2011-2012

NEW MEETING LOCATION: Unless otherwise indicated, meetings will be in the Marvin Comisky Conference Center, Blank Rome LLP at One Logan Square (at the corner of 18th and Cherry Streets in Philadelphia). Enter from the 18th Street courtyard behind the Four Seasons Hotel. Finding the entrance is not straightforward, so if you have not been there before, we recommend that you take a look at our map.

Meetings begin at 7:30 PM.

If you have an idea for a future program, please contact the Program Committee chair, Russell Juelg. A list of previous meetings is available.

22 September
Members' Reports on Summer Botanizing
Members are invited to bring photos, slides, or specimens to show. If you plan to bring slides or a digital presentation, click here to e-mail us or call Janet Novak (215-248-2642) so we can arrange to have an appropriate projector.
 
27 October
Diversity Gained, Diversity Lost: Long-Term Changes in Woody Plants in Central Park, New York City and Fairmount Park, Philadelphia
Robert Loeb, Associate Professor of Biology and Forestry, Pennsylvania State University
 
17 November
The Bipolar Nature of Amelanchier (Rosaceae)
Michael Burgess, Research Botanist, Morris Arboretum
Commonly called shadbushes or serviceberries, the genus Amelanchier contains attractive shrubs to medium-sized trees that are closely related to apple, pear, hawthorn, cotoneaster, and mountain ash. Amelanchier is distributed across the North Temperate Zone and is most taxonomically diverse in North America. The taxonomy of Amelanchier has long been viewed as perplexing, as exemplified by Fernald, who stated that "no genus in North America, except of course Rubus and Crataegus, has offered so much perplexity and has such contradictory treatment as Amelanchier." Indeed, polyploidy, which is coincident with asexual reproduction, and frequent hybridization, does induce significant taxonomic confusion in Amelanchier. However, despite this complexity, recent research has fundamentally reshaped our understanding of Amelanchier, and has revealed, for the first time, a dimension of the genus characterized by morphologically, ecogeographically, and genetically distinct taxa.
Location: The Academy of Natural Sciences, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia. Enter the Academy through the door on 19th Street near the corner with Cherry Street, and the security guard will direct you to the meeting room.
 
15 December
What Do 200 Years of Study Have to Tell Us About Pennsylvania's Lichens?
James Lendemer, New York Botanical Garden
Location: The Academy of Natural Sciences, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia. Enter the Academy through the door on 19th Street near the corner with Cherry Street, and the security guard will direct you to the meeting room.
 
26 January
Orchids and Their Fungi: What Do We Know and What Do We Need to Know?
Melissa McCormick, Research Scientist at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
 
23 February
Behind the Doors of the Academy of Natural Sciences Herbarium: a Botanical Treasure Trove 200 Years in the Making
Alina Freire-Fierro, Collections Manager, and Tatyana Livshultz, Assistant Curator of Botany, at the Academy of Natural Sciences
If you've ever used an identification key, a flora, or a distribution map to learn something about a plant, you have, indirectly, accessed the treasure trove of botanical information housed in the world's herbaria (collections of dried preserved plant specimens). Now botanical club members have the opportunity to experience a herbarium directly by going behind the scenes at the herbarium of the Academy of Natural Sciences, the oldest herbarium in the Americas, to see its operations and to learn about the history of herbaria and their vital function in science and conservation today.
The organizers need a head count to plan this event. RSVP by January 27 to Alina at 215-299-1157 or to philbotclub@gmail.com with the subject line "RSVP herbarium open house."
Location: The Academy of Natural Sciences, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia. Enter the Academy through the door on 19th Street near the corner with Cherry Street, and the security guard will direct you to the herbarium.
 
22 March
Putting Amazonian Plant Diversity in Historical, Geological, and Ecological Context
Benjamin Torke, Assistant Curator, Institute of Systematic Botany at the New York Botanical Garden
 
26 April
1892: The First Field Trip of the Philadelphia Botanical Club to Bartram's Garden—The Formation of the Club and the Preservation of Bartram's Garden
Joel Fry, Curator, Bartram's Garden
 
24 May
Ernie Schuyler, Academy of Natural Sciences