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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action

@negauneeinstitute.bsky.social
233 followers 257 following 433 posts

Chicago Botanic Garden’s center for plant conservation science. Preventing extinctions. Reimagining restoration. Meeting the need for native seed. Training the next generation.

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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
🧪Andrew's PhD research is asking questions about gene flow between endangered Ecuadorian Magnolia plants to improve their reforestation & conservation, & understanding the pollinators that move pollen between trees is a key component.
Open, white, Magnolia flower
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Species highlight! Earleaf False Foxglove (Agalinis auriculata). Learn more about rare plant monitoring in Illinois at plantsofconcern.org. This video was formulated during a science communication workshop with @science-irl.bsky.social.
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Congrats to Pat Herendeen! Pat received the Asa Gray award from the American Society of Plant Taxonomists, given to an individual for outstanding accomplishments pertinent to the goals of the Society. ASPT organized "to foster, encourage & promote education & research in the field of plant taxonomy"
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Congratulations to Chicago Botanic Garden postdoctoral researcher Nora Gavin-Smyth, recipient of a 2026 Walder Foundation Biota Award. Her project focuses on Impatiens, which diversified in East Africa with a pattern of closely related, co‑occurring species and rapidly evolving floral forms.
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
🧪Ever wonder what gingko, elm, and limber pine trees have in common? For us, they are all trees in our bonsai collection with larger conservation stories.
Bonsai ginkgo tree with yellow leaveselm bonsai treepine bonsai tree
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Today we are celebrating #WorldLakeDay! The Natural Areas team conducts water sampling tests to monitor the health of our Chicago Botanic Garden lakes. Our lakes contain an abundance of life and testing nutrient levels and water clarity informs how we keep the lakes healthy.
Natural Areas Team members smile from a small boat on water with their water testing equipmentLandscape image of lake with a boat and greenery in background. Two people on the boat are lowering testing equipment into the water.
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Botanical Society of America @botsocamerica.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
BarnebyLives: An R package to create #herbarium specimen labels and clean spreadsheets New in #AppsPlantSci from Reed Benkendorf & Jeremie Fant doi.org/10.1002/aps3... @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social #botany #herbaria #taxonomy #PlantScience
Recommended workflow for the BarnebyLives R package. The top two rows show the main data cleaning steps, which should generally be run in the order shown, although taxonomic steps may precede spatial ones. The third row can be interspersed with the first two and includes label creation, which helps detect formatting or other issues not captured by the pipeline or earlier manual review. Additional functions support data export for mass upload at the receiving institution and generation of a shipping manifest and transfer notice. Credit: Benkendorf and Fant
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
🧪Some plants that are rare in Illinois are much more common in northern states. Why do we protect them in Illinois if they are abundant elsewhere? The Plants of Concern program at the Chicago Botanic Garden monitors populations of rare and endangered plants to help maintain biodiversity in Illinois.
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Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
🧬 #PlantConservationWeek 🌿 The interface between rare plant management and genetics: conserving Pitcher’s thistle (Cirsium pitcheri) in the Great Lakes region, USA by Noel Pavlovic and co-authors. #freeaccess article 👉 doi.org/rh6r @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social #PlantScience
Thirty years of monitoring show that reintroducing Pitcher's thistle (Cirsium pitcheri) from seed can restore threatened populations. However, long-term success depends on continued genetic management to reduce inbreeding and preserve the species' evolutionary potential.
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Olivia G. Murrell @ogmurrell.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Thank you for posting!! So excited for this to be in the special edition 🌱
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Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
🧬 #PlantConservationWeek 🌿 Using pedigree tracking of the ex situ metacollection of Amorphophallus titanum (Araceae) to identify challenges to maintaining genetic diversity in the botanical community by O. Murrell @ogmurrell.bsky.social et al. #freeaccess article 👉 doi.org/pft5 #PlantScience
The future conservation of Amorphophallus titanum depends on strengthening pedigree records and institutional collaboration to preserve genetic diversity across the global living collection.
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
"What if, instead of feeling pressure to present a pristine lawn, people were encouraged to act together to promote pollinators by planting patches of native flowering plants?" Northwestern and Garden Ph.D. student Libby Shafer is investigating the 'culture of lawns'!
