What is a Boojum? When Worlds Collide in the Sonoran Desert...
Presented by Robert A. Villa
The Sonoran Desert is defined by a confluence of rich biological and cultural diversity. This is especially highlighted when a uniquely Sonoran Desert plant was branded with the name “Boojum” - an entity that . The event recalls auspicious events that thread biogeographic, Indigenous, English, and Spanish history, taxonomy, and imagination. The presentation will also briefly cover the story of the Desert Laboratory on Tumamoc Hill, and the nomenclatural origins of Fouquieriaceae.
Robert is a Tucsonan and conservationist deeply in love with the Sonoran region — studying, exploring, and documenting it’s bio-cultural diversity (often with violin in tow) – specializing in amphibians, reptiles, plants/horticulture, agave and sotol appreciation, landscape evolution and biogeography, ethno-biology, and gastronomy. He has consulted for and assisted in the production of multimedia in the Sonoran region, and published and presented in academic, popular, and local outlets. He is president of Tucson Herpetological Society, Greenhouse Curator and Community Outreach Assistant at the Desert Laboratory on Tumamoc Hill, University of Arizona. He’s worked in a variety of settings, interacting and cooperating with an eclectic swath of folks. In 2019, he had the honor of meeting with Sir David Attenborough as part of consulting on his series on plants, Green Planet. He considers himself a follower in the footsteps of Sonoran naturalist-explorers such as Howard Scott Gentry, Paul Martin, Charles Lowe, Tom Van Devender, Ana Lilia Reina-Guerrero, Mark Dimmitt, Martha Burgess, George Ferguson, and others that investigate, document, and espouse a region defined by varied regions, cultures, and languages.
We are always thinking of your safety and if you are not feeling well we ask that you join us on the internet Zoom presentation. If you're doing well and would like to attend, you are welcome to come and join us for this special in person presentation (masks will be encouraged but not required). This meeting will also be a Zoom program and will be an important educational and informational event you must see. Also, if using Zoom, be sure to log in to win a $25.00 gift certificate from TCSS or choose a copy of the new 3rd edition of the Field Guide to Cacti & Other Succulents of Arizona. Excellent plant give aways will take place at the in person meeting but that portion of the program, because of the recording, will not appear on Zoom. When leaving the live in person meeting, please enjoy great refreshments provided by our member volunteers and also, everyone can get a special free plant offered to you by the TCSS.