Cycad 2008, the triennial scientific conference for cycad biology, was held in Panama City, Panama, January 12-18. Hosted by Universidad de Panamá (UP), Montgomery Botanical Center (MBC) was honored to co-sponsor this important meeting in collaboration with other important research institutes and botanic gardens including The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) and The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. The meeting also bridged the scientific and enthusiast communities through the participation of The Cycad Society.

Dr. Alberto Taylor, professor at UP, MBC research fellow, and conference chair, organized the conference and all related functions. Montgomery Botanical was well-represented among the diverse scientific and horticultural findings presented at the conference. Michael Calonje, MBC cycad biologist, presented a poster on his very recent phytogeographic research, highlighting new field data obtained in the days before the conference. Dr. Patrick Griffith, MBC executive director, gave a talk on MBC phenological data, coauthored by Dr. Damon Little and Dr. Dennis Stevenson of NYBG, with Michael Calonje and Chad Husby, MBC collections manager and botanist.

For more information regarding MBC’s participation in Cycad 2008, please see this report.