Authors
J. Christopher Ludwig
is chief biologist with the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation’s
Division of Natural Heritage. In addition to studying the vascular plants
and the animals of Virginia, he manages a multidisciplinary team of biologists
who identify rare species and significant plant communities throughout the
state. From 1988 to 1998 he served as botanist with the Division of Natural
Heritage.
His Flora work includes:
* Management of project-wide work flow
* Editing of taxonomic descriptions
* Incorporation of information on plant status and habitat
* Serving as executive director of the Flora Project Foundation and president of its board of directors.
Alan
Weakley is the curator of the University of North Carolina Herbarium
(a department of the North Carolina Botanical Garden) and an adjunct professor
at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A native of Virginia,
he was formerly chief ecologist with NatureServe in Arlington; southeastern
regional ecologist for The Nature Conservancy; and botanist with the North
Carolina Natural Heritage Program. Since 1992, Dr. Weakley has been developing
a guide to the flora of the southeastern states and throughout his career
has been active in plant systematics, plant ecology, and conservation in the
Southeast.
His Flora work includes:
* Ongoing taxonomic research to ensure that the Flora reflects the
most current names, phylogenetic relationships, and synonymies
* Development of keys for families, genera and species
* Inclusion of phenology, habitat, and identification information for taxa.
John Townsend is staff botanist for the Virginia
Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Division of Natural Heritage. His work as part of the division’s
inventory team has focused primarily on rare vascular plants and their conservation. He was previously
curator of the herbarium at Clemson University.
His Flora work includes:
* Editing of taxonomic descriptions
* Editing of illustrations, ensuring that they accurately and truly depict key characters
* Provision of Virginia-specific information on status and habitat.
Writers
Gary P. Fleming, right, is writing a chapter
on the natural history and plant communities of Virginia and reviewing phenology
and habitat information in taxa descriptions. Mr. Fleming is a vegetation
ecologist with the Division of Natural Heritage in the Virginia Department
of Conservation and Recreation. He is president of Virginia Botanical Associates,
a nonprofit organization that has been devoted to mapping the distribution
of all vascular plants in Virginia for the past 30 years.
Nancy Ross Hugo will be a co-author of the chapter on the history of botanical exploration in Virginia. (See also Flora board.)
Donna M.E. Ware is writing the treatment of the family Valerianaceae and will be a co-author of a chapter on the history of botanical exploration in Virginia. (See also Flora board.)
Tom Wieboldt is writing the treatment of
the family Isoetaceae. Mr. Wieboldt is curator of vascular plants
at the Massey Herbarium at Virginia Tech. He is also vice president of Virginia
Botanical Associates.
Illustrators
Lara Call Gastinger has a B.A.
degree in biology from the University of Virginia and an M.S. degree in plant ecology from Virginia Tech.
She also has participated in the field ecology and drawing program of the Rhode Island School of Design and
in a biological illustration program of Cornell University and the University of New Hampshire.
Ms. Gastinger has exhibited her work widely, including in the American Society of Botanical Artists and the Horticultural Society of New York's Ninth Annual International Juried Botanical Art Exhibition (2006) and at the Royal Horticultural Society's February London Flower Show (2007), where she received the gold medal for botanical art. She is a member of the American Society of Botanical Artists. Her website is http://www.laracallgastinger.com.
Michael Terry recently received his M.S. degree in botany from the University
of Richmond. Mr. Terry’s paper, “A Flora of Powhatan County, Virginia,” appeared
in the September 2007 issue of Castanea: The Journal of the Southern Appalachian
Botanical Society. He is on the staff of the Flora Project, where his
work includes research using herbarium specimens to verify that plant descriptions
written for the Flora accurately portray plants collected in Virginia.
Terry is secretary of the Flora Foundation board. His website is http://www.materry.com.
Roy Fuller is illustrating the ferns and fern allies for the Flora. He also illustrated a new species of Rhododendron for Novon, but Mr. Fuller is more likely to be creating abstract art than botanicals. After completing undergraduate and graduate degrees in business, he worked for 12 years as a financial analyst for a Houston oil company. In 1993, he began doctoral research at Wake Forest University on the molecular systematics of two neotropical genera of blueberries. He now operates a microbiology lab, certified in Virginia and North Carolina, that performs EPA-required bacteriological testing of public water systems.
Environmental specialists
Bland Crowder is with the Division of Natural Heritage, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation.
He compiles and edits taxonomic descriptions; writes grant proposals; processes and acknowledges private
gifts; and provides content for this website. He has B.S. and M.A. degrees in biology from the
College of William and Mary and an M.S. degree in journalism from New York University.
Michael Terry is with the Division of Natural Heritage, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. (See above.)
Other contributors
The following people, many of them volunteers, have compiled taxon descriptions based on the literature: Alan Belden, Doug DeBerry (especially sedges of the genus Carex), Tom Dierauf, John Dodge (especially grasses), Ruth Douglas, Irene Frentz, Kevin Heffernan, Mike Leahy, Greg Plunkett, Rosalind Rowe, Allison Weakley.