The public is invited to BRIT’s free informal lectures….
Registration is not necessary, parking is free and donations are welcomed!
Don’t miss the opportunity to meet with visiting scientists or to learn more about local and national conservation issues from a variety of speakers. This spring our guest lecturers are sure to peak the curiosity of a broad audience. Gardeners will enjoy hearing about unusual plant associations and the important bugs visiting their prized specimens, while amateur botanists can learn more about specific plant families. Everyone can appreciate hearing about the accomplishments of Benny J. Simpson, a researcher who showed the horticultural industry the way to sustainable gardens.
The lectures will mainly (but not always) be scheduled in the late afternoon to be more accessible to professionals, teachers and students. As always, we offer free off-street parking. Come spend an afternoon with our botanical staff and friends. We all have something to learn.
A Dream Fulfilled – Our Nation’s Tropical Garden
With Chipper Wichman, Director and CEO, National Tropical Botanical Garden, Kauai
12:00PM, BRIT's Main Office, 500 E. 4th Street, Fort Worth, TX (map)
The National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG) came into existence over 40 years ago and grew to become a national resource in tropical horticulture and botany. Director Chipper Wichman will share his knowledge of this unique institution and the evolutionary path it has followed since its creation by the Untied States Congress. In its recently completed LEED Gold botanical research center, the NTBG is at the forefront of biodiversity and evolutionary research which informs the horticultural industry and addresses issues of world hunger.
The Role of Botanic Gardens in Rainforest Conservation
With John Langevin, Conservatory Manager, Fort Worth Botanic Garden
4:30PM, BRIT's Main Office, 500 E. 4th Street, Fort Worth, TX (map)
Rainforests are rapidly disappearing because the value of the intact habitat is measured only by the value of its timber or mineral resources. This view overlooks the intrinsic value of nearly half the world’s species of plants, animals and microorganisms that will disappear over the next quarter century due to rainforest deforestation. The 10,000 square foot Conservatory at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden houses a kaleidoscope of orchids, bromeliads and exotic trees from around the world. This collection serves to educate the public about conservation issues facing us in the 21st century.
Dogwood Canyon: Where EcoRegions Collide
With Dana Wilson, Volunteer Coordinator, Trinity River Audubon Center
4:30PM, BRIT's Main Office, 500 E. 4th Street, Fort Worth, TX (map)
Plants and animals from east, west and central Texas converge in Dogwood Canyon, making it the only place in the world where one can find the Black-chinned hummingbird of west Texas nesting in the flowering dogwood tree of east Texas. This unique habitat located near Cedar Hill State Park opens to the public in 2010. Come and hear the story of its discovery, and efforts to protect it for the public.
Mushrooms, Culture and Society: an ethnomycological journey
with Denis R. Benjamin, MD, retired pediatrician, amateur mycologist and author
4:30PM, BRIT's Main Office, 500 E. 4th Street, Fort Worth, TX (map)
Cultural attitudes towards the fungal kingdom are highly variable around the world. Mushrooms are esteemed and sought after in some countries while being shunned and abhorred in others. Dr. Denis Benjamin will examine the role that both mycophobia and mycophilia play in various societies, and how this significantly influences the use of mushrooms as food or in the local pharmacopoeia. Dr. Benjamin is author of Mushrooms: Poisons and Panaceas, and a pediatrician recently retired from Cook-Childrens Medical Center in Fort Worth.
