Research

Research

Staff

Peter Fritsch, Ph.D.

Vice President of Research / Director of the Herbarium

817-332-4441 x234
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pfritsch@brit.org

Tiana Franklin Rehman

Herbarium Collections Manager

817-546-1845
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trehman@brit.org

Barney L. Lipscomb

Dorothea Leonhardt Chair of Texas Botany, Head of BRIT Press

817-332-7432
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barney@brit.org

Brooke Byerley Best, Ph.D.

Editor, Botanist, Living Roof Coordinator, Research-Education Liaison

817-332-4441 x225
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bbest@brit.org

Alejandra Vasco, Ph.D.

Research Botanist

817-332-4441 ext. 262
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avasco@brit.org

Kim Norton Taylor

Conservation Research Botanist

817-332-4441 x256
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ktaylor@brit.org

Jason Best

Director of Biodiversity Informatics

817-546-8697
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jbest@brit.org

Heather Bass

Research Assistant

817-332-4441 x247
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hbass@brit.org

Alyssa B. Young

Research Manager and Special Collections Librarian

817-332-4441 x248
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abyoung@brit.org

Taylor Sultan Quedensley, Ph.D.

Research Botanist

817-335-8157
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tquedensley@brit.org

The BRIT research staff strives to incorporate the "three Ds" into each of our projects: discovery, documentation, and dissemination. Our researchers generally focus their projects around the themes of biodiversity exploration, botany science core, and sustainability. By participating in a variety of projects around the world, from Peru and Jamaica to our home in Fort Worth, Texas, our researchers are always on the go...and always learning.

TPCC Abstract Submission

Abstract submission for the 2018 Texas Plant Conservation Conference is now open.
Upcoming Events

Botany, Ecology, and Nature

Workshops and classes for the botanically inclined.

BRIT and the Fort Worth Botanic Garden are pleased to offer this series of classes and workshops that will focus on giving participants hands-on, experience-based education in the fields of plant and wildlife science, conservation, sustainability, and ecology. These carefully designed classes and workshops (most of which will will feature field investigations or lab work) will enhance  participants' prior education, offer participants the opportunity to assemble a unique set of skills, and allow participants to interact and network with professionals in their field of interest. 

Upcoming Events
View More Information

Bees! Part I

Bees! Part II
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Research Projects

BRIT Campus

Texas-native botanical research is our bread and butter at BRIT. Here we showcase our many ongoing research projects in and around the BRIT campus. 

BRIT Collections

The herbarium and library collections are the core of BRIT and support ongoing research projects. Here you can read about our projects related to our collections.

Biodiversity

The researchers and Resident Researche Associates of BRIT conduct botanical research around the world, documenting the diversity of plant life from Texas to the Philippines.

Plant Conservation

Plant diversity is being lost at an alarming rate. It is this same diversity that supports human livelihoods and many of our most precious natural resources. One of BRIT’s major goals is to raise awareness of the value plants bring to life, and the threats they face worldwide. BRIT is committed to working toward conserving plant diversity at home in Texas, and around the world.
Recent Articles

What Is This Thing? Oenothera triloba fruit

by Brooke Byerley Best, Ph.D.
"What is this thing???" We often hear this question from friends and family in relation to natural "treasures" found in the landscape. Sticks, leaves, flowers, fruit, fungi, lichens, moss. You name it, somebody has likely brought it to BRIT for identification at some point (or emailed us a photo). The object below was brought in recently by a Fort Worth resident. Roughly the size and shape of a pine cone, this is actually an aggregation of many fruits (capsules) from a plant called stemless evening-primrose ( Oenothera triloba ). A winter annual, this native wildflower comes up in disturbed places (and often lawns) at the end of the year, overwinters as a rosette, then produces yellow flowers in the spring. Flowers arise from the base of the plant, meaning fruit eventually develop at the b...
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Books, Botany, and Bugs

by Sydney Jackson
This past summer, summer of 2017, I was a research intern at BRIT. When first coming to BRIT I did not know what to expect. All the perceptions of internships that I had in my head were of interns running back and forth delivering coffee and dry cleaning to any staff member that asked. Luckily BRIT blew all of those premonitions out of the water and showed me what a great internship should really strive to be. During my internship I worked on three main projects with plenty of other small projects sprinkled in between (oh, the joys of a non-profit). The first one I encountered was helping digitize the rare book collection by scanning beautiful illustrations and photo slides. One of my favorites was an illustrated Japanese botanical book that was published in 1910. With vibrant colors that...
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My Summer Education: The Microscopic World

by Vanessa Marshall
BRIT has been amazing – a catalyst that has unlocked the doors to the natural world and shown me wonders that I had never fully appreciated.
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Recycling Rocks!

by Brooke Byerley Best, Ph.D.
Mixed-stream recycling is pretty amazing. We get to throw all of our recyclables into one bin, and then — POOF! — they magically get taken away and sorted elsewhere. No more icky sorting of paper from soda cans, milk jugs from mason jars! But have you ever wondered how the sorting ACTUALLY HAPPENS and WHO DOES IT?
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A Trip to Seville Farms

by Alyssa B. Young
A couple of weeks ago, over half of the BRIT building was eerily empty for a day as the whole research department set off for a tour of Seville Farms, which is owned and operated by one of our board members, Billy Brentlinger. Seville Farms is a large-scale plant nursery providing annuals, perennials, and ground covers to numerous garden centers across Texas. The farms have five facilities containing over three million square feet! On this trip we visited the headquarters in Mansfield, Texas, and Billy and his right-hand-man John gave us an in-depth tour of the operations, start to finish.
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My Time at Mile High

by BRIT Staff
This is the first in a new “Where Are They Now?”series featuring guest posts from former interns, volunteers, staff, and friends of BRIT. This month’s post is from former BRIT intern and herbarium staff, Miranda Madrid. Hello! I wanted to share my experience in the Mile High City with all of you back home in the great state of Texas. I am currently participating in a year-long service program in Denver, Colorado, while I discern my path as an up-and-coming environmental scientist. My first couple days in Colorado were spent in the mountains. Amazing views! My service group, Colorado Vincentian Volunteers, is a nonprofit organization based in Denver dedicated to inviting young people into a process of transformation through companionship with those who are poor and marginalized. So what exa...
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BRIT Teams with Tarleton State University to Build Habitat Maps of 57 Central Texas Rare Plant Species

by Chris Chilton
TxDOT will use maps to find, protect rare plants along Texas highways FORT WORTH, Texas – The Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT®), Tarleton State University, and the Texas Department of Transportation are teaming together to document rare plant species that may potentially exist within TxDOT rights-of-way in 23 counties in the Waco and Austin districts of Central Texas. Through a TxDOT grant, Tarleton and BRIT will research and build habitat maps for 57 of the 81 Edwards Plateau rare plant species. The work includes identifying, documenting, and mapping areas where these rare species most likely occur. TxDOT will use these maps to improve the department’s ability to protect the rare species, which grow along Texas highways. For several of these species, roadsides represent a sign...
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Yunnan, China

by Peter Fritsch, Ph.D.
Dr. Peter Fritsch, BRIT’s VP of Research and Director of the Herbarium, is on a visiting scholarship from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, based at the Kunming Institute of Botany in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province. Peter went on a brief (8-day) field trip in late October-early November to far northeastern Yunnan Province and the bordering area of Guizhou Province.
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