Plant Identification Workshops

The Australian Tropical Herbarium (ATH) delivers plant identification workshops several times per year. Sign up to workshop announcements by writing to enquiry@ath.org.au or by checking for updates at our Facebook page.

The courses are hands on and run in groups of up to 16 people. They are developed for professionals and amateur naturalists willing to go beyond relying on picture guides, or automated identification apps, and to learn how to use the same tools used by botanists during their work (i.e. Lucid keys).

Lucid is a platform used by taxonomists around the world to create scientific identification keys. The ATH is deeply involved in the development, and updates, to a tropical weed identification manual and several Lucid keys:

• Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants
• Australian Tropical Ferns and Lycophytes
• Australian Tropical Rainforest Orchids
• Tropical Weed Identification Manual

These courses are ideal for the interested layperson, and will be of special interest to rangers, school science teachers, state and local government land managers, and anyone with an interest in tropical Australia’s incredible biodiversity.

We currently offer two main workshops:

Rainforest native plant identification

The Australian Tropical Herbarium and the Wet Tropics Management Authority present Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants – Plant Identification Short Courses.

The rainforests of the Wet Tropics and the Top End are beautiful and incredibly diverse. But that very diversity can pose difficulties – how can we understand and manage these forests if we don’t know the species we’re looking at? Our workshops aim to teach participants the skills and knowledge needed to identify the rainforest flora using free online plant identification tools and hands-on experience.

Courses are typically two or three days and run from 8:30am to 4:00pm each day. The workshops are hands on and run in medium size groups of 16 people. We will spend significant time learning key identification traits and actively identifying plants. Morning tea and lunches are supplied – please advise of any dietary preferences when you register. Spaces are limited, and enrolments close a week before the course commencement date.

To inquire for the next courses please email enquiry@ath.org.au or call 4232 1758.

Tropical weed identification workshops

The Australian Tropical Herbarium and James Cook University, with support from the Queensland Government Biosecurity Program, regularly offers tropical weed identification workshops targeted at land managers, rangers, and other plant minded people.

The learning experience goes beyond the mere visual identification of weeds, and aims to train in the identification of specific plant traits and the use of the Lucid identification keys regularly used by botanists.

Courses are typically one or two days (ideally two) and run from 8:30am to 4:00pm each day. Morning tea and lunches are supplied – please advise of any dietary preferences when you register. Spaces are limited, and enrolments close a week before the course commencement date.

The workshops are hands on and run in medium size groups of 16 people (exceptionally up to 18). We will spend significant time learning key identification traits and actively identifying plants. These workshops can also be requested ad hoc for groups of at least 12 people.

To inquire for the next workshop, or to request an ad hoc workshop, please email enquiry@ath.org.au or call 4232 1758.