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The Daily Northwestern @thedailynu.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
4/ Read more in our new interactive on the plantings and what they mean for the environment. — Reported by Cecilia Luce, Christina Lin and @ryaninevanston.bsky.social
apps.dailynorthwestern.com
This sapling is from California. The Chicago Botanic Garden planted it on campus — and it's surviving
Quercus wislizeni, the interior live oak, is not a species normally found in Illinois. The evergreen tree — though resilient to fluctuating temperatures, elevations and...
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The Daily Northwestern @thedailynu.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
2/ The planting is part of a Chicago Botanic Garden initiative that brought 13 samples to campus. “The way that we’re thinking about it is, climate change is coming … How do we best prepare here so that we’re ready to conserve species in our region?” said the Garden’s Natalie Love.
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The Daily Northwestern @thedailynu.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
1/ Last spring, this California-native interior live oak was planted atop an underground hot water pipe on Northwestern’s campus in hopes that its warmth would prevent the tree’s roots from freezing in the bitter Evanston winter. It worked. 🧵
An interior live oak sapling with auburn leaves sits in front of the concrete Cresap Laboratory on Northwestern's campus.Close-up of the auburn leaves on a sapling.
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Sometimes the forest asks us to pause. Stop for a moment to watch this timelapse of a 27-hour flowering event unfolding in less than 90 seconds, narrated by PhD candidate Andrew Davies. Learn more about floral thermogenesis in Ecuadorian Magnolia in a recent publication.
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
The Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation and Action celebrates nature conservation every day, but especially on #WorldNatureConservationDay! Celebrate science at the Chicago Botanic Garden with us! Learn more at the link in our bio. #NatureConservation #SaveOurPlanet
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
We are again hosting students at the Chicago Botanic Garden for our 10-week Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, providing college students with hands-on experience in real-world research.
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Congratulations to all the students recognized at the Program in Plant Biology and Conservation graduation celebration!  Student research spanned the globe, from urban spaces of the Chicago region and Midwest prairies to Tanzania, the Peruvian Amazon, and the Andes of Ecuador.
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
We are kicking off 2026 Pollinator Week with questions from Chicago Botanic Garden field trip visitors! What questions do you have about pollinators? Let us know!  #PollinatorWeek #Insects #Pollinators
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Congratulations to Rew Kim, a first-year Master’s student in our @chicagobotanic / @northwesternu Plant Biology & Conservation program!
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Congratulations to Vic Martinez Mercado, a Ph.D. student in our @chicagobotanic / @northwesternu Plant Biology & Conservation program! Vic received a grant from the American Society of Plant Taxonomists to support her work studying the genome and genetic population structure of Asimina tetramera.
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Congratulations to Kelby Anderson, first-year master’s student in our @chicagobotanic / @northwesternu Plant Biology & Conservation Graduate Program, for being awarded the Sue Martin and Myrna Steinkamp Grant from the Colorado Native Plant Society!
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Congratulations to Maddie Sadler, a graduate of the @chicagobotanic / @northwesternu Plant Biology & Conservation program! Maddie successfully defended their thesis, “Asteraceae species richness along Minnesota Prairie Corridor: What types of prairies harbor the most diversity?”
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
The persistence of healthy, genetically diverse native plant populations depends on successful reproduction. But sometimes, our rare and exceptional plant species need an assist!
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Congratulations to Evana James, a third year Ph.D. student in our @chicagobotanic / @northwesternu Plant Biology & Conservation Graduate Program, for being awarded the @gcasholarships Corliss Knapp Engle Scholarship in Horticulture.
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
Oro, one of the corpse flowers (Amorphophallus titanum) in @chicagobotanic’s collection, is currently blooming in the Tropical Greenhouse. It will bloom for between 24 and 36 hours- come check it out while you can!
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
Congratulations to our graduate, Marne Quigg, for earning her master’s degree from the @ChicagoBotanic/@NorthwesternU Graduate Program in Plant Biology and Conservation! Marne did her research thesis on the restoration of the American Elm, Ulmus americana, with a focus on its genetic structure.
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Congratulations to Dr. Rory Schiafo! Rory successfully defended her PhD dissertation, Plant Diversity and Community Assembly in the Restoration of Midwestern Forests, in April. Rory studied woodland restoration, with a particular interest in the impacts of light availability on plant communities.
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
🧪🐝
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Congratulations to Dr. Elsa Godtfredsen! Elsa successfully defended their dissertation, Identifying the Intersections: New Realities of Plant Phenology, Physiology, and Demography under a Changing Climate, in April.
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Congratulations to Libby Shafer, a third-year Ph.D. candidate in the @chicagobotanic / @northwesternu Plant Biology & Conservation Graduate program!
