This class will cover the basic differences between these three similar-looking plant families, providing pointers that will help in the identification of plants in all three groups. Using the book Grasses, Sedges, Rushes: An Identification Guide by Lauren Brown and Ted Elliman, the class will practice using keys that provide an accessible way to identify many of the common grasses, sedges and rushes that are such a significant and sometimes under-appreciated part of our natural landscapes. 

Ted Elliman worked for many years for Native Plant Trust as a staff botanist, invasive species program manager and instructor of botany, ecology and conservation classes. His book, The Wildflowers of New England, an identification guide to much of the region's native flora, was published in 2016 by Timber Press. In the 1980's, Ted started and directed an environmental education and wilderness adventure center in the Berkshires. Since the mid-1990's, he has periodically led natural history tours to Southwest China, where he worked for two years as a teacher and forest ecologist.