THE LOCAL TRANSMISSION · ONLINE SEASON 1 · UES-207
Plant Portraits: Form, Lineage & Cultural Memory
BOTANY + LINEAGE
Join botanical looking, introductory lineage study, cultural history, image making, and typography without reducing a living plant to decoration or commodity.
Course boundaryLegal specimens and public information only. Cannabis examples remain 21+, educational, and non-medical, with no consumption or unlawful cultivation instruction.
- Module time
- About 2.5–3 hours per module
- Pace
- Start anytime · no deadlines · pause and return.
- Completion
- Any four modules plus the final course outcome.
- Materials
- Sketchbook, phone camera, or accessible descriptive-notes method · One legal, safely observable plant or public herbarium record · Basic image and layout tool · No plant purchase, consumption, or cultivation activity required
WHY THIS CLASS EXISTS
Make observation useful to somebody else.
Join botanical looking, introductory lineage study, cultural history, image making, and typography without reducing a living plant to decoration or commodity.
Builds from Season 0: UES-103, UES-104, UES-105.
HOW THE ROOM RUNS
Prompt. Fieldwork. Studio. Receipt.
- 01Module prompt
One central question opens each module. The source shelf is optional; the page itself contains the full path.
- 02Field task
One 60–90 minute act of looking, making, recording, or hosting.
- 03Self-guided studio
A 75-minute making, editing, or reflection session you can complete alone.
- 04Module receipt
A 20-minute useful trace kept privately or shared only when you choose.
YOUR PRIVATE COURSE DESK
Start here. No account required.
Check off modules as you work. Progress stays in this browser; the university never receives your name, work, location, email, or wallet.
0 of 5 completion steps · finish any four modules plus the final outcome.
Local progress is ready. You can also use the class without saving anything.
THE SIX-MODULE ROOM
A complete first syllabus.
Everything required is printed here. References named inside modules are optional; use this on-page toolkit whenever a module asks for a check, scenario, ledger, or handoff.
- MODULE01
What can we honestly say about a plant before attaching a confident name?
Close Looking and Uncertain Naming
On-page prompts + optional references
- On-page observation fields: silhouette, scale, node, vein, edge, surface, branching, color, seasonal state, change, proposed name, and confidence
- Botanical illustration and herbarium-sheet examples
- Citizen-science identification and uncertainty labels
Self-guided studio
Observe silhouette, node, vein, surface, rhythm, color, scale, and change without rushing to identification.
Field task
Study one legal plant through image, drawing, sound, touch-safe description, or written visual description.
Module receipt · private by default
A first plant plate separating observed features from proposed names.
- MODULE02
How does plant form record growth, environment, and time?
Anatomy, Architecture, Season
On-page prompts + optional references
- Introductory plant morphology diagrams
- Seasonal growth and phenology observation guides
- Architectural drawing and visual-analysis references
Self-guided studio
Read roots, stems, nodes, leaves, flowers, fruit, branching, and seasonal state as a living structure.
Field task
Make three scaled studies of the plant at whole, branch, and detail levels.
Module receipt · private by default
An annotated morphology sheet with accessible description.
- MODULE03
What is inherited, selected, cloned, crossed, named, marketed, or merely claimed?
Reproduction, Lineage, Genetics
On-page prompts + optional references
- Introductory inheritance, variation, and reproduction concepts
- Cultivar, variety, hybrid, clone, landrace, and strain terminology
- On-page claim labels: observed feature, taxonomic relationship, documented breeding, commercial name, cultural name, and unresolved lineage claim
Self-guided studio
Distinguish taxonomic relationship, documented breeding, commercial naming, cultural lineage, and uncertainty.
Field task
Trace one plant name through three sources and mark agreement, conflict, missing evidence, and marketing language.
Module receipt · private by default
A draft lineage diagram with confidence labels and citations.
- MODULE04
Whose labor, knowledge, ritual, restrictions, and stories travel with this plant?
