Plant Identification — Level 2 – Online – April 15th, 2026

Once you’ve acquired basic plant identification skills, it’s essential to venture into nature and begin using botanical keys independently. This is particularly crucial for more challenging taxa like sedges, hawthorns, willows, grasses, asters, and goldenrods, commonly encountered during fieldwork or exploration. While mastering these challenging taxa requires years of practice, several strategies can accelerate your progress along the way.

In our Plant Identification Level 2 MicroCourse, we will delve deeper into important botanical terminology to enhance your familiarity with various plants encountered in nature. We’ll also explore the anatomy of difficult plant groups and discuss which characteristics to note and photograph when initiating species identification. Additionally, we’ll examine herbarium scans from various groups, or you can collect plant samples to work with during the course.

This course caters to students, young professionals, gardeners, or plant enthusiasts with a beginner level of plant identification knowledge seeking to enhance their skills and become more adept at identifying plants effectively.  

This course is approved for 4 Continuing Education Credits (CECs) under the Society for Ecological Restoration’s (SER) Certified Ecological Restoration Practitioner (CERP) Program. Participants are responsible for uploading their certificates at ser.submittable.com to receive CECs.