Please join us for the Morris Arboretum Lecture Series. There is no cost for members, and non-members may attend free of charge with Arboretum admission. A reception with refreshments follows each lecture. Reservations are required and space is limited. Please call (215) 247-5777, ext. 125 to reserve your seat.

Lukens Endowed Lecture
Forces of Plant Evolution: Insights from Amelanchier (Rosaceae)
Dr. Michael B. Burgess, Research Botanist, Morris Arboretum

Sunday, January 29 • 2 p.m.

Using DNA sequences, and other modern techniques, researchers have revolutionized our understanding of plant evolution. The major result of this research has revealed that two major forces – genome duplication and hybridization – have been instrumental in creating the spectacular diversity of plants we all admire.

Amelanchier, also called shadbush, juneberry, or Saskatoon berry, is a genus of native shrubs and small trees of the Rose family. Prized by horticulturalists for its brilliant spring blossoms and wildlife for its delectable fruit, Amelanchier exemplifies the evolutionary roles genome duplication and hybridization play in driving species diversification.

This lecture will summarize our current understanding of plant evolution, and explore research investigating speciation in Amelanchier.

Klein Endowed Lecture
Beautiful Landscapes: The Key to Healthy Communities
Katy Moss Warner,President Emeritus, American Horticultural Society

Sunday, February 26 • 2 p.m.

For the past five years, Katy Moss Warner has been judging towns and cities for America in Bloom. She has witnessed firsthand what happens when a community focuses attention on their landscapes. Whether protecting the tree canopy, restoring native habitats, installing a new school garden, planting dramatic perennial beds, or adding colorful hanging baskets to downtown, the community pulls together and “plants pride”. The spirit of optimism and volunteerism reflects not only in the beauty of the community, but in its vitality. Communities with beautiful landscapes are the places where people want to live, work, and play.

Katy will describe her experiences with America in Bloom, a not for profit organization that encourages cities and town across America to focus on what is outside in their communities in order to ensure economic sustainability and enhance the quality of life.

Barnes Endowed Lecture
Darwin’s “Abominable Mystery” and the Search for the First Flowering Plants
Ned Friedman, Director, Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University

Sunday, March 18 • 2 p.m.

Charles Darwin’s “abominable mystery” has come to symbolize just about all questions we have about the origin and early evolution of flowering plants. What did Darwin think was so abominably mysterious? We will explore this mystery through Darwin’s correspondence with some of the most eminent botanists of his time and discover what led him to worry about the evolutionary history of flowering plants right through the last year of his life. Fossils, insect pollination, and rates of evolutionary change were all part of the complexity of trying to understand where flowering plants came from and how they eventually came to dominate most of Earth’s plant communities. Finally, we will look at the recent botanical discoveries and determine whether the abominable mystery has been solved.

Ned Friedman is the Director of the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University and Arnold Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology. Ned Friedman received an A.B. in Biology from Oberlin College and a Ph.D. in Botany from the University of California, Berkeley.