Kent Bonar, a recluse residing in the forests of Newton County, has spent almost a half century on expedition cataloguing and drawing Ozarks flora in various personal notebooks, as well as in the margins of a historical botanical atlas authored by noted Arkansas botanist Dr. Edwin Smith. The 500-page weathered atlas, now a historical record, has been fully replicated by the University of Arkansas Press and is titled An Arkansas Florilegium: The Atlas of Botanist Edwin Smith Illustrated by Naturalist Kent Bonar.
Two book signings are scheduled, the first Saturday, Dec. 9 at Arkansas House, 215 East Court Street (two blocks north of Jasper town square on Arkansas Highway 7) from 3 to 5 p.m.. The second will take place Thursday, Dec. 14 at the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks, 4703 N. Crossover Road in Fayetteville from 7 to 9 p.m.. Folk duo Still on the Hill will perform an homage to Kent Bonar at both events.
