Meet the Greats: Fernwood Virtual Lecture Series
This story is of a flower and the man who ventured to the other side of the world, away from family and modern convenience, to collect it. The plant was not just an object of desire but one of such value that it would underwrite the most significant collecting expeditions of the day. Yet, its beauty almost betrayed the collector, nearly taking his reputation and his life. This is also a story of their redemption: the story of Ernest Henry Wilson and the regal lily (Lilium regale). Fernwood member, Michael S. Dosmann, PhD, is Keeper of the Living Collections at the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard University, a title bestowed to only two individuals in Harvard’s long, prestigious history. The other recipient was E.H. Wilson. And like E.H. Wilson, Michael is a modern-day plant explorer.