The Botanical Society of America (BSA) represents professional and amateur botanists, researchers, educators and students in over 80 countries of the world. It functions as a United States nonprofit 501(c)(3) membership society.
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History
The society was first established in 1893 as an outgrowth from the Botanical Club of the American Association for the Advancement of Science at a meeting in Rochester, New York, on August 22, 1892. The organizing principles of the society were the enhancement of the study of plants in North America and to professionalize such efforts. In 1906, the organization merged with the Society for Plant Morphology and Physiology and the American Mycological Society.
Sections
The society has 16 special interest sections:
Former presidents
Former presidents of the society have included:
William Trelease - Director of the Missouri Botanical Garden and the first president of the society
Nathaniel Lord Britton - Cofounder of the New York Botanical Garden
Margaret Clay Ferguson - Head of the Department of Botany at Wellesley College and the first female president of the society
William Francis Ganong - Professor of Botany, Smith College and historian and cartographer of New Brunswick
Albert S. Hitchcock - Chief Botanist for the USDA
William Chambers Coker - Founder of the Coker Arboretum at the University of North Carolina
Katherine Esau - National Medal of Science recipient and namesake of the Katherine Esau Award in structural and developmental biology
Vernon Cheadle - Chancellor of the University of California, Santa Barbara
G. Ledyard Stebbins − evolutionary biologist at the University of California, Davis
Peter H. Raven - Director of the Missouri Botanical Garden
Loren Rieseberg - Professor of Botany at the University of British Columbia
Publications
The society publishes the following scientific journals:
American Journal of Botany, since 1914
Plant Science Bulletin, since 1955
Applications in Plant Sciences, since 2009