C3 and C4 grasses across campus

On our campus, you will find both C3 and C4 grasses. Some of the grasses have been planted by university staff to provide floristic diversity, some are native, some are invasive. In this walk and exercise, we will explore some of this photosynthetic, life form, and geographic diversity.

Campus grasses walk

Distinguishing C3 vs C4 and bunch vs sod grasses

Species list for grasses walk

By the end of this walk, students will have been introduced to a dozen grasses and be able to (a) distinguish C3 and C4 grasses on the basis of looking at a leaf tear with a 10-20X hand lens, (b) distinguish between sod grasses and bunch grasses (also known as tussock grasses), and (c) recognize invasive grasses commonly seen on campus.

Click here to download instructional material for this walk.

If you wish to take this walk on your own and would like to hear what will be described on this walk, click here to send Jim a message to receive the YOUTUBE link.

Click here to download questions to be answered on this campus walk.