Botany Profile

Continued on page 10

New Series - Vol. 6 - No. 3 July-September 2003

The Plant Press

Department of Systematic Biology - Botany & the U.S. National Herbarium

A Colossus of the CompositaeBy Robert DeFilipps

He has named or described 2,800new species and subtribes, afigure equal to one-quarter the

number of flowering plants named by CarlLinnaeus, the originator of binomialnomenclature, and the equivalent ofapproximately one-tenth the total numberof species in his chosen family ofexpertise, the immense Compositae(Asteraceae). His singular contribution ofmore than 650 publications advancing thetaxonomy of the composites, as well as ofthe bryophytes (mosses and liverworts),the insect family Dolichopodidae, andmany other groups, reflect both thepreviously under-investigated state ofaffairs in the classification of thoseorganisms, and the prolonged exercise ofa remarkable capacity for deciphering thetaxonomic relevance of minutiae. Such isthe world of Harold E. Robinson, curatorof botany and Argus of the Asteraceae.Statistically prorated, to be in his league,a researcher would have to name one newspecies every day for 7.5 years.

Robinson was born in Syracuse, NewYork, in 1932. He majored in Botany for alldegrees, and earned a B.S. from Ohio Uni-versity in 1955 (Zoology minor), an M.S.from the University of Tennessee in 1957,with a thesis on the Scrophulariaceae ofTennessee under A.J. Sharp (Entomologyminor); and a Ph.D. from Duke University,with a dissertation on the moss familyBrachytheciaceae under Louis E. Ander-son (Zoology minor) in 1960. His prolificcareer began as an assistant professor atWofford College in Spartanburg, SouthCarolina (1960-1962), then shifted to

employment in Washington, D.C., asAssociate Curator of lower plants (1962-1964) at the Smithsonian Institution, andsuccessively as Associate Curator (1964-1971) and Curator of Botany from 1971 tothe present.

An incisive, perennially questing mindhas allowed him to delve, often withcollaborators, into the taxonomy of groupsas diverse as the bryophytes of manyregions; green algae (a new genus Struve-opsis from Diego Garcia, Indian Ocean,with Charlie Rhyne); the Brazilian membersof the dicot family Hippocrateaceae, withLyman Smith; scanning electron micros-copy (SEM) of Cactaceae spines relevantto taxonomic changes; a new subtribe ofrice-like grasses (oryzoid Poaceae) andstudy of Houstonia (Rubiaceae), both withEd Terrell; a new genus of epiphyticParaguayan mosquito-pollinated orchid(Synanthes) based on technical charactersof the columella, with Pamela Balogh andMercedes Foster; and 32 new species ofBromeliaceae, mostly in Navia andLindmania, with Lyman Smith. Field workhas taken him to Mexico, Guyana,Dominica (West Indies) and Australia.

Notwithstanding the demonstrabletaxonomic breadth of the above,his major interest among flowering

plants is now in the Compositae. Thisbegan as research with R.M. King in theTribe Eupatorieae. The eupatorium tribecontains a familiar garden bedding plant,the purplish-blue �floss-flower� Ageratumhoustonianum, but it is with the enormityof the wild Eupatorieae that Robinson has

labored. For example, just a glance at theSouth American journal Ernstia willreveal that in the Tribe Eupatorieae asrepresented in Venezuela with 35 genera,Robinson (with co-worker King) hasnamed at least one species in 27 of thegenera (V. Badillo, vol. 11. 2001). Similarly,new country records of species namedby Robinson seem to appear everywhere,such as in Peru, from which three speciesof Eupatorieae previously regarded asendemic to Ecuador have recently beenreported (Cronquistianthus leucophyl-lus, Crossothamnus gentryi, Ophryos-porus integrifolia; H. Beltran & A.Granda, Compositae Newsletter 39.2003). Later efforts have involved reor-ganizations of the Tribes Senecioneae,Heliantheae, Liabeae and Vernonieae, thelatter being most actively pursued lately.Most of these reorganizations involvedanalyses of large �garbage-pit� generathat needed splitting, such as Eupato-rium, Senecio, and Vernonia.

The Compositae are known to containthousands of secondary metabolitechemicals such as alkaloids, acetylenes,and terpenoids, both beneficial andharmful, rendering the plants into �littlepoison factories,� as Robinson callsthem. An example of the lethality ofcertain members may be seen in thegenus Ichthyothere (literally meaning�fish-poison�); Brazilian I. terminalis hasacetylenic compounds so powerful thatthey make the fish jump out of the waterwhen ingested as bait. In fact, the TribeEupatorieae itself takes its name from the

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V i s i t o r s

The Plant Press

New Series - Vol. 6 - No. 3

Head of BotanyW. John Kress(kress.john@nmnh.si.edu)

EDITORIAL STAFF

Co-EditorsGary Krupnick(krupnick.gary@nmnh.si.edu)Robert DeFilipps(defilipps.robert@nmnh.si.edu)

News ContactsMaryAnn Apicelli, Robert Faden, EllenFarr, George Russell, Alice Tangerini, andElizabeth Zimmer

The Plant Press is a quarterly publicationprovided free of charge. If you would like to beadded to the mailing list, please contact GaryKrupnick at: Department of SystematicBiology - Botany, Smithsonian Institution, POBox 37012, NMNH MRC-166, Washington,DC 20013-7012, or by e-mail: krupnick.gary@nmnh.si.edu.

Web site: http://www.nmnh.si.edu/botany

Ann Sakai, University of California, Irvine;Caryophyllaceae (Schiedea) (4/3).

Harvey Ballard, Miami University (Ohio);Violaceae (4/4).

Molly Nepokroeff, University of SouthDakota; Caryophyllaceae (4/8).

Gardene Maria do Sousa, Instituto deBotanica, Brazil; Xyridaceae and Bromeli-aceae (Aechmea and Orthophytum) (4/9-4/10).

Maria das Gracas Wanderley, Instituto deBotanica, Brazil; Xyridaceae and Bromeli-aceae (Aechmea, Orthophytum) (4/9-4/10).

