[PCA] Smithsonian Botanical Symposium: “Life on the Edge: Exceptional Plants in Exceptional Places,” 13 May 2022

[Krupnick, Gary]

Dear plant enthusiasts,

The Smithsonian’s Department of Botany and the United States Botanic Garden will hold the 19th Smithsonian Botanical Symposium, “Life on the Edge: Exceptional Plants in Exceptional Places,” on 13 May 2022.

Plants live in seemingly inhospitable environments that exhibit extremes of light, temperature, altitude, drought, and substrate. To survive in the driest deserts, on mountaintops, without soil or with toxic soil, numerous adaptations have evolved to enable specialized plants such as succulents, epiphytes, and alpines to exploit these environments. The 19th Smithsonian Botanical Symposium will explore current research on plants in extreme environments, examining their natural history, evolution, and value for human survival, in the face of climate change and increasing pollution. Speakers will include scientists specializing in conservation, ecology, systematics, and genetics whose research explores plant survival in extreme parts of the natural world.

In addition, the 19th José Cuatrecasas Medal in Tropical Botany will be awarded at the Symposium. This prestigious award is presented annually to an international scholar who has contributed significantly to advancing the field of tropical botany. The award is named in honor of Dr. José Cuatrecasas, a pioneering botanist who spent many years working in the Department of Botany at the Smithsonian and devoted his career to plant exploration in tropical South America.

The Symposium will be virtual. If COVID-restrictions are lifted, it will transition to a hybrid event -- virtual on Zoom and in-person in Washington, DC. The event is free; there is no registration fee to attend the Symposium.

Register now at https://smithsonian.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_l7QFKW9BSZ-ss6uyWW9Erg.

Tentative Schedule (all times are Eastern Daylight Time):
1:00 pm Welcome and Cuatrecases Medal
1:15 pm First speaker
1:45 pm Second speaker
2:15 pm Break
2:45 pm Third speaker
3:15 pm Fourth speaker
3:45 pm Break
4:15 pm Fifth speaker
4:45 pm Round-table discussion
5:15 pm Wrap-up

The names of the speakers will be announced soon.

Best regards,
Gary Krupnick


Gary Krupnick, Ph.D. (he/him/his)

Head of the Plant Conservation Unit

Department of Botany

w 202.633.0940  krupnick at si.edu<mailto:krupnick at si.edu>



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