Native Plant Society Monthy Walk and Talk

Greetings Plant Enthusiasts!!!

Evening Program Talk-Tuesday June 15:
JOINT AZNPS/HERBARIUM POTLUCK AT 6:00 IN OUR USUAL MEETING ROOM TO HONOR DAVID HAMMOND.

Please join us to honor David, who started working at the Deaver Herbarium in 1994 after a long and distinguished career at the New York Botanical Garden. David has been the Treasurer of the Flagstaff Chapter of AZNPS for many years. Following the potluck, Susan Bean will talk on “So much more than trees,” the whole picture of the forest, understory included, with highlights from her flower almanac. Climate and microclimates will be discussed, also.

Field Trip-Sunday June 20: The field trip will be in conjunction with The Nature Conservancy’s Guided Nature Walk at Hart Prairie Preserve. These ninety-minute walks offer a wonderful opportunity to learn about the wildflowers and forest ecology of the Bebb’s willow community where AZNPS is conducting the second year of its PAPAZ project. After the TNC walk we will also wander through the adjacent Fern Mountain Botanical Area of the Coconino NF.

Evening Program Talk-Tuesday July 20, 7pm: Carrie Cannon, Ethnobotanist from Central Washington University, will discuss her thesis research of the ethnobotany of the Hualapai. Carrie has done many projects with the Hualapai elders and youth, including a recipe book, playing cards representing the plants, and agave roasts.

Field Trip-Sunday, July 25: Carrie will lead a plant walk at Elden Pipeline trail, in the “banana belt” of Flagstaff, where plants overlap with those on the Hualapai Reservation. She will discuss Hualapai names and uses of plants found here such as cliffrose, agave, and yucca.

Wednesday, August 25: Flagstaff Garden Competition Extravaganza 2010 (Awards Presentation). For flyer describing the competition, click here.

Sunday August 29: Flagstaff Garden Competition Tour of all the gardens.

Field Guide to Forest and Mountain Plants of Northern Arizona:

Judy Springer, Mark Daniels, and Mare Nazaire, the authors of the 650-pageField Guide to Forest and Mountain Plants of Northern Arizona. The field guide, published by the Ecological Restoration Institute at Northern Arizona University is designed for professional and amateur botanists, and anyone else who has an interest in the region’s rich diversity of plants. The book sells for $30 at the NAU Bookstore or online at www.nau.edu/bookstore

This is the first book of its kind for the higher-elevation ecosystems of northern and eastern Arizona. It includes information about more than 1,400 species of conifers, flowering trees and shrubs, grasses and grass-like plants, wildflowers, cacti and agaves, ferns and fern allies, and aquatics.

Nearly every species entry has a botanical illustration to help identify the plant. In addition, there are 288 beautiful, full-color photographs of various plant species. A complete index of both common and scientific names helps users navigate the book with ease.

“I hope the field guide will advance our understanding and appreciation of native plant species in our backyards and in the forests that surround us as we are faced with unprecedented challenges in this century, including the effects of projected climate change on the environment,” said ERI plant ecologist, Judy Springer.

The field guide also offers a snapshot of the geology, human history, and climatic events that have shaped the region from the San Francisco Peaks, along the Mogollon Rim, and into the White Mountains. Photo: Potentilla thurberi (scarlet cinquefoil) by Max Licher, Field Guide to Forest and Mountain Plants of Northern Arizona.

All talks are the third Tuesday of the month at 7:00 pm (unless we note a time or date change). They are held in room 328 of the NAU biology building (building #21). Park in the NAU biology building parking lot at the corners of Franklin and Beaver Streets (free after 4:30). Enter the biology building through the door behind the bicycle racks, at the southeast corner of the building. Immediately after entering two sets of double doors go up the staircase to the third floor. The room is past the Deaver Herbarium, down the hall.