After several months of work in the herbarium with specimens, giving talks at international symposia (the latest in Beijing) - I'm ready to head into the field again. This time it's Brazil - I have been invited to give a plenary lecture at the amazing Brazilian National Botanical Congress in mid-November - but first, it's the forests of Bahia with Leandro Giacomin and Lynn Bohs, both long-term Solanum collaborators.

Last time Lynn and I went into the field together was in 2001 to Bolivia - it's been a long time! We are aiming for the incredibly biodiverse coastal forests of the state of Bahia - a hotspot for Solanum diversity. I have described several new species (like Solanum bahianum and Solanum santosii) from there that I have only ever seen as herbarium specimens - so I am pretty excited!!

The type specimen of Solanum evonymoides Sendtner  - another Brazilian endemic species I hope to see in the field for the first time!

I have never been in these forests before - so everything I see will be new to me. This is truly the joy of field work, in addition of course to seeing old and new friends and colleagues and being able to talk Solanum for weeks on end! I'll be trying to blog every day, but some of the places we plan to go are pretty remote - so hasta la vista! See you from Brazil!!

We will start in Belo Horizonte (Minas Gerais) and head to the circled area....  a long way!!