Dr. Cynthia Morton

2022 Eloise Payne Luquer Medal

Presented to Dr. Cynthia Morton, in recognition of her research of genetic diversity in urban forests.

Proposed by: Garden Club of Allegheny County, Zone V

An internationally recognized botanist, Dr. Cynthia Morton has gained worldwide attention for her research on genetic diversity in urban forests. In 2004, with a $19,000 grant from the Garden Club of Allegheny County (GCAC), Cynthia studied the DNA of the London planetree in a Pittsburgh park. She discovered broad genetic diversity in older urban planetrees, while the DNA of the newer trees purchased from nurseries was identical, cloned rather than grown from seed. A $30,000 grant from GCAC in 2015 on red maple (Acer rubrum) revealed the newer maples were genetically identical. Cynthia’s research has shown that eliminating genetic diversity in urban forests makes tree species more susceptible to insects and disease. In 2016, Cynthia presented her research at the International Conference on Urban Tree Diversity in Australia. Since then, botanists in Australia, Canada, and Japan have been conducting research with similar results. Dr. Cynthia Morton’s ground-breaking work has been featured in newspapers, videos, and scientific publications.

The Eloise Payne Luquer Medal is awarded for special achievement in the field of botany that may include medical research, the fine arts, or education. The interpretation of the award is to be elastic and imaginative.

Eloise Payne Luquer (1862–1947) was a founder of the Bedford Garden Club, Zone III, GCA Conservation Committee chair (1929–36), and 1936 recipient of the GCA’s Achievement Medal. Eloise was a botanist, naturalist, lecturer, and wildflower painter. Her wide-ranging interests encompassed work with the District Nursing Association of Northwestern Westchester County, the establishment of the Trailside Nature Museum and nature trails at the Ward Pound Ridge Reservation, and teaching gardening at the New York State Reformatory for Women at Bedford Hills. The medal was designed in 1949 by sculptor Chester Beach and endowed by Bedford Garden Club in memory of their distinguished member.

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