Oxford Plant Systematics - University of Oxfordherbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/bol/content/Projects/oxford/ops/ops18.pdf2 Oxford Plant Systematics OPS 18 June 2012 Foreword Welcome to the

Oxford PlantSystematicsWith news from Oxford University Herbaria (OXF and FHO), Depart

OPS 18

Different species of Convolvulus

Oxford PlantSystematicsWith news from Oxford University Herbaria (OXF and FHO), Department of Plant Sciences, Oxford

Convolvulus and Ipomoea, some new, from Bolivia and the Azores

ment of Plant Sciences, Oxford

June 2012

, some new, from Bolivia and the Azores

2 Oxford Plant Systematics OPS 18 June 2012

Foreword

Welcome to the eighteenth edition ofOxford Plant Systematics.

The importance of getting out into the fieldand collecting plants is a core part of thearticles in this edition. John Wood recountsthe rediscovery of poorly knownStrobilanthes (Acanthaceae) species in thewild, whilst Steven Heathcote and ElizabethCooke describe their search for Cardamine(Brassicaceae) in the Carpathians. In Öland,Rosemary Wise brings a personal pers-pective to a route which follows in thefootsteps of Carl Linnaeus. Away from fieldwork focused on specific plants, WilliamHawthorne and Cicely Marshall describetheir work on the rapid collection of fielddata from the world’s botanical hotspots.

Rapid collection of field data allows one tostate where a species is found. However, thedetection and identification of speciesrequires effective identification keys andglobal taxonomic treatments. The Found-ation Monographs initative, described byJohn Wood and Robert Scotland, aims toplug this gap by developing a novel methodto accelerate the overhaul of the taxonomyof large, poorly known groups. The work ofRobert and his colleagues has alsohighlighted that approximately half of theplant species awaiting discovery are alreadysitting, unidentified or misidentified, inherbarium cabinets.

Some of the results of historical field workby Oxford-based botanists, most signif-icantly John Sibthorp’s explorations of theeastern Mediterranean at the end ofeigtheenth century, are now available on-line. Away from dead plants, Alison Fosterdescribes how the living collections at theOxford Botanic Garden are now beingmanaged using BRAHMS. In addition, thefirst steps have been made by ElizabethAtkinson in the long process of makingGeorge Claridge Druce’s vast personalarchive readily available for botanicalresearch.

Stephen A. HarrisCurator of Oxford University Herbaria

Contents

ForewordStephen A. Harris ……………………………………………………… 2

News itemsStaff retirement, Prizes & Fellowship awarded .……………………… 3

Publications 2011 ……………………………………………………….. 3

Student reportsSystematics and phylogeography of Cardamine hirsuta L.Elizabeth Cooke ……………………………………………………….. 4

Revision of Drypetes VahlZoë Goodwin ………………………………………………………….. 4

Foundation Monographs, a new initiative from OxfordJohn R.I. Wood & Robert Scotland …………………………………… 5

Rapid Botanic Survey inside and outside the world’s botanic hotspotsWilliam Hawthorne & Cicely Marshall ………………….…………… 6

Strobilanthes rediscoveredJohn R.I. Wood …………………………………………….………….. 8

Hunting Hairy Bittercress and other Carpathian CardamineSteven Heathcote & Elizabeth Cooke ……………………….………... 9

Following Linnaeus’s journey through Öland, via southern SwedenRosemary Wise …………………………………………………….... 11

Historic herbaria - going on-lineStephen A. Harris …………………………………………………… 12

News from the HerbariaFielding-Druce (OXF) and Daubeny (FHO)Serena Marner …………………………………………………...…. 13

The archive of George Claridge DruceElizabeth Atkinson ………………………….………………………. 15

Managing living collections at the Oxford Botanic GardenAlison Foster ………………………………………………………... 16

Cover images:Species of Convolvulaceae from Bolivia and the Azores to illustrate article on page 5.

Top row: left – an apparently new species of Ipomoea from the Andes of Bolivia; right –Convolvulus erosus, a trailing herb from Bolivia, frequently misnamed C. hermanniae.

Middle row: left – a red-flowered Ipomoea provisionally named I. hederifolia but part of acomplex in need of revision; right – three colour variants of the Morning Glory, Ipomoeapurpurea. (All the above photographed for Darwin Initiative Project 162/11/010.)

Bottom row: left – Convolvulus caput-medusae, a spiny undershrub from the Canary Islands(photo by Fred Rumsey); right – an apparently new species of Ipomoea from the cerrados ofBolivia (photo Darwin Initiative Project 16-004).

Typesetting and layout of this issue of OPS by Serena Marner

Department of Plant Sciences,University of Oxford,South Parks Road, OxfordOX1 3RB, U.K.Tel. +44 (0) 1865 275000

Oxford Plant Systematics ResearchGroup website:http://herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk

Oxford University Herbaria database at:http://herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/bol/oxford

Back issues of OPS can be viewed at:http://herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/OPS.html

Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford 3

News items

Congratulations to Robert Scotland whohas been elected as President of theSystematics Association from 2012 until2014.

Robert Scotland was interviewed by BBCradio on St David’s Day 2011 to explainsome of the mysteries of the daffodil. Healso appeared on BBC television, followedby a broadcast on Radio 4 (Material World,10 March 2011).

Staff retirement

Anne Sing retired from the Department ofPlant Sciences in March 2011 after 34 yearsservice. Anne joined the University in 1977as a graduate of Portsmouth Polytechnic,now the University of Portsmouth. Initially,Anne worked as a research technician forDavid Mabberley, working with him on hisinterests in south east Asian Meliaceae andthe Plant Book, the second edition beingdedicated to Anne. In these activities Annerevealed her concern for academic rigour.Anne was also involved in organising theannual undergraduate field course to theAlgave, Portugal. She demonstratedempathy and concern for students. AfterDavid Mabberley moved to Sydney, Annegave technical support to various staffmembers of the Department in theirresearch, also continuing to help with thefield course to the Algarve, and carrying outbibliographic research in which she hadconsiderable expertise. Latterly she helpedin herbarium curation tasks taking respon-sibility for mounting herbarium specimens.Many thousands of examples of Anne’swork are to be found throughout theherbarium. We wish Anne a long and happyretirement.

PrizesTiina Särkinen was awarded the IreneManton Prize for her D.Phil. thesis entitled“Historical Assembly of Seasonally DryTropical Forest Diversity on the Andes”which she completed in 2010 (see abstractin Oxford Plant Systematics 17: 5 (2011)).The Irene Manton Prize is awarded by the

Linnean Society for the best doctoral thesisin botany examined at a UK Universityduring the previous academic year. Tiina iscurrently working as a post-doctoralresearcher at the Natural History Museum inLondon.

Congratulations to Elizabeth (Lizzie)Cooke for winning second prize for herpresentation, ‘Systematics and phylo-geography of the emerging model plantCardamine hirsuta’ at the YoungSystematics Forum held at the NaturalHistory Museum, London in December2011. The event was attended by 150delegates from 20 countries. Lizzie Cookealso won second prize for her presentationon the Systematics of Cardamine hirsuta atthe Natural History Museum StudentAssociation Annual Conference that tookplace at the Natural History Museum on 14and 15 April 2011.

Fellowship awardedCaroline Pannell spent five weeks inNovember and December 2011, with aFellowship from the Forest ResearchInstitute of Malaysia. She carried outfieldwork in three areas of PeninsularMalaysia. These were Pasoh Forest Reserve,previously unexplored limestone hills ofPerak and Endau Rompin National Park.She completed her account of Aglaia for theFlora of Peninsular Malaysia, gave alecture on the taxonomy and biology of thegenus and ran a workshop on using the keyto the 50 species in Peninsular Malaysia.The key relies partly on characters of theindumentum that require magnification andit worked well after some modificationbased on feedback from the workshopparticipants. She commenced an account ofthe former Flacourtiaceae, now Salicaceaeand Achariaceae, for Flora of PeninsularMalaysia and gave a lecture on her initialfiindings. During the field work shealso gathered information from living plantsfor an interactive key to genera ofPeninsular Malaysian plants usingvegetative characters. She is most grateful tothe botanists at FRIM for the help andenthusiastic support they gave her in all ofthese activities.

Imin Kamin (FRIM), and Caroline making acollection in Pasoh Forest Reserve. Photograph

by Chew M.Y. (FRIM).

The general collecting and interactive keyare to contribute to the plant diversityhotspot assessment for Peninsular Malaysia,as part of the series of studies being carriedout by OPS staff and students. ThePeninsular Malaysia project will be done incollaboration with Saw Leng Guan and hisstaff at FRIM.

Publications 2011

Brennan, A.C., Tabah, D.A., Harris, S.A.,Hiscock, S.J. (2011). Sporophytic self-incompatibility in Senecio squalidus(Asteraceae): S allele dominanceinteractions and modifiers of cross-compatibility and selfing rates. Heredity106: 113-123.

Dahmer, N., Simon, M.F., Schifino-Wittmann, M.T., Hughes, C.E., Miotto,S.T.S., Guiliani, J.S. (2011). Chromosomenumbers in the genus Mimosa L.:cytotaxonomic and evolutionaryimplications. Plant Systematics & Evolution291: 211-220.

Govindarajulu, R., Hughes, C.E., Bailey,C.D. (2011). Phylogenetic and populationgenetic analyses of diploid Leucaena(Leguminosae) reveal cryptic speciesdiversity and patterns of allopatric divergentspeciation. American Journal of Botany 98:2049-2063.

Govindarajulu, R., Hughes, C.E.,Alexander, P., Bailey, C.D. (2011). Thecomplex evolutionary dynamics of ancientand recent polyploidy in Leucaena(Leguminosae). American Journal of Botany98: 2064-2076.

Harris, S.A. (2011). Planting Paradise:cultivating the garden 1501-1900. BodleianLibrary, Oxford.

Hawthorne, W.D., Marshall, C.A.M., AbuJuam, M., Agyeman, V.K. (2011). Theimpact of logging damage on tropicalrainforests, their recovery andregeneration: an annotated bibliography.OFI Occasional Series. Oxford ForestryInstitute, Oxford.