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
The arrival of spring also signals the return of the burn season! If you’ve walked through our woodlands in the past months, you might have noticed (and smelled!) the charred ground and wondered whether this means we will be seeing fewer of our favorite spring plants.
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
🧪 Happy Arbor Day!
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
🧪 A rare habitat can make for rare seed, and a unique challenge for seed banking and restoration.
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
As soon as spring arrives, we’re hit with a flurry of flowers. Some of them are gone as suddenly as they appeared: it’s spring ephemeral madness!
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
🧪 Native seed is in high demand and short supply—@chicagobotanic has helped launch the Midwest Native Seed Network to close the gap and help restore prairies, woodlands, and wetlands across the region. 📸 by Jeff Carrion
Seed
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
🧪 Research on orchids at the garden is almost as diverse as the orchid family itself!  There are nearly 30,000 different species of orchids, which require a wide range of pollinators, fungi, and environmental conditions to thrive. 📸 Hannah Ryu, Eli Frank
Calopogon tuberosus, an orchid native to Illinois.Potted orchid
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
🧪 Skunk cabbage sighting‼️
Skunk cabbage in McDonald Woods.
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
🧪 In honor of the @chicagobotanic orchid show, we’re highlighting the important work our scientists do to protect orchid populations year-round!
Eastern Prairie Fringed orchid (Platanthera leucophaea) flowers.
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
🧪 It’s National Invasive Species Awareness Week, and @ChicagoBotanic is on the lookout for potential threats to natural areas.
Wintercreeper (Euonymous fortune), a potential invasive species.Amur cork tree (Phellodendron amurens), a potential invasive species.
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
🧪 Restoration practitioners try their best to get back to a healthy ecosystem resembling what existed pre-disturbance—but what do they do when there is no going back? 📸 by Casey Beidelman, Erin Snyder
Lakeside daisy growing in a former slag site under a protective wire cage. Photo by Casey Beidelman.Lakeside daisy growing at Big Marsh Park. Photo by Erin Snyder.
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
🧪 Seeing a blooming Agave oteroi @chicagobotanic may seem unusual, far from its native Oaxaca.
Paul CaraDonna, Ph.D. collects pollen from the blooming Agave oteroi in the Chicago Botanic Garden greenhouse.Blooming Agave oteroi.Blooming Agave oteroi extending to the roof of the greenhouse.
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
🧪 February 2nd is World Wetlands Day! Wetlands are areas that are saturated or flooded by water, either seasonally or permanently. They include rivers, marshes, swamps, and our very own Garden lake system.
Shoreline in the Chicago Botanic Garden covered in snow.Shoreline in the Chicago Botanic Garden covered in snow.
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
🧪 When selecting seeds and plants to use in a habitat restoration, it’s important to think ahead. It doesn’t matter how well those initial plants grow if they don’t reproduce successfully.
Experimental plant communities in Mettawa, Illinois.Lake Forest College interns and Emma Fetterly processing seed.X-ray image of seeds to assess viability.
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
🧪 Growing new plants from seed isn’t as simple as sticking them in soil and crossing your fingers.
Viola saggittataTwo seeds beginning to germinate.Viola lanceolataViola petadifida
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
🧪 That’s not a beehive or a nest– it’s an inflorescence (cluster of flowers) belonging to Artocarpus annulatus, a tree related to jackfruit!
Inflorescence of the Artocarpus annulatus tree.Mountain range in Malaysia.Inflorescence of the Artocarpus annulatus tree.
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
🧪 Seeds take quite the journey to get from collection to restoration!  📸 by Jeff Carrion
SENA interns being trained on seed collection.Removing seed head from plant.SENA interns collecting seed in Dixon Prairie.Seed being collected into a bag.
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
🧪 As we approach the new year, @ChicagoBotanic is resolving to rebuild some mussels 💪
Phil Nicodemus of Urban Rivers with mussel box.Mussel box for mussel rearing prior to installation.Phil Nicodemus preparing mussel box for installation
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Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science & Action @negauneeinstitute.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
🧪 Things may look pretty dead out in @chicagobotanic’s Dixon Prairie, but they’re far from boring! As you stroll through the prairie, plenty of fascinating variation in the dried vegetation is still on full display.
Dried seedhead in Dixon Prairie.Dried flowers in Dixon Prairie.Dried seedhead in Dixon Prairie.Dried seedhead in Dixon Prairie.
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