Education
Many
NAU undergraduate and graduate students use the Deaver Herbarium’s collections
to identify unknown species for research projects or to complete course
assignments. All voucher specimens, a representative specimen of a plant used
in a study, collected as part of a student project are added to the Deaver
Herbarium collections.
Some
of the specialized courses that use the herbarium’s collections include Plant
Taxonomy (BIO 415) and Floristics (BIO 599), which are briefly described below.
Plant Taxonomy (BIO 415)
This
course introduces students to the principles of plant classification and includes
a survey of flowering plants in northern Arizona, teaching students to identify
vascular plants using the regional flora. Students are required to make a
collection of plants in an area of Arizona that is not well understood
botanically during a 3- to 5-day field trip. The student collections that
document range extensions or new reports of species for the area become
valuable additions to the Deaver Herbarium.
Floristics
(BIO 599)
This course teaches students how to write keys and
descriptions and prepare maps, illustrations, and photo plates for a particular
family or genus. Students are required to prepare a treatment for Vascular Plants of Arizona, the latest flora for Arizona. Completed treatments are published in
the Journal of the Arizona-Nevada Academy
of Science or Canotia. As of 2012, NAU students have contributed the
following treatments: