California Botanical Society

10/16/2026

Are you conducting any botanical research and want to spread awareness of your work and what you have accomplished? Every Friday, CalBotSoc will be posting about botanical research around Western America!

If interested, please scan the QR Code or visit the link in our bio!

10/15/2026

The Center for Plant Conservation is recruiting for a Science & Conservation Program coordinator.

Posted 4:58:03 PM. Science & Conservation Programs CoordinatorCenter for Plant ConservationLocation: Remote…See this and similar jobs on LinkedIn.

10/15/2026

As we prepare for the 31st Graduate Student Symposium, we wanted to hear your opinions and thoughts on what type of field trips & experiences you want to see! Are you interested in a tour of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park, or would you rather see endemic species in vernal pools?

Please let us know what type of field trips you would like us to offer for our symposium in the comments below!

10/14/2026

Every month, CalBotSoc holds a monthly speaker! Are you interested in giving a talk about your research, or do you want to nominate someone to talk about theirs? This is the time to send us your nominations. Each talk is ~40 to 50 minutes long, with ~10 to 20 minutes for discussion and questions; each talk is uploaded to our YouTube channel as well!

Please send nominations via DM, and we will get back to you as soon as possible! When submitting, please include a name and institution.

10/13/2026

[Repost]

Happy to announce our first issue of Stories from the Field! This issue covers Emmanuel Irewole’s fieldwork that spanned from Bakersfield to Chico! During this 1-week fieldwork, they hunted for 3 Amaranthus species, A. albus, A. palmeri, and A. retroflexus, across California’s non-agricultural and agricultural sites. After collecting samples, they will investigate genomic regions and identify which traits are associated with weediness.

The project team consisted of Elizabeth Polston (Project Lead), Dr. Jake Montgomery, and Dr. Julia Kreiner (Project Lead’s PI) from Kreiner Lab, University of Chicago and Dr. Katherine Waselkov, Emmanuel Irewole, and Lillian Holl from Waselkov Lab, California State University, Fresno

Have you recently conducted fieldwork and want to showcase it on our page. Please reach out to us or use the link in our bio.

10/13/2026

Sorry for the late upload of our weekly Madroño! This week, we will cover an article by Adrian J. Das et al. on tree mortality in Blue Oak Woodland during extreme drought in Sequoia National Park (published in 2019).

Oak woodlands are an iconic part of the California landscape and have been a focus of conservation efforts for many years. 40% of California is actually covered by hardwood forests, and they provide many benefits, including grazing, forest products, biodiversity, and recreational opportunities. Specifically, blue oak woodland forms a peripheral ring around California’s Central Valley, covering an estimated 1.23 million hectares.

There has recently been heightened concern about blue oak woodlands as a particular risk due to the warming climate. Numerous studies have noted that the blue oak woodlands have an apparent lack of recruitment, with seedling and sapling numbers seemingly inadequate to sustain existing populations. Research suggests that suitable habitat for the blue oak might shrink by over 50% by the end of the century, with populations shifting northward. As with all forests, oak woodlands are likely to be vulnerable to increasingly severe and potentially more frequent droughts that accompany warming temperatures.

Adrian J. Das et al. surveyed a representative sample of 30 plots distributed throughout the blue oak woodland alliance to estimate tree mortality during the drought and to capture the current species composition and size structure. They found that mortality among oak species appears to have been high during the drought, while non-oak species appear to have been less affected. As a result, oak populations dropped more substantially than other species, but given the large dominance of blue oak in these ecosystems, relative species structure and composition did not change dramatically.

Interested in reading more:
https://doi.org/10.3120/0024-9637-66.4.164

10/12/2026

Happy to announce that Dr. Kate Ostevik's Lessons from California Floral Diversity is officially uploaded on our Youtube channel.

10/12/2026

Join our upcoming Zoom-only meeting on October 14th, at 7:30 pm featuring:

History of Alice Eastwood
with Amy Schneider

Amateur botanist Alice Eastwood and Alfred Russel Wallace traveled to the top of Grays Peak Colorado in July 1887. Their trip included adventure, plant collection and a bit of adversity. We will hear the history of this fascinating and pathbreaking woman, including her heroic save of the type specimen cabinet during the 1906 earthquake and fire. More at westernhort.org.

10/12/2026

Sharing info about this upcoming talk from Friends of the Ahart Herbarium. This is also their Annual Meeting, which starts at 6:30, with Katie's talk starting at 7:00. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend.
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From Friends of the Ahart Herbarium --

the Next Presentation in "All Things Botanically Related"

Every third Thursday.

www.friendsoftheahartherbarium.org/presentation-series

WHAT CAN YOU DO IN CCH2?
by Katelin Pearson, Symbiota Support Hub
Thursday, October 15, 2026 -- via Zoom.

7:00pm--8:00pm

Free!

"Herbarium specimens are far more than preserved plants -- they are a powerful record of where plants occur, how they vary, and how they interact with their environments across space and time. As these specimens are digitized, their information becomes increasingly accessible, opening new possibilities for research, conservation, education, and beyond. The Consortium of California Herbaria's CCH2 portal brings together digitized specimen data from herbaria across California and provides a suite of tools for exploring and putting those data to work. In this talk, I’ll trace the evolution of CCH2, showcase exciting ways researchers are using specimen data, and reveal some of the portal's lesser-known tools and features that can help unlock even more from these foundational collections."


For more details about this talk and the link to connect, please follow the links at:

www.friendsoftheahartherbarium.org/presentation-series
For more information about Friends of the Ahart Herbarium

(formerly the Chico State Herbarium):

www.friendsoftheahartherbarium.org/

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