Lander, T.A., Bebber, D.P., Choy, C.T.,Harris, S.A., Boshier, D.H. (2011). TheCirce Principle explains how resource-richland can waylay pollinators in fragmentedlandscapes. Current Biology 21: 1302-1307.

Lucas, E.J., Matsumoto, K., Harris, S.A.,Lughadha, E.M.N., Benardini, B., Chase,M.W. (2011). Phylogenetics, morphology,and evolution of the large genus Myrcia s.l.(Myrtaceae). International Journal of PlantSciences 172: 915-934.


Maharjan, S.K., Poorter, L., Holmgren, M.,Bongers, F., Wieringa,J.J., Hawthorne,W.D. (2011). Plant functional traits and thedistribution of West African rain forest treesalong the Rainfall Gradient.Biotropica 43: 552-561.

Parmentier, I., Harrigan,R.J., Buermann,W., Mitchard, E.T.A.,Saatchi, S., Malhi, Y., Bongers, F.,Hawthorne, W.D. (2011). Predictingalpha diversity of African rain forests:models based on climate and satellite-derived data do not perform better than apurely spatial model. Journal ofBiogeography 38: 1164-1176.

Proenca, C.E.B, Filer, D.L, Lenza, E, Silva,J.S, Harris, S.A. (2012). PhenologicalPredictability Index in BRAHMS: A tool forherbarium-based phenological studiesEcography. 35: 289-293.

Särkinen, T., Pennington, R.T., Lavin, M.,Simon, M.F., Hughes, C.E. (2012).Evolutionary islands in the Andes:persistence and isolation explain highendemism in Andean dry tropical forest.Journal of Biogeography 39: 884-900.

Särkinen, T.S., Marcelo Peña, J.L.,Yomona, A.D., Simon, M.F., Pennington,R.T., Hughes, C.E. (2011). Underestimatedendemic species diversity in the Marañonseasonally dry tropical forests of Peru – anexample from Mimosa (Leguminosae:Mimosoideae). Taxon 60: 139-150.

Scotland, R.W. (2011). What isparallelism? Evolution and Development 13:214-227.

Simon, M.F., Grether, R., De Quieroz, L.P.,Särkinen, T.E., Dutra, V.F., Hughes, C.E.(2011). The evolutionary history of Mimosa(Leguminosae): towards a phylogeny of thesensitive plants. American Journal ofBotany 98: 1201-1221.

Villarroel, Segarra D., Wood, J.R.I.(2011). Plantago pyrophila(Plantaginaceae), a new species from thecerrados of Eastern Bolivia Kew Bulletin 66:471-474.

Wood, J.R.I., Hu, Chia-chi, Deng,Yunfei,Daniel, T.F. (2011). Acanthaceae in Floraof China 19: 369-477. Harvard UniversityPress, Cambridge, Mass.

Wood, J.R.I. (Ed.) (2011). Guía Darwin delas plantas de los cerrados de laChiquitania. Museo de Historia Natural“Noel Kempff Mercado”, Santa Cruz,Bolivia.

Wood, J.R.I. (2011). Clinopodium L.(Lamiaceae) in Bolivia. Kew Bulletin 66:199-226.

Student reports

Elizabeth Cooke (D.Phil. 3rd

year) Systematics andphylogeography of Cardaminehirsuta L.

Supervised by Dr Robert Scotland (Oxford),Dr Mark Carine (Natural History Museum)and Professor Miltos Tsiantis (Oxford).BBSRC-funded.

Cardamine hirsuta L. (Brassicaceae) is anemerging model system in developmentalgenetics, developed by Professor MiltosTsiantis here in Oxford, which is provinguseful for investigating the genetic basis ofmorphological traits. My D.Phil. attempts toput this model organism in a systematic andphylogeographic context. The specific aimsare to: a) describe the geographic andphylogenetic structure of molecularvariation in C. hirsuta, in order to constructa phylogeographic hypothesis for C. hirsutain its native range; and b) identify theclosest relatives of C. hirsuta.

C. hirsuta or Hairy Bittercress as it is morecommonly known, is a familiar garden weedin most of the temperate world. Humans,particularly the horticultural trade in recenttimes, have accidentally helped C. hirsuta toexpand out of its original native range ofEurope, the Middle East, North Africa andthe East African High Mountains.Anthropogenic dispersal has also moved C.hirsuta about within its native range makingthe reconstruction of its phylogeographichistory a challenging prospect.

This project uses Sanger sequencing ofmultiple chloroplast and nuclear regions toconstruct infraspecific phylogenies. Markerswere selected according to the levels ofinfraspecific variation found in a pilot study.Individual sampling has predominantlycome from herbarium specimens, allowingexcellent coverage of C. hirsuta’s nativerange, plus my own collections from a fewtargeted field trips (see the field trip reporton pages 9-10). Sampling is nearlycomplete. This strategy has revealed cleargeographic structuring of genetic variationwithin C. hirsuta with congruent patternsbetween chloroplast and nuclear markers.The next aim is to investigate how thephylogeographic structure of C. hirsutarelates to geography and climate, past andpresent.

Currently, the closest relatives of C.hirsuta are unknown due to the lack ofphylogenetic resolution and taxon samplingwithin Cardamine, a large genus of some200 species. The second aim of the projectis to determine the closest relatives of C.hirsuta, test their monophyly and resolvetheir relationships using multiple chloroplastand nuclear regions.

Zoë Goodwin (D.Phil. 1st year)Revision of Drypetes Vahl

Supervised by Dr Robert Scotland (Oxford)and Dr David Harris (Royal Botanic GardenEdinburgh). NERC-funded

Drypetes is a large, pantropical genus ofsmall trees in the Putranjivaceae, notable forthe presence of mustard oils (also foundindependently in the Brassicaceae). Alongwith some other much smaller genera(Putranjiva, Sibangea and Lingelsheimia),these plants have been segregated fromEuphorbiaceae as Putranjivaceae in recentAPG classifications.

Drypetes, published in 1807, wasconsidered to be strictly a neotropical groupuntil the Old World genus Cyclostemon wassunk into Drypetes by Hutchinson (1912).Currently, there is considered to be justover 200 species worldwide, with about 115species in Asia and the Pacific, 77 species inAfrica and 18 species in the Neotropics(Govaerts et al., 2000). Centres of diversityof the genus seem to be located in CentralAfrica and South East Asia. Drypetes ischaracterised by simple, alternate distichousleaves, stipules, often coriaceous leaves withan asymmetric leaf blade base, and toothed,occasionally entire margin. The genus isdioecious with flowers fasciculate in the leafaxils or on old branches, occasionallycauliflorous. The flowers have a nectiferousdisk (intrastaminal in male flowers, betweenthe sepals and the gynoecium in femaleflowers) and have no petals. The drupaceousfruit usually possesses a pair of distinctive,persistent, flattened stigmas.

The aims of this project are firstly, torevise this difficult and taxonomicallyneglected genus, and to verify themonophyly of the group. Secondly, toinvestigate the process of species discoveryby examining datasets of large, well revisedtaxa.

Drypetes has been chosen as a study groupfor developing a novel, innovative and fastapproach for overhauling the taxonomy ofspecies-rich, widespread, taxonomicallyneglected groups of plants, termed aFoundation Monograph. Traditionally, themonographic approach is associated withmore or less comprehensive treatment forthe phylogeny, biogeography, ecology andevolution of a particular group and thereforemonographs are generally long-term andexpensive (often a life-time of work from asingle dedicated botanist). The FoundationMonograph approach is proposed to developa fast method for large scale taxonomicrevisions, that is monographic in scope, i.e.,including a global synthesis and specimensort, but doing so within a re-aligned morelimited and focussed set of aims that areessential for meeting global biodiversitytargets. By undertaking a global specimensort for large groups of plants, withinfocussed and re-aligned monographicpriorities, combined with full use of


contemporary electronic resources, it isconsidered that it is possible to overhaul thetaxonomy of large species-rich taxa in ashort period of time. In contrast to modernglobal monographs, the FoundationMonograph approach aims only to: (i)establish taxon circumscription (definespecies); (ii) resolve nomenclature; (iii)provide brief descriptions and diagnostickeys to species; and (iv) test monophyly ofstudy group.

This year a skeletal molecular phylogenywill be developed and revision of theAfrican species of Drypetes will begin usingherbarium material at BM, BR, E, FHO, K,L and WAG.

References

Govaerts, R., Frodin, D.G. & Radcliffe-Smith, A. (2000). World Checklist andBibliography of Euphorbiaceae (withPandaceae): Croton -Excoecariopsis. Kew:Royal Botanic Gardens.

Hutchinson, J. (1912). Drypetes(Euphorbiaceae) in: Thiselton-Dyer, W. T.(ed.), Flora of Tropical Africa 6(1): 674-689. Lovell Reeve & Co. Ltd., London.

FoundationMonographs, a newinitiative from OxfordPlant Sciences

There is worldwide concern at the loss ofbiodiversity and widespread popular supportfor efforts to conserve diversity before itdisappears. However, efforts to prioritizeindividual species for conservation as wellas areas rich in biodiversity are hampered byour lack of knowledge of what species existand where they are found. Current estimatesof the number of described species offlowering plants range between 230,000 and420,000, the uncertainty surrounding thesefigures being largely the result of unknownlevels of synonymy in many groups ofplants. In addition, there are estimated to beabout 70,000 species of flowering plant yetto be described of which, it has beenestimated, more than half have already beencollected and await discovery in herbaria.Major impediments to the detection of thesenew species include the high levels ofsynonymy, lack of keys to recognizedspecies and, in the case of most largegenera, lack of any global treatment. Inaddition, for many groups of considerablesize there is a vast but disparate literature aswell as massive quantities of collectedspecimens that remain unstudied in theworld’s herbaria. This has led to the currentsituation where many larger groups areviewed as too difficult and too time-

consuming to tackle because of their sizeand taxonomic complexity.

