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Event Name:
Co-Adaptation, Competition & Cheating! |
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Location:
Manor House & East Terrace |
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Event Date:
Wednesday, 9/17/2025 |
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Event Time:
6:30 PM - 8:30 PM |
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Duration:
2 hours |
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Purchase Deadline:
Wednesday, 9/17/2025 7:30 PM
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Flowering Plant Diversity: Co-Adaptation, Competition, and Cheating!
Flowers come in all kinds of different shapes, sizes, and colors, and most are pollinated by animals. It is the co-evolution of plants and their pollinators that is responsible for the size, shape, and structural diversity that we see in plants today.
This talk will help explain many of the mysteries surrounding how flowering plants have evolved to attract very specific pollinators.
Did you know that the speckles on a rhododendron flower are actually runways?
Did you know that some flowers must be forced open by birds before they can be pollinated?
Did you know that a sunflower is actually a collection of flowers? It has ultraviolet markings that point to its center.
There is so much more to know about the flowers we tend to take for granted! Join for a night of learning, desserts & wine, in a gorgeous fall garden setting.
The Leach Talks 2025 speaker series is generously sponsored by Portland Nursery.
Speaker Bio:
Carol A. Wilson is a botanist in the University and Jepson Herbaria at the University of California, Berkeley. She is the curator of Iridaceae and mistletoe, an associate researcher and principal investigator on research projects, and a mentor who works with undergraduate and graduate students. Previously, she held positions at Portland State University, Portland, OR, and Claremont Graduate University and California Botanic Garden, Claremont, CA. She earned her Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley, where she studied Iris native to Washington, Oregon, and California, and was a postdoctoral fellow on a morphological study of African Loranthaceae at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew.
Carol has continued her research focus on the systematics, biogeography, and morphology of Iris and mistletoe while also contributing as a collaborator and/or mentor to botanical research on other subjects. Her research has been published in leading academic journals and books, and her projects have been funded by the National Science Foundation, the State of California, and private foundations. In addition to this scholarly work, Dr. Wilson is actively involved in the scientific community, serving in several capacities within botanical organizations and presenting her research at national and international conferences.
