The Sixth Arizona Botanists Meeting, hosted by the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum (ASDM), the Desert Botanical Garden, and the Arizona Native Plant Society.  This year’s theme is “The Value and Future of Floristics.” The main meeting will be held at ASDM in the Baldwin Education Building on Saturday, February 21, 2009, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.  Field trips will be on February 20 and February 22, with an AZNPS Board meeting to be held on February 20.

Our goal is to again foster a spirit of cooperation for the sharing of ideas among and facilitating collaboration between individuals from academic institutions, local, state, and federal government agencies, and non-governmental organizations from across the state of Arizona that motivated our first meeting (February 2003), and also to provide a forum to meet others who share an interest in the flora of Arizona and surrounding areas within the Southwest.

Invited Speakers and Presentation Titles

David Yetman (University of Arizona)
“Cacti and Geography of the Valleys of Tehuacan/Cuicatlan in Southern Mexico” “

Dan Austin (Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum)
"Baboquivari Mountain Plants"

Tom Van Devender (University of Arizona)
“The Flora of Sonora: Seven Decades of Progress”

John Wiens (Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum)
“Flora of Ironwood Forest National Monument”

Short-Presentation Speakers and Presentation Titles

Mark Bierner (University of Arizona), "Legumes of Arizona: An Illustrated Flora and Reference"
Sarah Degroot (Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Garden), “Flora of the Whipple Mountains, CA"
David Hearn (University of Arizona), "Using online biodiversity informatics tools to help plan your next botanical field trip"
Wendy Hodgson (Desert Botanical Garden), “The Cactus Family in Arizona, A Collaborative Revisionary Project”
Jennifer Johnson, Joe McAuliffe and Matt King (Desert Botanical Garden), "A Rapid Field Method to Generate Species-Area Curves for Quantitative Analyses of Floristic Data"
Bill Peachy (Sonoran Science Solutions Inc.), “Daily Bloom Production of Carnegiea gigantea”
Sue Rutman (Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument), "Virtual Herbarium for ORPI"
Al Schneider (Colorado Naive Plant Society), “A Celebration of the 200th Anniversary of the Birth of George Engelmann”

Poster space will also be available for poster presentations relevant to the theme and tables will be available for display of relevant literature and books or organizations. There will be a book/art silent auction, as well as a 10% discount in the museum gift shop so come prepared.

There are still spaces left for three of our five free field trips:
Friday (Feb. 20th) a tour of the University of Arizona Arboretum and Herbarium / Afternoon; and on Sunday (Feb. 22nd) a hike in the Tucson Mountains with Jim Verrier, nursery manager of Desert Survivors Nursery / Morning or a tour of the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Living Collections with George Montgomery, Curator of Botany from 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.  However, registration for the field trips to the Baboquivari Mountains and Ironwood Forest National Monument is full and therefore closed.

An Arizona Native Plant Society Board meeting will take place on Friday, February 20 from 3 - 8 p.m. at the Baldwin Education Building at ASDM. Anyone is welcome to attend.

The registration fee for the meeting is $26 and will include an entrance pass to the Desert Museum, lunch, refreshments (coffee & tea), and a 10% discount on at the Museum’s Gift Shops.  At a separate cost of $16, a social hour will follow the afternoon sessions including a cash bar and dinner. A reduced fee of $15 is offered to undergraduate and graduate students.  Early registration for the meeting will be due by 6 February 09. Late registration fee (after 6 Feb) is $40 ($25 students). Registration will not be accepted after 13 February.

Click here for registration.

Information, preliminary programs and registration materials will be posted on the Arizona Native Plant Society web site (http://aznps.com/) the ASDM website (http://www.desertmuseum.org/azbotany/) and on the Desert Botanical Garden web site (http://www.dbg.org/index.php/research/azbotanymeeting2009).

Please spread the word and mark your calendars for AZ Botany 2009.  We look forward to seeing you in 2009 for what we hope to be another successful and productive meeting.

Sincerely,
George Montgomery
Andrew Salywon

For AZ Botany 2009 Organizing Committee:
Mark Dimmitt (ASDM)
Tom Van Devender (ASDM)
Wendy Hodgson (DBG)
George Montgomery (ASDM)
Barbara Phillips (AZNPS)
Andrew Salywon (DBG)