Floras for the Future: Why Plant Description Still Matters
Exploration of plant diversity has been going on since humans first walked the Earth – so surely we must be done by now. Why should we describe the plant life of a country and write a flora, rather than investigating the deep structure of the tree of life, or addressing immediate societal problems such as war or hunger? In this lecture, Dr. Sandra Knapp will argue that the description of plant life on Earth is the basis for plant science and thus essential and always relevant for its advancement.
Dr. Knapp is a botanist from the Natural History Museum in London, specializing on the taxonomy and evolution of the nightshade family, Solanaceae, and she has spent much time in the field collecting plants, mostly in the Neotropics.
This is part of the Biodiversity Lecture Series, organized jointly by the Biodiversity Research Centre and the Beaty Biodiversity Museum. Visit the Beaty Biodiversity Museum before the public talk, admission by donation between 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm.
