Sunday, February 01, 2009

David Fairchild Medal

On 4 February I will be flying to Miami to receive the David Fairchild Medal. The medal is for plant exploration. It will be a long flight, 24 hours in the air with a short break in Paris. Coming back via Paris will take 21 hours.

David Fairchild was a plant explorer responsible for many plant introductions into the US from overseas before WWII. He bought a large property in Miami to house his collections. This property was named the Kampong. It now operates as part of the not-for-profit National Tropical Botanical Garden of the USA, dedicated to conservation, research and education relating to the world's rare and endangered tropical plants.

This is my first trip to Florida and I am looking forward to seeing the famous garden of David Fairchild.

2 comments:

Barry said...

Congratulations! Fairchild is a wonderful garden, with acres and acres of interesting species to see. Be sure and stop by the Madagascar plot and say hello to the two Moringas (hildbrandtii and a yet-unidentified one) I donated some years ago, growing in a natural sinkhole and heading skyward at an alarming rate. Also say hello to Herbacious Monocot Curator Harvey Bernstein, a cheerful and very knowlegable staff member who I always enjoy talking to.

Enjoy your visit to South Florida!

The LawMan said...

So - are you back from Florida? How was your trip?

By the way, in case you have ever wondered how people follow your blog - it may be that they have configured their software to search for blog posts containing key terms - such as "the Kampong" and "Fairchild" - so people may be following individual **posts** rather than your blog as such. You can do the same with software or websites such as iGoogle or de.li.cio.us. Let me know if you want to know more.