Tristan J. Davis | April Speaker

April 11th at 7pm PST
Redlands Church of the Nazarene
1307 East Citrus Avenue
Redlands, CA 92374

Have you ever wondered what it is like to do botanical field work? How about field work in places where you are pretty sure no one who knew the plants has ever been before? Well, buckle up, because we are going to follow the best trail of all: a Trail of the Unknown. Tristan was honored to be invited to participate in botanical field work in 2017 by the infamous Greg Starr to study – you guessed it – Agaves. And, for Tristan, who has spent over 40 years participating in scientific expeditions across the globe, this was his first botanical expedition.

Tristan will take you on his first trip with Greg to a potential study site for his agave research – a site secluded and difficult to reach: surely a site unknown botanically. And, of course, because Tristan’s primary botanical interest is cacti (though Greg’s influence has shifted much of his research towards agaves), he was like a little kid in a candy shop the entire time. Cacti and succulents were around every corner…and under every foot! Tristan will show you the different plants he encountered along the way – ones he knew, ones he didn’t (but others did), and ones that…well…no one really knew! This presentation will focus on one particular plant that was encountered on that first trip that continued to confound us even after we returned to the US.

Biography

Born into a very “outdoorsy” family, Tristan was introduced to the natural world at a very young age. His initial interest was specific to South American birds, and subsequent education at Louisiana State University and the University of Kansas allowed him to accompany scientific expeditions to most South American countries, as well as China, the Philippines, Liberia, and Equatorial Guinea.