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Flora of Middle Earth - EEB 405

Carp Creek flows through "The Gorge" at UMBS.

3 credits

Prerequisites: None

Requirements: BS, NS, PitE practical experience and EEB field/research and Biodiversity, Biology Lab

Instructor: Stephen Smith

Image credit: Graham A. Judd

Course Description

The stories in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the
Rings, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, and others occur in Middle Earth that has an ecology and flora which, in many ways, reflects our temperate forests. Middle Earth is graced with familiar trees like Ash, Beech, and Cedar as well as ferns like Asplenium and Dryopteris.

In this class, we will explore the flora of Michigan at the UMBS through works of Tolkien. We will study plants in the field, lear about their habitats, and their life history while also discussing how those characteristics are important to Tolkien's works. Spend the summer in Middle Earth!