Earlier this year, Lotusland research associate Jeff Chemnick traveled with his wife, UCSB marine science and policy advisor Satie Airame, to China in search of rare cycads, an ancient plant that still thrives there. Specifically interested in Cycas debaoensis, the couple, along with a research team, went to the remote Fuping Valley in Guangxi, which is the only place this species of cycad grows.

Mexico in August? Only mad dogs and cycadologists would dare to go on a field trip to Oaxaca and Veracruz at that time of the year. But since the International Cycad Conference was set for Miami in August, the departure date for our post-CYCAD99 tour of southern Mexico wasn't optional.