Rebecca Bray, Old Dominion University;Fern Allies (Isoetes) (4/10).

Kerry Heafner, Miami University (Ohio);Fern Allies (Isoetes) (4/10).

Vicki Bryan, National Science Founda-tion; Herbarium and Collections Manage-ment (4/15).

Kristen Oberright, National ScienceFoundation; Herbarium and CollectionsManagement (4/15).

Beth Page, Archives of American Gardens;AABGA October 2003 Conference andWorkshops (4/18).

Christina Flann, University of Melbourne;Asteraceae (Nephelium) (4/21).

Jennifer Dropkin, Private Individual;Collections Management (4/23).

Juan Carlos Montero, UniversidadNacional Autonoma de Mexico; Solan-aceae (Cestrum) (4/23-4/24).

Michael Nee, New York Botanical Garden;Solanaceae (4/23-4/24).

Michael Sundue, New York BotanicalGarden; Bolivian Ferns (4/23-4/24).

Francisco Morales, Instituto Nacional deBiodiversidad (INBio), Costa Rica; GuianasApocynaceae and Asclepiadaceae (4/25-4/27).

Julia Scher, USDA, APHIS, PPQ; NoxiousPlant Species (4/28-5/2).

Arthur Zangerl, University of Illinois(Entomology); Apiaceae (Pastinacasativa) (4/29).

George Proctor, Institute of Jamaica (IJ);Identification of Jamaican Collections (5/2-5/9).

Julie Dragon, University of Vermont;Cyperaceae (Carex) (5/28).

Michael Woods, Troy State University;Fabaceae (Alabaman Lespedeza) (5/29).

G.P. Lewis, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew;Fabaceae (6/2-6/7).

Anne Bruneau, University of Montreal;Fabaceae (6/3-6/9).

Pedro Acevedo traveled to Puerto Ricoand the Dominican Republic (5/14�8/12) tocollect data and specimens in the karstregion and to conduct general plantinventory.

Laurence Dorr traveled to Caracas,Venezuela (4/5�4/19) to collect plant speci-mens in the Teta de Niquitao-GuirigayNational Monument and the GuaramacalNational Park and use the herbarium inGuanare.

Robert Faden traveled to Ontario,California (3/30�4/5) to attend the Mono-cots III Symposium.

Maria Faust traveled to Belize City,Belize (4/30�5/15) to conduct research ondinoflagellates.

Vicki Funk traveled to Copenhagen,Denmark, and London, England (5/23�6/5)to present a paper and to study Asteraceaeat the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew.

W. John Kress traveled to Ontario,California (3/31�4/5) to attend and presenta research paper at the Monocot IIISymposium, and to present a lecture at theLos Angeles County Arboretum andBotanic Garden; to New York City, NewYork (4/8�4/10) to present an invitedlecture at Columbia University, Center forEcological Conservation; to St. Lucia (5/2�5/16) to conduct field and laboratory work

in the Lesser Antilles; and to Copenhagen,Denmark (5/25�5/30) to participate in asymposium on plant diversity.

Mark and Diane Littler traveled toCarrie Bow Cay, Belize (4/2�4/17) toconduct ongoing research on coral reefs.

Dan Nicolson traveled to Bronx, NewYork (5/26�5/30) to work on the TaxonomicLiterature edition 2 (TL-2) at the library ofthe New York Botanical Garden.

Alain Touwaide traveled to StateCollege, Pennsylvania (4/4�4/5) to lectureat the annual conference of the Center forMedieval Studies; to Rome, Italy (4/24�4/27) to present a lecture at the 4th Congressof the International Society for the Historyof Nephrology; to Boston, Massachusetts(5/1�5/4) to attend the American Associa-tion for the History of Medicine meeting;to Kalamazoo, Michigan (5/8�5/11) toattend the 38th meeting of the MedievalConference; and to Rome, Italy, (6/2�7/15)for an Earthwatch expedition studyingRenaissance printed herbals at theNational Library of Rome.

Liz Zimmer traveled to Boston, Mas-sachusetts (4/13�4/18) to conduct researchand consult with collaborators at HarvardUniversity.

T r a v e l

Continued on page 5

Page 3

Chair

With

A

View

W.John

Kress

Beyond Paradise

What should tropical biologists be doing in the21st century as tropical habitats furtherdegrade with the unchecked expansion of

human populations and development? What are themajor scientific questions that must be addressed byecologists, systematists, evolutionary biologists, andconservationists, before tropical biomes are irrevocablyconverted to unrestorable land? The Association forTropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC), which isheadquartered in Botany at the Smithsonian, launcheda major effort three years ago to define the top researchpriorities that should be pursued by tropical biologistsduring the first decades of the new century. Thepenultimate phase of this task was reached at the recentannual meeting of ATBC in Aberdeen, Scotland (Whytropical biologists are meeting in Scotland is anotherstory), where the first draft of the �white paper� onpriorities was presented to the membership.

The objectives of ATBC in this priority-settingprocess of defining tropical research priorities werethree-fold. The first was to create a broad participatoryforum to generate thinking on the current state of thetropics and tropical biology; the second was to bringtogether a multidisciplinary group of scientists todiscuss and synthesize current areas of scientificactivity in the tropics as well as future researchactivities; and the third was to disseminate the conclu-sions on priorities to a variety of audiences, includingscientists, funding agencies, policy makers, and thepublic. The first two of these objectives were discussedand debated through a series of workshops and retreatsin India, Panama, Washington, and Scotland; over 150tropical biologists from at least 25 countries partici-pated in these discussions. These efforts have beensupported by ATBC, the Ashoka Trust for Research inEcology and the Environment (Bangalore), the Organi-zation for Tropical Studies, the Smithsonian TropicalResearch Institute, the National Science Foundation,and the British Ecological Society. The process hasworked and the document, tentatively entitled �BeyondParadise: Meeting the Challenges of Tropical Biology inthe 21st Century,� is now being drafted.

