[BSW] May 2 meeting + Field trip reminder + Misc.

[KATHY BILTON]

There will be a field trip out to the Sharpsburg area this Saturday, April 
22 at 10 a.m. Trip details are here: 
http://botsoc.org/bswfieldtrips.html#april22

----------------------------------------------------

The speaker for our May 2 meeting will be:

Dr. Marcela Sandoval Velasco, a Postdoctoral Researcher at the
National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=m3KX928AAAAJ&hl=es

Her title is :  An integrative palaeogenomic approach to study the 
domestication history of Agaves”

Summary:
Agaves are widely known for the popular spirits produced from them, 
Tequila and Mezcal, and less known for being one culturally-important 
historical cultivar with a long history of interaction and use by humans 
in the Americas. Archaeological evidence discovered in many sites across 
Mesoamerica and the American Southwest  show that agaves have been used as 
a source of food, beverage, fibre, clothing, weaponry, tool, and 
construction material for thousands of years. This has led to the 
suggestion that agaves may be one of the earliest cultivated and 
domesticated plants from Mesoamerica. Using the extensive archaeological 
record of agaves and applying novel palaeogenomic methods, I am 
investigating the complex evolutionary history of the processes driving 
cultivation and domestication directly through time to understand how the 
human-agave relationship was shaped and established, how humans impacted 
the distribution and reproduction of agaves through traditional management 
and how this influenced and modified the landscape.

Time: 7 pm with doors opening by 6:45.
Zoom link: 
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86378636908?pwd=YXIveGFyMzQyV2E0M0ZZSmtJL095Zz09
Meeting ID: 863 7863 6908   Passcode: 763443

Flier for the meeting: http://botsoc.org/may23.pdf

------------------------------------------------------

The April 2023 Plant Press is available now:
https://nmnh.typepad.com/files/vol26no2.pdf

------------------------------------------------------

Sunday, April 23 at noon (EST)  How Ancient Forests Can Save Us if We Let 
Them
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/hybrid-how-ancient-forests-can-save-us-if-we-let-them-tickets-536059527477

--------------------------------------------------------

Local 83-year-old botanist's 'crazy' non-stop hunt for rare plants
https://www.chronicleonline.com/news/local/local-83-year-old-botanists-crazy-non-stop-hunt-for-rare-plants/article_0eeb39ac-fde0-511b-9eef-6abb6b316b68.html

---------------------------------------------------------

Botanist Stefano Mancuso: ‘You can anaesthetise all plants. This is 
extremely fascinating’
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/apr/15/scientist-stefano-mancuso-you-can-anaesthetise-all-plants-this-is-extremely-fascinating-tree-stories

----------------------------------------------------------

Take virtual trip to the arctic with Dorothy Newton Swales, McGill’s 
“mother of botany”
https://reporter.mcgill.ca/take-virtual-trip-to-the-arctic-with-dr-swales-founding-mother-of-botany-at-mcgill/

-----------------------------------------------------------