Grady L. Webster Structural Botany Publication Award

THE GRADY L. WEBSTER AWARD was established in 2006 by BSA President (1983) Dr. Barbara D. Webster, and daughter Dr. Susan V. Webster to honor the life and work of husband and father, Dr. Grady L. Webster. The Grady L. Webster Award is a rotating award presented by the American Society of Plant Taxonomists and the Botanical Society of America in alternating years. Dr. Webster was an ASPT President (1982), BSA President (1993), and recipient of both the ASPT Asa Gray Award (2006) and the BSA Merit Award (1997). The American Society of Plant Taxonomists and the Botanical Society of America are pleased to join together in honoring Grady.

The BSA component of the award, the Grady L. Webster Structural Botany Publication Award recognizes the most outstanding paper published in the American Journal of Botany in the field of structural and developmental botany (i.e., anatomy and morphology) over the two-year period prior to the award year. The ASPT component of the award, the Grady L. Webster Plant Systematics Publication Award will be given in even numbered years and will represent the paper illustrating the most significant contribution consistent with Grady’s own interests and focus in systematics.

Grady is remembered as a person whose contributions have been truly monumental in the recent history of plant systematics and constitute a massive body of work that rivals anything produced through the initiative and influence of a single individual. More importantly, Grady inspired young people with his passion and energy for seeing plants in their natural habitat and his global knowledge of vegetation. He will be remembered for the importance of his contributions to our knowledge of tropical and subtropical plants; his infectious, wry sense of humor; and his warm and constant support of his friends and family.

In Memorium, GRADY L. WEBSTER, 1927-2005, Plant Science Bulletin 2006, Vol. 52, Issue 1

Award Recipients:

2014 - The American Society of Plant Taxonomists awarded Kristen Hasenstab-Lehman, a Ph.D. candidate in Botany at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden & Claremont Graduate University, and Dr. Michael Simpson, Professor of Biology at San Diego State University and Kristen’s former M.S. advisor, their Grady Webster Award at the Society’s annual meeting. The biannual award was given for the most outstanding paper published in the Society’s journals Systematic Botany and Systematic Botany Monographs during the two-year period of 2012-2013. Their winning paper, “Cat's Eyes and Popcorn Flowers: Phylogenetic Systematics of the Genus Cryptantha s. l. (Boraginaceae)” was published in the July 2012 issue of Systematic Botany.

2013 - We are honored to present the 2011 award to: Drs. Jessica M. Budke, Bernard Goffinet, and Cynthia S. Jones
The cuticle on the gametophyte calyptra matures before the sporophyte cuticle in the moss Funaria hygrometrica (Funariaceae)
American Journal of Botany, 2012, 99(1): 14-22

2012 - The Grady L. Webster Award was presented by the American Society of Plant Taxonomists. The Society was honored to present the award to: Drs. Elizabeth Zacharias and Bruce Baldwin, "A Molecular Phylogeny of North American Atripliceae (Chenopodiaceae), with Implications for Floral and Photosynthetic Pathway Evolution" - Systematic Botany, 2010

2011 - We are honored to present the 2011 award to: Dr. Sherwin Carlquistfor the paper entitled, "Xylem heterochrony: an unappreciated key to angiosperm origin and diversifications," Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2009, 161, 26–65

2010 - The Grady L. Webster Award was presented by the American Society of Plant Taxonomists. The Society was honored to present the award to: Thomas L. P. Couvreur: Couvreur, T. L. P. 2010. Monograph of the syncarpous African genera Isolona and Monodora (Annonaceae). Systematic Botany Monographs 87: 1-150.

2009 - We are honored to present the 2009 award to: Gregory J. Jordan, Peter H. Weston, Raymond J. Carpenter, Rebecca A. Dillon and Timothy J. Brodribb for the paper entitled, "The evolutionary relations of sunken, covered, and encrypted stomata to dry habitats in Proteaceae," American Journal of Botany, Volume 95, Issue 5; May 2008.

2008 - The Grady L. Webster Award is presented by the American Society of Plant Taxonomists. The Society was honored to present the award to: Walter Judd:Walter S. Judd: Judd, W. S. 2007. Revision of Miconia sect. Chaenopleura (Miconieae, Melastomataceae) in the Greater Antilles. Systematic Botany Monographs 81: 1-235.

2007 - marks the first year the Grady L. Webster Award is presented by the Botanical Society of America. We are honored to present the award to:

Francisco Vergara (left), Barbara Ambrose
and Elena Alvarez-Buylla at the Lacandon rainforest