The Gila Native Plant Society will kick off its 2023 programs on Friday, January 20, 2023, at 7:00 pm, with a presentation by Richard Spellenberg, Professor Emeritus, New Mexico State University. The program will be presented live at Harlan Hall on the WNMU Campus in Room 111, as well as via Zoom for those who prefer to attend online. As always, the public is welcome. Anyone interested in joining in the Zoom presentation may request a link from gilanative@gmail.com. 

Prof. Spellenberg is the author of The Sunflower Family: A Guide to the Family Asteraceae in the Contiguous United States. He will give a PowerPoint-guided talk on what makes this family so difficult to grasp, the structure of the sunflower head, the features valuable in identification, and the value in learning taxonomic tribes in the family. Examples will be from New Mexico species.

After receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Washington, Richard Spellenberg spent his career as a member of the Biology Department at New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, from 1968 to 2000. At NMSU Richard taught undergraduate courses in general biology, general botany, plant morphology, plant taxonomy, and evolution and graduate courses in botany and evolution.

He studied the diversity of plants in southwestern North America and the systematics of Astragalus, oaks in the Sierra Madre, and the Nyctaginaceae (the Four O’Clock family). Naida Zucker, also a career faculty member at NMSU, will assist. Her Ph.D. degree was granted by University of Illinois; her specialties were in zoology and animal behavior.

The Gila Native Plant Society is committed to promoting education, research and appreciation of the native flora of the Southwest; encouraging the preservation of rare and endangered plant species; and supporting the use of suitable native plants in landscaping.  For information on programs, publications and membership, please visit www.gilanps.org.