American Society of Plant Biologists

The American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) is a non-profit professional society for research and education in plant science with over 4,000 members world-wide. It was founded in 1924, as the American Society of Plant Physiologists (ASPP). The name was changed to the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) as of 2001. Membership in the society is open to any person from any country who deals with physiology, molecular biology, environmental biology, cell biology and plant biophysics or related issues.

The society publishes the peer-reviewed journals Plant Physiology (1926-) and The Plant Cell (1989-) as well as ASPB News. The American Society of Plant Biologists also has partnered with the Society for Experimental Biology, and Wiley to publish an online-only science journal Plant Direct. In 2000, it published the first edition of the textbook Biochemistry & Molecular Biology of Plants.

The society has given the Charles Reid Barnes Life Membership Award since 1925. It established the Stephen Hales Prize in 1927. As of 2007, the society began to designate Fellows of the ASPB for "long-term contributions to plant biology". ASPB Fellows are distinct from ASPB's "Plantae Fellows", who are selected from a variety of countries and backgrounds for their work as science communicators.

The first President of the Society was Charles Albert Shull (1924-1925), with founder R. B. Harvey as Secretary-Treasurer. Other presidents of the Society include Harry Beevers (1961-1962) and Aubrey Naylor (1960-1961). The first woman to be president of the society was Elisabeth Gantt (1988-1989).