Diversity of Plant Form & Function
The Earth's vegetation is replete with a diversity of plant forms from 40 meter high trees to aquatics to parasites and climbers. Different plant forms are adapted for different functions. This course aims to provide students with the basic tools necessary to understand, describe and appreciate a diversity of plant form and think critically about the likely functional role of different plant structures. There will be an emphasis on the Irish Flora. Students will be introduced to the morphology of the vegetative and reproductive structures of a range of different evolutionary lineages of land plants from the most ancient (bryophytes/mosses) to the most derived (angiosperms/flowering plants). Special emphasis will be placed on the identification of species belonging to various groups using taxonomic keys.
Comments
Anonymous Student
Feb 23, 2026
If it isnt a core, DO NOT CHOOSE THIS MODULE. The teaching quality is nonexistent, it's everyone on their own, and if you actually figure it out, you survive. There is basically no explanation given on what you're looking for and how it's supposed to look like when trying to ID a plant, a lot of it is very subjective, and it's hard to tell what the lecturer actually wants you to see. From that, assessment becomes very hard because the level of prep is 0 and the expectations are set at 100. I only started to gauge what was happening when I was doing the herbarium at home by myself, and even that didn't really help too much. No one tells you the meaning of the terminology you are expected to use, yet you gotta use it, otherwise you don't do well. And the lectures were basically no information and delivered as "eehh...umm.aaa...uuuu....you know' for an hour straight. every week. for the entire semester. On top of that the lab is at the end of the day on a Friday when you are just so out of it you can't even start to think about anything. I could write essays on how bad this module is, so again, IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO DONT TAKE IT. oh and you have to buy a 25 euro book <3 save yourselves