Velvet Ash (Fraxinus velutina) (Photo courtesy of Dale A. Zimmerman Herbarium, WNMU)The Gila Native Plant Society will hold its first evening meeting of 2019 at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, January 18, 2019, in Harlan Hall, Room 219, on the WNMU campus. Harlan Hall is at the corner of 12th and Alabama Streets in Silver City.

The meeting will feature a hands-on workshop by Richard Felger and William (Bill) Norris entitled “Know the Trees II: Twigs, Cones and Fruit,” a follow-up to the first workshop on tree identification given at the October meeting. This session will tackle the somewhat trickier problem of identifying our native trees in winter by examining twig structures, persistent fruit and cones. If you have one, please bring a 10X hand-lens with you.

Here is a little information about our workshop leaders:

Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga mensiesii) (Photo courtesy of Dale A. Zimmerman Herbarium, WNMU)Richard Felger: We lived summers by the beach so I was first a marine biologist and got into cactus, orchids, and lizards after eight years of age. It is always a privilege to study and write about new aridland food crops, botany, and ethnobiology—here in the upper Gila Region, the Sonoran Desert, and deserts worldwide. I am a researcher with the University of Arizona Herbarium and live in Silver City with my wife Silke Schneider and our animals and plants. For more information please look at here

William (Bill) Norris is Professor of Biology at Western New Mexico University (since 2001), where he teaches numerous botany courses, as well as ecology and ornithology. Bill enjoys collaborating with other botanists on research projects that include monographic studies of sedges (Carex), forest monitoring in Iowa's Paleozoic Plateau, and floristic studies of native vegetation remnants in both Iowa and New Mexico.

Also at this meeting, you will have the opportunity to greet the new officers of the Gila Native Plant Society. Taking office as of January 1, 2019, for two-year terms are Don Graves, President; Bill Norris, Vice-President; Jane Spinti, Secretary; and Wendy Graves, Treasurer.

All Gila Native Plant Society meetings are free and open to the public. Refreshments following the program. For further information visit our website here.

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 here.