It has now been six months that I have had the honor of serving as Editor-in-Chief of Rhodora, the journal of the New England Botanical Society, so I would like to share some reflections on my relationship with the journal.
I am no stranger to this venerable botanical resource. In fact, one of my early papers was on the flora of the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia and North Carolina, published in Rhodora half a century ago. Little did I know then that I would be tracking Merritt Lyndon Fernald's botanical activities as part of my research on the floristics and ecology of the region, reading his often entertaining accounts of collecting in the part of Virginia that became my botanical home. To frame it in Fernaldian biogeography, I work in the southeastern part of his botanical domain. His fastidious fieldwork, collections, and descriptions of plant communities published in our journal have been an invaluable resource for my research. My hope is that Rhodora continues this auspicious tradition for future botanists.
To do so, we need to make our journal better known to emerging generations of botanists. One way to do this is by promoting the journal and NEBS research awards through existing mailing lists and in other botanical society newsletters. I plan to work on this over the next few months and look forward to your suggestions for outreach—not only to academics but to the general botanical public as well. Please send your ideas and queries for submissions to editor@rhodora.org.
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