“Exploring the Natural World: Plants, People and Places” is the theme of the 15th Smithsonian Botanical Symposium, hosted by the National Museum of Natural History’s Department of Botany and the United States Botanic Garden.

The symposium will highlight the history of exploration undertaken by individuals and groups with an emphasis on exploration of the Americas. Several of our presentations are based on recently-published books or books in preparation.

Full Program:

9:30 a.m. Opening Remarks, Maureen Kearney, Associate Director for Science, Smithsonian Institution, and Laurence J. Dorr, Chair of Botany, Smithsonian Institution. Presentation of the José Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany, Kenneth J. Wurdack, Department of Botany, Smithsonian Institution

10:00 a.m. Jacques Cayouette, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, “Moravian missionaries as pioneers of botanical exploration in Labrador (1765-1954)”

11:15 a.m. Eliane Norman, Stetson University, and Charles Williams, The André Michaux International Society, “André Michaux, intrepid naturalist in America: 1785-1796”

12:00 p.m. Pamela Henson, Smithsonian Institution Archives, “‘What holds the earth together’: Agnes Chase and Latin American agrostology”

2:00 p.m. Megan Raby, University of Texas at Austin, “Tropical biology and the history of ‘biodiversity'”

2:45 p.m. Daniel Stone, National Geographic Magazine, “The botanical adventures we live every day”

4:00 p.m. Javier Francisco-Ortega, Florida International University, “David Fairchild and his expeditions to the Caribbean Islands”

4:45 p.m. Janet Browne, Harvard University, “Plants, people and places: Charles Darwin’s botanical work”

[Botanical Art by Kathleen Garness.]