California Botanical Society

06/02/2026

It’s time for our next upcoming Botany Speaker!!!! Next Thursday, June 11th, from 7 to 8 pm PT, Sarah Jacobs, the Assistant Curator and Howell Chair of Western North American Botany at the California Academy of Sciences, will be talking to us about the notoriously difficult taxonomy of Castilleja.

Talk Name:
“If it were easy, it wouldn’t be Castilleja: (in)congruent signals of species boundaries in two species complexes.”

Taxonomy in Castilleja is notoriously difficult, and for good reason, since data-driven approaches to delimiting species have yielded at least as many questions as insights. This talk will highlight some insights and name remaining challenges to summarize a suggested approach towards species delimitation in the paintbrushes that acknowledges our emerging understanding of both the complex evolution this genus has experienced and the limitations of any one line of evidence to determine species boundaries

Learn more about our Sarah Jacobs:
Sarah Jacobs has a BS in Biology from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and an MS in Botany from Washington State University in Pullman. After a few years as a field botanist with the Forest Service in central Oregon, Sarah returned to academia to pursue a PhD at the University of Idaho in Moscow, where she worked with Dave Tank and began her research on the plant genus Castilleja (also known as “the paintbrushes”). During her postdoc with Felipe Zapata at UCLA, Sarah further developed her approach to species delimitation in the context of recent and rapid radiations. She is now an Assistant Curator in the Botany Department at the California Academy of Sciences where she runs a research lab studying the systematics of Castilleja and the early stages of speciation. She also helps direct and steward the large collection of specimens housed in the CAS herbarium, as well as contributing to the scientific endeavors of the Academy as a whole

If you are interested in listening to the talk, please use the link below:
https://calbotsoc.org/home/botany-outreach/botany-speaker-series/

The talk will be recorded and published on our YouTube channel for everyone to see if you aren’t able to make the talk!

06/01/2026

Bryophytes have a reputation for preferring and thriving in wet places, but this may be a generalization that many general botanists easily misunderstand! In a study by Lena Ayala Coleman et al., the authors surveyed the Bryophytes from the foothills to the alpine zone on the western slope of California’s Sierra Nevada.

Using plots of 25 m^2, and that were above 380-2578 m above sea level. They recorded Bryophyte richness and abundance, along with microsite wetness, shadiness, incline, and substrate type for 253 plots!

It was found that generally, Bryophytes do best at low elevations, but that the effect of elevation is most pronounced for taxa that do best in dry microsites.

Figure Caption:
Alpha species richness in 25 m2 plots (S). More species were found in plots of lower elevation, even after adjusting for the occupancy of microhabitats regarding wetness, incline, and shadiness. The upper graph is the relationship of residuals after a multiple regression that included the three microhabitat occupancy scores. The lower graph is cumulative curves for S and plots.

If interested in learning more, use the link below:
https://doi.org/10.3120/0024-9637-250015

05/28/2026

Meet Annalise E. Burrows, a 4th year Biological Science major at Cal Poly SLO! Annalise will be moving onto a Master's Program at San Francisco State University as a member of the Jacobs Lab!

05/26/2026

How would you potentially test the prerequisites to adaptation in traits?

In a study by Amy Ormiston et al., the authors investigated whether leaf domatia were a heritable trait in Quercus agrifolia Née (Coast Live Oak) in California. Coast Live Oak has small clusters of branched trichomes on the abaxial leaf surface that serve as domatia, protective structures for mites. These structures are a distinguishing characteristic, and they hypothesize that they may have been shaped by natural selection.

In this study, they test the first two of three prerequisites for adaptation via natural selection: (1) the trait must vary among individuals, and (2) the trait must be heritable. Trait variance across 20 trees in a natural stand was assessed by collecting 20 leaves per tree and determining the proportion of leaf vein axils with domatia. From those same trees, acorns were collected, germinated, and the proportion of leaf veins axials was recorded for 12- and 18-month-old saplings.

They found that the first two prerequisites for evolution by natural selection are likely met in this system, with the domatia being variable in a natural stand of Quercus agrifolia, and appear to be heritable.

If you are interested in learning more, use the link below:
https://doi.org/10.3120/0024-9637-72.1.14

05/16/2026

Interested in listening to Dr. Ricardo Kriebel's, Moving Flowers: Evolution of Floral Form, Function & Pollination in Salvia? You can watch his talk right now on our YouTube channel! Use the link below to watch recordings of previous and upcoming talks!

Use this link to see the recording or search for California Botanical Society on YouTube!

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

05/15/2026

Make sure to attend our talk today! Use the link below to connect: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81217778140?pwd=ykwY0m3H1YiiFNxFelzUZqka5J1aep.1

Our newest speaker in our 2026 Botany Speaker Series: Ricardo Kreibel, Assistant Curator and McAllister Chair of Botany at the California Academy of Sciences! He will be discussing; "Moving Flowers; Evolution of Floral Form, Function, and Pollination in Salvia"

The talk is Thursday, May 14, 7 p.m. find the zoom link at calbotsoc.org/home/botany-outreach/botany-speaker-series/

Learn more about him:
I am a Costa Rican biologist passionate about exploring and conserving plant diversity. My academic training includes a master’s degree in ecology and systematic biology from San Francisco State University, a Ph.D. in plant sciences from the City University of New York, and postdoctoral research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I currently serve as Assistant Curator and McAllister Chair of Botany at the California Academy of Sciences. My research centers on the taxonomy and evolution of the princess flower family (Melastomataceae) and the diverse genus Salvia.

This beautiful Salvia of the World Poster, was provided by Ricardo Kriebel as well!

05/14/2026

Meet Emily Solorio, a 4th year undergraduate student at UC Merced!

05/14/2026

The UC Merced campus was built near the Vernal Pools! The Merced Vernal Pool & Grassland Reserve is the 39th in the UC Nature. Adopted in 2013, this 6,500-acre reserve is home to some of the most intact, threatened Vernal Pool wetland habitat in California!

During our Banquet, participants could sign up for a tour of the vernal pools and learn more about the diversity within them!

05/13/2026

One of our lovely field trips was held by Peter, an PhD student at UC Merced! During the fieldtrip, he showed us the different botanical spots around the UC Merced Campus!

05/13/2026

Great opportunity!!!

Join us NEXT WEEK for : Exploring Non-Faculty Careers in Plant Science!

Are you interested in botany or plant science but not sure what a career outside of academia could look like?

On May 20th at 4 p.m. Eastern, this free virtual Q&A panel brings together industry and non-faculty professionals to share their career paths and offer advice for building your own future in botanical science.

Register today at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/qMvHpQIRT6mUY_oCd3EDHw #/registration!