Botanical Society of America

Botanical Society of America

Abbreviation	BSA
Formation	1893
Type	Non-profit NGO
Purpose	"Promote botany, the field of basic science dealing with the study and inquiry into the form, function, development, diversity, reproduction, evolution, and uses of plants and their interactions within the biosphere."[1]
Headquarters	St. Louis, Missouri, United States
Membership	3,059[2]
President	Andrea Wolfe (2017–2020)
President Elect	Linda Watson (2018–2021)
Budget	$1.63 million[3]
Website	www.botany.org

The Botanical Society of America (BSA) represents professional and amateur botanists, researchers, educators and students in over 80 countries of the world. It functions as a United States nonprofit 501(c)(3) membership society.^[4]

History

The society was first established in 1893 as an outgrowth from the Botanical Club of the American Association for the Advancement of Science at a meeting in Rochester, New York, on August 22, 1892.^[5] The organizing principles of the society were the enhancement of the study of plants in North America and to professionalize such efforts.^[6] In 1906, the organization merged with the Society for Plant Morphology and Physiology and the American Mycological Society.^[7]

Sections

The society has 16 special interest sections:

• Bryological and lichenological
• Developmental and Structural
• Ecological
• Economic
• Genetics
• Historical
• Microbiological
• Mycological
• Paleobotanical
• Phycological
• Physiological
• Phytochemical
• Pteridological
• Systematic
• Teaching
• Tropical biology

Former presidents

Main page: Presidents of the Botanical Society of America

Former presidents of the society have included:

• William Trelease - Director of the Missouri Botanical Garden and the first president of the society
• Nathaniel Lord Britton - Cofounder of the New York Botanical Garden
• Margaret Clay Ferguson - Head of the Department of Botany at Wellesley College and the first female president of the society^[8]
• William Francis Ganong - Professor of Botany, Smith College and historian and cartographer of New Brunswick
• Albert S. Hitchcock - Chief Botanist for the USDA
• William Chambers Coker - Founder of the Coker Arboretum at the University of North Carolina
• Katherine Esau - National Medal of Science recipient and namesake of the Katherine Esau Award in structural and developmental biology
• Vernon Cheadle - Chancellor of the University of California, Santa Barbara
• G. Ledyard Stebbins − evolutionary biologist at the University of California, Davis
• Peter H. Raven - Director of the Missouri Botanical Garden
• Loren Rieseberg - Professor of Botany at the University of British Columbia

Publications

The society publishes the following scientific journals:

• American Journal of Botany, since 1914
• Plant Science Bulletin, since 1955
• Applications in Plant Sciences, since 2009

References

1. "Botanical Society of America – About the BSA". Botany.org. Archived from the original on June 15, 2016. Retrieved September 17, 2012.
2. "A Summary" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 4, 2014.
3. "Treasurers report July 2012 take 2" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2017.
4. "Home". www.botany.org. Retrieved October 28, 2024.
5. Tippo, Oswald (1958). "The Early History of the Botanical Society of America". Fifty Years of Botany. New York: McGraw-Hill. Retrieved 16 September 2012 from Biodiversity Heritage Library.
6. Smocovitis, Vassiliki Betty (April 20, 2006), "One hundred years of American botany: a short history of the Botanical Society of America", American Journal of Botany, vol. 93, no. 7, pp. 942–952, doi:10.3732/ajb.93.7.942, archived from the original on February 11, 2016.
7. "An Historical Overview of the BSA". Archived from the original on February 4, 2007.
8. Rudolph, Emanuel D. (1982). "Women in Nineteenth Century American Botany; A Generally Unrecognized Constituency". American Journal of Botany. 69 (8): 1353. doi:10.1002/j.1537-2197.1982.tb13382.x. JSTOR 2442761.

External links

• Official website
• Archive of Plant Science Bulletin
• Publications by the Botanical Society of America at the Biodiversity Heritage Library