schedule of events The official publication of Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden editorial staff editor in chief chief operating officer Nannette M. Zapata design Lorena Alban production manager Gaby Orihuela features writers Georgia Tasker Kenneth Setzer staff contributors Richard Campbell, Ph.D. Mary Collins Sara Edelman Arlene Ferris Fun for the whole family! Erin Fitts Marilyn Griffiths CONCERTS SUNDAY BRUNCH CONCOURSE Brett Jestrow, Ph.D. BIG BAND CONCERT AT FAIRCHILD D’ELEGANCE Nancy Korber AT FAIRCHILD Easter Sunday, April 20 Fairchild’s first Noris Ledesma classic car show With the University of 10:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. Brooke LeMaire Sunday, May 18 Marion Litzinger Miami Frost School PLANT ID WORKSHOP 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Javier Francisco-Ortega, Ph.D. of Music Bring a plant cutting to Marnie Valent Saturday, April 19 Fairchild’s Herbarium and FESTIVALS copy editors 5:30 – 9:00 p.m. let our scientists uncover its Mary Collins identity! Workshops take SPRING GARDEN Rochelle Broder-Singer TEAS place at Fairchild’s Natural FESTIVAL FEATURING Kenneth Setzer BUTTERFLY DAYS AND For information or History Museum. advertising information Friday, May 2 THE ANNUAL SPRING reservations, please call PLANT SALE Leslie Bowe Friday, June 6 Marnie Valent at Saturday and Sunday, 305.667.1651, ext. 3338 Friday, July 4 305.663.8059. April 12 and 13 previous editors Friday, August 1 Marjory Stoneman Douglas 1945-50 MOTHER’S DAY TEA 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. Lucita Wait 1950-56 Sunday, May 11 THE 22ND ANNUAL Nixon Smiley 1956-63 3:00 p.m. NATIONAL PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL Lucita Wait 1963-77 GARDENS DAY— CELEBRATION TEA MANGO FESTIVAL Ann Prospero 1977-86 REDUCED ADMISSION Karen Nagle 1986-91 Sunday, June 8 Saturday and Sunday, Friday, May 9 Nicholas Cockshutt 1991-95 3:00 p.m. July 12 and 13 Susan Knorr 1995-2004 7:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. The Tropical Garden Volume 69, MORE FUN MOTHER’S DAY BRUNCH Number 2. Spring 2014. The Tropical Garden is published quarterly. AT FAIRCHILD AT FAIRCHILD Subscription is included in membership dues. FAIRCHILD FARMERS’ Sunday, May 11 © FTBG 2014, ISSN 2156-0501 MARKET 10:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. All rights reserved. No part of this publication Every Saturday, except may be reproduced without permission. MEMBERS’ LECTURE: festival days BUTTERFLIES, BUGS AND 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. PLANTS: UP CLOSE AND Accredited by the American Association of FAMILY NATURE NIGHT PERSONAL Museums, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden is supported by contributions from members Thursday, April 17 Thursday, May 15 and friends, and in part by the State of Florida, 5:30 – 8:30 p.m. 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, the John MEMBERS’ LECTURE: THE FATHER’S DAY BBQ D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Institute of SECRET LIVES OF MIAMI’S AT FAIRCHILD This schedule of events is subject Museum and Library Services, the Miami-Dade RARE NATIVE FERNS Sunday, June 15 to change. For up-to-the-minute County Tourist Development Council, the Miami- information, please call 305.667.1651 Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Thursday, April 17 10:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. or visit www.fairchildgarden.org/Events Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. Mayor and Board of County Commissioners and with the support of the City of Coral Gables. SPRING 2014 7 FROM THETO GARDEN THE LABORATORY THE SEARCH FOR NATURAL COMPOUNDS By Maria-Luisa Veisaga Christopher Chin Horacio Priestap, Ph.D. Javier Francisco-Ortega, Ph.D. Brett Jestrow, Ph.D. Tracy Commock Keron Campbell M. Alejandro Barbieri, Ph.D. Horacio Priestap, Ph.D. In Memoriam 1940-2013 Fairchild Tropical Botanic he establishment of the new Paul and Swanee DiMare Science Village and Fairchild’s Garden has one of the partnership with Florida International University are paving the way for exploration ofT new areas in botanical research with an applied nation’s most extensive living component. Some of the most exciting research is in collections of tropical plants. natural plant products and their utility in medicine, agriculture and taxonomy. Because of South Florida’s For centuries, communities have understood the beneficial health effects of some plants, commonly climatological conditions employing them for their healing properties. In many places in the world, plants are central to health and Fairchild’s horticultural care and as a source of medicine. About half of the pharmaceuticals in use today are derived from natural tradition, tropical plants plant products. The search for new therapies has driven the study of many traditional medicinal plants, leading can be grown throughout to discoveries of bioactive compounds and molecules the year. The unique with beneficial properties. These compounds can also be valuable for plant environmental setting lends classification. Indeed, a discipline known as “chemotaxonomy” searches for compounds with unparalleled opportunities for discriminatory