Botany
5 courses · Shasta College · 2026-2027 Catalog
Classes: Fall 2026
BOT-1 General Botany
- Units
- 4
- Hours
- 36 lecture/108 lab total
- Prerequisite
- Intermediate Algebra as determined by multiple measures, or Math Placement Level 4 or higher
- Advisory
- BIOL 1 or BIOL 10 with a grade of C or higher
- Transfers to
- CSU, UC
- C-ID
- BIOL 155
This Botany course is intended for science majors and covers comparative diversity, structure, and function of major plant and plant-like groups. Topics include plant development, morphology and physiology, taxonomy and systematics, ecology, and ethnobotany. This course may be taught in a distance education format.
BOT-15 Plants and People
- Units
- 3
- Hours
- 54 lecture total (when offered in the distance education format, hours will total 162)
- Corequisite
- BOT 15L
- Transfers to
- CSU, UC
This course focuses on the study of plant biology and the relationships between plants and people and how plants have shaped human history and cultures throughout the world. The diversity of the plant kingdom will be examined, as well as plant anatomy, physiology, evolution, and ecology and how these relate to their human use as sources of food, beverages, spices, dyes, fiber, shelter, fuel, and bioactive chemicals used medicinally. This course must be taken with BOT 15L, which provides hands-on opportunities to explore human use of plants and emphasizes experimental methodology, the testing of hypotheses, investigation, and the process of systematic questioning and assessment. The Lecture and Lab sections of this course, taken together, meet the general education requirement for a science with a laboratory. This course may be offered in a distance education format.
BOT-15L Plants and People Laboratory
- Units
- 1
- Hours
- 54 lab total
- Corequisite
- BOT 15
- Transfers to
- CSU, UC
This laboratory course supports the Plants and People lecture course by providing hands-on opportunities to explore what plants are, why they are so important to human cultures throughout the world, and how plants have shaped human history. Plant biology and plant diversity will be examined in lab settings and in the field. Throughout the course, students will explore the importance of plants as foods, beverages, spices, medicines, dyes, fiber, wood, and fuel through film, hands-on laboratory activities, experiments, and field trips.
BOT-50 Wildflowers of California
- Units
- 2
- Hours
- 27 lecture/27 lab total (when offered in the distance education format, hours will total 81 for the lecture portion of the class and an additional 27 hours of lab, totaling 108 hours for this course)
- Transfers to
- CSU
This course examines local wildflowers and plant families of California. Structural characteristics of the wildflowers and their plant families will be emphasized and how to use local plant identification keys. This knowledge will be used to identify wildflower plants in the field. Time spent in the field reinforces identification skills by allowing students to observe these flowers in their natural settings. Field trips are a required part of this course and may occur on Saturdays. The lecture portion of this course may be offered in a distance education format.
BOT-52 Mushroom Identification
- Units
- 2
- Hours
- 27 lecture/27 lab total
- Transfers to
- CSU
In this course, students will learn to identify mushrooms and other fungi of Northern California. Class discussions will cover mushroom biology, the groups of fungi, mushroom structure, recognizing mushrooms by sight, and identifying mushrooms using written mushroom identification keys. Field trips will reinforce identification skills and help students understand the role of mushrooms in the ecosystem. There will be special emphasis on mushroom poisons and consumer safety.