Teaching Weed Identification at Twenty U.S. Universities

The methods used to teach weed identification at 20 U.S. universities were obtained for comparison through a telephone survey in December, 1986, and January, 1987. Weed identification is taught as a portion (30%) of the laboratory section in introductory weed science courses. Only five have a separate weed identification course. Field trips frequently are used to teach weed identification. Students must learn from 50 to 125 weed species with some seedling identification. Pressed plant collections of approximately 50 weed species normally are required. Most instructors strongly suggest using live plants and repetition for long-term learning.