The Foundation Monograph concept is anapproach to developing a novel but,effective method to accelerate the pace ofoverhauling the taxonomy of these large,poorly known, mainly tropical, groups ofplants in a relatively short timeframe of afew years at modest cost, thus making asignificant contribution towardsconservation efforts. In contrast to standardmodern global monographs, which are fewin number due largely to the amount of timeneeded in their preparation, the FoundationMonograph has the more limited aims of: (i)delimiting taxa, establishing taxoncircumscriptions and providing briefdescriptions; (ii) resolving nomenclature;(iii) providing identification tools,specifically, diagnostic keys and DNAbarcodes; (iv) providing basic distributiondata; and (v) testing the monophyly of thestudy group, thus ensuring it is a naturalgroup.Proposals for funding were prepared by

and submitted from Oxford’s Department ofPlant Sciences during 2010-11. From itsstart the project involved collaborationbetween scientists from the Natural HistoryMuseum in London, the Royal BotanicGarden, Edinburgh and the Royal BotanicGardens at Kew and representatives of allfour institutions form a monitoringcommittee for the project. Initially wesecured “pump-priming” funding fromBBSRC /SynTax, which is administered bythe Linnean Society with the object ofproviding short-term funding for novelproposals with a strong systematics ortaxonomy element. This was to work onConvolvulus, a genus of around 200 specieswith a nearly cosmopolitan distributionalthough centred on the Mediterranean andIrano-Turanian regions. This was planned asa pilot project in preparation for tackling alarger, more strictly tropical genus.

Work began on Convolvulus in July 2011with species delimitation and descriptionbeing carried out by John Wood fromOxford with visits to the other threeparticipating institutions and with DNAbarcoding being carried out at the NaturalHistory Museum by Mark Carine and BethWilliams. Progress at both key elements inour work is advancing well. It is hoped thatalmost 75% of species will be sequenced forrcbL although coverage for the genes matKor ITS which discriminate more successfullyat species level will be lower. Already this isconfirming that previous classifications ofConvolvulus are not natural. At the level ofalpha taxonomy we have largely completeddescriptions and keys of the SouthernHemisphere groups and are makingsubstantial inroads into the Middle Eastspecies where the genus is most diverse.Here many species are small undershrubs,sometimes spiny, and adapted to aridconditions, so very different in appearancefrom the common bindweed of gardens,Convolvulus arvensis, which is nearly

cosmopolitan in distribution. Here too weface a common problem for monographers –the paucity of adequate material. Manyspecies are only known from the typecollection or one or two inadequateadditional specimens. This makes speciesdelimitation difficult but experience isshowing which characters are of greatestvalue for delimitation. Inflorescencebranching, stigma structure and the directionof the fruiting pedicels proving morereliable than ovary and capsuleindumentum, which has been relied on byprevious authors.

Near the end of 2011 funding for threeyears from the Leverhulme Foundation wasconfirmed to prepare a FoundationMonograph of Ipomoea, the largest genus inConvolvulaceae with in excess of 600species. It is distributed throughout thetropical and subtropical regions of the worldand its colourful flowers are a prominentfeature of many different habitats. Somespecies are worldwide in distribution,particularly a group found on sea shores, butthe greatest diversity is found in drysavannah habitats, the cerrados of SouthAmerica being especially rich. There areproblems about the limits of the genus asseveral related genera including Argyrea,Astripomoea, Turbina and others may not bedistinct. Ipomoea has never been tackledfrom a global perspective and will constitutethe principal challenge for our approach.Several species are cultivated asornamentals and the genus includes theimportant food crops Sweet Potato (I.batatas) and Water Spinach or Kangkong (I.aquatica). Images of a selection of speciesof Ipomoea and Convolvulus appear on thefront cover of this issue.

As our approach to monographing isdifferent from current practice, we are usingour preliminary study of Convolvulus as away of refining our methodology. This isbeing carefully recorded for subsequentanalysis to inform our work on Ipomoea andsimilar work on Drypetes by Zoë Goodwinas part of her D.Phil. research. The aim withall three genera is to produce ageographically comprehensive and user-friendly account of each group within arelatively short period, much as the FloraEuropaea project did for the flora of acontinent. However, we see thedevelopment of an efficient methodologyfor rapid monographing work to be asimportant as the initial monographsthemselves.

A few pertinent references

Scotland, R.W. & Wortley, A.H. (2003).How many species of seed plant are there?Taxon 52: 101-104.

Wortley, A.H. & Scotland, R.W. (2004).Synonymy, sampling and seed plantnumbers. Taxon 53: 478-480.


Bebber, D.P., Carine, M.A., Wood, J.R.I.,Wortley, A.H., Harris, D.J., Prance, G.T.,Davidse, G., Paige, J., Pennington,T.D., Robson, N.K.B., Scotland, R.W.(2010). Herbaria are a major frontier forspecies discovery. Proceedings of theNational Academy of Sciences of the UnitedStates of America 107 (51): 22169-22171. (See commentaries in Nature (2010)468: 870 and Current Biology (2011) 21:R6-7).

Steussy, T.F. & Lack, W. (2011).Monographic plant systematics:fundamental assessment of plantbiodiversity. Series: Regnum Vegetabile153. A.R.G. Gantner Verlag K.G., Ruggell.

John R.I. Wood, Research Associate& Robert Scotland, Reader in SystematicBotany

Rapid Botanic Surveyinside and outside theworld’s botanichotspots

2011 has been a busy year for RapidBotanic Surveys (RBS), under the Plants forthe 21st Century umbrella. RBS is a methodfor sampling and classifying vegetation,mapping hotspots of globally rare plants,and is an ideal basis for managing rapidlydwindling genetic resources. RBS isassociated with a conceptual framework forplant biodiversity assessment, whichincludes the notion of bioquality. Bioqualityis a measurable attribute of plantcommunities calculated from theconcentration of globally rare species,where rarer species contribute more to ahigh bioquality score than widespreadspecies. It is distinct from diversitymeasures, which are based on numbers ofspecies that are all treated as equals. Sinceits development in the 1990s by WilliamHawthorne, working in the Department ofPlant Sciences and for DFID in the GhanaForestry Department, RBS has been used inmany vegetation types and geographicregions: across Africa in Cameroon, Gabon,Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia andIvory Coast; the Americas, in Chile,Trinidad & Tobago, Honduras and Mexico;and in Malaysia. 2011 has seen the RBSspotlight turning on parts of South Americaand Asia.

Nodoka Nakamura is developing RBS toinvestigate the pattern of bioquality hotspotsacross Japan for her D.Phil. in theDepartment of Plant Sciences. Japan is oneof the world’s 34 major hotspots accordingto Mittermeier et al. (2005), whosecontinental-scale criteria are less precise and

scaleable than the bioquality hotspotdefinition allows. Nodoka’s RBS fieldworkresults are analysed within a large databaseshe has assembled from published data. Shehas created the first detailed map of theJapanese hotspot, revealing a pattern of bothcoldspots and hotspots within the country.Nodoka is currently helping the OxfordBotanic Garden with their Japan hotspotseed collection project, and is due tocomplete her thesis, ‘Dissecting theJapanese hotspot’, in Autumn 2012.

In May 2011, William Hawthorne andresearch assistant Cicely Marshall went toBrunei, hosted by the British HighCommission, to demonstrate RBS and todevelop a plan for a national RBS projectwith Brunei’s Ministry for Industry andPrimary Resources (Forestry Dept). The

project, hopefully to start in 2012, wouldfulfil part of Brunei’s ‘Heart of Borneo’conservation commitments, a programmeagreed by the three Bornean nationalgovernments working with WWF. Besidesmapping species distributions, vegetationtypes and bioquality hotspots, the OxfordRBS project would provide trainingopportunities for Bruneian students andherbarium staff in botanic survey methodsand database (BRAHMS) management, andshowcase Brunei’s well-stewarded but oftenunder-recognised biodiversity.We have completed several Rapid Botanic

Surveys in Liberia in recent years, the leastwell explored country and reputedly thehottest part of Upper Guinea (tropicalAfrican forest zone, west of Benin). Wesurveyed the Putu Range, S.E. Liberia

E

Recording how each species is used as part of an RBS is an efficient way to gather ethnobotanic dataand helps to establish a balanced view of the vegetation’s importance.

The RBS team at the top of Mount Nimba (minus William Hawthorne – photographer!).


(ridges to the north of Sapo National Park)in late 2010; and in October 2011 a smallteam from the Department of Plant Sciences(William Hawthorne, Steven Heathcote andCicely Marshall), together with WestAfrican botanists (Patrick Ekpe from Ghana,James Kpadehyea from Liberia, Ouo-OuoHaba and David Bilivogui from Guinea),surveyed the Nimba and adjacent mountainsof northern Liberia as part ofArcelorMittal’s baseline EnvironmentalImpact Assessment. Iron mining in theNimba Mountains, and across the region,threatens the impressive diversity of the areabut cannot be moderated, mitigated or offsetwithout information derived from completeand scientific surveys of the plantcommunities.

More than a hunt for novelties, RBSprovides a comprehensive and up-to-datesynopsis of the local ecology anddistribution of all species. This approachmakes RBS collections and datasets usefulnot just for stocking herbaria and keepingtaxonomists busy, but for many otherresearchers. In 2011 a D.Phil. in theDepartment by Shobha Maharaj found theRBS data from our Darwin project onTrinidad and Tobago much more useful thana complete herbarium database of theislands for climate change modelling. Otherresearchers have used the data for mappingfood-plants of animal species, buildingecological profiles of vulnerable species andspecies useful for mine restoration, and forassessing ecological services. RBS datasets

have also allowed us to assess the plantcommunity from the perspective of peopleliving around the forests. In Yekepa andPutu, ethnobotanic studies were integratedwith the RBS, highlighting the use value ofdifferent species and vegetation types tolocal users. In Yekepa, a workshop was heldwith 14 key ‘Zos’ (herbalists) to prioritisethe most useful species among almost 1000plant names for which we recorded someuse, and to develop action plans for theirconservation in the face of miningdevelopments.

