J. Richard Abbott – Botanist – Personal and professional website for American Botanist J. Richard Abbott, PhD

Photograph of Richard Abbott — NYBG, 2015

Photograph of Richard Abbott in Bolivia — Bolivia, 1995, collecting plants in cloud forest

Hello and welcome! I am a botanist with 25+ years experience in a wide array of botanical jobs and research — in AR, KY, IL, MO, NY, and elsewhere, such as in CA as a restoration botanist and in FL as an assistant grower in a plant nursery, a botanical research greenhouse manager, and a botanical consultant. It has been a great life, pursuing new plants and new experiences. My research interests include floristics and phylogenetic systematics and taxonomy, especially with the Polygalaceae. There is nothing I love more than learning new plants and sharing my passion for plant identification with others, e.g., check out the Arkansas Native Plant Society 2022 Basics of Botany Series with Dr. Richard Abbott (Saturdays, 6 pm). Part 1: Plant Identification Terminology, 2 Apr; Part 2: Plant Reproductive Terminology, 21 May; Part 3: The Basics Behind a Name, 18 Jun, or see below for other online presentations, most of which focus on how to organize information to facilitate plant identification. I also taught a plant ID workshop (for professional biologists, land managers, & amateur enthusiasts) in southern Alabama at Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve.

Back in 2017 & 2018, I made my last trips (so far) out of the US, when I spent 2 weeks in Tunja, Colombia as an invited keynote speaker and lecturer (charla magistral), 9^th Colombian Botanical Congress; I spent 7 weeks in Myanmar (first time botanizing in Asia!!) as an invited lecturer and researcher for plant identification courses and fieldwork; and I co-taught a 2 week Plant Systematics course in conjunction with the 12th Latin American Botanical Congress in Ecuador… Now I largely content myself outside the classroom by giving plant talks to any & all interested groups and getting out on nature hikes as I can…

Photograph of Richard pressing plants — NY 2016, pressing plants

Photograph of Richard — In St. Louis (MO), 2014

Photograph of Richard in kayak — Kayaking at Hancock Biological Station, KY Lake, 2014

Photograph of Richard at Station Cove Falls, SC — Station Cove Falls, SC, 2004

Photograph of Richard in Painted Desert — Painted Desert, AZ, 1999

Photograph of Richard in Ecuador, 1994 — Ecuador, 1994

view my CV.

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Botany Photo Atlas cover

Photographic Atlas of Botany and Guide to Plant Identification
Artificial Plant Id Motifs: Simple and Useful Patterns of Field Identification of Plants. An hour-long presentation with the Missouri Native Plant Society. The same link has 2 other talks of mine (all with handouts) on plant ID. And a similar talk was given to the Central Arkansas Master Naturalists.
Introduction to the Vines of Arkansas, Arkansas Native Plant Society.
Author page with the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) Press [temporarily unavailable] including links to treatments published for the New Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada
Photo Gallery of Vascular Plants with Walter Judd and collaborators
Selected articles through Google Scholar illustrating my diverse research interests