Roy Lancaster, OBE, whose interests in plant exploration has taken him around the world, will explain in his talk, Travels of a plantsman, about his travels to find new, exciting plants and how he has introduced them to his quarter of an acre garden in Hampshire which he estimates contains more than 1,000 different plants.

Roy’s plant hunting has taken him to countries such as Georgia, Chile, Iran, Turkey, New Zealand, Brazil, Ecuador, Japan, North America, South Africa, Malaya and China.  He has been a member of expeditions to Nepal and Yunnan, China, and has published accounts of both in his books A Plantsman in Nepal and Travels in China.  He has lectured around the world and has taken part in a number of TV programmes, including Gardeners’ World.

Roy has been a member of the Royal Horticultural Society for almost 40 years.  He is vice-chairman of the society’s Floral Committee B and a member of several other committees.  He is also President of the Hardy Plant Society. A UK based horticultural society that fosters interest in hardy herbaceous plants.

In the 1999 New Year’s Honours List he was awarded an OBE for services to horticulture.

Tickets priced at friends £5, non-members £7.50, includes wine and soft drinks in the foyer after the lecture.  Please send an SAE and cheque payable to ‘University of Bristol’   in an envelope marked ‘Annals of Botany Lecture’ to the Botanic Garden, Hollybush Lane, Stoke Bishop, Bristol BS9 1JB.

Further information is available from the Botanic Garden, tel 0117 331 4912 or email botanic-gardens@bristol.ac.uk

The 2009 Annals of Botany Lecture Travels of a Plantsman organised by the University of Bristol’s Botanic Garden will take place on Thursday 28 May at 7 pm in the University of Bristol’s Department of Chemistry, Cantock’s Close, Bristol.