January 2008 Vol. V No. 5

Directors & Officers

Ruth Loper, Director

Lynn Sherrod, Director

Clyde McKinney, President

franclyde@peoplescom.net

903-967-3998

Liz Soutendijk, VP Programs

Elizabeth Parks, Sec/Treasurer

Ron Loper, VP Field Trips

Marjorie Sherrod, VP Membership

Herb Jarrell, Newsletter Editor

herbjarrell@letu.edu

903-986-2332

FROM THE PRESIDENT

Dr. Lynn Sherrod will be our speaker this month and he prefers Posados for dinner, so let’s meet there at 5:30 PM prior to the Chapter Meeting. Everyone is invited!  As you probably know, Posados Cafe is just a block or so west of Loop 323 at 2500 (on the north side) E Fifth St (903-597-2573).

Here we are again so soon—

Another year has ended.

Plants have bloomed.

Plants have died.

Yet more will grow for us to see.

Next field trip or in our yard;

Everywhere if we’re alert.

When they bloom, we will seek them.

Yellow, red, orange, and blue,

Each bloom holds life anew,

And assures new plants and blooms

Return for us to find next year.

Clyde McKinney

JANUARY PROGRAM

The Asteraceae (sunflower, daisy) Family

by Dr. Lynn Sherrod

This is one of the largest and most complex of all the families of flowering plants.  Dr. Sherrod will give an overview of the major characteristics of this group with a view toward helping you to identify at least the family in the field.  The primary purpose will be to use this family as an example to

1) demonstrate why living things are categorized and

2) provide a few common species as examples for illustrating how they are classified.

Dr. Lynn Sherrod, a Charter Member of the Tyler Chapter of the NPSOT, served as Chapter President for two years and continues to serve as a chapter director.  He also has served as the Botanical Advisor for the state organization for several years. He retired from UT Tyler last spring after more than 30 years of teaching botany to university students.

Liz Soutendijk

NEW MEMBERS

Please welcome our new members to the Tyler Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas!

Rex Rasberry—Whitehouse

It’s great to have you with us! If you haven’t come to one of our meetings or our field trips, you are missing out! Also, if you have recently joined our chapter and you’re not listed above, please forgive our oversight and let us know.

Marjorie Sherrod

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND EVENTS

The Lone Star Regional Native Plant Conference will be held in Nacogdoches on May 28-June 1, 2008. Mark your calendars. They always have good speakers and good field trips—more information on this later.

Contributions to the Newsletter

This newsletter is normally published monthly, September through May. Members are especially encouraged to submit articles for publication in this newsletter. Contributions will be considered on the basis of interest, suitability, and available space. Grammar and spelling corrections will be made at the discretion of the editor. Email your articles, announcements, etc. to the editor at herbjarrell@letu.edu.

If you have never attended one of our meetings, and you are interested in learning more about native plants and their habitats, we invite you to give us a visit. Our meetings are held at the Fairwood United Methodist Church in Tyler on the first Monday of each month, September through May. Fairwood United Methodist Church is located just east of the East Loop (route 323) and south of Fifth Street (Highway 64) at 1712 Old Omen Road.

Please note: if you want to forward this newsletter to someone via snail-mail, simply fold it in half so that the blank back side of this page is available for addresses and postage, and staple or tape the two sides and the bottom.

For those who might already be longing for Summer