This statement by ATBC is not the first attempt toset scientific goals for the tropics. A 1980 report,�Research Priorities in Tropical Biology,� was pub-lished by the National Research Council of the USNational Academy of Sciences. The Committee thatcomposed the report was made up of 14 scientists fromfive countries and was chaired by Peter Raven. Twenty-one scientists representing an additional ten countriesserved on panels that made recommendations to thisCommittee. Many of the recommendations of that NRCReport are still relevant today and they have beenreviewed carefully in the current priority-settingexercise. However, the world has changed much overthe last two decades since that Report was published.

As noted by Tom Lovejoy: �There were two billionfewer people on the earth, the trans-Amazonian high-way was yet to be built, and the Tree of Life had a muchsimpler architecture.� More regrettably over that timeperiod the world has lost 288 million hectares of tropicalforests, nearly 15% of the total forest area that existed in1980.

The recent discussions and deliberations led byATBC have concluded that if tropical ecosystems andbiodiversity are to be safely ushered through theenvironmental crises of the 21st Century, tropicalbiologists must conduct research in three central areas:1) structure and functioning of tropical ecosystems withrespect to diversity, productivity, and services; 2)anthropogenic effects on tropical diversity and ecosys-tems; and 3) conservation, restoration, and sustainablemanagement of tropical diversity and ecosystems. Oneof the obvious changes in our future efforts that differsfrom the 1980 NRC report is the inclusion of humans asa central part of tropical environments. Although we asscientists must understand the �natural� functioning oftropical ecosystems, no longer is it enough to studythese processes without considering the anthropogenicstresses that are also placed on these environments. Forthis reason a major recommendation will be that thesocial sciences must be fully integrated with the naturalsciences to understand what is currently happening intropical regions and what will happen in the future. Infact many of our colleagues feel that this integration isone of the top priorities for tropical biology. As statedby Achim Steiner, Director General of the IUCN, in anaddress at NMNH this month, �Nature works withoutconservation and it is the impact of humans on naturethat requires out conservation efforts in the first place.However, following the World Summit on SustainableDevelopment in Johannesburg in 2002, the new para-digm for the environmental movement squarely putshumans and sustainability at the center of all interna-tional conservation efforts.� Tropical biologists havealso made this realization.

Many additional critical questions were discussedduring the ATBC priority-setting process. Can andshould scientists play an advocacy role in publicpolicy? Can science be conducted in a �value-free�environment? How do we best transfer the bulk oftropical biology research to biologists that are citizensof tropical countries? Is tropical biology a discipline forwhich we can actually determine research priorities? Thediscussions in Aberdeen made it plain that thesequestions have not yet been fully answered. Now it isup to ATBC with input from tropical biologists aroundthe world to formulate the final recommendations andpriorities that will have the most impact on scienceand society in the foreseeable future.

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StaffR e s e a r c h

Awards &Grants

On 27-29 May, Dan Nicolson visited theNew York Botanical Garden to work on theTaxonomic Literature edition 2 (TL-2)Supplement 6 (F-G). Last SeptemberNicolson and Laurence Dorr borrowedfour boxes of the TL-2 master files to beginwork on the final Supplement. The basicmission was to return the first four boxesand borrow the next four. However,Nicolson was able to finish two boxeswhile there. Since returning Nicolson hascompleted another two boxes making atotal of eight boxes of a total of 85 boxes,through E. Fenzl, for which only fourworks were given in TL-2 Volume 1.

Dan Nicolson led two spring wildflowerforays for the Botanical Society ofWashington on 5 and 12 April from the OldAngler�s Inn up the C & O Canal towpathto Widewater, across Bear Island to therocks overlooking the Potomac and backon the Billy Goat Trail. Lots of Jeffersoniadiphylla (twin-leaf), Dirca palustris(leatherwood), and Erigenia bulbosa(harbinger-of-spring) were seen on the firsttrip.

On 29 May, Rusty Russell addressed theVirginia Academy of Sciences AnnualMeeting in Charlottesville, Virginia. Hespoke on the natural history of the Lewisand Clark Expedition.

Stanwyn Shetler was the botanical leaderagain this year for the Virginia Native PlantSociety�s (VNPS) annual wildflower tour ofthe Bruce Peninsula, Ontario, 7-14 June. Hewas assisted by his wife, Elaine, and tourleader and president of VNPS, NickyStaunton. Among the many species seenwere the yellow lady�s-slipper, Cypripe-

dium calceolus; ram�s-head lady�s-slipper,C. arietinum; fairy-slipper, Calypso bul-bosa; and the Great Lakes endemic, dwarflake iris, Iris lacustris�all in peak flower-ing condition.

On 14 May, Alain Touwaide delivered anillustrated lecture at the DEA (DrugEnforcement Administration) Museum andVisitors Center on �Athena Contested:Psycho-active Substances in ClassicalGreece.� Recent anthropological researchhas suggested that Classical Greek cultureincluded non-rational components - amongothers the use of natural psycho-activeproducts such as ergot, deadly nightshadeand poppy. Apart from some archaeologi-cal remains of contested interpretation,evidence is lacking. This talk examined thetopic and brought to light overlookedtextual material. This new evidence makesthe question of irrationality in Antiquitymore complex, since textual data showsevidence of a good knowledge of psycho-activity.

Staff Activities

A National Science Foundation grant hasbeen awarded to Suzanne Fredericq(Principal Investigator, University ofLouisiana at Lafayette), and Co-PIs JamesNorris (National Museum of NaturalHistory, Smithsonian Institution), MaxHommersand (University of NorthCarolina at Chapel Hill), and WilsonFreshwater (University of North Carolinaat Wilmington).

