Evening Program
Tuesday, October 14*, 7:00 p.m.: Dr.
Wendy C. Hodgson, “Pre-Columbian Agaves in
Southwestern United States:
A New Way of Looking at Species and Their Cultural Landscapes”
at the Shepherd of the Hills Church, 1601
North San Francisco. Easy to find! Easy to park! This event is free and open to the
public.
Dr. Hodgson is Research Botanist and Herbarium Curator at the Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix,
Arizona. She is interested in the flora of the Southwest, particularly the Grand Canyon region, rare and endemic plants, and systematics of Agave and Yucca, including pre-Columbian agave cultivars.
Wendy coordinated the Cactus family treatment for Intermountain Flora and is head of the Cactaceae of Western U.S.project by Garden research staff and research associates. She is an avid plant collector who strives toward making high quality herbarium specimens.
The talk will focus on how the importance of agaves to Mesoamerica’s cultures has distorted the plants’ role for cultures north of the U.S.–Mexico border. Pre-Columbian farmers cultivated several species of agave in Arizona dating to at least A.D. 600 that have persisted in the landscape to the present. Most probably they originated in northern Mexico and were traded as far north as the Grand Canyon. Verde Valley is a region of intense agave cultivation, having at least four of the five known domesticates. Landscapes and plants should be viewed from a cultural, rather than “natural” perspective that helps discern cryptic species and requires interdisciplinary collaboration.
*Note: This is the second Tuesday of the month, not the third, which is our usual meeting date.
Walk
Saturday, October 18, Verde Valley Agaves
Our field trip in the
Verde Valley will provide an opportunity to see several of these “living”
artifacts in situ, with further hypothetical discussions
of their origins and importance to people, as well as questions
about agave diversification and speciation
in general.
Flagstaff people will
meet at the AZ State Credit Union at 8 am to carpool to Camp Verde. We will meet
Wendy and Sedona and Verde Valley folks at Starbucks at 9 am at the Junction of
I-17 and 260 in Camp Verde. We will then go and check out Sacred Mountain agave
and Agave phillipsiana, check out another Sacred agaves and maybe an
A. delamateri, then lunch at Wet Beaver Day Use Area, then go and see
Page Springs agaves. Wendy anticipates being done by 3 pm, and all will return
home thereafter.
Come prepared with sun protection and/or rain protection,
water, snacks, lunch, and car or gas money for carpooling. For more information,
e-mail Barbara Phillips at bagphillips@yahoo.com or call her at 928-853-3355.
Southwestern United States:
A New Way of Looking at Species and Their Cultural Landscapes”
at the Shepherd of the Hills Church, 1601
North San Francisco. Easy to find! Easy to park! This event is free and open to the
public.
Dr. Hodgson is Research Botanist and Herbarium Curator at the Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix,
Arizona. She is interested in the flora of the Southwest, particularly the Grand Canyon region, rare and endemic plants, and systematics of Agave and Yucca, including pre-Columbian agave cultivars.
Wendy coordinated the Cactus family treatment for Intermountain Flora and is head of the Cactaceae of Western U.S.project by Garden research staff and research associates. She is an avid plant collector who strives toward making high quality herbarium specimens.
The talk will focus on how the importance of agaves to Mesoamerica’s cultures has distorted the plants’ role for cultures north of the U.S.–Mexico border. Pre-Columbian farmers cultivated several species of agave in Arizona dating to at least A.D. 600 that have persisted in the landscape to the present. Most probably they originated in northern Mexico and were traded as far north as the Grand Canyon. Verde Valley is a region of intense agave cultivation, having at least four of the five known domesticates. Landscapes and plants should be viewed from a cultural, rather than “natural” perspective that helps discern cryptic species and requires interdisciplinary collaboration.
*Note: This is the second Tuesday of the month, not the third, which is our usual meeting date.
Walk
Saturday, October 18, Verde Valley Agaves
Our field trip in the
Verde Valley will provide an opportunity to see several of these “living”
artifacts in situ, with further hypothetical discussions
of their origins and importance to people, as well as questions
about agave diversification and speciation
in general.
Flagstaff people will meet at the AZ State Credit Union at 8 am to carpool to Camp Verde. We will meet Wendy and Sedona and Verde Valley folks at Starbucks at 9 am at the Junction of I-17 and 260 in Camp Verde. We will then go and check out Sacred Mountain agave and Agave phillipsiana, check out another Sacred agaves and maybe an A. delamateri, then lunch at Wet Beaver Day Use Area, then go and see Page Springs agaves. Wendy anticipates being done by 3 pm, and all will return home thereafter.
Come prepared with sun protection and/or rain protection,
water, snacks, lunch, and car or gas money for carpooling. For more information,
e-mail Barbara Phillips at bagphillips@yahoo.com or call her at 928-853-3355.
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