Complementing typical herbariumdatabases, RBS datasets are particularlyuseful for their breadth and depth, preciselylocated data from one point in time, and thebotanical training and local conservationawareness that accompany a project. One ofour long term RBS goals, along with theapplied and academic reports and papers, isto make this information about plants andplant communities available in an accessible‘map-zoomable’ format. Towards this end,The Oxford Plant Observatory (TOPO) isbeing developed to handle these and otherdata, programmed by Andrew Liddell (webaspects) and Denis Filer (BRAHMSaspects). It is due to be completed later thisyear and will improve on and replace theVirtual Field Herbarium described in earlierOPS newsletters(http://herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/TOPO/-).TOPO will feature improved links toBRAHMS Online; better mapping andzooming on focal RBS areas, and areas withpublished check-lists; and the option to seethe Bioquality of plant communities mappedat various scales, calculated directly fromthe raw data.

Anyone interested in learning more aboutTOPO or training in RBS should contactWilliam Hawthorne([email protected]).The RBS manual can be downloaded fromhttp://herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/TOPO/Content/docs/RBS.pdf).

Reference

Mittermeier, R.A., P.R. Gil, M. Hoffman, J.Pilgrim, T. Brooks, C. G. Mittermeier, J.Lamoreux, G. A. B. da Fonseca , P. A.Seligmann. (2005). Hotspots revisited:Earth's biologically richest and mostendangered terrestrial ecoregions.University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

William Hawthorne & Cicely MarshallResearch Associates

The herbarium in Yekepa was established, housed 20,000 speicmens, and was dismantledagain all in the survey duration of 7 weeks.

A ‘Zo’ workshop was held with 14 top herbalists to identify and develop management plansfor 70 key useful species, from 1000 species for which use and local name was established.


Strobilanthesrediscovered

Although botanists from The Department ofPlant Sciences have been working onStrobilanthes (Acanthaceae) for almosttwenty years, they have had fewopportunities to see these plants in the field.This is partly a problem of funding but alsoreflects the fact that the genus is mostdiverse in areas which are both physicallyand politically difficult to visit. The genus isprobably most interesting along the Tibet-India, Myanmar-India border areas and inthe Golden Triangle, where Laos, Thailand,China and Burma meet. Much of our studyhas consequently been based on theexamination of herbarium specimenscollected by the handful of explorers andplant hunters who have visited these areasover the last two hundred years. Of these themost important is, without doubt, FrankKingdon Ward who travelled through theseareas on a series of expeditions over the firstfifty years of the 20th century. KingdonWard was not particularly interested inStrobilanthes, focussing his attention onplants of horticultural importance, especiallythe Blue Poppies of the genus Meconopsis,and this makes his contribution all the moreremarkable. At a rough count he collectedover 25 new species from this genus, ofwhich at least 15 were based on holotypeshe collected. He is probably, therefore, themost significant collector of Strobilanthesever.

Despite Kingdon Ward’s outstandingsuccess at finding new species ofStrobilanthes, his material mostlylanguished in different herbaria for manyyears, a fate encountered by manycollections (Bebber et al., 2010). It is onlyin the last twenty years that most of thespecies he discovered have been describedas new (Wood, 1994, Wood & Scotland,2009). Making taxonomic decisions and,especially, describing new species based onlimited material, often a single specimencollected many years before, is always achallenge for the taxonomist, from whichmany shy away. It requires confidence totake a risk combined with a fine judgementof what characters are important or not. Andmistakes can be made. Strobilanthes calvatadescribed by me (Wood, 1994) based on aKingdon Ward collection from Myanmarturned out to be an extreme but not uniquevariant of the widespread and variable S.echinata Nees (Bennett et al., 2008), to giveone example.

However, most of the new speciesdescribed from old specimens have stoodthe test of time and it has been gratifying toreceive photographs from correspondents inIndia of a number of species, which wereonly known from old dried collections.Three such rediscoveries were made in2011. The first of these was Strobilanthesclarkei (Wood, 1994) rediscovered and

photographed by Deshworjit Singh nearManipur (fig.1). This was first found by C.B. Clarke in 1885 and had not been seenagain since 1949 when Kingdon Wardfound it near Zakhoma. The second was alsofound by Deshworjit Singh in the samegeneral area. This was Strobilanthesasymmetrica described by Wood et al.(2003) based on a collection by KingdonWard made in 1948. This is a remarkablespecies with asymmetric leaves, a uniquepollen and an unusual cream-colouredcorolla (see figs. 2 and 3). Apart fromKingdon Ward’s collection it had only beenfound once in the 1920s by an Anglicanmissionary working in the Lushai Hills. Thethird rediscovery was made by Dr M. K.Pathak of the Kolkata herbarium in a quitedifferent area, in the north east of ArunachalPradesh in the Himalayan foothills. Thiswas Strobilanthes parvifolia described byWood & Scotland (2009) based on a singlecollection made by Kingdon Ward in 1928in the same remote area of India. This is awhite-flowered species (most Strobilantheshave blue flowers) and is unusual for beinghairy on the inside of the corolla and withflowers scattered in opposite pairs along thebranches of the inflorescence (see fig.4).

Receiving colour photographs of speciessuch as these, which you have only knownfrom old dried specimens is a verysatisfying experience. It brings to lifesomething you have only known from deadmaterial and it is reassuring that entitiesbased on dried specimens are diagnosablewhen alive and that your original decision todescribe them as new was not mistaken.Perhaps more importantly, it is reassuring toknow the plants are not extinct. Obviouslymuch work will be needed to assess theirtrue conservation status but at least theyhave not disappeared. Many Strobilanthesspecies are plietesial and only flower once

every ten or twelve years. We have no ideawhether the three species rediscovered thisyear are plietesial or not. I have vividmemories of Strobilanthes accrescensJ.R.I.Wood in Bhutan, a species knownfrom four collections before I saw it in itsflowering year of 1992 when it covered thehillsides over 25 kilometres with its blueflowers. A small number of collections doesnot necessarily indicate rarity inStrobilanthes!

Fig.2 (above) Leaves of S. asymmetrica, foundnear Manipur, India. Photo: Deshworjit Singh

Fig. 3 A flower of S. asymmetricaPhoto: Deshworjit Singh

Fig. 1 Strobilanthesclarkei found nearManipur in India.Photo: Deshworjit Singh


Fig. 4 Flowers of S. parvifolia. Photo: Dr. M.K.Pathak

There is one other important observationbased on the rediscoveries in 2011 – theimportance of collaboration betweenbiologists, especially at an internationallevel. I am, of course grateful to DeshworjitSingh and Dr. M.K. Pathak for thephotographs that accompany this text andbelieve that collaboration between thosewho can observe plants in the field withthose who do monographic research isessential to advance our knowledge ofcomplex tropical plant genera. In any casecollaboration brings benefits to both sides inour common task of advancing ourknowledge of the world’s biodiversity.

References

Bebber, D.P., Carine, M. A., Wood, J.R.I.,Wortley, A.H., Harris, D.J., Prance, G.T.,Davidse, G, Paige, J., Pennington, T.D.,Robson, N.K.B. & Scotland, R.W. (2010).Herbaria are a major frontier for speciesdiscovery. Proceedings of the NationalAcademy of Sciences of the United States ofAmerica 107: 22169-22171.

Bennett, J.R., Wood, J.R.I. & Scotland,R.W. (2008). Uncorrelated variation inwidespread species: species delimitation inStrobilanthes echinata Nees (Acanthaceae).Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society156: 131-141.

Wood, J.R. I. (1994). Notes relating to theFlora of Bhutan: XXIX. Acanthaceae, withspecial reference to Strobilanthes.Edinburgh Journal of Botany 51: 175-274.

Wood, J.R.I., Bennett, J.R. & Scotland,R.W. (2003). Notes on Strobilanthes: TheSympagis group. Kew Bulletin 58: 131-173.

Wood, J.R. I. & Scotland, R.W. (2009).New and little-known species ofStrobilanthes (Acanthaceae) from India andSouth East Asia. Kew Bulletin 64: 3-47.

John R.I. WoodResearch Associate

Hunting HairyBittercress and otherCarpathian Cardamine

Cardamine hirsuta is native to Europe, theMiddle East, North Africa, and the EastAfrican High Mountains. However, fewcollections of C. hirsuta have previouslybeen made in eastern Europe, so Spring2011 found Elizabeth Cooke and StevenHeathcote tracking down the elusive C.hirsuta in the Romanian and UkrainianCarpathian Mountains in an effort to rectifythe geographic gap in sampling (see page 4).Since the Carpathians are known to havebeen a glacial refugia during the Pleistoceneand are recognised as an area of endemism,there was every reason to be excited aboutlooking for Cardamine in the Carpathians.

This account details some of the plantsencountered on a two-week trip through thestunning Carpathian Mountains, starting inBucharest and ending in Kiev. Travel wasmainly by public transport, which in theUkraine required mastery of the Cyrillicalphabet in order to find the correct bus ortrain for our intended destinations, adding tothe traditional difficulties of negotiating thepublic transport system of a foreign country.Here in a backwater of rural life, abandonedCommunist infrastructure and some ofEurope’s most spectacular scenery, wetrekked through a wide variety of habitats tofind plants to collect for sequencing inOxford. We successfully collected 99specimens, representing 12 species, whichwill be added to the Brassicaceae collectionin OXF.

