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The Mid-States Cactus & Succulent Conference is offering a June 12 afternoon field trip tour to St. Louis' famed Missouri Botanical Garden, meeting and show home of the Henry Shaw Cactus Society. For those interested in other activities, a guide to St. Louis attractions will be included in participants' conference bags. See below for a few starter ideas.
Indicate your desire to participate in the field trip on the registration form on the back of the conference registration brochure. The first 50 registrants will also tour the MBG Herbarium and Library at 1 p.m. After viewing these facilities, the full group can further explore Missouri Botanical Garden or return to the Drury Inn to prepare for the evening banquet and auction.
Please plan to drive the short distance to the garden. Only limited courtesy transportation will be available.
* For those with fast Internet connections, view a podcast tour of Missouri Botanical Garden produced by Ralph Olliges, HSCS member and coodinator of educational technology at Webster University in St. Louis.
 Missouri Botanical Garden
Founded in 1859, the Missouri Botanical Garden is the oldest continuously operating garden in the United States. As explained on the garden website at http://www.mobot.org, the National Historic Landmark is a center for botanical research and science education, as well as an oasis in the city of St. Louis. Its 80 acres feature beautiful horticultural displays, a Japanese garden, Henry Shaw's1850 estate home and one of the world's largest collections of rare and endangered orchids.
MBG Herbarium
The Missouri Botanical Garden Herbarium is the second-largest herbarium in the United States. Its 6 million mounted specimens were initially built around material collected during 1850s expeditions to western North America and northern Mexico. The oldest specimens date to the 1740s.
MBG scientists and collaborating institutions add over 100,000 new specimens each year. At the herbarium, they are counted, treated, identified, cataloged and named, if needed.
MBG Library
The Missouri Botanical Garden Library is one of the finest botanical libraries in the world. It includes 200,000 monographs and journals, 800 current periodicals and 40,000 microfiche with an emphasis on plant taxonomy. Botanical art, maps and rare books are also available for study.
The library archives hold historic photographs and manuscripts, garden records and original artwork. The oldest volume in the collection, which includes a first edition of Darwin's On the Origin of Species, dates back to 1474.
More Options
For something different -- or if you don't make the Missouri Botanical Garden tours -- St. Louis has lots more to offer. Forest Park, for example, is only minutes away from the Drury Inn & Suites. Twice as large as New York's Central Park, it holds many of the area's most popular attractions, including the St. Louis Zoo, St. Louis Art Museum, Missouri History Museum, McDonnell Planetarium and Jewel Box Greenhouse.
The St. Louis Arch and Museum of Westward Expansion rise high above the Mississippi riverfront. Directly to the west lies the new Citygarden's outdoor sculptures and fountains. A few blocks further is the eclectic City Museum -- part art, part playground for all ages. Just south of the Arch is Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals, and Anheuser-Busch Brewery, which offers free tours and samples.
The list goes on, of course. For more, do a little Internet research, or just consult the visitor guide you will receive in your conference bag.
(Photos courtesy of Missouri Botanical Garden.)
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