Endemic Plants of Central Washington’s Columbia River Basin

About

Washington is home to several centers of endemic (narrowly distributed) plants – the Wenatchee Mountains, the Olympic Peninsula, and the Columbia River Gorge. Seldom included in this list is the Columbia River Basin between the Methow River to the north and the confluence of the Snake and Columbia rivers to the south. Remarkably, over 30 species, subspecies, and varieties of native plants are found there and nowhere else in the world. This talk will highlight the potential origins of this high concentration of endemic plants, the research that David and his colleagues have been doing in this area, and include mention of some recently described/in-the-process of being described species from this area. This program is free and open to the public! Biosketch: David Giblin is Collections Manager and Research Botanist at the University of Washington Herbarium of the Burke Museum. David's research focuses on the distribution and diversity of the Pacific Northwest vascular plant flora, for which he has conducted extensive field work throughout the region. He manages the Plants of Washington Image Gallery, Washington Flora Checklist, and Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria online databases. He is lead editor and co-author for Flora of the Pacific Northwest, 2nd edition, co-author of wildflower guides to Mount Rainier and Olympic national parks, co-creator of the Washington Wildflowers identification app, and Taxon Editor of several families for the Flora of North America Project. And he's a a great speaker!