Tom Miller, Ph.D. | Professor | Biological Science, FSU

Very few people realize that North Florida has a very high diversity of carnivorous plants. Local native savannas and forests contain pitcher plants, butterworts, bladderworts, sundews, and dew threads. This talk will introduce some of our local species, while also providing information about the evolution, biogeography, and ecology of these unusual and beautiful plants. April is when many of these species are flowering, so some plants will be shown at the talk and advice on seeing these plants in nature will be provided.

Tom Miller was raised mostly in the southwestern United States and always assumed that carnivorous plants were only found in exotic tropical forests.  However, he was first exposed to pitcher plants while working in his Ph.D. in Michigan, and was thrilled to find the same species when he moved to Florida.  He has been a faculty at Florida State since 1989, where he teaches ecology.  His research is focused on the small critters that live inside pitcher plants, as well as on the vegetation of coastal dunes and barrier islands.