DATE: 3/5/07

CONTACT: Christine Drais, (864) 656-3405; cdrais@clemson.edu

WRITER: Diane Palmer, (864) 656-4741; spalmer@clemson.edu

Expeditions Host Patrick McMillan to speak at Thurmond Institute

CLEMSON – Patrick McMillan, director of the Clemson University Museum of Natural Science and curator of the Clemson University Herbarium, will give a presentation on botanist and South Carolina Upstate explorer Andre Michaux’s travels, discoveries and contributions at the Strom Thurmond Institute, March 16 at 7:30 p.m.

Andre Michaux, celebrated botanist, explorer, and horticultural pioneer, first discovered Oconee Bells in the Upstate of South Carolina in 1787. Almost five decades later, Asa Gray, the great 19th century Harvard botanist, saw the undescribed dried specimen in Michaux’s herbarium, and began a lifelong quest, ultimately unsuccessful, to find the plant.

McMillan is host of the new SCETV program, Expeditions (www.clemson.edu/expeditions).

The keynote presentation for the Oconee Bell Celebration, McMillan’s seminar may be attended separately as an S.C. Botanical Garden program or the entire symposium, which includes a field trip to Devils Fork State Park to see Oconee Bells in bloom as well as Charlie William’s popular one-man play about Michaux’s life and adventures.

Cost is $10 for non-registrants of the Oconee Bell Celebration which is scheduled for March 16-18. Presentation will be followed by an informal reception.

Thurmond Institute Auditorium is located off Perimeter Road in Clemson. Call 864-656-3405 to register for the March 16 lecture or email oconeebells2007@yahoo.com for more information on the celebration.

The program description and registration forms are available at: www.michaux.org, the website of the Andre Michaux International Society.

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