| Abstract Detail
Lightning Talks – Germinating Ideas Daniels, Susan [1], DeVore, Melanie [2], Plants and People of the World Class, Spring Semester 2022 [3]. Combining columns, culture, and community history with a campus arboretum. Milledgeville has a long and rich history associated with the use of botanical gardens and arboreta. . Some plant resources have their introductions tied to the Trustees Garden in Savannah. Two members of the Royal Society in London, specifically, Georgia Trustee Stephen Hales and Sir Hans Sloane, championed this Garden as a site to test and determine ideal crops for Georgia. These plants included not only cotton, but Morus alba, white mulberry. At Georgia College & State University, the plants we find on our campus have connections with the State’s history. From the Acanthus mollis motif on the Corinthian columns depicted on our university logo, to the pecan trees on central campus, the plants represent distinct fingerprints of the regional history. Recently, an arboretum was established, and awarded Arbnet Accreditation 1 status. A goal was to use the arboretum as a means for informal education for visitors, and as incubator for generating new innovative approaches for incorporating plant biology in the curriculum. We decided to connect the history and/or iconic nature of five plants in the regions, four of which are present in the arboretum. These include magnolia, mulberry, oaks, pecan, and pines. In each case we discuss the history and suggest ways to enhance the interpretation of the signage for the arboretum. For example, the historical marker indicating the birthplace of Charles Herty, is on our campus. Charles Herty was the founder of the American Chemical Society and the first coach of the University of Georgia Football program. Herty was the father of paper chemistry and his science was heavily influenced by the use of pines for restoring kaolin mines, and former cotton fields, in the region. Herty also, developed the cup method for capuring resin. This kind of connection is easy to make when there is a pine just a few feet from the marker. We will use this as one example of how a tree, included as part of a campus arboretum, can be a cultural and educational touchstone for a number of stakeholders.
1 - Georgia College and State University, Landscape-Grounds
2 - Georgia College & State University, Biological And Environmental Sciences, Campus Box 081, Milledgeville, GA, 31061, United States
3 - Georgia College & State University
Keywords:
Arboretum
Economic Botany.
Presentation Type: Germinating Ideas Lightning Talk
Number: LT2012
Abstract ID:577
Candidate for Awards:None |
