To be held in the teaching laboratory, RBGE, between 10.00 – 15.30, the aim of the workshop will be to introduce participants to the traditional method of making chromosome counts on ferns first described by Irene Manton in her 1950 book, ‘Cytology and Evolution in the Pteridophyta’. The workshop will include an introduction to cell division and meiosis, then practical work on the “squash technique” using fresh and fixed sporangial material. We will be using binocular and compound microscopes. Numbers will be limited.