People, Symbols, Trade, Law
On-page prompts + optional references
- Ethnobotanical and cultural-history source prompts
- Trade, naming, appropriation, prohibition, and stewardship case studies
- On-page boundary check: verify current local law through an official public source, state date and jurisdiction, avoid medical claims, protect sensitive knowledge, and mark what the portrait intentionally omits
Self-guided studio
Place the plant inside human systems without making cultural or medical claims the sources cannot support.
Field task
Add one sourced cultural-memory panel and one explicit boundary or omission to the portrait.
Module receipt · private by default
A private-by-default lineage panel with scientific, commercial, and cultural claims visibly distinguished; adding it to a shared wall is optional.
- MODULE05
What visual form honors both beauty and evidence?
Translate Knowledge into Image and Type
On-page prompts + optional references
- Botanical plate, field-guide, poster, seed-catalog, and protest-image examples
- On-page credit line: creator, title or description, date, source location, rights or permission, crop or edit, and access description
- Image provenance and meaningful alt-text guidance
Self-guided studio
Combine observation, diagram, archive, text, color, and type into a coherent four-page portrait.
Field task
Make the complete portrait draft, then answer four checks: are observed features separate from names, are cultural claims attributed, can every claim be traced, and does text carry the image’s meaning? Correct one failure in each dimension. Optional critique may supplement it.
Module receipt · private by default
A review ledger showing one self-checked correction in each of the four dimensions.
- MODULE06
How can the exhibition remain beautiful, careful, correctable, and alive?
Open the Plant Portraits
On-page prompts + optional references
- Collective botanical exhibition formats
- Correction, update, and seasonal-revisit patterns
- Use the handoff-package fields in the solo toolkit; publication, wallet use, and minting remain separate optional decisions
Self-guided studio
Sequence the personal lineage panel and portrait, then run the final source-and-boundary self-audit. Joining a shared wall or public reading is optional.
Field task
Finish the portrait, source list, credits, access assets, and one future seasonal observation prompt.
Module receipt · private by default
A private-by-default plant portrait and lineage panel with a correction note and next-observation date; publishing is optional.
WHAT COMPLETION MEANS
No grades. Real work.
- 01
Non-destructive plant observation · suggested after module 2
Study one safely and legally observable plant through form, change, uncertainty, and at least two modes of description. - 02
Lineage diagram · suggested after module 4
Make a careful visual diagram distinguishing documented lineage, taxonomic relationship, cultural naming, and unresolved claims. - 03
Illustrated plant portrait · suggested after module 6
Complete a private-by-default four-page portrait joining form, lineage, cultural memory, sources, credits, and meaningful image description. Publication is optional.
Complete any four of the six module receipts and finish the course outcome or a private equivalent. There are no grades, deadlines, peer requirements, or public-posting requirements.
ACCESS IS PART OF THE SYLLABUS
More than one way through the room.
- Every instruction is readable on the public course page; audio or video references require a transcript or equivalent text path.
- Every required prompt, scenario, rubric, and checklist is written on this course page; named sources are optional references, not missing course materials.
- Low-bandwidth, print-friendly syllabus with no paid platform or subscription required.
- No live attendance, camera, account, wallet, or public posting is required.
- Progress stays in this browser unless the learner chooses to download a private completion receipt.
- A houseplant, grocery specimen, learner-owned image, or freely viewable public-herbarium record replaces outdoor access; no separate course asset is required.
- Independent route
- Active now. The complete sequence, studio prompts, access paths, and private checklist are on this page.
- Optional faculty profile
- A botanical artist or naturalist able to teach close looking and cultural context, joined by a botanist, geneticist, cultural historian, or experienced legal grower as guest faculty.
- Supported cohort
- Optional and funding-dependent. Human review or scheduled sessions never gate access or completion.
- Planning cost
- $3,600 for maintenance, access, materials, and an optional supported cohort—not tuition or admission.
Learners retain copyright. Public licensing and Tezos minting are optional and separate. A wallet, public identity, public artifact, or blockchain transaction is never required for this class.
THE ROOM IS OPEN
Bring one place. Leave one useful trace.
Start now, move at your own pace, and keep the work private if that is the right path. Human help and supported cohorts can be added without changing anyone’s right to learn independently.
Support does not buy admission, curriculum control, governance rights, or faculty appointments.