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 and geographic diversity.
By the end of this walk, students will 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. A video is available to help guide you if you wish to take this walk on your own (under construction). A larger map of additional grasses on campus is available for subsequent walks.