Jon Rebman
Special meeting at the Natural History Museum
Botanical History and Current Plant Research of the San Diego Society of Natural History
Event registration is full. No tickets will be available at the door.
We've reserved the Natural History Museum in Balboa Park (theNAT) for the Society's exclusive use for this very special meeting. Members and guests will be able to tour the theNAT’s exhibits including the newest exhibit, Coast to Cactus in Southern California after the presentation by Jon Rebman, theNAT’s Curator of the Botany since 1996 and our 2011 Horticulturalist of the Year. The presentation will address the historical efforts of botanists associated with the Society, and also current research projects including recent binational, multidisciplinary expeditions into Baja California and the publication of many new plant species from our region.
For more than 140 years, the San Diego Society of Natural History has been studying and collecting plants in the southern California and Baja California region. With dedicated curators such as Daniel Cleveland (the “clevelandii” of Salvia, Mimulus, Penstemon, Dodecatheon fame), Frank Gander (the “ganderi” of Lepechinia, Quercus, Cylindropuntia, Cryptantha, Packera, Rubus), and Reid Moran (the “moranii” of Agave, Arctostaphylos, Astragalus, Bajacalia, Dudleya, Eriogonum, Galium, and Morangaya along with a new “Moranothamnus” soon to be published), the institution has served as an important botanical resource in our region since the 1870s. During this time, the Society has amassed an extremely strong regional herbarium collection of more than 250,000 plant specimens that are actively used for ongoing botanical research & publication. To supplement the scientific endeavors of the botanists and provide plant resources for the public, the Society also has an amazing library of botanical books, journals, and paintings including a complete run of Curtis’s Botanical Magazine dating back to 1793; early herbals dating to 1517; Flora Londinensis 1777, with hand-colored illustrations; and 1,094 original watercolors of native California plants from 1908-1918 by A. R. Valentien.
Jon has a Ph.D. in Botany (plant taxonomy), M.S. in Biology (floristics) and B.S. in Biology. He is a plant taxonomist and conducts extensive floristic research in Baja California and in San Diego and Imperial Counties. He has over 15 years of experience in the floristics of San Diego and Imperial Counties and 21 years experience studying the plants of the Baja California peninsula. He leads various field classes and botanical expeditions each year and is actively naming new plant species from our region. He also does general floristic research and he co-published the most recent edition of the Checklist of the Vascular Plants of San Diego County. He has over 22 years of field experience with surveying and documenting plants including rare and endangered species.
Meeting Schedule:
6:00 - 6:30 Check-in and seating
6:30 - 7:30 Presentation
7:30 - 9:00 Tour theNAT Exhibits
- Registration is limited to 300 people.
- Members are $10
- Non-members are $15
