An afternoon in St. Louis

Hi,

This weekend past, I was in St. Louis, to interview with Wash U faculty about getting into their Ph.D. program.  I met with Dr. Croat at MoBot (who appeared to have a fungal infection in the middle finger of his left hand), and we discussed my interests relative to his.  I also got to see the research greenhouses at MoBot, particularly Dr. Croat's aroids.  The Wall (of climbing aroids) was very impressive.  I was particularly intriued by his collection of Stenospermation -- more so after he said that almost nothing is known of this genus, either its systematics or its ecology.

I also saw some of the more public parts of MoBot, including the Climatron.  As one who has traveled in the tropics, I can say the Climatron is very well done for its purpose; I almost felt I was really in the tropics again.  The heat and humidity filled my whole body with a healthy feeling, in contrast to the faint cold/allergy feeling I had outside.

The next day, I went to the St. Louis Zoo.  Inside the Primate House was an attractive garden including a number of aroid species, with a species of birds-nest Anthurium in flower, and some nice specimens of the "Kris Plant" Alocasia.

I hope to go back to school come fall, and Wash U is definitely high on my preferences list.

Jason Hernandez
Naturalist-at-Large
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