Sedge ID Skills Workshop

Are you an ecologist wanting to improve your sedge ID skills?  Do you need to identify sedges to species, or have an interest in doing so? 

Then this course is for you!

The only publicly available sedge-focused, microscope-based ID course of its kind available in Australia!

Learn to confidently recognise the main northern Australian-occurring sedge genera & their ID features.

This course is aimed at ecologists with a tertiary qualification in science who conduct vegetation surveys & need to reliably identify sedges to species.

However, it is also suitable for anyone who has some background in plant ID and wishes to extend their botanical knowledge and skills base.

You will use a stereo microscope (provided) to gain familiarity with the main reproductive and vegetative diagnostic features of sedges.

By becoming familiar with these features at high magnification, you can more confidently recognise those features in the field using a simple hand lens.

At the completion of this course, you will:

• Be able to use main key to identify genera within Cyperaceae and keys to the generas Cyperus, Fimbristylis, Scleria, Schoenus, Eleocharis & Carex more confidently and understand the morphological concepts therein.

• Be able to differentiate Cyperaceae from the similar families Restionaceae and Juncaceae (rushes) and Poaceae (grasses).

• Be able to recognise sedge spikelet & inflorescence features & interpret the botanical language used to describe them.

• Be able to find those features in sedges you examine in the field using a hand lens.

• Most importantly, you will have built a solid foundation on which to continue a lifetime of independent learning in sedge identification & botany.

Course details:

• Course cost = $1040 (GST inc.).

• A laptop will be very useful - otherwise, all microscopes, forceps, learning aids will be provided.

• Lunch (vegetarian and non-vegetarian sandwiches), snacks and morning/afternoon tea are provided.

• Each participant will be provided with detailed digital course notes including microscope photographs illustrating many of the key features used in the keys to Cyperaceae and its genera.

• In addition, each participant will receive to keep:

  • a pair of forceps for dissecting spikelets,

  • a pocket metal ruler ideal for use in field IDs.

  • the Botanical Field Guide by Mager & Burrows (published by Aracaria Guides).

This course will be conducted by Simon Danielsen, a field botanist & ecological consultant with over 20 years' experience in botanical field surveys & identifications across northern Australia.

Simon has run his own ecological consultancy operation (Astrebla Ecological Services) for 11 years & is highly experienced in vegetation mapping, threatened plant surveys & the field identification of sedges, grasses & other plants. In 2014, he spent a year in the ID room at the Bangkok Forestry Herbarium in Thailand, completing over 400 botanical determinations in that time.