Southern Appalachian Botanical Society

The Southern Appalachian Botanical Society (formerly the Southern Appalachian Botanical Club) was formed in 1935 at West Virginia University. The focus of the society has gradually changed and now includes the botany of the entire eastern United States, including the taxonomy, biogeography, ecology, physiology, and biochemistry of plants. The society has about 500 members.

The society was founded in 1935 and produced its first journal in 1936. The majority (52%) of the first members were from West Virginia, and early leaders included Earl Core, P. D. Strausbaugh, and Elizabeth Ann Bartholomew. The early years of the society were characterized by botanical forays, or expeditions, that served to build relationships and communication among Appalachian botanists and to foster botanical exploration. The society expanded its geographical focus, adapted its governance, and modernized its journal in the 1980s and early 1990s, and the name was officially changed to Southern Appalachian Botanical Society in 1992. The history of the society was put into the context of Appalachian botanical heritage in a 1994 movie entitled And Who Will Weigh the Mountains. The archives of the society are housed at West Virginia University.

The society publishes Castanea, a quarterly journal of botanical research. The first issue of the society's journal was issued as The Journal of the Southern Appalachian Botanical Club in 1936. Articles cover topics such as the systematics of eastern U.S. plants, rare and endangered plants, local floras, changes in species distributions, physiological ecology, and the ecological analysis of vegetation types. Larger studies are produced as part of an irregular series entitled Castanea, Occasional Papers in Eastern Botany.

The newsletter Chinquapin was first published in 1993 to provide news about the society, to answer questions about botanical problems, to present informative articles, and to act as an outlet for member questions or observations.

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