The 2024 American Bamboo Society Annual Conference was held on October 17-20 in St. Louis, Missouri.  The ABS Board of Directors met on Thursday, October 17^th and on Thursday evening there was a Welcoming Meet and Greet.  On Friday and Saturday, October 18-19 the conference venue was the Bayer Event Center at the Missouri Botanical Garden. On Sunday, there was  time to visit the gardens and the St Louis Zoo.

            On Friday, October 18th, Dr. Lynn G. Clark, Ph.D., a Professor of Botany at Iowa State University, lead a Bamboo Class. Dr. Clark has over 40 years of experience in grass systematics and evolution, phylogenetics and plant morphology/anatomy including both collections-based research and molecular analyses. Her research has focused primarily on bamboo diversity and systematics. Dr. Clark has served as Director of Iowa State’s Ada Hayden Herbarium for 32 years. The herbarium houses 640,000 plant specimens—the 12th largest university collection of plants in the United States. Dr. Clark is the Interim Chair, Dept. of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, at Iowa State University.

     On Saturday, October 19th, there were presentations, and live and silent auctions to raise funds for grants which are administered by the Ned Jaquith Foundation.  Presentations  covered growing bamboo in cold climates, native American bamboos, bamboo installation and maintenance, exploring bamboo pathogens, and much insight on running bamboo businesses.  There was a wealth of bamboo learning to share. 

Lodging:

            The Moonrise Hotel St Louis was the selected hotel.