One of only 10 funded, this 5-year,multi-institutional NSF-SystematicBiology/PEET project, �MonographicResearch and Phylogenetic Investiga-tions of the Ceramiales (Rhodophyta),�will address the need for taxonomicresearch and training with one of thedominant and diverse algal groups in themarine environment, the red algae. Redalgae are of great interest because they arecommon to abundant in a range of marinehabitats worldwide, including rockyshores, kelp forests, seagrass beds,mangroves, coral reefs, sand-plains, androck reefs. Ranging from the intertidal todeep-water depths of up to 927 ft., redalgae are ecologically important as majorprimary producers, providing oxygen,food and shelter for a great number ofinvertebrates and fish. The Order Cerami-ales is one of the most diverse, but leastunderstood groups of marine red algae,and will form the core of the taxonomicwork. Using specimen based research, thealgal collections of the US NationalHerbarium and those of collaborators willbe studied using various data gatheringtechniques and data analyzing protocolsfor morphological, anatomical andmolecular sequence data. Students will betrained in field-work, collecting usingSCUBA, and identifying and mono-graphing species in the Ceramiaceae. Thegoal is to produce the first modern syn-thesis for the classification and phylo-genetics of this species rich family, and tocompile the information in an Internetaccessible database that will connectspecies descriptions with images andpublications related to them.

The grant is designed to ensure thatthere will be a new generation of red algalscientists with a background in both theclassical elements of classification and thenewer research tools and technologies tofurther the understanding of the red algaein the next decades. The research includesthe training of at least two doctoralstudents, one postdoctoral fellow, andfour undergraduate students in modernsystematic methods. The project goals areto make many common and important algalcomponents of marine environmentsaccurately identifiable. This research willprovide a predictive, conceptual frame-work for the evolution of a large number ofother algal groups, as well as an easilyaccessible source for identification.

Page 5

Departures

In June, Gene Rosenberg, a collaborator inthe functional morphology laboratory ofMark and Diane Littler, moved to Miamito join the faculty of the Department ofBiological Sciences at Florida InternationalUniversity (FIU). Rosenberg is theAssociate Chair of this department of over40 faculty members. At FIU, Rosenbergwill teach Introduction to Marine Biologyand other courses, in addition to pursuinghis interests in biodiversity, biogeography,and ecology of Caribbean marine macro-algae. Rosenberg has arranged to placefuture algae collections in the herbarium ofthe Fairchild Tropical Garden. NMNH,FIU, and Fairchild are among the partnersof the Miami-based Coalition for Excel-lence in Tropical Biology (CETroB).

On 15 April, Robert DeFilipps and BeverlyWolpert (George Washington Universitygraduate student) presented a lectureentitled �Medicinal Plants of HaitianVoodoo,� primarily on the use of plants fortreating hookworm; many rural Haitiansbelieve that illnesses are brought by thespirits (lwa) of vodou.

On 29 April, Gary Krupnick presented aseminar entitled �A Test of SoutheastAsian Conservation Hotspots and Eco-regions Using Taxonomic Data.�

On 5 June, Rusty Russell presented alecture entitled �The Plant Collections ofthe U.S. Exploring Expedition 1838-1842.�

On 17 June, Susan Pennington presenteda lecture entitled �Rhyme or Reason:Floristic Analyses of Habitat Descriptionsin an Old English Herbal.�

Botany SeminarSeries

The prestigious Charles Robert LongAward of Merit was presented by theCouncil on Botanical and HorticulturalLibraries (CBHL) to Ruth Schallert,Botany/Horticulture Branch Librarian inthe National Museum of Natural History,on 13 June, at the New York BotanicalGarden�s LuEsther T. Mertz Library, Bronx,New York.

Schallert was chosen by the CBHL toreceive the extraordinary award for anumber of reasons, expressed in thecitation on the certificate as follows: inrecognition of extraordinary merit; withgratitude for outstanding contributionsand service to CBHL; in acknowledgmentof professional encouragement to col-leagues; and in appreciation for manycollaborative activities with scientists,librarians and students in the field ofbotanical libraries and literature. Herprofessional library service at the Smith-sonian Institution began in 1966, yieldingmeritorious work including noteworthycollaborations with members of the CBHLas well as the American Library Associa-tion (ALA); Special Libraries Association(SLA); European Botanical and Horticul-tural Libraries Group (EBHL); and theSociety for the History of Natural History.

Schallert�s publications include anarticle with Sylvia Churgin entitled�History of the Smithsonian Libraries, withspecial emphasis on natural history,�which appeared in Journal of the Societyfor the Bibliography of Natural History 9(1980); and with James J. White entitled�Illustrations in the Contributions fromthe U.S. National Herbarium, 1890-1974,�in Huntia 6 (1986). Details of her career inlibrarianship may be found in The PlantPress n.s. 3(1): 1, 10 (2000); on the recentmerging of the Botany and HorticultureLibraries, op. cit. 6(2): 6 (2003); and on theplant species named for Ruth Schallert, thePhilippine asclepiad Hoya schallertiaeC.M. Burton, reported op. cit. 6(1): 8(2003). Schallert is a past-president of theCBHL and was instrumental in designingthe original bylaws for the Council.

On 13 May, Alain Touwaide was awardedthe �2003 Award for Behavioral and SocialSciences� of the Washington Academy ofSciences during a ceremony held atMeadowlark Gardens in Vienna, Virginia.With the award, Touwaide becomes amember of the academy.

Marie Fougere, University of Montreal;Fabaceae (6/3-6/8).

Tracey Slotta, Virginia Polytechnic Univer-sity; Malvaceae (Iliamna, Malacotham-nus, Phymosia) (6/3-6/7).

Bente Kiltgaard, The Natural HistoryMuseum, London; Fabaceae (6/5-6/10).

Muriel Poston, Howard University,Washington, D.C. (currently assigned toNational Science Foundation); Loasaceae(6/11).

Herbert Kessler, Fairchild TropicalGarden; Cocos Island, Costa Rica (6/12-6/13).

Jen Trusty, Fairchild Tropical Garden andFlorida Atlantic University; Cocos Island,Costa Rica (6/12-6/13).

Michael Barker, Miami University (Ohio);Ferns (Adiantopsis) (6/13-6/14).

Mac Alford, Cornell University; GuiananFlacourtiaceae (6/17-6/20).

Seung Lak An, National Science Museum,South Korea; Collections Management (6/17).

Hojoon Kim, National Science Museum,South Korea; Collections Management;Araceae (6/17).

Sang Myong Lee, National ScienceMuseum, South Korea; CollectionsManagement (6/17).

Mark Lyle, Private Individual; Poaceae(Cortaderia) (6/18-6/19).

