A new public survey on the visual perception of plants was conducted, involving 200 Gen X and Gen Y adults drawn from 25 US states [age range: 18-34; group composition: 80 males, 120 females]. This survey built upon three previous national and international studies presented by the author at BSA 2000 and 2001. It was designed to probe the fit of several assumptions underlying the LimitingCases™ teaching strategy that the author had proposed for botany education at BSA 2001. Data analysis of the latest survey results revealed that the three most salient visual perception preferences affecting visitors' time allocation across the plant specimens available for viewing at a major botanic garden were, in rank order, evidence of maximal mass, maximal vertical or horizontal extent, and maximal age. Botanical garden specimens that exemplified certain Plant Kingdom-related minima or displayed certain floral characters were ranked moderately high. These findings led the author to propose that The Great Vine--the oldest and largest living grapevine in the world, planted as a cutting in 1768 by the famous landscape gardener Lancelot "Capability" Brown and located in East Molesey, Surrey, England--might serve as an "extreme example" appropriate for use in testing the effectiveness of the LimitingCases™ teaching strategy for learning selected key botanical concepts and principles.

Key words: botany education, extreme examples, limiting cases, national public survey, teaching strategy, The Great Vine, visual perception of plants