Dr. Jeffrey L. Smith

Jeff Smith holds a Ph.D. in Botany from the University of Oklahoma, and has been a member of the African Violet Society of America for over 20 years. He has authored numerous articles in the Society's African Violet Magazine, and is the author of the current genetic advice column "In Search of New Violets". He may be reached by e-mail at 06jlsmith@bsuvc.bsu.edu.

Dr. Smith has conducted active research on the genetics of flower color in Saintpaulia, and on the inheritance of other genetic traits. Most recently, he has been working on the Saintpaulia species, and has discovered more diversity in the species than originally suspected. He is currently completing a book African Violets, the Genus Saintpaulia, which will be published by Timber Press in the spring of 1998, and is the author of a chapter on Saintpaulia hybridizing, in a forthcoming book on Plant Breeding edited by Brett and Dorothy Callaway. This book is also being published by Timber Press, and should be released in the spring of 1998.