Torrey Botanical Society Annual Banquet and Lecture

Join us May 3rd for the Torrey Botanical Society’s Annual Lecture and Banquet!

The hidden heroes of herbaria: the collector practices that enable large-scale floristic research in the Northeast

Ryan Schmidt from Harvard University will discuss how the rich history of botanical collecting in the northeastern US has resulted in an extensive herbarium record that provides a unique opportunity to study floristic change in a highly urbanized region. He explores the shared practices of collectors that have shaped collections in the Northeast, and as a case study, shows how these practices have provided crucial insights into the history of plants introduced to the Northeast via pre-20th-century solid ship ballast deposition. He will highlight how a few prolific botanists provided the basis for our understanding of ballast plants, however, less-prolific collectors have expanded the spatial and temporal coverage of herbaria provided by more-prolific collectors and enabled novel insights into the flora of the Northeast.

Ryan Schmidt is a botanist and biodiversity scientist generally interested in understanding how the relationship between plant diversity and human history has changed through time and space. His research focuses on the impact of human decision making on natural history museums and how these collections can be leveraged to study the introduction, establishment, and evolution of human-associated weedy and non-native species (especially Verbascum; Scrophulariaceae). He received his bachelor's degree in Ecology, Evolution, & Natural Resources at Rutgers University and is currently completing his PhD in Organismic & Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University working in the Harvard University Herbaria.

The lecture is open to Torrey members and non-members alike, and will be held in the Daffodil Classroom at Pier 57. To attend on zoom, register here.

Banquet

Following the lecture, the banquet will be held in the Daffodil Classroom at Pier 57 and is open to Torrey members. Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food will be served, including gluten free and vegetarian options.

Please contact us at torreybotanicalsociety@gmail.com with any questions!