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| 1. Description - |
| Identification, taxonomy, habits of growth, cultural and environmental requirements of plants native to California landscapes. Emphasis on a wide variety of native species including trees, shrubs, ground covers, and herbaceous plants. Plants are observed in lab, on campus, and at off-site locations. This course is intended for students in the horticulture program but members of the public and professional community are welcome invited to enroll.
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| Prerequisite: None
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| Co-requisite: None
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| Advisory: Completion of, or concurrent enrollment in HORT 15 strongly recommended; not open to students with credit in HORT 51D.
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| 2. Course Objectives - |
| The student will be able to:
- Recall the botanical and common names, appearance, culture, adaptation and use of at least 80 California native plants.
- Correctly identify all California native plants presented by botanical and common names.
- Compare and contrast California native plants features and cultural needs in different landscape situations.
- Recognize horticultural and botanical terms and use them to describe California native plants characteristics and cultural needs.
- Demonstrate, on written examinations, knowledge of the terms and nomenclature utilized in the identification of California native plants.
- Recognize the variety of ways plants indigenous to California were utilized by native American cultures.
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| 3. Special Facilities and/or Equipment - |
| - Horticultural laboratory with multi-media projection system; related horticultural facilities. Students provide pruning shears with sheath, plant collecting materials (baggies, labeling tape, knife, plant press, etc.
- Native plant collections on and off campus.
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| 4. Course Content (Body of knowledge) - |
| - Review of botanical and horticultural terms, principles, and approved practices
- Detailed description of native plants from California, including identification of the following characteristics:
- Leaf type
- Fruit
- Bark
- Form
- Growth habit
- Propagation methods
- Field trips to see mature plant materials in landscape settings and to gather plant samples for identification purposes
- Cultural practices related to successful plant growth
- Planting
- Disease and insect pest control
- Propagation
- Pruning
- Adaptation
- Site analysis for horticulturally correct plant selection
- Sun/shade
- Soil type
- Moisture requirements
- Soil pH
- Wildlife habitat
- Resistance to oak root fungus
- Relationship of plants covered in the course to landscape design practices including:
- Color
- Form
- Texture
- Line
- Water conservation
- Characteristics of plants
- Edible
- Functional concerns
- Esthetic uses
- Shelter
- Environmental uses
- Wildlife value
- Poisonous
- State common and botanical name
- Native American cultures and their use of indigenous California plants
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| 5. Repeatability - Moved to header area. |
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| 6. Methods of Evaluation - |
| - Weekly identification quizzes
- Written midterm exam on characteristics and use of plants in design situations
- Written final exam on use of plants in design situations
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| 7. Representative Text(s) - |
| Sunset, Sunset Western Garden Book, Menlo Park, CA, Sunset Publishing Company, 2010.
Bornstein, Carol, Fross, David, and O'Brien, Bart, California Native Plants for the Garden, Los Olivos, CA, Cachuma Press, 2005.
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| 8. Disciplines - |
| Environmental Horticulture & Design
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| 9. Method of Instruction - |
| - Field observation of plants.
- Lectures on plant characteristics.
- Discussions regarding use and care of plants.
- Read assigned reading activities.
- Perform self-guided research.
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| 10. Lab Content - |
| - Site visit to plant locations.
- Discussion of plant cultural and design implications.
- Photography and documentation of plants.
- Trips to local native plant depositories.
- Taping leaves and plant identification elements onto museum paper.
- Review of use of native plants in urban settings.
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| 11. Honors Description - No longer used. Integrated into main description section. |
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| 12. Types and/or Examples of Required Reading, Writing and Outside of Class Assignments - |
| Typical reading assignments will include researching up to 10 plant species per week (approximately 20 pages of reading) in representative text and similar text books, and research/reading of websites related to native plants (approximately 5 pages per week)
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| 13. Need/Justification - |
| This course is a required core course for the AS degree and Certificate of Achievement in Environmental Horticulture & Design.
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