Texas botanists will collaborate with other U.S. institutions and international personnel to conduct research in threatened forests of Southeast Asia. FORT WORTH, Texas (August 28, 2018) – Researchers at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT®) have received a $1.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to conduct a project titled “Plant Discovery in the Southern Philippines.” Dr. Peter Fritsch, BRIT’s Vice President of Research, will head the team as Principal Investigator with co-Principal Investigators Dr. Taylor Quedensley (BRIT), Dr. Darin Penneys (University of North Carolina at Wilmington), and Dr. Daniel Nickrent (Southern Illinois University Carbondale). The project begins this month and field expeditions will begin in the spring of 2019. The Philippines...

Popular Local Event Returns Following Conservatory Renovation “Celebrate the Change” in the Fort Worth Botanic Garden’s recently restored conservatory and marvel at a multitude of butterflies during “Butterflies in the Garden,” the largest exhibit of live, exotic butterflies in north central Texas, starting Feb. 29, 2020 and running through April 12, 2020. The six-week exhibit will be open daily, including Sundays, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. “Beautiful, exotic butterflies of every hue and size will be flying in the conservatory,” said Gail Manning, Fort Worth Botanic Garden entomologist. “People will have a chance to walk among hundreds of fluttering butterflies from around the world, watch them land on tropical flowers and lush foliage — maybe even on their shoulders — and learn about the ama...

Crittenden Estate of Australia Wins Top Honors in 2020 BRIT/FIVS International Sustainable Winegrowing Competition Additional wineries from Chile, Portugal and the United States receive medals for their outstanding ground-to-glass sustainability programs. Jackson Family Wines receives special platinum multi-brand sustainable winegrowing award. FORT WORTH, Texas – The Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT) in partnership with FIVS, a global public policy federation serving the wine, spirits, and beer sectors, are pleased to announce the winners of their 2020 International Sustainable Winegrowing Competition. Topping this year’s competition is Crittenden Estate of Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia, based on the winery’s on-going programs addressing the three elements of sustain...

Today, the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo and Botanical Research Institute of Texas announced the winners from the 2020 FWSSR / BRIT™ Texas Sustainable Winegrowing Competition. Top honors were awarded to Bending Branch Winery in Comfort, Texas, in combination with Tallent Vineyards of Mason, Texas. Nice Winery in Houston, Texas won the Grand Reserve Champion award in combination with Alta Mira Vineyards of Anderson, Texas. The top winning wineries were awarded for their sustainable practices in the vineyard and other areas of operation in addition to the wines they submitted to a blind tasting. Bending Branch Tannat Rosé, Texas Hill Country 2018 Nice Winery Texas Blanc, Alta Mira Vineyard 2018 The inaugural wine competition of the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo established a unique approach...

The Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT®) Operating Board is pleased to announce the recent election of two new board members: Dana Burghdoff and William Welder. Their individual terms begin 2020. Dana Burghdoff is interim assistant city manager with the City of Fort Worth and will serve on the operating board a s an advisory trustee. Advisory Trustees are non-voting, year-to-year appointments. Ms. Burghdoff has 25 years of city planning and development experience, with 20 of those in the City of Fort Worth. During her tenure with the City, Ms. Burghdoff has served as the policy advisor to the City Council, City Plan Commission, Zoning Commission, and other groups. Her achievements include extensive engagement with the public to reallocate 250,000 residents during decennial redistr...

BRIT continues to celebrate its Year of Botanical Art with an exhibition organized by the American Society of Botanical Artists The Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT®) invites the community to be part of a worldwide artistic appreciation of native plants with the exhibition “ Botanical Art Worldwide: America’s Flora ” Sept. 26 through Nov. 27. BRIT is one of just four venues in the United States for the exhibition, which was organized by the United States Botanic Garden and the American Society of Botanical Artists (ASBA). BRIT will host a reception with ASBA Director of Exhibitions Carol Woodin on Saturday, Oct. 5 from 1 to 3 p.m. Ms. Woodin will introduce the exhibition and lead a gallery tour at 1 p.m., with a complimentary dessert and coffee reception to follow. The program i...

The National Science Foundation (NSF) recently awarded the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT®) $1.5 million over four years to digitize its 355,000 herbarium specimen collections from Texas and Oklahoma. The prestigious grant is part of a larger project that brings together 46 collaborating herbaria from across these two states and elsewhere to digitize the data from nearly two million plant specimens. The project funding totals $4.7 million, which supports BRIT as the lead institution, with co-leads at the University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University, the University of Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State University, as well as 11 other institutions. “This grant will help to close a large geographic gap in our knowledge of North American plant biodiversity and facilitate both reg...

Dr. Shirley Sherwood, OBE, Botanist, Author and Respected Collector of Botanical Art, credited for generating a revival of interest in botanical art across the world The Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT) is proud to announce that Shirley Sherwood, OBE, Ph.D. is the recipient of its 2019 International Award of Excellence in Conservation for her lifelong work in botany through the collection, preservation, and exhibition of botanical art. The award dinner will be held on Oct. 2, 2019 at Frost Tower Fort Worth. Since her childhood, Dr. Sherwood has been interested in both plants and art. She graduated from the University of Oxford in England with a degree in botany and earned her Ph.D. as part of the research team of Nobel Prize winner Sir James Black, whose group discovered Tagame...