Botany Certificate Electives

Students seeking a Certificate must complete at least 58 elective course hours.

Elective course offerings vary with every catalog season. Browse this page to discover what's currently scheduled.


August

Discover the many herbs and spices prized for centuries to heal, to revitalize the immune system, and to treat and prevent asthma, insomnia, flu, and more.
261BOT346O 08/04 Mo 10:00am-12:00pm Bijkerk
ONLINE

Take a fascinating look at the unseen forces that shape our green world. Using NYBG collections as a living lab, you'll discover the remarkable ways plants interact with their environment-from keeping cool in the desert to staying dry in the more...
261BOT355 08/07 Th 10:00am-12:00pm Borsuk
NYBG

Explore these two beautiful and intriguing groups of herbaceous plants. NYBG's Director of the William and Lynda Steere Herbarium Dr. Emily Sessa will take you through the basic aspects of ferns and lycophytes. Gain an understanding of their form and more...
261BOT360 08/08 Fr 10:00am-1:00pm Sessa
NYBG

Chanterelles, Milk Caps, Black Trumpets, Boletes of all kinds, and many other choice edibles make their appearance in the steamy summer months. Learn how to sort through this abundance with hands-on techniques and observations.
261BOT356 08/14 Th 10:00am-1:00pm Sadowski
NYBG

September

Learn how to analyze the diversity of fruits and seeds, along with their dispersal mechanisms. By doing so, you'll reveal a fascinating aspect of plant biology and better understand the critical role that plants play in their ecosystems.
261BOT342O 09/02 Tu 10:00am-12:00pm Bijkerk
ONLINE

Paleobotany, the study of plant evolution through fossil evidence, gives us insights into Earth's flora, past and present. In this class, you'll learn about the evolution of plants—from when life first emerged from the ocean to modern day trees and more...
261BOT434O 09/20 Sa 10:00am-12:00pm Paradiso
ONLINE

October

In NYC, fall is the best time to hunt for edible fungi. Paul Sadowski, 25-year veteran of the NY Mycological Society, will lead a mushroom hunt, and show you how to identify many species and their look-alikes, where to find more...
262BOT368 10/25 Sa 10:00am-1:00pm Sadowski
NYBG

Join Neil Pederson, Ph.D., professor and senior ecologist at the Harvard Forest, for this interactive workshop on what tree rings can teach us about the ways ecosystems respond to climate change. Old trees hold precious information about climate, precipitation levels, more...
262BOT397 10/26 Su 11:00am-1:00pm Pederson
NYBG

January

Discover the many herbs and spices prized for centuries to heal, to revitalize the immune system, and to treat and prevent asthma, insomnia, flu, and more.
263BOT346AO 01/03 Sa 11:00am-1:00pm Candee
ONLINE

February

Scientists have engineered so many new products from mycelium that Scientific American heralds the dawn of the "Mycelium Revolution" and Harper's Bazaar dubs fungi "The Future of Fashion." Explore how scientists have harnessed mycelium's ability to create complex structures that more...
263BOT349O 02/24 Tu 6:00pm-7:30pm Michelotti
ONLINE

March

Discover the many herbs and spices prized for centuries to heal, to revitalize the immune system, and to treat and prevent asthma, insomnia, flu, and more.
263BOT346BO 03/07 Sa 11:00am-1:00pm Candee
ONLINE

Why do some species have smooth bark, while on others it is thick and broken? Why does bark peel? The traits typically used to describe trees—leaves, twigs, and buds—are often hard to see or seasonally absent. Bark, on the other more...
263BOT426 03/21 Sa 10:30am-3:30pm Wojtech
NYBG