Cardamine hirsutaUnable to target sampling effort due to apaucity of existing distribution data forCardamine hirsuta in Romania and Ukrainewe were compelled to travel widely andsearch in an extensive range of habitats;from disturbed ground and garden edges intowns and villages of varying sizes, to moreattractive locations, such as montanemeadows and paths. The search started in asmall village on the edge of Bucharest, infamiliar C. hirsuta habitats in westernEurope; roadsides, field edges andwasteland. Although there was plenty ofpotentially suitable habitat, C. hirsutaappeared to be absent. Following a hunchthat dampness was important fordetermining the distribution of C. hirsuta wedecided to abandon the lowlands and headfor the wetter Carpathian Mountains. Nearthe southern Carpathian town of Braşov, we wandered through forested mountainslooking for C. hirsuta in woodlandclearings, one of its known habitats inRomania. However, no C. hirsuta wasforthcoming so we moved on to thebeautiful Apuseni Mountains, cradled withinthe bend of the main Carpathian arm.Finally, by the side of a cart track, on the

Cardamine hirsuta in the Ukraine

outskirts of a remote village, we found ourfirst C. hirsuta plant of the trip. Joyfulcelebrations ensued and thankfully therewas no one else around to witness. Furtherup the same valley we struck gold again.Over the next couple of days we made manymore collections across the ApuseniMountains. It was really great to find C.hirsuta growing in ‘natural’ habitats, such asmeadows and grassy stream banks, asopposed to the roadside setting of westernEurope, though even in the Carpathians C.hirsuta was found on verges. Furthersuccess followed near Suceava on the outereastern edge of the Carpathians, where C.hirsuta was found in similar rural habitats.

Our first find on the Ukrainian side of theborder came after jumping off the local busin the middle of nowhere, and following anewly surfaced road along a river valley.Here we found a small patch by the side ofthe road. Despite walking for a further eighthours, ascending and descending a mountaininto another valley, we had no furthersuccess that day. Another find came on theoutskirts of the town of Rakhiv, on the edgeof a cobbled track that was winding its wayup a hill past houses and fields. Extensivesearches showed that although locallyabundant in three patches within 50m ofeach other on a large soil mound and indisturbed ground, no further populationswere found in or around the town.

Before going to the Carpathians we hadthought that the paucity of occurrencerecords there reflected a lack of samplingeffort but it seems that this is only partly thecase. Intriguingly, seemingly suitable C.hirsuta habitat was observed in abundanceyet C. hirsuta was only presentoccasionally. Thus, factors other than theavailability of habitat must determine theabundance, and consequently, thegeographic range of C. hirsuta in theCarpathians. A myriad of interrelatedfactors may be responsible for determining


the range of a species from history toclimate and while no doubt environmentalfactors, such as climate play an importantpart in influencing the abundance of C.hirsuta in the eastern edge of its range, weventure to suggest that the lack of humandispersal via the horticultural industry is animportant factor. Somewhat surprisingly C.hirsuta does not appear to be a horticulturalweed in the Carpathians; despite extensivesearches of parks and gardens no C. hirsutawas found. The abundance of C. hirsuta inwestern Europe is very likely artificiallyinflated by garden escapes and thus thelower abundance of C. hirsuta in theCarpathians is partly because it is not ahorticultural weed there.

Other CardamineDespite the local paucity of C. hirsuta wefound plenty of other Cardamine species tokeep us interested. Perhaps the mostattractive, partly due to its picturesquehabitat, was C. glanduligera, which wefound growing in moist, open places inforests. C. glanduligera has leaves withthree narrowly elliptic, toothed leaflets, andlarge (for Cardamine at least), delicatepurple flowers. Another weedy Cardaminepresent in the Carpathians, Cardamineflexuosa, was frequently the cause of mis-

identifications as C. hirsuta by Stevenwhich required correcting by Elizabeth.Cardamine amara, a species of damphabitats, was often found on the sides ofdrains on the edges of town as well as ruralstreams. C. amara was easily identified byits purple stamens which stand out againstits white petals. We were excited to find theappropriately named C. bulbifera, anuncommon species in the UK, whichreproduces by bulbils in the leaf axils.Another species found was C. impatiens,similar to C. hirsuta, but larger with moretoothed leaflets. Several other as yetunidentified Cardamine species and otherBrassicaceae were also collected.

The appropriately named C. bulbifera

Other Carpathian PlantsThankfully the Carpathians were not justfilled with brassicas; we were treated to afascinating range of plants and habitats.

Exploring the large areas of ancient beechand conifer forests was a great treat. Therewere also large areas of species-rich haymeadows, owing to the predominance oflow-input agriculture. Having made the tripin late April, not long after the snow hadmelted at higher altitudes, we found manyof the spring species in flower. A personalfavourite of Steven was the dense patches ofViola tricolor, often interspersed withorchids, including Anacamptis morio(Green-winged Orchid) and Orchis mascula(Early-purple Orchid), Gentiana acaulis(Trumpet Gentian), and some interestingCarex species. Also eye-catching was aparasitic Lathraea growing at high altitudein the coniferous forest. Unfortunately wedidn’t have time to visit the famous fields ofNarcissus angustifolius, a spectacle popularwith both locals (who launched a campaignto save the fields from conversion toagriculture) and tourists.

Conifer forest in the Carpathians with anunderstorey of newly expanded, bright green,

beech leaves in spring.

Carpathian futureThe future of nature in the Carpathians inRomania and Ukraine would appear to besecure, with large areas, including uniquehabitats protected by National Parks as wellas a designated UNESCO World Heritagesite. This area is one of the strongholds ofmany large mammals in Europe and thelargest virgin beech forest in Europe. Wewere lucky enough to visit the headquartersof the Carpathian biosphere reserve inRakhiv, where there is a museum whichattempts to educate and inform people of thevalue of this UNESCO World Heritage area.However, the Ukrainian Carpathians are anincreasingly popular ski destination and sowe witnessed a lot of development, withlarge, luxury hotels and houses beingconstructed along quiet side-roads inattractive countryside. While the influx ofmoney and infrastructure improvements willhopefully improve the locals’ quality of life,the areas remote, timeless feeling will nodoubt slowly be eroded. Despite this, thearea remains one of outstanding beauty anda fantastic place for botanists to visit.

Steven Heathcote, Postdoc.& Elizabeth Cooke, D.Phil. student

Elizabeth Cooke collecting C. hirsuta on the mound (of unknown origin) on the outskirts of Yaremch

C. amara has purple stamens


Following Linnaeus’sjourney through Öland,via southern Sweden

With wonderful memories of the LinneanSociety expedition to the Baltic island ofGotland four years previously, SerenaMarner and I flew to Copenhagen in May2011. We took a train across the ÖresundBridge from Denmark to Sweden and up toÄlmhult where we joined our fellowenthusiasts on an expedition to the sisterisland of Öland. Again, our guides wereProfessors Roland Moberg, Bengt Jonselland Eva Willen from Uppsala and the objectwas to visit localities recorded by CarlLinnaeus during his 1741 journey. Again,as on Gotland, we had days of perfectweather (Wise, 2008).

Linnaeus had attended the school in Växjö,in southern Sweden, where he had studiedLatin, Greek, rhetoric, theology and maths.Here we were shown his notebook, full ofjottings on various topics including hisschool timetable, natural historyobservations and a story of a maid who hadmistaken Henbane for Horseradish andpoisoned the family for whom she worked!One section was written in ink that he hadmade from Sambucca which still retains itsgreen colour. Linnaeus had a theory that hecould ascertain which girls were virgins bygetting them to smell the flowers of Malvacrispa and whether they fainted or not,which leads one not to be too surprised tofind that his final exam marks showed himto be eleventh out of sixteen pupils! Thefinal destination on this first full day was thecity of Kalmar on the Baltic shore and ourbase for the rest of the trip.

The following day we travelled over themirror-smooth Baltic to Öland via the 6072metre long bridge. The geology here differsfrom Gotland with the limestone being farolder, more similar to that of Estonia. Wevisited the plant and mosquito-richwoodland and the meadow area around theruins at Ismanstorpsborg. In the woods wesaw Herb Paris, Paris quadrifolia; WildPansy, Viola mirabilis; Dogwood, Cornussanguinea; Dog’s Mercury Mercuralisperennis; Wood Anemone, Anemonenemorosa, and many other species while theorchids, (predominantly Military, Ophrysmilitaris; Fly, Ophrys insectifera and BurntTip, Orchis ustulata), were prolific and attheir best in the open landscape. The “borg”was probably built about 400 B.C. and isthought to be a communal area where localpeople could shelter from Viking raiders.Very little excavating has taken place hereand no artefacts found.

The quarrying of Öland limestone began inthe twelfth century and many of the finechurches date from this time. Slabs wereoriginally polished by laying a perfectlylevel circle of limestone, a centrally-tetheredanimal then trudged round towing the fresh

slab which was polished by the grindingaction. This method was in use until 1851when the first windmills were constructedand wind power took over. Some stonefrom here was taken (probably illegally) toLondon and used in the construction of St.Paul’s Cathedral. At one quarry, blocks oflimestone full of 500,000 year old fossilisedshells of Orthoceratites, octopus-likecreatures, caused quite a stir and a lot ofphotography.

The mosquitoes attacked us again withgreat gusto in the sand dune area at Byrum.(Linnaeus wrote that they too were plaguedwith mosquitoes the whole night as if theyhad been in Lapland). Outside the oldestmedieval church on Öland at Gärdslösa weheard the Nightingale Thrush, Lusciniamegarhynchos, singing.

The third day started with a visit to theEcological Research Station Linné, aninsight into their projects and a lecture onpheromones and the pollination of Ophrysinsectifera. This centre, just south ofSkogsby, can be called the Gateway to StoraAlvar, the largest area of limestonepavement on the island. (The Alvars arecharacterised by a layer of very thin soil ontop of the limestone bedrock, fluctuatingwater supplies and extremes of climate.This combination has led to a unique flora.)Stora Alvar, or the Great Alvar, covers26,000 hectares and is the largest such areain the world. Different plant communitiescolonise exposed bedrock and soil-coveredhabitats, where it is said that up to 42species can be recorded from a squaremetre.

At first glance, the flat expanse of theAlvar looked rather bleak and uninterestingbut flowers of every colour were soon seen.The feathery fruiting heads of the Pasqueflower, Pulsatilla vulgaris were swaying inthe breeze – it must have been a stunningvista a month or so before our visit when theAlvar would have taken on a purple hue.We saw a few endemics; the brilliantsunshine-yellow Öland Rock Rose,Helianthemum oelandicum; Alvar Worm-

wood, Artemesia oelandica and even theChive, Allium schoenoprasm var. alvarense,growing in swathes of mauve, is aspeciality, found only on Öland andGotland.

