Boston Flora

Tag: Plant Diversity

  • Thursday, November 11, 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm – Ecosystem Management: How Plant Diversity Influences Bird Conservation, Online

    Plant diversity across the landscape affects bird conservation and management in all ecosystems and regions. Join Natasza Fontaine and the Mt. Cuba Center as she discusses the interaction of native plants and birds in the largest U.S. National Forest in the state of Florida, the Apalachicola National Forest. There are numerous natural community types throughout the National Forest with mesic flatwoods covering over 200, 000 acres. This talk will describe some of the unique plants and processes found in this beautiful mosaic landscape, and then focus on the relationship between vegetation structure, plant species composition, and avian diversity during fall, winter, and spring.

    This program takes place online Thursday, November 11. $19. Register at www.mtcubacenter.org.

    About the Instructor:
    Natasza Fontaine has volunteered at several conservation organizations, including NYC Audubon, and worked in the Herbarium department at the New York Botanical Garden. Her love of plants has always been deeply intertwined with her love of birds. This passion inspired her current thesis work at Florida State University on understanding the relationship between plant diversity and avian habitat associations. In addition, Natasza has a passion for behavioral bioacoustics and how bioacoustics are used to monitor biodiversity.

  • Thursday, October 29, 9:00 am – 1:00 pm – Plant Diversity Symposium, Online

    Join The Native Plant Trust and The Nature Conservancy on October 29 from 9 – 1 for our first-ever virtual symposium to unveil a new analysis of plant diversity in New England, a collaboration between Native Plant Trust and The Nature Conservancy. This symposium delves into goals and strategies for conserving plant diversity in the wake of development and climate change. Through multiple interactive digital formats, we will address what the new data analysis tells us about the current status of plant diversity, how it guides priorities for plant conservation, and what approaches are being used to meet conservation goals. The Plant Diversity Symposium sheds new light on the intersection between plant conservation, land management, and land protection. This program, originally scheduled last June at Lesley University, was canceled due to COVID-19. Register at www.NativePlantTrust.org and keep checking our website for the most up-to-date details. $48 for sponsor members, $60 for nonmembers.

  • Sunday, February 26, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm – New England Plant Diversity: Session 2

    Keeping up with changes in plant names can be challenging, but it reflects our expanding understanding of the plant kingdom based on genetics, a closer look at plant form, and new ways of analyzing relationships. Learn how to make sense of this new plant universe from one of the best botanists in the field, Arthur Haines. In the session 2 of this 5 session New England Wild Flower Society series, students will examine tracheophyte families, starting with free-sporing plants (e.g., ferns) and ending with three major groups of seed plants: nonflowering seed plants (i.e., conifers); magnoliids (i.e., primitive dicots); and monocots.

    Note: Session 1 is a prerequisite for all other sessions; Sessions 2-5 may be taken in any order. Recommended text: Plant Systematics: A Phylogenetic Approach by Judd et al. (available on www.amazon.com)  $46 for NEWFS members, $54 for nonmembers. Register online at http://www.newfs.org/learn/our-programs/new-england-plant-diversity-session-2-1

  • Monday, April 18, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Plant Diversity: The Leitmotif of Botanical Gardens

    Plant diversity, whether for conservational or aesthetic value, is the recurring theme in botanical gardens that connects our displays, research, and visitor experiences to our missions. While the domestication of crop species has significantly altered their genomes from that of their wild crop relatives, the majority of horticultural crops are not that far removed from their wild relatives. Thus, we still explore, document, and cultivate the untapped diversity in the world’s temperate floras to enrich our gardens.

    Join Richard Olsen, Director of the US National Arboretum, on Monday April 18 at 7 pm in the Hunnewell Building, 125 Arborway, as he considers what legacies remain from early plant explorations, how do we document and capture diversity, and where do we go from here, in a century that will see so much lost to globalization?

  • Tuesdays, September 20 – November 29, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm – Introduction to Botany

    Register now for the fall semester of Introduction to Botany with K.N. Gandhi, Botanist with the Harvard University Herbaria.  The ten session course will take place at the Herbaria in Cambridge on September 20, 27, October 4, 11, 18, 25, November 1, 8, 15, and 29 from 6:30 – 8:30. Among the topics to be explored: plant cells and tissues, anatomy and morphology, reproduction, nutrition, growth and development, plant diversity, evolution, classification, and nomenclature.  Fee $280 Arboretum and NEWFS members, $372 nonmembers. Offered with the New England Wild Flower Society.  Register at www.arboretum.harvard.edu.

  • Tuesday, September 22, 6:30 – 8:30 pm – Introduction to Botany

    Learn botany from dedicated instructor and plant nomenclature specialist Kanchi Gandhi. Among the topics to be explored: plant cells and tissues, anatomy and morphology, reproduction, nutrition, growth and development, plant diversity, evolution, classification, and nomenclature. This course, offering both lecture and laboratory activities, introduces botany to new students or serves as a refresher course. Required text: Botany for Gardeners by Brian Capon. Contact the Arboretum’s bookstore (617.384.5209) for book availability. Sessions continue Tuesdays September 29, October 6, 13, 20, 27, November 3 and 10, all 6:30 – 8:30 at the Arnold Arboretum.  Fee $180 for members of Arnold Arboretum or New England Wild Flower Society, $215 for nonmembers. Register now! Fee will increase to $225 member, $270 nonmember on September 1.  Log on to www.arboretum.harvard.edu to sign up.

    Tattoo Inspiration by Dharmuti.