Date – 3 June 2025
Time – 7:30 pm - 8:30 pm
‘Pathless forest: the quest to save the world’s largest flowers’ with Dr Chris Thorogood, 7.30pm on Tuesday 3rd June 2025
Botanist and Head of Science at Oxford Botanic Garden and Arboretum Dr Chris Thorogood will deliver his lecture entitled “Pathless forest: the quest to save the world’s largest flowers” . The story of his journey to study and protect Rafflesia. A biological enigma, still little understood, which invades vines as a leafless parasite and steals its food from them. Chris will tell the story of his fieldwork in untrodden rainforests in search of Rafflesia’s ghostly, foul-smelling blooms, more than a metre across.
About the James Bruce Memorial Lecture:
James Bruce MBE (1908-1992) was a Fellow of the then Institute of Horticulture (IoH), having previously been a member of the Horticultural Education Association since 1934, the forerunner of the IoH. Bruce had a distinguished career as a horticultural adviser, advising country estates and prisoner of war camps on vegetable production through the Second World War. Bruce later became the Head of the Department of Horticulture at East of Scotland College, where he was responsible for greatly improving the teaching estate and resources. This lecture recognises the enduring influence of James Bruce on the sharing of horticultural knowledge.
In recent years the lecture has been delivered by: David Gwyther CBE, CEO Horticultural Trades Association; Dr Simon Thornton-Wood, Director of Science & Learning, RHS; Roy Lancaster OBE, VMH, FCIHort, FLS; Lord Taylor of Holbeach CBE, Parliamentary Under Secretary, Defra; Linda Lennon CBE, RHS Director of Horticulture and Head of Science; Richard Barley MBE CHort FCIHort Head of Horticulture, Kew Gardens; John Adlam CHort FCIHort, Dove Associates; Hayley Campbell-Gibbons, AHDB Horticulture Board Chair; Prof. Dave Goulson, University of Sussex; Matthew Appleby, Editor Horticulture Week and landscaping expert and author Alan Sargent FCIHort.