Botany

Botanize the local prairies. Survey the plant life of temperate rainforests. Illustrate field observations. Make medicine from healing plants. Dye fibers with botanicals. Contribute to understanding biodiversity. Protect the last remaining wild places through hands-on research. Restore the wildflower meadows of Mount Rainier.

Evergreen's location places students within easy access of a variety of ecosystems, including 1,000-acres of temperate rainforest, teaching gardens, and an organic farm. Prairies and wetland systems are nearby. Mount Rainier National Park, Olympic National Park, Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, and many other Pacific Northwest public lands.

Programs include introductory and advanced work in laboratory and field studies that incorporate:

• Social sciences
• Environmental justice
• Plant biology
• Conservation
• Evolution
• Phytochemistry
• Ecology

You can work independently with support through independent contracts, internships, and research. Faculty are involved in cutting-edge plant conservation research and regularly publish scholarly work. Advanced students often collaborate with faculty in real-world research, publish papers as capstones, and attend conferences to present research.

Students seeking a degree in Botany can choose from programs in the Environmental Studies Path, beginning with basic botany and then advanced offerings in plant ecology and physiology, vascular and non-vascular plant taxonomy, mycology, phycology.

Our Food and Agriculture Path also offers coursework in ecological agriculture, plant genetics and biochemistry, nutrition, economic and medicinal botany, and food studies.