Pastorek to discuss Abbeville Red iris Wednesday

https://www.friendsofpalmetto.org/abbeville-red-iris.html

Paul Pastorek, former state superintendent of education from 2007-2011 and now a “sleuth of the swamp,” will discuss Louisiana irises and the loss of their habitat, at 10 a.m. Wednesday, May 1, at the East Bank Regional Library, 4747 W. Napoleon, Metairie.

Pastorek found the elusive I. nelsonii, which bears the common names of Abbeville Red Iris or Abbeville Swamp Iris. The plant exhibits large blooms in the spring in shades that include bright red, brownish red and purplish red. Sometimes it also produces a yellow bloom. Although the iris was first discovered growing in the Abbeville swamp in the 1930s, it wasn’t until 1966 that it was determined to be a new species and was named for Ike Nelson, a horticulture professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

  

Pastorek was born and raised in New Orleans. He graduated from De La Salle High School and Loyola University. He received his Juris Doctorate degree from the Loyola University New Orleans College of Law and was admitted to the Louisiana state bar in 1979. Pastorek had a long-term association with the law firm Adams and Reese, based in the New Orleans office of the firm. From 2002 to 2004, he was the general counsel to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, a position to which he was appointed by President George W. Bush. In 2004, he left NASA and formed Next Horizon, a statewide non-profit organization and think tank on educational issues based in Baton Rouge.

Louisiana Book News is written by award-winning author Chere Dastugue Coen, who writes Louisiana romances and mysteries under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Her first book in each series is FREE to download as an ebook, including "Emilie," book one of The Cajun Series, "Ticket to Paradise," book one of The Cajun Embassy series and "A Ghost of a Chance," the first Viola Valentine mystery.