at Plant Canada 2003

St Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada
June 26-28 2003

Verne Grant revolutionised our understanding of plant speciation. He started early - his first published paper, in 1949, provided the first credible model for sympatric speciation, in this case based on the constancy of pollinator behaviour. A year later, he published a major review on the flower constancy of bees, establishing pollinator behaviour as an important consideration in plants and heralding the exceptional work continuing in this area.

Over the next decade, as a by-product of his ongoing genetic, taxonomic and pollinator studies in the Polemoniaceae, he authored influential treatments on the effects of chromosomal repatterning on adaptation, the nature of plant species, the role of hybridization in evolution and the origins of agamospermous plants. These ideas culminated in his first major synthetic treatment, The Origin of Adaptations, which received the Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science in 1964.

The 1960s also saw the publication of many, now classic, empirical studies. These include characterisation of mechanical isolating barriers in Salvia, artificial synthesis of new diploid and tetraploid hybrid species, and documentation of speciation by reinforcement. In 1971 he authored the first edition of what was perhaps his most influential book, Plant Speciation, and in 1975 he published the most important synthesis to date of evolutionary genetics in angiosperms, in a volume entitled Genetics of Flowering Plants.

These seminal monographs have been followed by even broader treatments of general evolutionary theory, including Organismic Evolution (1977) and The Evolutionary Process (1985). His research accomplishments have been honoured by his election to the National Academy of Sciences in 1968 and to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1975. He also received a Certificate of Merit from the Botanical Society of America in 1971 and served as President for the Society for the Study of Evolution in 1968.

Although Verne Grant is now 86, his scholarship continues unabated. He continues to publish on the systematics and evolution of the Polemoniaceae, the theory and practice of taxonomy and cladistics, and the genealogy and history of the Edward Grant Family. It is a pleasure and an honour to hold this symposium in commemoration of his developing legacy.

For more information about Verne Grant including a list of publications click here

Illustrations: Plant Speciation logo by Sam Day. The logo depicts scarlet Gilia, of the Polemoniaceae - the systematics of the Polemoniaceae was one of Verne Grant's specialist fields. Alpine flowers, courtesy of T J Tschaplinski. Helianthus anomalus, courtesy of L Rieseberg. Beech forest, courtesy of R J Norby.
Plant speciation is funded by the New Phytologist Trust

Last updated: January 17, 2007