New York Flora Association Blog

2011 NEW YORK FLORA ASSOCIATION ANNUAL MEETING

All are welcome to the 2011 NYFA annual meeting which will take place at the North East Natural History Conference (NENHC).

The 2011 meeting will feature a presentation entitled “New Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada” by Rob Naczi of the New York Botanical Garden.

The most recent Flora for northeastern North America is Gleason & Cronquist’s Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada (1991). Great advances in botany in the past two decades have made the time ripe for its revision. Particularly compelling justifications for revision are 1) improvements in understanding relationships among families and genera; 2) continued taxonomic discovery in the region at the specific and infraspecific level; and 3) field discoveries of an increasing number of non-native species that have become established in the region, including invasive plants. The goals of this project are to produce a compact, one-volume Manual intended for field use, similar to Gleason & Cronquist, as well as to create an accompanying online Flora. The online Flora will expand on the contents of the Manual by including discussions, photographs, citation of literature, etc. The region of coverage for the new Manual is the same as for Gleason & Cronquist, a vast area of northeastern North America: the entirety or portions of 22 states of the U.S.A. (CT, DE, IA, IL, IN, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, VA, VT, WI, WV) and 5 provinces of Canada (NB, NS, ON, PE, QU). The total area covered is ca. 860,500 mi2, which is equivalent to 29% of the area of the 48 contiguous states of the U.S.A. The botanical scope of the new Manual is the same as its predecessors: all vascular plants growing spontaneously and established in the geographic area covered. Included will be an estimated 5000 species and 200 families of vascular plants (ca. 25% of all North American species and ca. 65% of all North American families). Relative to Gleason & Cronquist, several innovations distinguish the new Manual, including collaboration by a team of taxonomic and floristic experts, and inclusion of etymologies of generic names and specific epithets, conservation status for each species, morphologic synapomorphies for families, and new identification tools.

In addition, find out more about what NYFA is doing including a review of the 2011 field trip and workshop schedule. There will also be time to mingle and talk with others interested in the flora of New York.

Don’t miss out on this exciting and interesting event!

When: Thursday April 7^th 12 Noon – 1:30 PM

Where: At the NENHC at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center

Registration: Registrations for the meeting are being accepted through the NENHC registration form.

Cost: The meeting is free but registration for the NENHC is strongly encouraged.

Details: Lunches are offered through registration to the NENHC, or you can bring your own lunch.