to remote corners of the Colorado, Mojave, and Sonoran deserts to study the effects of climate change and human disturbance on desert ecosystems, as well as the distribution of rare native plants. She is also an artist and has published illustrated field guides to several groups of native desert plants. Melanie holds a bachelor’s from The Evergreen State College and the Desert Ecologist and Naturalist certifications from College of the Desert.

Photo credit: NPS/Hannah Schwalbe