Botanical Society of America

The society was first established in 1893 as an outgrowth from the Botanical Club of the American Association for the Advancement of Science at a meeting in Rochester, New York, on August 22, 1892. The organizing principles of the society were the enhancement of the study of plants in North America and to professionalize such efforts. In 1906, the organization merged with the Society for Plant Morphology and Physiology and the American Mycological Society.

The society has 16 special interest sections:

Former presidents of the society have included: William Trelease - Director of the Missouri Botanical Garden and the first president of the society Nathaniel Lord Britton - Cofounder of the New York Botanical Garden Margaret Clay Ferguson - Head of the Department of Botany at Wellesley College and the first female president of the society William Francis Ganong - Professor of Botany, Smith College and historian and cartographer of New Brunswick Albert S. Hitchcock - Chief Botanist for the USDA William Chambers Coker - Founder of the Coker Arboretum at the University of North Carolina Katherine Esau - National Medal of Science recipient and namesake of the Katherine Esau Award in structural and developmental biology Vernon Cheadle - Chancellor of the University of California, Santa Barbara G. Ledyard Stebbins − evolutionary biologist at the University of California, Davis Peter H. Raven - Director of the Missouri Botanical Garden Loren Rieseberg - Professor of Botany at the University of British Columbia