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Tropical Botany Course

Tropical Botany at The Kampong has been a legacy course for over 50 years, taught by Professors Richard Howard, Barry Tomlinson, Walter Judd, and now Lucas Majure and Chris Baraloto.

The International Center for Tropical Botany at The Kampong, in collaboration with Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Montgomery Botanical Center, and Gifford Arboretum, continues to host this intensive, in-residence course on the biology and systematics of tropical plants for advanced students and professionals.

Read about the course in a recent issue of the NTBG Bulletin here.

The course takes place in the beautiful new facility of the ICTB at The Kampong in Coconut Grove, where student housing is available.

For 50 years, the course has provided training in the systematics, phylogeny, morphological diversity, economic botany and conservation of tropical seed plants. Students will benefit from the largest living collections of tropical plants in the United States and field trips to nearby natural areas, including the Florida Keys and Everglades, gaining first-hand experience with more than 1,400 tropical plant species from more than 150 families. Students will gain fluency in the phylogenetics of seed plants and the characters that define major clades, allowing them to identify almost any tropical plant at least to family.

In 2025, we will continue a practical field component of the course in collaboration with the University of Costa Rica and FUNDECOR, supported by funding from the US National Science Foundation IRES program and generous donors.

Students will learn how to design and implement tropical plant diversity and composition monitoring plots across a gradient of habitat types, to process and analyze associated samples and data, and to translate information into peer-reviewed manuscripts, reports and presentations.

Details
Schedule: May 11 -June 29, 2025.

Fees: Course fees in Miami are $1500, plus lodging fees at The Kampong ($1000). All expenses (including travel from Miami, lodging, and food) for the field course will be provided.

Applications:
Send to ICTBKampong@fiu.edu as soon as possible (reviews will begin in mid-October to allow time for those requiring visas). Please include (i) a letter stating reasons for taking the course, (ii) current CV, and (iii) contact information for a recommendation. 

Scholarships:
Available for both US and international students. Please include a statement describing efforts you have made to obtain other funding (e.g., from your home institution) and how you will contribute to tropical plant biology and conservation in your region of study or residence, as well as the amount requested (fees, travel, lodging).

Download the course flyer here.