Bruce Hoffman, University of Hawai�i;Suriname Lianas (6/23-6/26).

Ximena Londono, Colombia BambooSociety; Poaceae: Bambusoideae (6/23-7/5).

Liliana Giussani, Instituto BotanicaDarwinion, Argentina; Poaceae (Poa)(6/25-8/7).

Tracey Parker, Private Individual;Guatemalan Trees (6/30-7/3).

VisitorsContinued from page 2

Page 6

As children and adults read the latestHarry Potter book by J.K. Rowlingthroughout the United States and the restof the world this summer, it should beinteresting to note that a collected plantspecimen housed in the US NationalHerbarium has been named after a wordfound in the Harry Potter series. JasonGrant, a former intern of retired Botanycurator Lyman Smith (1989), named a newspecies of the gentian family after a termfrom Harry Potter and the Chamber ofSecrets. The plant Macrocarpaea appar-ata J.R.Grant & Struwe is described in theJune 27 issue of Harvard Papers inBotany [8(1): 61-81. 2003]. The speciesname, apparata, is drawn from the term �toapparate� as in apparition, a verb usedthroughout the Harry Potter book. Row-ling uses the word to refer to a wizard�sability to disappear and reappear else-where instantaneously.

Grant, now a graduate student complet-ing a Ph.D. degree on the genus Macro-carpaea (Gentianaceae) at the Universityof Neuchâtel, Switzerland, and LenaStruwe, an assistant professor at CookCollege at Rutgers, The State University ofNew Jersey, discovered the species whiledoing field work in southern Ecuador in2001 in Parque Nacional Podocarpus, oneof the largest National Parks in the Andes.They were traveling along a road in therain forest when they suddenly found avery strange looking plant without flowers.Since the plant had no flowers or fruitsthey could not be sure is was a gentian,and if it was, it was a very unique-looking

one. They continued on the road andabout the time they were ready to give updue to rain and impending darkness, a

Harry Potter and the US National Herbarium

The holotype of Macrocarpaea apparata J.R. Grant & Struwe ishoused in the US National Herbarium.

flowering tree of this plant suddenlyappeared, or �apparated.� From this event,the species got the name �apparata.�

�When we found the plant, the wordcame to mind,� Grant says. �We actuallydecided on the name together, that day inthe field. Our collection is the only one ofthis species.� The holotype is housed inthe US National Herbarium. Grant de-scribes the plant as �a small tree, 12-15 feettall, full with yellowish-white, bell-shapedflowers adapted to nocturnal pollinationby bats and moths.�

Struwe had previously identified a newgentian genus in Brazil Aripuana and adozen new gentian species, while Granthas more than 20 new species of Macro-carpaea to his credit. Their research wasfunded by the New York Botanical Garden,Rutgers University and the Université deNeuchâtel, Switzerland.

Macrocarpaea apparata in flower in Loja, ParqueNacional Podocarpus, Ecuador. (Photo by J.R. Grant)

Page 7

In a previous issue of The Plant Pressn.s. 4(4) (2001), the research of plantconservation biology was profiled. Aseditor, I thought it would be interesting toinclude an estimate of how many speciesin the US National Herbarium are consid-ered extinct. After speaking with thecollections manager, Rusty Russell, it wasdetermined that such an estimate was notavailable.

This summer, Amara Myaing, an internfor the Plant Conservation Unit, has beenattempting to answer such a conundrum.Myaing graduated from GettysburgCollege this past year, obtaining abachelor�s degree in EnvironmentalStudies. During the past two months,Myaing has been combing through theherbarium, pulling collected specimensthat have been identified as �Extinct� and�Extinct in the Wild� by the 1997 IUCN

By Gary A. Krupnick

Red List of Threatened Plants. By identify-ing which species in the herbarium havegone extinct, extra care can be given tothose specimens, as they are among thelast of their kind that exist on Earth. If newspecimens that arrive at the herbarium canbe identified as one of those extinct, thenIUCN can be contacted to update the RedList.

Forty-seven of the 380 listed extinctspecies reside in the herbarium. Among thefinds are Mimulus whipplei A.L. Grant(Scrophulariaceae), known only from thetype collection (in 1854 from Murphys,California), and Romulea sulphurea Bég.(Iridaceae), discovered and last collectedin 1897, in Cape Province, South Africa.The results are preliminary and theresearch is on-going. As the searchcontinues, the results will be compiled andpresented on a Botany Web page.

Botanical Fun Blossoms at the 2003 �Sunflower Fest�On 17 May, the National Museum of

Natural History hosted the �SunflowerFest,� which was presented in conjunctionwith the museum exhibit �A Passion forPlants�Contemporary Art from the ShirleySherwood Collection.� The event reachedsome 2,500 adults and children in spite ofthe temperature being 20 degrees coolerthan normal and three days of rain prior tothe event. Within two tents in the eastparking lot of the museum, many activitiestook place:

� Adults and authors trained in Readingis Fundamental (RIF) read stories aboutgardening and flowers to children;

� Visitors of all ages colored their ownsun visor, state flower, and a sunflowerpicture that was made into a buttonpin;

� In �Sow a Seed,� children wereencouraged to take a Jiffy pot, put insoil mix, sow sunflower seed and thentake it home in a baggy with growinginstructions. Botany intern MarianaIbarcena-Escudero was an enthusiasticvolunteer;

� Botanical artist Alice Tangeriniimpressed visitors with her scientific

The Conservation Column

illustrations and discussed the illustra-tion process and use;

� Linda Hollenberg, Greg McKee, andDeborah Bell displayed collectionsfrom the U.S. National Herbarium andfresh materials, exhibiting plants thatcreate the ingredients for a candy bar, avariety of commonly eaten members ofthe Rosaceae and various members ofthe Asteraceae. Poison ivy and �look-alikes� were also a popular display;

� Honeybee and caterpillar costumedcharacters were well received as theywalked around the museum and aboutthe Mall encouraging families to attendthe festival;

� Sakata Seed America donated 200stems of fresh sunflowers used todecorate the tent and then were givento visitors; and

� In a unique photo opportunity,�sunflower people� were cut out ofsunflowers 3-, 4- and 6-feet tall forpeople to stand behind, put their facesin the flower bloom areas and have aPolaroid photo taken for free.

