Native Plant Society of New Mexico Native Plant Society of New Mexico

In-person and Zoom (link + note of interest at bottom of page) meeting in the classroom adjacent to the NMSU Herbarium on the NMSU campus in the Biology Annex at 3080 Williams Street. Free parking north and south of the Annex after 4:30 pm.

6:30 pm: Social half-hour with refreshments.
7:00 pm: Dr. Richard Spellenberg will present a hands-on mini-workshop on flowers of the Sunflower Family (Asteraceae) to introduce this marvelous plant family generally called “composites.” His wife, Naida Zucker, will be there to help out.

Spellenberg will answer “Why use the category tribes?” “Why this is a head of flowers and not a single flower?” We will begin learning the ins-and-outs of Sunflower Family structure and identification, what makes a composite, and what we look for in organizing them in our minds. We will be using live flower heads. We will explain why this showy, important, very common family has a widespread reputation for difficulty in identification of genera and species. Little by little, we’d like to erode that sentiment and have some fun along the way.

Bring a 10x (or higher) hand lens/loupe, if you have one. If you have an extra loupe to loan to someone for the evening, please bring it (tape your name to the lanyard). You may also purchase high quality ones (10x) under the brand name Belomo (common on the internet). Perkins Jewelry Supply, 1124 Yandell Dr., El Paso also has a loupe for sale (GemOro 10x).

You may enjoy following along or adding to your experience during the presentation using his and his wife’s book, The Sunflower Family: A Guide to the Family Asteraceae in the Contiguous United States. This may be found on the internet at https://shopbritpress.org/collections/all?page=5. A few copies will be available for purchase at the meeting for $48 ($45 base price + tax; 20% of these proceeds will go to the Las Cruces NMNPS chapter).

Richard Spellenberg is Professor Emeritus of Biology at New Mexico State University. He obtained a doctoral degree in botany from the University of Washington in 1968, after which he moved to N.M.S.U. where he has taught since. He has studied plants in western North America during his career, particularly those of the desert Southwest and the Sierra Madre Occidental in northern Mexico, contributing to numerous technical works on the classification of native plants. In addition, he has authored and contributed to several books on wildflowers and general ecology directed toward the lay public. Naida Zucker, Professor Emerita at NMSU, specialized in animal behavior, working with fiddler crabs, lizards, and clam shrimp. Skilled in computer graphic programs, she was instrumental in reviewing the book and in its compilation and construction from manuscript to press.

We look forward to seeing you there, and at the supplementary La Cueva field trip on Sat. 9/16!