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 award was renamed in 2018 to include Dr. Barbara D. Webster as an equal partner. The Grady L. Webster and Barbara D. Webster Award is a rotating award presented in alternating years by the American Society of Plant Taxonomists and the Botanical Society of America. Dr. Grady was an ASPT President (1982), BSA President (1993), and recipient of both the ASPT Asa Gray Award (2006) and the BSA Merit Award (1997). Dr. Barbara Webster served as the first woman Treasurer of the BSA (1977-81), as BSA President (1983), and was a stalwart supporter of the Society. The American Society of Plant Taxonomists and the Botanical Society of America are pleased to join together in honoring Grady and Barbara in this way.

The BSA component of the award, the Grady L. and Barbara D. 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. and Barbara D. Webster Plant Systematics Publication Award is given in even numbered years and recognizes the paper illustrating the most significant contribution consistent with Grady’s own interests and focus in systematics.

Grady and Barbara are remembered for contributions that 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, this couple inspired young people with their passion and energy for seeing plants in their natural habitat and their global knowledge of vegetation.

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

In Memorium, BARBARA D. WEBSTER, 1929-2017, Plant Science Bulletin 2018, Vol. 62, Issue2

This year, the award will be presented by ASPT.

Award Recipients:

2024 - No Award in 2024

2023 - Alberto Echeverría, Emilio Petrone-Mendoza, Alí Segovia-Rivas, Víctor A. Figueroa-Abundiz, and Mark E. Olson. The vessel wall thickness–vessel diameter relationship across woody angiosperms. American Journal of Botany, April 2022 109: 856-873

2021 - Kamil E. Frankiewicz, Alexei Oskolski, Łukasz Banasiak, Francisco Fernandes, Jean‐Pierre Reduron, Jorge‐Alfredo Reyes‐Betancort, Liliana Szczeparska, Mohammed Alsarraf, Jakub Baczyński, Krzysztof Spalik. Parallel evolution of arborescent carrots (Daucus) in Macaronesia

American Journal of Botany, March 2020 107 no. 3 394-412; https://doi.org/10.1002/ajb2.1444

2020 - Diego F Morales-Briones, Katya Romoleroux, Filip Kolář, David C Tank. Phylogeny and evolution of the Neotropical radiation of Lachemilla (Rosaceae): uncovering a history of reticulate evolution and implications for infrageneric classification. Systematic Botany 2018 43(1): 17-34.

2019 - The Botanical Society of America awarded William B. Sanders and Asunción de los Ríos the 2019 award for their paper:

Parenchymatous cell division characterizes the fungal cortex of some common foliose lichens
American Journal of Botany, February 2017 104 no. 2 207-217, doi:10.3732/ajb.1600403

Honorable Mention:
Rachel Spicer, Dan Johnson, Phoebe Eckart, Noah Alsamadisi, Hilary Noble and Celia Martin
Polar auxin transport is implicated in vessel differentiation and spatial patterning during secondary growth in Populus
American Journal of Botany, February 2018 105 no. 2 186-196; doi:10.1002/ajb2.1035

2018 - Matthew Pace, Kenneth Cameron. Systematics of the Spiranthes cernua species complex (Orchidaceae): untangling the Gordian Knot. Systematic Botany 2017 42(4): 1-30.

2017 - The Botanical Society of America awarded Naoko Takahashi, Chieko Kami, Isao Ota, Nana Morita, and Ryoko Imaichi the 2015 award for their paper:

Developmental morphology of the typical cordate gametophyte of a homosporous leptosporangiate fern, Lygodium japonicum (Lygodiaceae), focusing on the initial cell behavior of two distinct meristems
American Journal of Botany, February 2015 102 no. 2 197-207; published ahead of print 29 January 2015, doi:10.3732/ajb.

2016 - Shayla Salzman, Heather E. Driscoll, Tanya Renner, Thiago André, Stacy Shen, Chelsea D. Specht. Spiraling into History: A Molecular Phylogeny and Investigation of Biogeographic Origins and Floral Evolution for the Genus Costus. Systematic Botany 2015 40(1): 104-115.

2015 - The Botanical Society of America awarded Juliano Dutra Schmitz, Yann Guédon, Flavio Gilberto Herter, Gabriel Berenhauser Leite, and Pierre-Éric Lauri the 2015 award for their paper:
Exploring bud dormancy completion with a combined architectural and phenological analysis: The case of apple trees in contrasting winter temperature conditions
American Journal of Botany, March 2014 101:398-407; published ahead of print 14 March 2014, doi:10.3732/ajb.1300335

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

Barbara A. Ambrose, Silvia Espinosa-Matías, Sonia Vázquez-Santana, Francisco Vergara-Silva, Esteban Martínez, Judith Márquez-Guzmán, and Elena R. Alvarez-Buylla for their paper entitled, "Comparative developmental series of the Mexican triurids support a euanthial interpretation for the unusual reproductive axes of Lacandonia schismatica (Triuridaceae)," American Journal of Botany, Volume 93, Issue 1; January 2006