Lawrence J. Davenport, Ph.D., Professor of Biology, Samford University

B.A. (Botany), Miami University, 1974
M.S. (Biology), University of Alabama, 1978
Ph.D. (Biology), University of Alabama, 1983

Dr. Davenport’s expertise is in field botany, especially aquatic and wetland plants. He teaches basic botany and ecology courses as well as specialized courses in Plant Taxonomy & Local Flora (BIOL 422) and Wetlands (ENVM 514). He also conducts natural history expeditions to Belize and Peru.

Davenport is considered to be an expert on the Cahaba lily, Hymenocallis coronaria, and frequently speaks to environmental and civic groups about this plant. Since 1990, he as served as the keynote speaker for the annual Cahaba Lily Festival in West Blocton, Alabama.

Davenport’s other botanical research interests include the Lemnaceae (duckweeds) of the southeastern United States, the genus Hydrolea (Hydrophyllaceae), the history of botany, and the medicinal plants of Alabama, Belize and Peru. He also uses biomonitoring (via fishes and macroinvertebrates) to gauge the ecological health of the Cahaba River and its tributaries.

In support of his profession, Davenport currently serves as Book Review Editor for Systematic Botany, the journal of the American Society of Plant Taxonomists. He is also President-Elect of the Alabama Academy of Science.

Davenport expresses his creative side by performing in the band Not Yet Ded with Samford English/Law professor Mark Baggett. He also writes a quarterly column, Nature Journal, for Alabama Heritage magazine. Over forty such articles have been published to date.

Vascular plant type specimens in the Mohr Herbarium, University, Alabama. 1979. Taxon 28:567-571.

Aquatic and marsh plants of Alabama II: Arecidae. 1981. Castanea 36:291-299 [with Robert R. Haynes].

A monograph of Hydrolea (Hydrophyllaceae). 1988. Rhodora 90:169-208.

New species of microcaddisflies from the Amazon Region, with especial reference to northeastern Peru. 1992. Proc. Ent. Soc. Washington 94:454-470 [with S. C. Harris].

Roland Harper, Alabama botanist and social critic: A biographical sketch and bibliography. 1995. Bull. Alabama Mus. Nat. Hist. 17:25-45 [with G. W. Hubbs].

The Cahaba lily: Its distribution and status in Alabama. 1996. J. Alabama Acad. Sci. 67:222- 233.

New species of Hydroptilidae (Trichoptera) from the Amazon region of northeastern Peru. 1999. Proc. Ent. Soc. Washington 101:26-38 [with S. C. Harris].

Lemnaceae. 1999. Pages 779-781 in Steyermark, J. A., P. E. Berry, K. Yatskievych, and B. K. Holst (eds.), Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana, vol. 5. Missouri Bot. Gard. Press, St. Louis.

Teaching fish identification with a simple teaching-photographic tank. 2000. Amer. Biol. Teacher 62:202-203 [with K. L. Roop].

A new varietal combination in a Central American Hydrolea (Hydrophyllaceae). 2000.
Novon 10:12 [with A. Pool].

Lemnaceae. 2001. Pages 1211-1213 in Stevens, W. D., C. Ulloa Ulloa, A. Pool and
O. M. Montiel (eds.), Flora de Nicaragua vol 2. Missouri Bot. Gard. Press, St. Louis
[with R. R. Haynes].

Presence of diosgenin in Dioscorea batatas (Dioscoreaceae). 2002. Econ. Bot. 56:204-206
[with A. L. Edwards, R. L. Jenkins, and J. A. Duke].

Teaching field biology with photography. 2003. Amer. Biol. Teacher 65:450-454 [with R. L. Jenkins, W. M. Howell, and M. L. Wood].

New records of Alabama fishes. 2004. [2005.] J. Alabama Acad. Sci. 75:22-24 [with W. M. Howell and R. L. Jenkins].

Cedar apple rust. 2005. Alabama Heritage 75:48, 50.

Doctor Garden’s gardenia. Alabama Heritage (in press).

Fishes and macroinvertebrates of the Cahaba River: A three-year study. J. Alabama Acad. Sci. (in press) [with W. M. Howell, K. Morse, K. Yancie, and J. L. Wood].