The success of the event was due tothe collaborative effort of Botany, the

Smithsonian Institution�s Department ofHorticulture Services Division, theNational Museum of Natural History�sDepartment of Education, Reading isFundamental (RIF), and the 53 NationalGarden Bureau Member Companies.

Dan Nicolson and former EmeritusCurator F. Raymond Fosberg (died 1993)have published �The Forsters and theBotany of the Second Cook Expedition(1772-1775),� a 758-page book due July2003. The Forsters (father and teen-agedson) and the Linnaean student AndersSparrman were the scientists on the 2nd

Cook Expedition and, unlike those of the 1st

Cook Expedition, actually published theirfindings. Hence their publications andspecimens underlie Pacific botany (zool-ogy and anthropology). They were falselyaccused of being incapable of originalwork and having copied from the manu-scripts of the 1st Cook Expedition which ledto the importance of their work beingwidely ignored.

Book on ForstersBotanical Work isPublished

Since its discovery in 1897, Romuleasulphurea Bég. has never been foundagain.

Page 8

Report from Monocots IIIBy Robert Faden

Monocots III, the Third InternationalConference on the Comparative Biology ofthe Monocotyledons and the Fourth Inter-national Symposium on Grass Systematicsand Evolution, was hosted by RanchoSanta Ana Botanic Garden, Claremont,California, on 30 March to 4 April, at theOntario Convention Center in Ontario,California. The first grass symposium inthis series was hosted by the SmithsonianInstitution in 1986. Previous joint monocotand grass symposia took place at theRoyal Botanic Gardens, Kew (1993) and inSydney, Australia (1998). The meetings inCalifornia were the first to include a postersession and to encourage undergraduateparticipation.

The meetings began each day with aplenary session on topics of broadinterest, such as monocot phylogeny,floral evolution in monocots, and evolu-tion of monocot pollen. These werefollowed by four or five concurrent�organized sessions� on specific topicsand contributed paper sessions. On thelast day of the conference, there were onlyparallel sessions, which were followed bythe plenary closing meeting.

The organized sessions were mainlyfocused on systematics and evolutionwithin a single, large lineage, such asCyperales, Dioscoreales, Liliales andPooideae, but some sessions were broaderin their coverage, e.g. �Basal Monocots,�and some, such as �New Approaches inTrillium,� were narrower. Among Smith-sonian Botany participants, Paul Petersonorganized the session �Classification andBiogeography of New World Grasses� anddelivered the paper (also co-authored byTravis Columbus and Susan Pennington)�Classification and biogeography of NewWorld Grasses: Chloridoideae.� He alsowas a co-author on a paper that wasdelivered by former Botany intern (andResearch Training Program participant)Jeff Saarela. Robert Soreng presented thepaper �Classification and biogeography ofNew World Grasses: Pooideae� in Peter-son�s session and co-authored two othergrass papers. Robert Faden organized thesession �Advances in Commelinales� andco-authored the paper �Subtribal relation-ships in the tribe Tradescantieae (Com-

melinaceae) based on rbcLand ndhF sequences.�John Kress, with MarkNewman (Royal BotanicGarden, Edinburgh), co-organized the session�Bananas to Arrowroot: The Phylogenyand Biogeography of the Major Clades ofthe Zingiberlaes� and presented the paper�Tropical Zingiberales: time, place, andpattern of diversification.� Kress also co-authored two other papers and threeposters.

Attendees at the conference includedother Smithsonian affiliates, notably formerinterns Chris Hardy, Jason Grant and KenCameron, former Smithsonian graduatefellow Tim Evans, former post-doctoralfellow Linda Prince, and current post-doctoral fellow Aizhong Liu. The organizerof the conference, Travis Columbus, wasalso a former Smithsonian graduate fellow.Current Smithsonian graduate studentfellows in attendance were Tanya Rehse(Duke University), Kyle Williams (DukeUniversity), and Chelsea Specht (New YorkUniversity).

There were no major shifts in thepatterns of relationships among the major

The Botany Section cosponsored anexhibit, �Celebrating the Legacy of AdmiralCharles Wilkes,� at the U.S. BotanicGarden during April 2003. Theexhibit included herbariumspecimens from the U.S.Exploring Expedition(under the commandof Wilkes) accompa-nied by living repre-sentatives of thefeatured specimens,and several of theoriginal publicationsresulting from thisexpedition.

A special celebra-tion was held on 3 April, tocommemorate the 205th

birthday of Admiral Wilkes. Thebirthday celebration included tours,a performance by The Navy Sea Chanters

Celebrating Admiral Wilkesand a number of lectures. Rusty Russellpresented a seminar on �The Plants of the

U.S. Exploring Expedition.� Theplant exploration theme

continued through themonth via a special

lecture series. On 10April, John Kresspresented a lecture on�Plant Exploration inthe Golden Land ofBurma,� highlightingcurrent researchprojects in Myanmar;on 17 April, VickiFunk presented alecture on �Collecting

Expeditions in theAndes�; and on 24 April,

Laurence Dorr presented alecture on �Plant Exploration from

Madagascar to the Andes.�

groups of monocots since 1995, concludedMark Chase during one of the plenarysessions. Increased data had produced thesame topology but better support. Theposition of some previously unplacedfamilies was now clear.

In conjunction with the conference,numerous field trips were held before andafterwards. During the conference, visitsand tours of the Rancho Santa AnaBotanic Gardens and Huntington Gardenswere organized.

The next meeting in this series will behosted by the Universities of Copenhagenand Aarhus in 2008.

Page 9

Evidence Found for Adaptation in a Plant-HummingbirdAssociation

In the 28 April issue of Science, W.John Kress and co-author Ethan Temeles,professor of biology at Amherst College,describe the principle of co-adaptation inan association among two Heliconia plantspecies and the pollinating Caribbeanpurple-throated carib hummingbird. Thishummingbird is the sole pollinator of H.caribaea and H. bihai.

