RSVP for The Mighty Bur Oak: From Hybrid Genomes to Insects, Fungi, and the Tangled Web of Life

media release: 2025-2026 Friends of the UW Arboretum Luncheon Lectures

We are pleased to announce another fantastic roster of speakers this year!  Luncheon Lectures filled up quickly, so register soon. Luncheon Lectures are held from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Arboretum Visitor Center. A buffet lunch, provided by Blue Plate Catering, is followed by an educational presentation. Register online at foamadison.org or send a check payable to FOA to Friends of the Arboretum, 1207 Seminole Hwy., Madison, WI 53711. The cost of each Luncheon Lecture is $48.  Registration closes 10 days before each event. The Friends of the Arboretum is a nonprofit organization that supports the missions of the UW Arboretum.

Wednesday September 17, 2025: The Mighty Bur Oak: From Hybrid Genomes to Insects, Fungi, and the Tangled Web of Life by Andrew Hipp, director of the herbarium and senior scientist in plant systematics, Morton Arboretum and lecturer, University of Chicago.  Registration closes 10 days before the event.  

The bur oak is a foundation of eastern North American forests and savannas. It is massive, long-lived, strong, and enormously variable. But the bur oak is no lone wolf: it exchanges genes with other oak species from the Black Hills to Vermont, and from northern Minnesota down to Texas. This talk will introduce current research on how genes move between bur oak and its relatives and shape their evolution, and how oak genomes shape the natural history of our region.