Our guest speaker, Professor Eje Rosen,picked several plants to show us and as soonas he discarded them, I quietly retrievedthem and carefully put them in a polythenebag to paint in the early hours of themorning. As on Gotland four years before,we had perfect weather and the light wasideal for painting at 4.00 a.m.! This day wesaw too many plants to list here but I notedthe beautiful blue Common Globularia,Globularia vulgaris which is widespread inAndalusia; Spring Cinquefoil, Potentillatabernaemontana; Erodium caryophylla;Bromus vacullus; Ladies Bedstraw, Galiumverum; Alopecurus pratensis; BulbousButtercup, Ranunculus bulbosus; HerbRobert, Geranium robertianum; Dropwort,Filipendula vulgaris; Wild Pansy, Violatricolor; White Stonecrop, Sedum album;Wild Strawberry, Fragaria vesca; Carexflacca; Elder-flowered Orchid, Dactylorhizasambucina, and the antler-like lichenThamnolia vermicularis. A Little Plantain,Plantago tenuiflora, which originates fromthe steppes of Russia, was also seen. Thegrazing and trampling of sheep and cows areessential to maintain the balance of thisunique vegetation, otherwise tall grasses andshrubs would soon take over.

The highlight of the next day was a visit tothe Ottenby Royal Demesne, a 1200 hectarearea of mainly nature reserve on thesouthernmost tip of the island, originally thehunting park of King Charles X Gustav. In1653 he had a 5 kilometre wall built acrossthe island which separated the demesnefrom the southern part of the Great Alvarand which retained the native deer.Linnaeus recorded that this wall was as highas a man on horseback and more than an ellbroad. We visited the bird sanctuary wheremigratory birds are mist-netted and ringeddaily. Our guide, a young and very

Karoliner House inVäxjö where Linnaeuswent to school from1716 to 1727.Photo: Serena Marner


enthusiastic ornithologist, showed us a tinyWhite Throat which had just arrived fromthe Sahara. By the degradation of the wingfeathers he could tell that it was a two yearold bird and very undernourished after thelong flight. The home of the leaseholder atOttenby is a very imposing residence butalmost more so is the cow shed - we hadnever seen anything so grand outside as afarm building and so enormous and almostcathedral-like inside.

Our final day, always sad! From Kalmar,on mainland Sweden, we had a long coachjourney inland to Stenbrohult, whereLinnaeus’s father had been pastor. Althoughthe church had been rebuilt since his father’stime, several artefacts had survived andwere installed in the new building.Linnaeus wrote of his time living there,“This garden, which my father planted hadmore kinds of herbs than any garden inSmåland had had, and this garden hasinflamed my senses with an unquenchablelove of herbs”. The statue of Carl, lookingtowards the church, had troughs of theflower that was named for him, theTwinflower, Linnaea borealis, at his feet.The guide presented the party with one ofthe troughs and gave rather complicatedinstructions on how to propagate this littleplant and I am thrilled to say the few tinypieces I took are flourishing!

At Råshult, the birthplace of Linnaeus, wehad a splendid buffet lunch with dishesmade from the herbs and vegetables grownin the garden and locally sourced coldmeats. The temperature was 30ºC and after along walk round the meadow area, it wasrefreshingly cool inside the house. (Theoriginal building has been replaced with onetypical of the time.) Before we left we weretreated to a culinary speciality of the areawhich was translated as cheese cake. Iasked the guide “How is it made?” He hadcooked it himself and said “First you musttake 5 litres of milk....” This was then

separated with rennet, the curds cut up andmixed with sugar, almonds, bitter almondsand “many eggs” and baked in a bain-marie.Some liked it, others weren’t too sure.

Back to the Ikea hotel again in nearbyÄlmshult, a formal farewell dinner andgoodbye to our wonderful guides who weredriving back overnight to Uppsala and adeparture for the rest of the group thefollowing morning.

Statue of Linnaeus outside the church atStenbrohult. Drawn by Rosemary Wise.

Reference

Wise, R. (2008). Following Linnaeus’sjourney through Gotland. Oxford PlantSystematics 15: 8-10.

Rosemary WiseBotanical Artist

Historic herbaria –going on-line

Within the Oxford herbaria the workingdefinition of an old specimen is anythingcollected before 1796. This date marks thedeath of John Sibthorp, third SherardianProfessor of Botany, and a hiatus in theacquisition of material for the collection.The hiatus came to an end in 1851 with thedonation of Henry Borron Fielding’s vastherbarium to the University.

The historic herbaria in Oxford are those ofGregorio da Reggio (c. 300 specimens),Bobart the Younger (1641-1719; 2,202specimens), Bobart the Elder (1599?-1680;2,584 specimens), John Wynne (1665?–1743; c. 2,000 specimens), Robert Morison(1620-1683; c. 6,500 specimens), WilliamSherard (1659-1728; c. 21,000 specimens),Charles du Bois (1656-1740; c. 13,000specimens), Jacob Dillenius (1684-1747; c.4,000 specimens) and John Sibthorp (1758-1796; 2,976 specimens). The vast majorityof specimens are pre-Linnean, and remainidentified only with their pre-Linnaeanpolynomials.

The Gregorio da Reggio herbarium (dated1606) comprises some 300 specimenscollected in northern Italy and has beendescribed elsewhere (Marner, 2006). Bobartthe Younger’s Hortus Siccus comprises2,202 specimens arranged on individualsheets according to Morison’s Sciagraphia.The contents of this collection have beenbriefly described by Harris (2006). The dateof this collection is unknown; Vines andDruce (1914), based on circumstantialevidence, suggest that the collection mayhave been made around 1666.

Bobart the Elder’s herbarium is a single,leather-bound, elephant-folio, bookherbarium of 2,584 specimens glued and/orstrapped to 297 pages. The specimens arearranged alphabetically by polynomialname. The specimens are labelled orannotated by at least three primary hands, ofwhich one is Bobart the Elder and anotherBobart the Younger. The herbarium isextensively annotated and name changeshave been made; at least one of thespecimens is labelled by John Ray. Thiscollection was unknown to previouscommentators on the Oxford herbaria sinceit only came into the possession ofUniversity in the early 1950s (Savage,1948). On the pastedown of the inside backcover is a note stating ‘Octob: 6: 1687 thenumber of Plants in this was 2577’.

Bishop Wynne’s herbarium is a single,leather-bound, elephant folio, bookherbarium of some 2,000 specimens gluedand/or strapped to about 280 pages. Thevolume is identically bound to that ofBobart the Elder, and the specimensarranged alphabetically by polynomialname. The title page of the volume states'Hortus Siccus Plantarum & Arboreu[m].Tam Anglicarum quam exoticarum Ichoatus

This house at Råshult is a reconstruction of the house where Linnaeus was born, complete with grasscovered roof, as the original house burnt down in 1740. Photo: Serena Marner

Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford

Deo favente Oxonii Vto. Martii.MDCLXXXVI', above an engraving of theSheldonian Theatre. In addition, there arehand-coloured engravings of birds andgarden flowers taken from Dutch sources. Asingle hand appears to have labelled most ofthe specimens, although Bobart the Youngerhas labelled many of the specimens andannotated others. Ray’s hand appears in theherbarium. The University acquired thiscollection in June 1976 by private sale.

Despite its name, the MorisonianHerbarium was put together by JacobBobart the Younger to support Part III ofMorison’s Historia (which Bobart theYounger completed in 1699) and is arrangedaccording to Morison’s Sciagraphia. Thecollection comprises some 6,500 specimensarranged on single sheets. This collectionhas been documented in detail by Vines andDruce (1914).

The Sherard herbarium comprises thecollection of William Sherard, and thegeneral collections of the Department ofBotany made before 1796. Disentanglingthe different collections is made morecomplex by the rearrangements undertakenby Dillenius in the mid-1700s and GeorgeDruce in the late-1800s. The collectioncomprises some 21,000 specimens madefrom around the world. Generally localityinformation is limited and collectorinformation must be inferred from theidentification of handwriting. The majorityof the specimens are only labelled withpolynomials. Many pre-Linnean collectorsare represented among Sherard’s collection.Clokie (1964) provides a summary of thecontents of this collection.

Sheet of Dryas octopetala from the Sherardherbarium. Specimen collected by Edward Lhuyd

(1660-1709).

Charles Du Bois was a London merchantand friend of many early eighteenth century

botanists. During the period covered by hisherbarium (c. 1697-1724), Du Bois wasTreasurer of the East India Company. TheDu Bois Herbarium, with its c. 13,000specimens, was originally bound into booksbut these were split up by Druce in the late1800s on the orders of the then Professor ofBotany. The current arrangement of thecollection reflects the geographic groupingsused by Druce. Sherard and Du Boisexchanged many specimens, hence there islikely to be overlap between the twocollections. Generally, the herbarium of DuBois has been less well studied than that ofSherard. Clokie (1964) provides a summaryof the contents of this collection.

The Dillenian herbarium comprises threeelements: (i) the Synopsis herbarium,collected by Dillenius after the publicationof the third edition of Ray’s SynopsisMethodica Stirpium Britannicarum; (ii)Hortus Elthamenis herbarium; and (iii)Historia Muscorum herbarium. TheSynopsis Herbarium includes the collectionsmade by Dillenius, Samuel Brewer andLittleton Brown to Wales in 1726. TheHortus Elthamensis and Historia Muscorumherbaria are associated with Dillenius’sHortus Elthamenis (1732) and HistoriaMuscorum (1741), respectively. Thiscollection has been documented in detail byDruce and Vines (1907).

