We are offering a fourth edition of our highly successful two-week
workshop from July 20th until July 31st at the Institute of Biology at
the Freie Universität Berlin and the Berlin Botanical Garden, which
offer extensive facilities and functional microscopy laboratories and
a huge plant collection of more than 20,000 species.

INTENDED AUDIENCE: Final year undergraduate students, PhD students,
post-doctoral and advanced researchers or professionals (but no
formal restriction). A basic knowledge of botany is preferred but not
essential. See application and registration below.

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)

PROGRAMME:

Course Description and outline:

This short course will introduce you to the flowers structure and
development, with a focus on their diversity and evolution, and their
significance for flowering plant systematics. Major and smaller but
not less significant families will be presented within the framework of
the main lineages of flowering 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 structural diversity, as well as their
potential pollination and dispersal mechanisms. Each day starts with a
discussion of a paper relating to material covered the previous day and
is followed by a lecture, and after lunch break, ends with an interactive
visit and sampling of the living collections before the practical study
and summary.

Course objectives and learning outcomes:

Through this course students will acquire the following skills:

a guide 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 elaboration of floral diagrams and formulas.

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.

APPLICATION AND REGISTRATION:

The course is limited to 15 participants.

Registration fee include coffee breaks, daily lunches with snacks,
but does not include travel and accommodation.

 euro 700 for Undergraduate and Master students

 euro 800 for Graduate Students.

 euro 950 for Postdocs and others.

There is a  euro 100 reduction for early-bird until May 15th, 2026

TO APPLY, PAY AND SECURE A PLACE:

visit: https://www.conftool.net/berlin-summer-course-2026/

The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is a charity registered in Scotland
(No SC007983) |

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