Kress and Temeles traveled to twoLesser Antillean islands to study thisplant-hummingbird mutualism. Each sex ofthe bird prefers and feeds most efficientlyfrom the Heliconia species whose flowerscorrespond to its bill size and shape, whichis consistent with the predictions ofecological causation and feeding adapta-tion. The flowers of H. caribaea corre-spond to the short, straight bills of themale birds; the flowers of H. bihai corre-spond to the long, curved bills of thefemales.

On St. Lucia, where H. caribaea is rare,H. bihai compensates by evolving asecond color morph with flowers matchingthe bills of males. Male birds at these sitesare associated primarily with the red-greenbracted morph of H. bihai, whereasfemales visit both the red-green and green-

bracted morphs. In contrast, the pattern offloral dimorphism on Dominica is com-pletely reversed from the pattern on St.Lucia. Heliconia bihai has only one colormorph on Dominica: red with a yellowstripe. Heliconia caribaea has two colormorphs, red or yellow, which correspondto the bills of females. In addition, thenectar rewards of all Heliconia morphs areconsistent with each sex�s choice for themorph corresponding to its bill morphol-ogy and energy requirements, supportingthe hypothesis that feeding preferenceshave driven their co-adaptation.

This photograph of a hermit hummingbird(Phaethornis longuemareus) at a flower ofHeliconia trichocarpa was chosen for thecover of Science 300 (5619), 25 April2003. (Photo by Phil Savoie)

Polymorphisms in the flowers and hummingbird bills in St. Lucia and Dominica, WestIndies. (A) Eulampis jugularis, female bill; (B) E. jugularis, male bill; (C) Heliconiabihai, flower; (D) H. caribaea, flower. Eulampis jugularis is also known as the PurpleThroated Carib.

Four Botany Section staff and researchassociates, Robert Faden, Dan Nicolson,Steve Smith and Aaron Goldberg, recentlyexamined seeds from sediment coresobtained at 5 to 7 m in Abu Qir Bay off thecoast of Egypt from the submerged city ofEastern Canopus by Paleobiology curatorDaniel Stanley. The older seeds wereapproximately 2,000 years old, while theyounger ones, from near the core-tops,were of more recent origin. Museumspecialist Tom Jorstad brought thesamples to Botany where they wereexamined under a dissecting microscope.Two of the samples resembled watermelonseeds, but because of their poor state ofpreservation more detailed study will berequired to identify them. Two othersamples stumped everyone, although oneof them looked like a stone from a fleshy

2,000-Year Old Grape Seeds Discovered

The complete reversal between St.Lucia and Dominica in floral dimorphism ofthe two Heliconia species together withan increase in the length and curvature offlowers of the red H. caribaea morph tomatch the bills of females provides a�natural experiment� on the two islands fordetecting co-adaptation between billmorphology of this hummingbird speciesand the size and shape of Heliconiaflowers. Research on this co-adaptivesystem is now on-going through supportby the Smithsonian Institution NeotropicalIslands Research Program.

fruit, such as an olive. The most satisfyingresult was the certain identification ofgrape seeds from the 2,000-year oldhorizon. These very closely resembledmodern grape seeds.

Page 10

Holoregmia Nees: Rediscovered or Overlooked?By John Boggan

A recent article in Kew Bulletin (Harleyet al. 2003) announced the �rediscovery�of a long-lost genus of Martyniaceae,Holoregmia Nees. The authors comment,�Until very recently [that is, since thecollection of the type specimen in 1817] noother material of Holoregmia has beendetected.... It is remarkable that this moststriking plant has for so long remainedunknown in the botanical community.�

A search of the holdings ofMartyniaceae in the United States NationalHerbarium (US) revealed that this genuswas not as unknown as the authors of thearticle may have thought. In fact, there aretwo sheets in the US herbarium, onecollected in 1979 (Mori & dos Santos11844), the other in 1985 (Hatschbach &Silva 50071). Both sheets were tentativelyidentified as Holoregmia viscida Nees byUS herbarium staff member Stephen F.Smith in 1991 and filed in the herbariumfolder for that species. The specimens areexcellent (the Mori collection has bothflowers and fruit) and are good matches forthe detailed description of the speciesgiven in the article. Both collectionspresumably have duplicates at otherherbaria (the Mori collection is surely atNY as well as US) but neither collection iscited in the paper. No medicinal uses orvernacular names are mentioned in thepaper, but according to the Mori specimen,the seeds are used medicinally and thevernacular name is �fruto de SãoCipriano.� One interesting note, however,is that on both US specimens the flowercolor is described as �verde� (green)whereas the article describes the flowersas �pale ochraceous yellow.�

Harley, R.M., Giulietti, A.M. & dos Santos,F.A.R. 2003. Holoregmia Nees, a recentlyrediscovered genus of Martyniaceae fromBahia, Brazil. Kew Bull. 58(1): 205-212.

RobinsonContinued from page 1

genus Eupatorium, which has manymedicinal uses. It was named byTournefort ex Linnaeus to commemorateKing Mithridates VI Eupator (132-63 B.C.),who ruled the district of Pontus in AsiaMinor along the Black Sea near Armenia.Mithridates the Great overcame hisparanoid fear of poisoning by slowlyadministering to himself small doses ofpoison from a species of Eupatorium inorder to develop an immunity; alas, he waslater killed by a guard and Pontus annexedto the Roman Empire. In dealing with thegreat number of chemicals in the Compos-itae as they relate to chemosystematics,King and Robinson began a long period of

collaboration with the late FerdinandBohlmann of the Technical University inBerlin, who had a grant to discoversecondary compounds mostly amongstthe acetylenes and sesquiterpene lactones.This resulted in the publication of a seriesof 231 articles with Bohlmann and co-workers, mostly in the journal Phytochem-istry in the 1970s and 1980s, detailing newcompounds. Some derived papers havetreated how these secondary metabolitesrelate to the taxonomy of the Compositae.

As evidence for the need to basephenetic plant taxonomy on good diagnos-tic character analysis, in 1970 Robinsonand King presented to the world a classic

A 1979 collection from Brazil of Holoregmia viscida Nees residesin the US National Herbarium.