There are three parts to Sibthorp’sherbarium: (i) specimens associated with theSibthorp and Smith’s Flora Graeca (1806-40) and Prodromus (1806-16); (ii)miscellaneous specimens; and (iii)specimens associated with Sibthorp’s FloraOxoniensis (1794). There are 2,462specimens labelled as associated with theFlora Graeca and these are arrangedaccording to the Prodromus. Thesespecimens often have labels in JamesEdward Smith’s hand; none of thespecimens are labelled in Sibthorp’s hand.This part of the Herbarium includes thespecimens purchased by Sibthorp from anapothecary in Zacinthos in 1794. See Lack(1997) for a guide to the use of this part ofthe Herbarium. There are 444 miscellaneousspecimens covering all groups from fungiand lichens through marine algae toangiosperms. The vast majority of thespecimens are from Greece, although asignificant number of the specimens arelabelled as being from Dacia. Many of thelichen specimens are labelled in Sibthorp’sown hand and appear to be mounted in theoriginal collecting packets; none of the otherspecimens are labelled in Sibthorp’s hand.The final part of the herbarium comprises 70specimens (many lichens) associated withSibthorp’s Flora Oxoniensis.

Specimens in the historic collections arerarely sent on loan, so researchers must visitOxford. Such policies have frustrated someresearchers, who argue that access is limitedand research curtailed. The desire toenhance the research value of thesecollections has been the driver for makingimages of all of the specimens in the historic

collections available onconsulted herbaria are available onDillenius’s herbaHistoria Muscorum(http://herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/bol/historiamuscorum)that associated with the(http://herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/bol/sibthorpherbariumherbarium ((http://herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/bol/bobart

The next collection to go onthe Sherard herbarium. It is hoped that overthe next few years all of the precollections will be available onresearchers.

References

Clokie, H,N. (1964)Herbaria of the Department of Botany in theUniversity of OxfordPress, Oxford.

Druce, G.C. and Vines, S.H. (1907)Dillenian Herbarium. An account of theDillenianUniversity of OxfordOxford.

Harris, S.A. (2006) Bobart the Younger’sHortus Siccus10-11.

Lack, H.W. (1997) The Sibthorpianherbarium at Oxford: guidelines for its use.Taxon 46

Marner, S.K. (2006) 400 years old! [A bookherbarium from Italy].Systematics

Savage, S. (1948) A book Herbarium madeby Jacob Bobart1660-). Proceedings of the Linnean Societyof London

Vines, S.H. and Druce, G.C. (1914)Account of the MorisonianClarendon Press, Oxford.

Stephen A. HarrisDruce Curator of Oxford UniversityHerbaria

News from the Herbaria

FieldingDuring 2011 we welcomed an abundance ofvisitors! Having the Sherardian Librariannow within the Fieldinghas been invaluable for dealing with visitorswho need to consult herbarium specimenstogether with associated books, particularlywhen groupdifferent historical collections. 185 visitors

13

collections available on-line. Two widely-consulted herbaria are available on-line:Dillenius’s herbarium associated with theHistoria Muscorumhttp://herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/bol/historiam

); Sibthorp’s herbarium, includingthat associated with the Flora Graecahttp://herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/bol/sibthorph

erbarium). Jacob Bobart the Younger’sherbarium (Hortus Siccus) is also available

//herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/bol/bobart).The next collection to go on-line will be

the Sherard herbarium. It is hoped that overthe next few years all of the pre-1796collections will be available on-line forresearchers.

References

Clokie, H,N. (1964) An account of theHerbaria of the Department of Botany in theUniversity of Oxford. Oxford UniversityPress, Oxford.

Druce, G.C. and Vines, S.H. (1907) TheDillenian Herbarium. An account of theDillenian collections in the herbarium of theUniversity of Oxford. Clarendon Press,

Harris, S.A. (2006) Bobart the Younger’sHortus Siccus. Oxford Plant Systematics 13:

Lack, H.W. (1997) The Sibthorpianherbarium at Oxford: guidelines for its use.

46: 253-63.

Marner, S.K. (2006) 400 years old! [A bookherbarium from Italy]. Oxford PlantSystematics 13: 9-10.

Savage, S. (1948) A book Herbarium madeby Jacob Bobart the elder and his son (c.

Proceedings of the Linnean Societyof London 160: 55.

Vines, S.H. and Druce, G.C. (1914) AnAccount of the Morisonian Herbarium.Clarendon Press, Oxford.

Stephen A. HarrisDruce Curator of Oxford UniversityHerbaria

News from the Herbaria

Fielding-Druce (OXF)During 2011 we welcomed an abundance ofvisitors! Having the Sherardian Librariannow within the Fielding-Druce Herbariumhas been invaluable for dealing with visitorswho need to consult herbarium specimensogether with associated books, particularly

when groups and researchers want to viewdifferent historical collections. 185 visitors


approximately came to view specificcollections within the herbaria and theseincluded visits by eight groups. There werefour general tours of the herbaria, one forcuratorial staff from the Natural HistoryMuseum in London, one for a group whosigned up for an Oxford Botanic GardenEducation course, another group of BotanyAlumni from the University, and membersof the Horspath Garden Club. A group fromthe Oxford Conservation Consortium cameto see a display from the Flora Graecaholdings from our Special Collections andAlumni from St Edmond Hall, Oxford,came to see the collections of RobertMorison and Johann Jacob Dillenius.Another group came with Professor SueJohnson from Maryland University studying‘The History of the Book’ and they viewedsome of the collections made by RobertMorison and Mark Catesby amongst aselection of other material. A display ofbooks and specimens used for a BodleianLibrary publication Planting Paradise:Cultivating the garden (1501-1900) writtenby Stephen Harris and published in March2011, was shown to members of the BobartGroup from the Oxford Botanic Garden plusa number of staff from the Radcliffe ScienceLibrary.

Many individuals also visited the herbariato study specific genera or to look for plantsfrom particular regions. Paul Harmes andJessica Turner made regular visits searchingthrough the Druce Herbarium for plantscollected in East and West Sussex gatheringrecords for a proposed new Flora. Theirlistings of the Druce Herbarium materialfrom Sussex are helping us to identify anddatabase these collections. Other visitorscame from various parts of the UK andsome from as far afield as Bulgaria,Barbados, Brazil and South Africa.

The Royal Society at Carlton HouseTerrace London borrowed a specimen ofCochlearia officinalis (Brassicaceae) fortheir exhibition entitled Frederick GowlandHopkins and the Chemistry of Life whichran from 14 December 2010 to 31 May2011. In September, a temporary exhibitionwas launched at the Bodleain Library whichincluded two items from the historicalcollections in the herbarium. One of theitems was the Gregorio da Reggio BookHerbarium, the earliest collection ofspecimens held in OXF. The second itemwas a specimen from the Flora Graecacollection of Mandragora (Solanaceae)which was shown with Ferdinand Bauer’soriginal painting of the plant (in a boundbook). The exhibition was entitled“Treasures of the Bodleian” and ran from 30September to 23 December 2011.

Accessions to OXF during 2011 included acollection of beautifully pressed duplicatesof vascular plants of the Flora of Oregon,USA sent from Oregon State University,plus an isotype specimen of Convolvuluscarrii sent from the Lundell Herbarium atthe University of Texas. We also received asmall box containing about 90 mounted and

named specimens labelled ‘Flora Helvetica’collected around the early 20th centurywhich was donated from Somerville CollegeOxford. 103 miscellaneous British plantscollected by John Killick (co-author of theFlora of Oxfordshire) were databased andincorporated, this accession including 3 newvice county records. A small box containingapproximately 100 pathological specimens,on which there is reference to the OxfordBotanic Garden, possibly being WilliamBaxter’s duplicates, were sent from ReadingUniversity Herbarium.

During 2011 an almost equal number ofspecimens were sent out on loan from OXFas were specimens returned from loanduring the same period. The number ofsheets digitally photographed and sent in theform of electronic loans via the websiteexceeded sheets sent by post for the firsttime. Most of the electronic loans weresmall and included very specific specimens(many types), but there were some largerloans comprising all of the OXF (and FHO)holdings of Hermannia (Sterculiaceae) andall of the South American Lauraceaematerial. This has the advantage of thematerial being databased at the same timeand any re-determinations sent back byemail can be attached to the specimensquickly and the database updated.

Daubeny (FHO)Since the transfer and return of severalthousand specimens of Lupinus (Legum-inosae) in 2010 which were on loan to FHOfor study by Colin Hughes, the boxes andshelving on which they were held has beenremoved and much needed bench space inFHO liberated. This space has now beenturned into another ‘work station’ and hasbeen used by Caroline Pannell for much ofthe time. Over the past year, FHO has beena hub of activity in the sorting and namingof collections made in West Africa(especially from Liberia and Sierra Leone)during Rapid Botanic Surveys (RBS) byWilliam Hawthorne and Cicely Marshall.Every inch of space available has beenutilized for this work as the collectionsmade during RBS are extensive (see articleon page 6). After naming the specimens,material will be sorted into specimens thatprovide interesting or new records forvarious regions and those will be retained inthe FHO collections. This will enhance thewealth of African material already held inFHO which was the focus of research offormer Foresters and Curators. All thespecimens from the RBS are being digitallyphotographed.

Other activities in FHO centered onprocessing loan material, specimensreceived on loan for research staff andstudents and the return of other material tovarious herbaria on which work had beencompleted. A further 445 specimens ofCardamine (Brassicaceae) were received onloan for study by Elizabeth Cooke. Thematerial requested was very specific to a

number of regions of the world where veryfew or no specimens had been seenpreviously, and for some of them permissionfor DNA extraction was sought. Severalsmaller loans of specimens of Convolvulus(Convolvulaceae) were also received forstudy by John Wood. Loans received inprevious years of Desmodium (Fabaceae),Aglaia (Meliaceae), Cedrela (Meliaceae),Bretschneidera (Akaniaceae), Jacquemontia(Convolvulaceae) and Ruellia (Acanth-aceae) were returned to lending institutions.A box of unmounted duplicates ofspecimens of Mimosa (Fabaceae) collectedby Marcelo Simon was sent as a gift toCEN, Brazil.

Accessions to FHO during 2011 includedspecimens of Amicia (Fabaceae) collectedby Tiina Sarkinen in Peru and Bolivia,Mimosoid legumes collected by MarceloSimon in Brazil for the Flora do DistritoFederal plus miscellaneous speciescollected in the Putu Hills in Liberia byWilliam Hawthorne with his team ofcollectors. A student, Katie Anders, came towork in the vacations to help with mountingnew specimens and did a very able job withsome challenging specimens.

