Dear colleagues, This is a final invitation to apply for the workshop on floral morphology and angiosperm diversification. We still have places on this exciting workshop in Berlin from 28 July until 8 August 2025. This unique and intensive two-week course provides a critical basis for diverse areas of research in botany that is becoming increasingly overlooked in the university curriculum. Below some comments of former students: " The course is true to how it is advertised. It, however, exceeded my expectations. It opened up a new world of complexity. I am grateful for having attended." "I liked the dynamic of the course, it was great having theory classes and then heading out to collect and see plants. Doing it in a botanical garden is a wonderful idea, it is great to see plants from all over the world and have material to work with. The professors where very attentive to our needs and questions." " Thank you for the immense effort in putting this course together and all the passion and care with which these topics were delivered. It was wonderful to be challenged, overwhelmed and awed in this workshop and to have a chance to meet with such kind people. This workshop has definitely given me new eyes through which to see the world - and a newfound curiosity for its flowers. I don't think anyone, after taking this course, can walk past a flower without first rummaging through its stamens and frowning into its centre, or dissecting its various parts - much to the confusion of unfortunate onlookers." "The style of teaching as well as the amount of input was great! It did not matter if you were familiar with the topic/order/family/.. it was easy to follow, and one could take up as much as desired. Now I have (I would say) a good overview over the phylogeny of angiosperms, which hopefully will help me further to learn new species and recognize orders and families on future adventures." Please distribute widely! Louis Ronse De Craene and Julien Bachelier ===Berlin Summer Course in Flower Morphology and Angiosperm diversification 28 July - 8 August 2025 This is the third version of a highly successful two-week workshop based at the Biological Institute of the Freie Universität Berlin and the Berlin Botanical Garden. The workshop benefits from extensive facilities, including functional microscopy laboratories and a huge plant collection of more than 20,000 species. The course is set up as lecture-based, laboratory taught, and interactive visits of the living collections. FORMAT: 2-week workshop, lectures and hands-on practical sessions. INTENDED AUDIENCE: Final year undergraduate students, PhD students, post-doctoral and advanced researchers, professionals (but no formal restriction). A basic knowledge of botany is preferred but not essential. COURSE INSTRUCTORS AND CONTACT: Dr. Louis Ronse De Craene, Research Associate Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (l.ronsedecraene@gmail.com) Prof. Julien Bachelier, Freie Universität Berlin (julien.bachelier@fu-berlin.de) REGISTRATION FEE: euro 800 ( euro 600 for Undergraduate and Master students) (Registration includes coffee breaks, daily lunches with snacks, but does not include travel and accommodation). HOW TO APPLY, PAY AND SECURE A PLACE: visit https://www.conftool.net/berlin-summer-course-2025/ For further information please contact Dr. Louis Ronse De Craene (l.ronsedecraene@gmail.com). PROGRAMME: Course Description and outline: This short course will introduce students to the structure and development of flowers, with a focus on floral diversity and evolution and the significance of flowers for systematics. Major plant families will be studied within the framework of the main lineages of seed plants to understand their evolution and diversification. Additionally, students will learn to analyse, describe, and study the structure of inflorescences, flowers, and fruits, and based on their observations, to identify the main evolutionary patterns underlying their tremendous morphological diversity, as well as their potential pollination and dispersal mechanisms. Course objectives and learning outcomes: Through this course students will acquire the following skills: - guidelines to identifying plants using morphological characters in the context of the molecular classification system. - a better understanding of the origin and evolution of floral structures, including their importance for classification, and of the main developmental patterns and evolutionary trends which underlie the tremendous diversity of reproductive structures. - an ability to observe and recognise key characters through the study of live floral material and the building up of floral diagrams. Contents: - Introduction to morphology of vegetative structures and flowers, inflorescence and flower structure (floral diagrams and formulas). - Overview of major groups of flowering plants; major characteristics of Flowers and special attributes (phyllotaxis, aestivation, merism, symmetry, floral tubes and hypanthia). - Floral evolution of the major clades of angiosperms with special emphasis on morphological adaptations and diversification. The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is a charity registered in Scotland (No SC007983) | Support Us This notice applies to this email and to any other email subsequently sent by anyone at RBGE and appearing in the same chain of email correspondence. References below to "this email" should be read accordingly. This e-mail and its attachments (if any) are confidential, may be protected by copyright and may be privileged. If you receive this e-mail in error, notify us immediately by reply e-mail, delete it and do not use, disclose or copy it. 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