value among species. Many of these compounds evolved to help the plant combat infections research and study of tropical of fungi and bacteria, and therefore may have anti- pathogenic effects for human health. Consequently, plants during their different these compounds’ metabolic pathways—the sequences of biochemical reactions that occur in all living growing stages. cells—can reveal clues about the origin of the plants’ adaptations and their evolutionary history. Plant Product Research at Fairchild and FIU Several fields of research come together to work on unraveling these clues. Phytochemical research looks at plants’ organic components and helps to identify secondary compounds the plants produce. Cellular and molecular biology, together with biomedical tools, determine the metabolic pathways of compounds with potential medical applications, as well as the genes governing these metabolic routes. Within the framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity agreements, Florida International University cellular biologists and botanists and Fairchild scientists have developed three projects to research the natural products of plants—looking at members of the genera Artemisia, Portlandia and Aristolochia. Our initial efforts show that the isolated compounds have medicinal potential and can be useful in taxonomic research. Dr. Horacio Priestap (left) and Christopher Chin (right) examine data related to bioactive compounds of Portlandia (Rubiaceae) in Alejandro Barbieri’s lab at FIU. Photo by M. L. Veisaga Many species of the genus Artemisia, a member of the sunflower family with almost 400 species, have ample traditional medicinal uses in both the Old and New Worlds. Native Americans use several species for malaria treatment and bacterial infections, as well as for fever, stomach and inflammatory disorders. Indeed, the compound Artemisinin is commonly used as a drug principle to treat malaria. Our research focuses on A. douglasiana (known as California mugwort or Douglas’s sagewort) and A. tridentata subsp. vaseyana (mountain big sagebrush). These three taxa have two particular compounds, known as dehydroleucodine and dehydroparishin–B, that have shown extraordinary anti-tumor activity against cultured invasive human breast cancer and melanoma cancer cells. The Jamaican genus Portlandia belongs to the coffee plant family Rubiaceae—a family that is renowned for its natural products. This highly ornamental genus has seven species. Our research with this group of plants is being done in partnership with the Institute of Jamaica and in collaboration with colleagues from the U.S. Department of Agriculture who will provide assistance with computational analyses of the data we gather. Flower of Portlandia grandiflora. Our observations indicate that extracts from Portlandia Living collections of Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. species contain numerous volatile organic compounds, Photo by M. L. Veisaga some of which show exceptional anti-proliferative activity against cultured metastatic human breast cancer cells. Our initial results suggest that Portlandia ur observations indicate that has a high content of volatile aldehydes that will contribute to understanding the taxonomic placement extracts from ortlandia species of this genus within the Rubiaceae. contain numerous volatile organic compounds, some of which show exceptional anti proliferative activity against cultured metastatic human breast cancer cells. Stacy Soriano, the Lewis Vaughn Memorial Scholarship Recipient for 2013, selects plant material for experimental studies. Photo by M.L. Veisaga. The study of plant products will bring a new dimension to Fairchild’s living collections. t will not only enhance scientic research but, importantly, will help nd natural products with agricultural The approximately 700 species of the genus Aristolochia (Aristolochiaceae) are cultivated as ornamentals and and medicinal values. mostly distributed along tropical and subtropical regions of the world. They had been used in traditional medicine because of their curative properties for diseases, including inflammatory disorders, rheumatism, wounds and skin diseases, and also for intestinal worms. However, some species were found to be nephrotoxic (toxic to the kidneys) and carcinogenic. For instance A. clematitis (birthwort), A. fangchi, and A. manshuriensis have been intensively studied because of the aristolochic acid that they produce. Several observations suggest that this acid forms a unique intermediate compound that can lead to renal failure. Fairchild’s founders envisioned that the Garden’s living collections would be instrumental for research, horticulture and education. During the last few decades the collections have been critical in Fairchild’s anatomical, morphological, horticultural and ecological research. These collections have also been widely used by tropical botanists and horticulturists from all over the world. Since the establishment of the Fairchild-FIU molecular laboratory 12 years ago, these collections have been at the core of our plant classification and conservation studies. The study of plant products will bring a new dimension to the Garden’s living collections.