Meeting:

April 8, 2010

Guest Presenter:

Dr. Rachel S. Jabaily

Program:

Up, Down, Wet Then Dry: The Quest For Puya In The Andes

For our April meeting we joined Dr. Rachel Jabaily in a pursuit of the species Puya, a premiere group of bromeliads, in the Andes of South America. Dr. Jabaily chronicled her adventures throughout seven countries in South America, showed photos of the beautiful plants she encountered, and highlighted the scientific stories behind Puya diversity.

Puyas are found in the Andes Mountains of South America from sea level to nearly the base of glaciers at 14,700 feet in elevation. Species exhibit marked variation in floral color, inflorescence architecture, life-history type and overall plant size. Deciphering the complex relationships between the 200 plus species of Puya was the purpose of Dr. Jabaily’s thesis research. Fortunate to have the opportunity to collect extensively, she recounted her experiences in her fascinating presentation.

Originally from Colorado, Dr. Rachel Jabaily fell in love with bromeliads during a class trip to Brazil when she was an undergraduate at the University of Wyoming. She followed her passion for these plants to University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she completed her Ph.D. on Puya with Dr. Ken Sytsma. Currently, Rachel and her husband live in Norfolk, Virginia, where Rachel is working on biogeography and systematics of Pacific Island plants at Old Dominion University.