In April 2011 we were very saddened tohear of the death of one of our oldcollaborators J.D. Chapman. Jim Chapmanhad been a Forest Officer based in Nigeriaand in Malawi for many years and collectedextensively specimens of trees, shrubs andlianas from these countries. FHO holds alarge number of his collections and thesewere invaluable to research on theEvergreen Forest Flora of Malawi carriedout by the former Curator of the Herbaria,Dr Frank White (1927-1994), also incollaboration with Dr Françoise Dowsett-Lemaire. Without Jim’s extensive know-ledge of the forests in Malawi and workbased on his collections, the book would nothave come to fruition (see Oxford PlantSystematics 9: 12(2002)). The Chapmancollections also made possible work oncompiling a Checklist of the Spermatophytesof Mount Mulanje, Malawi published in2006 by Alison Strugnell, our colleague inFHO, now retired. On a personal note,Frank White arranged for me to stay withJim and his wife Betty in Malawi in 1986,while they were based at the foothills ofMount Mulanje, when I was to carry outfieldwork on the genus Faurea (Proteaceae).This was a wonderful time! Jim and Bettytook me on an expedition up Mount Mulanjeand Jim showed me many Faurea treescomprising four different species. Heseemed to know each tree individually andwas so enthusiastic about everything,especially about conserving the wholemountain ecosystem. I shall never forgetthe kindness and help shown me. JimChapman is very much missed by everyonewho knew him here.

Serena MarnerHerbarium Manager


The archive of GeorgeClaridge Druce

George Claridge Druce (1850-1932) was aninfluential botanist with strong links toOxford’s Department of Botany. He was anenergetic and successful man, alwaysinvolved in an assortment of activities,though known for being opinionated andhasty (Allen, 1994).

Born and raised in Northamptonshire, heshowed a keen interest in botany from ayoung age. He was apprenticed to a firm ofretail chemists in Northampton at the age of16 and by the age of 22 was fully qualified,having excelled in his pharmaceuticalexams, and was acting manager of thechemist’s shop (Perring, 1995). Then in1879 he moved to Oxford, leavingNorthamptonshire behind to open his ownchemist’s shop on Oxford High Street. Thebusiness was very successful and by 1905he was able to retire to concentrate on hisother activities.

Soon after moving to Oxford he beganworking on organising the university’svarious early herbaria and he held theposition of Fielding Curator of theherbarium from 1895 until his death. Hepublished books on the Dillenian andMorisonian herbarium collections andFloras of Oxfordshire, Berkshire,Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire. In1878 he joined the Botanical ExchangeClub, now the Botanical Society of theBritish Isles, and from 1904 was itsSecretary. His house in Oxford became theclosest thing the Club had to a headquartersand he was responsible for changing theClub into a national botanical society andconsiderably increasing its membership(Perring, 1995). He helped to found theNorthamptonshire Natural History Societyin 1876 and the Ashmolean Natural HistorySociety of Oxfordshire in 1880, was on thecouncil of the Pharmaceutical Society,President of the British PharmaceuticalConference in 1901–1902 and was afreemason. He also served on Oxford CityCouncil from 1892 until his death, where hewas Chairman of the Public HealthCommittee for thirty years, Mayor ofOxford in 1900-1901 and made anAlderman in 1920.

Upon his death Druce left all his personalpapers, along with his house, herbarium,library and a considerable sum of money, toOxford University (Allen, 2004). Thiscollection of papers forms the Druce archivenow housed in the Sherardian Library ofPlant Taxonomy. Druce squirreled away ahuge amount of paperwork and there arearound 150 boxes in the archive! A projectis currently underway in the SherardianLibrary to catalogue the contents of thisarchive. Previously there was no record ofthe contents of the archive and its existencewas not widely known. The result of thisproject will be a searchable spreadsheet of

the contents of the archive and animprovement in its storage conditions. Wewill also be able to assess whether anymaterial requires conservation. Once theproject is completed the spreadsheet will bemade publicly available.

To improve the storage conditions, thearchive has been re-boxed into acid-freearchival quality boxes, old wrappings andenvelopes are removed from bundles ofitems and put into acid free envelopes, itemsare tied into bundles using unbleachedcotton tape and rusting paperclips areremoved where possible. Each bundle ofmaterial is numbered and details about thecontents of each bundle are entered into anExcel spreadsheet. Particularly interestingitems, such as portrait photographs and bookmanuscripts, are put into a folder rather thantied into a bundle and are recordedseparately. The spreadsheet records boxnumber, bundle number, item number, dates(if known), a brief description of thecontents and the types of material contained.Where the majority of items in a bundle arecorrespondence from or writings about oneperson or where the subject of a photographis known their name is also included. Thereis also space for a general note, for exampleif the material is not in English, and aconservation note for material which mayrequire further attention, such as botanicalspecimens and deteriorating photographs.

The majority of the material iscorrespondence, but the archive alsoincludes photographs, glass slides, maps,newspaper clippings, diaries, botanicalspecimens, botanical lists, book manu-scripts, invitations, menus, reports, ticketsand receipts. Personal correspondence andcorrespondence relating to the Botanical

Exchange Club feature heavily. There areephemera relating to various OxfordUniversity Societies, Oxford CountyCouncil, the Pharmaceutical Society,Freemasons, the Northamptonshire NaturalHistory Society and the Midland Union ofNatural History Societies. Most materialrelates to Druce’s life in Oxford, but somecomes from further afield. For example,one box contains correspondence,photographs, maps, menus, leaflets,advertisements, newspaper clippings and theprogram of events relating to a visit Drucemade to Czechoslovakia in 1920 as part of adeputation of British Press representatives.This project is uncovering some fascinatingitems, which will hopefully be of use toresearchers not just of Druce’s life, but alsoof organisations he was associated with,people he was in correspondence with andlife in Oxford during the late 1800s andearly 1900s.

References

Allen, D.E. (1994). Druce in Oxford. BSBINews 67: 41-45.

Allen, D. E. (2004). Druce, GeorgeClaridge (1850–1932), Oxford Dictionary ofNational Biography, Oxford UniversityPress.[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/32898, accessed 24 February 2012]

Perring, F. (1995). Druce inNorthamptonshire. Watsonia 20: 185-194.

Elizabeth AtkinsonGraduate Library Trainee

A box from the Druce archive.


Managing livingcollections at theOxford Botanic Garden

As with other botanic gardens and arboreta,the Oxford Botanic Garden together withthe related Harcourt Arboretum (OBGHA)maintains detailed records about all itsplants. These records are kept up to date andare easily accessible to those looking afterthe collection.

The Botanic Garden at Oxford has keptrecords in some form or another since itbegan, including a catalogue listing allplants at the Garden, published in 1648.

A sample page from Bobart the Elder’s CatologusPlantarum published in 1648.

As computers became common in theworkplace, the record keeping systemmoved to an electronic format. The firstsuch system, in 1986, used a simpledatabase filing system. In the mid-1990s,the records were moved to another systemcalled BGBase. This software wasdeveloped at the Royal Botanic Gardens,Edinburgh and is widely used.

Over the past few years, as the BotanicGarden has worked ever more closely with

the Oxford University Herbaria (FHO andOXF), it seemed sensible to investigatewhether the Oxford Botanic Garden and theOxford Herbaria could use compatible datamanagement systems, allowing closerintegration of herbarium and botanic gardendata; a key part of our future strategy.Given that Denis Filer had been workingwith Gerda van Uffelen at the LeidenBotanic Garden to develop a new LivingCollections module for BRAHMS, itseemed a natural choice to make the moveto BRAHMS to facilitate this integration.

In early 2011 we began the project totransfer the data from BGBase to theBRAHMS Living Collections module andby mid-2011, BRAHMS was up andrunning at the Botanic Garden. Since then,we have been actively using and developingthe module, suggesting new functions as wego. In February 2012, we starting usingBRAHMS as a multi-user system runningover terminal services and I’m pleased tosay we can now access the database fromdifferent locations using Mac and PCworkstations.

In addition to being able to work closelywith the herbarium there are several otheradvantages that compelled us to make thechange. Data searching is straightforwardand powerful and all members of staff caneasily interrogate the database to find outwhat they need to know. For example, wecan easily interrogate our records togenerate lists and statistics on how manydifferent species and accessions we have inany taxonomic group. A typical querywould be to list how many different speciesand accessions we have of Euphorbia. Wecan also filter search results using multiple

parameters, for example ‘last stock-checkdate’ or ‘growing in Family Bed SWC-5’.

Whilst these queries may seem trivial,they are a powerful source of data andstatistics that enable us to analyse ourcollections and further develop theirdiversity and breadth of utility.

BRAHMS also allows us to recordconsiderable additional data about the plantsin our collection, for example, images,flowering times, propagation events andspecies texts. We can format these and otherdata into labels, stock-check lists, seed lists,species reports for garden visitors, studentsand schools, or export the data to Excel,word processors or elsewhere to create moreelaborate outputs.

It is not often that you can honestly saythat a group of people get excited about anew work-related computer programme!But BRAHMS has genuinely generated thatfeeling amongst the staff at OBGHA. Theyfeel empowered to look up the plant recordsand to update the database on a daily basis.The more data and the better data we add tothe database the more we will be able to useits various tools.

The use of BRAHMS is really only justbeginning at OBGHA. There are plans nowto map the collections at HarcourtArboretum, to add a comprehensive set ofimages of the flowering plants along withphenology details and to publish these datavia BRAHMS online, providing useful datato all of those interested in our collectionsboth within and beyond the scientificcommunity.http://herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/bol/

Alison FosterSenior Curator, Oxford Botanic Garden

Living collection records can be edited in spread sheet mode or using the tabbed form as shown here.This example shows the Events tab which tracks stock-checks, species name and location changes andother editing updates. The right-side tree view can be used to navigate to and filter on a selected family,

genus or species.

Documents

Oxford Plant Systematics - University of Oxfordherbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/bol/content/Projects/oxford/ops/ops18.pdf2 Oxford Plant Systematics OPS 18 June 2012 Foreword Welcome to the