Lecture: Snow in Burma? Plant hunting in the remote wilds of northern Kachin

Nick Macer, Pan-Global Plants

From subtropical to cool temperate: plants from a remote and underexplored part of the world.

A few years after dropping out of school, Nick realised he wanted to spend his life working with plants. A deep obsession with trees at the age of 21 lead to a three-year diploma course in arboriculture at Merrist Wood College, Surrey.

In spring 1997, following a redundancy, Pan-Global Plants was born. ‘PGP’ soon earned a reputation for offering rarities and desirables and over the years garnered a lot of press attention. Now it is one of the most celebrated specialist nurseries in the UK and, pre-Brexit, sold to all corners of Europe, introducing many new plants never offered before.

Nick has travelled extensively to botanise across the temperate world, having visited at least 25 countries or biogeographic zones, some many times.

Nick’s well-illustrated talk comprises photos from two different trips to two different mountains in the north-west of Burma, in 2014 and 2016. Both trips were fully supported treks and took him to very remote places where little botanizing has ever taken place. The flora is very rich with very exciting plants. Frank Kingdon Ward spent time in the general area (though not the same mountains) in the 1940s.

Winter Lectures will take place on the third Thursday of the month at the Frank Theatre, Wills Physics Laboratory, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TL. Lectures are free to Friends on production of their membership card and students on production of their student card. Guests who are not members or students will be asked for a donation (suggested £5).

 Attendees can use any University car park; the nearest are in University Walk and The Hawthorns – please see map with lecture details.

Friends Lectures Parking Guide and Map

We hope that as many people as possible will be able to join us in person but as we know that some are unable to travel we are arranging for most of the lectures to be live-streamed by Zoom (link will be provided nearer the time through the Friends’ enews). They will not be recorded.

For those who cannot join us in person the link is shown below. Please note that we will admit participants after 7.20pm to allow time for the speaker to set up their presentation.

Friends Bristol Botanic is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

• Time: Oct 16, 2025 07:00 PM London
• Join Zoom Meeting:
• https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85987433725?pwd=7adaPTIinDZD0aGlHADkPLCbpngpzF.1
• Meeting ID: 859 8743 3725
• Passcode: 990154