Future Events
Talks are held in the Zoology Benham Building, 346 Great King Street, behind the Zoology car park by the old Captain Cook Hotel. This is where we used to meet pre-covid. Please use the main entrance of the Benham Building to enter and go to the Benham Seminar Room, Room 215, located on the second floor. Please be prompt as we have to hold the door open. Zoom links for the talks are sent to members, join the BSO here.
Trips leave from the Department of Botany car park.
Field Trip on Saturday 3rd of October 2026, 09:00 AM (1 week from now)
Contact: Lydia Turley | lydiamturley@gmail.com | 0210623602
John Steel has compiled a key to the ferns of Dunedin, and we are going to field-test it along the Leith Saddle track. Come armed with hand-lenses and cameras. (18km round trip, suggested contribution to driver: $4). Contact Lydia Turley 0210623602
Talk / Seminar on Wednesday 14th of October 2026, 05:20 PM (2 weeks from now)
Contact: Jo Sinclair
Speaker: Paul Guy. When 5-6 cherry blossom flowers open on designated trees across Japan the news hits the evening prime time bulletin. From late March to late April the cherry blossom front is mapped as it sweeps northwards through the archipelago. There is serious discussion: is this year’s cherry blossom front ahead or behind last year’s? Some of these trees have been venerated for hundreds of years but you will be surprised how they are treated day to day.
The gardens of Tokyo range from pencil-thin strips of green on concrete landings to large public gardens confiscated during bloody battles that destroyed the shoganate and restored the Emperor. The gardens use many familiar species from the celebrated cherry blossom to my favourite the ginkgo. The latter survived the Permian mass extinction and saw the dinosaurs come and go. There are a few surprises too. There are many plant diseases which have not made it to New Zealand so Tokyo gardens are useful sentinels for pathogens we don’t want here
Talk / Seminar on Wednesday 11th of November 2026, 05:20 PM (1 month from now)
Contact: Gretchen Brownstein | 0210658497
Speaker: Peter Johnson. Plants have taken me to watery places, and to words, names, terms, epithets, origins, and so on. Hydrocotyle hydrophila: how watery is that? Water has been taking me to brooks, burns, becks, desmids, diatoms, didymo, drizzle, droplets, drains, Drepanocladus, and Donatia.
And by way of a preview: a scene you might see from a bridge when playing Pooh-sticks, and wonder about. What might the streamers of filamentous algae tell us about stream flow, sinuosity, sediments, swirls, sliding windows, eddies, and erosion? Explanations from the greenery.
Field Trip on Saturday 14th of November 2026, 09:00 AM (1 month from now)
Contact: Gretchen Brownstein | 0210658497
McNallys track, Milton is a 7km walk up the hills behind Milton (300m of elevation gain). The track traverses over farmland and through small bush remnants which we will explore before continuing to a good lunch spot at the high point with great views. Come prepared for muddy wet feet and steep slippery tracks. Bring a lunch and water bottle. Meet at the Botany Department for carpooling at 9am. Return time 3pm. Drive is ~100km round trip (suggested carpool contribution $20pp). Contact Gretchen Brownstein 021 065 8497