May Membership Meeting and Keying Mini-Workshop
May 2 @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Prior to the May 2, 2024 membership meeting, we will be having a free mini-keying workshop for the family of Asteraceae from 6 to 7 pm but arrive a few minutes early to get a good seat and to set up for these popular workshops. Aster flowers of the local area will be provided for you to practice keying on this interesting and diverse family of plants.
Our speaker at the May membership meeting will be Dr. David Keil speaking on the Features of Asteraceae, the Sunflower Family. Asteraceae,the largest family of flowering plants in California, includes many commonly encountered plants as well as uncommon and rare species. Asteraceae (also known as Compositae) are characterized by a set of distinctive features. Terms that botanists use to describe these features will be introduced and their variations illustrated by close-up photos, mostly of San Luis Obispo County members of the family. With an understanding of these features, users will be better able to navigate identification keys and gain a deeper appreciation of this fascinating group of plants.
Dr Keil is Professor Emeritus of Biology at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. He has had a lifelong interest and enthusiasm for botany. He received his B.S. and M.S. in botany from Arizona State University and his Ph.D. from Ohio State University. At Cal Poly he taught for 39 years, with courses in general botany, plant taxonomy, field botany, evolution, and biogeography. For many years Dave served as Curator of the Robert F. Hoover Herbarium at Cal Poly. He has authored scientific papers, textbooks, and study guides, and has been a major contributor and editor to The Jepson Manual and the Flora of North America. His interests include Asteraceae systematics and floristics of Western North America. He edited both editions of the Wildflowers of San Luis Obispo and has just published the second edition of the Vascular Plants of San Luis Obispo County, California. He was elected as CNPS Fellow in 2018. He has served as Editor of Madroño and Systematic Botany Monographs.
The May 2024 membership meeting will be held at the San Luis Obispo Veterans Memorial Building.