Page 11

Publications

Evans, T.M., Sytsma, K.J., Faden, R.B. andT.J. Givnish. 2003. Phylogenetic relation-ships in the Commelinaceae: II. A cladisticanalysis of rbcL sequences and morphol-ogy. Systematic Botany 28: 270-292.

Faust, M.A. 2003. Protoperidiniumbelizeanum sp. nov. (Dinophyceae) fromManatee Cay, Belize, Central America.Journal of Phycology 38: 390-394.

Peterson, P.M. 2003. Poaceae (Gramineae).URL: <http://www.els.net/ doi:10.1038/nps.els.0003689>. [In: Nature Encyclope-dia of Life Sciences. Nature PublishingGroup, London.]

Peterson, P.M. 2003. Eragrostis, Pp. 65-105; Muhlenbergia. Pp. 145-201. In:Barkworth, M.E., Capels, K.M., Long, S.and M.B. Piep (eds.). Magnoliophyta:Commelinidae: (in part): Poaceae, part 2.Flora of North America North of Mexico,volume 25. Oxford University Press, NewYork.

Peterson, P.M. 2003. Eragrostis, Pp. 65-105. In: Barkworth, M.E., Capels, K.M.,Long, S. and M.B. Piep (eds.).Magnoliophyta: Commelinidae (in part):Poaceae, part 2. Flora of North AmericaNorth of Mexico, volume 25. OxfordUniversity Press, New York.

Peterson, P.M. and C.R. Annable. 2003.Blepharoneuron, Pp. 47-48, 50. In:Barkworth, M.E., Capels, K.M., Long, S.and M.B. Piep (eds.). Magnoliophyta:Commelinidae (in part): Poaceae, part 2.Flora of North America North of Mexico,volume 25. Oxford University Press, NewYork.

Peterson, P.M., Hatch, S.L. and A.S.Weakley. 2003. Sporobolus, Pp. 115-139.In: Barkworth, M.E., Capels, K.M., Long, S.and M.B. Piep (eds.). Magnoliophyta:Commelinidae (in part): Poaceae, part 2.Flora of North America North of Mexico,volume 25. Oxford University Press, NewYork.

Shetler, S. 2003. Native plant societies andgrassroots conservation. Wildflower 19(2):42-44.

Shetler, S.G., S.S. Stone, and M.Beyersdorfer. 2003. Checklist of theVascular Plants of Plummers Island,Montgomery County, Maryland. URL:<http://persoon.si.edu/dcflora/DCPlummers>. [Draft]

Stancik, D. and P.M. Peterson. 2003.Festuca dentiflora (Poaceae: Loliinae:Sect. Glabricarpae), a new species fromPeru and taxonomic status of F. presliana.Sida 23: 1015-1022.

Temeles, E.J. and W.J. Kress. 2003.Adaptation in a plant-hummingbirdassociation. Science 300: 630-633.

article entitled �The new synantherology�(Taxon 19: 6-11) (Compositae were oncecalled Synanthereae for their syngen-eseous (fused) anthers), recognizing theneed to stress dozens of hitherto over-looked or inadequately used features ofmicroscopic structures, and encouragingactual observation of such traditionalcharacters as the form of style-branches inthe Asteraceae. Also in the category ofconstructive criticism is his opinion ofcladistics, which was articulated during theearly use of phylogenetic systematics in a1986 article, entitled �A key to the commonerrors of cladistics� (Taxon 35: 309-311).

Remarkably, a very special part ofRobinson�s research itinerary deals withinsect taxonomy. Animals are a somewhatunusual focus for a botanist, althoughother departmental botanists are dealingwith syndromes of tropical animal-plantrelationships of pollination by insects,birds, bats and other mammals. InRobinson�s case, the insects under studyare tiny, often bright metallic green-bodied,predatory flies of the family Dolichopodi-dae. They frequently occur in proximity towater bodies, and consume mosquitolarvae. True to his university days wheninterested in entomology, Robinson hasdescribed over 200 new species and a half-dozen genera of dolichopodid flies, whiletrays of undescribed species await hisfuture attention. In fact, one fly has beennamed in his honor, and he has derived themost personal satisfaction (what scientistscall �fun�) from the study of these dolicho-pod (literally, �slender-footed�) creatures.

Over the years, many persons have hadan opportunity to work as technicians andresearch assistants with Robinson,including Smithsonian Research TrainingProgram administrator Mary Sangrey. Hiscurrent assistant is Marjorie B. Knowles,and a summer intern, Abigail Moore fromthe University of Utah (Salt Lake City), isstudying Andean and Brazilian species ofthe composite Viguieria. Upon the deathof José Cuatrecasas, who left an enor-mously comprehensive but unfinishedmanuscript on the Espeletiinae, a subtribeof Heliantheae in the Asteraceae, it hasbeen the task of Robinson to re-work themanuscript on these fascinating plants ofthe páramo and subpáramo areas in thehigh northern Andes. Having completedthree asteraceous tribes for the Flora ofEcuador and the Eupatorieae for Flora

Mesoamericana, there seems to be no endin sight for this tireless taxonomist.

This species of Navia wasone of a group of

Venezuelan bromeliadsgiven to Alice Tangerini

to draw by HaroldRobinson and Lyman

Smith in 1982 forpublication in the

journal Acta Botanica.After drawing several ofthe specimens, Tangeriniwas skeptical of some of

the characters used todistinguish the species.

After some investigating,she found new characters

separating it from itsrelative, Navia nubicola,

and thus had a speciesnamed in her honor. Acopy of a letter, found

with the drawing, writtenby Smith to Jim Luteynreads, ��with her deftfingers and sharp eyes,

she discovered somecharacters which

altered our concepts considerably, hence,

Navia aliciae.�

Navia aliciae L.B. Smith, Steyermark & H. Rob.

Department of Systematic Biology-BotanyPO Box 37012NMNH, MRC-166Washington DC 20013-7012

Official BusinessPenalty for Private Use $300

Art by Alice Tangerini