Plant Press, Vol. 18, No. 3
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Special Symposium Issue continues on page 12 Department of Botany & the U.S. National Herbarium The Plant Press New Series - Vol. 18 - No. 3 July-September 2015 Botany Profile Seed-Free and Loving It: Symposium Celebrates Pteridology By Gary A. Krupnick ern and lycophyte biology was tee Chair, NMNH) presented the 13th José of this plant group. the focus of the 13th Smithsonian Cuatrecasas Medal in Tropical Botany Moran also spoke about the differ- FBotanical Symposium, held 1–4 to Paulo Günter Windisch (see related ences between pteridophytes and seed June 2015 at the National Museum of story on page 12). This prestigious award plants in aspects of biogeography (ferns Natural History (NMNH) and United is presented annually to a scholar who comprise a higher percentage of the States Botanic Garden (USBG) in has contributed total vascular Washington, DC. Also marking the 12th significantly to flora on islands Symposium of the International Orga- advancing the compared to nization of Plant Biosystematists, and field of tropical continents), titled, “Next Generation Pteridology: An botany. Windisch, hybridization International Conference on Lycophyte a retired profes- and polyploidy & Fern Research,” the meeting featured sor from the Universidade Federal do Rio (ferns have higher rates), and anatomy a plenary session on 1 June, plus three Grande do Sul, was commended for his (some ferns have tree-like growth using additional days of focused scientific talks, extensive contributions to the systematics, root mantle or have internal reinforce- workshops, a poster session, a reception, biogeography, and evolution of neotro- ment by sclerenchyma instead of lateral a dinner, and a field trip. The conference pical pteridophytes. In his acceptance meristem). Moran also provided a brought together the world’s pteridolo- speech, Windisch expressed his appre- historical overview of pteridophytes in gists to celebrate the progress of fern and ciation and gratitude to the Smithsonian the Silurian to Early Devonian (at which lycophyte biology to date and to forecast Institution and the selection committee. He time leaves originated); in the Carbon- developments still on the horizon. said that receiving the medal rekindles his iferous (pteridophyte swamps from The Symposium began with open- inner spirit, and remarked that “translating that time were the precursor of today’s ing remarks by Warren Wagner (Chair nature into science is an art.” fossil fuel); at the Cretaceous-Tertiary of Botany, NMNH), Kirk Johnson (Sant Boundary (a spike in fern diversity can Director, NMNH), and Ari Novy (Execu- he first day of the Symposium be seen soon after the asteroid impact); tive Director, USBG). Eric Schuettpelz included a plenary session that was and in the Early Tertiary (warm weather (Curator of Ferns, NMNH) served as Topen to the general public. With produced thick carpets of Azolla in the convener. Noting that the last inter- 10 invited talks, the audience was treated Arctic Ocean leading to a sharp reduc- to an overview of fern and lycophyte national conference on lycophyte and tion in atomospheric CO2 reducing the fern research took place 11 years ago at evolution, genomics, physiology, ecology, greenhouse effect and lowering the the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, horticulture, and conservation. The open- Earth’s temperature). Moran concluded Schuettpelz expressed excitement as ing keynote speaker was Robbin C. Moran his talk with a discussion of iridescence this year’s conference of 97 talks and 30 from the New York Botanical Garden, and in ferns, the diversity of sporangia, and posters, including the 10 invited plenary his talk, “An Overview of Ferns and Lyco- the explosive sporangial dehiscence of speakers, was to focus on discussing new phytes,” provided an exciting introduction the clubmoss Lycopodium clavatum. He and revitalized methods for pteridologi- into the world of pteridology. Starting explained how the spores of this plant, cal research. with the life cycle of pteridophytes, Moran which are highly flammable because of After the opening remarks, Laurence discussed the unique, independently living their high fat content, were used as a sporophyte and gametophyte generations Dorr (Curator and Cuatrecasas Commit- Continued on page16 Travel Walter Adey traveled to Maine (6/17 herbarium cases at the Society for the poster on shifting collections at the Soci- – 7/24) to complete annual field research Preservation of Natural History Collec- ety for the Preservation of Natural History in conjunction with the NOAA Marine tions conference. Collections conference. Sanctuary Program. Rusty Russell traveled to Gainesville, Alain Touwaide and Emanuela Robin Everly traveled to Decorah, Florida (5/18 – 5/22) to speak at the Soci- Appetiti traveled to Iowa City (4/23 – Iowa (6/15 – 6/20) to attend the 47th ety for the Preservation of Natural History 4/25) to attend the annual banquet of the Annual Meeting of the Council on Botani- Collections conference, representing University of Iowa’s History of Medicine cal and Horticultural Libraries (CBHL) at herbarium programs, digitization plans, Society; to Los Angeles and San Marino, Seed Savers Exchange. and the Field Book Project, and convening California (4/26 – 5/7) to meet with col- Vicki Funk traveled to Copenha- and moderating two sessions of computer leagues, present lectures and do research gen, Denmark (5/16 – 5/22) to conduct demonstrations. at the University of California Los research. Eric Schuettpelz traveled to Manhat- Angeles and at the Huntington Library and Gabriel Johnson traveled to India (4/2 tan, New York (5/5 – 5/6) to give a talk Botanic Gardens; and to Athens, Greece – 4/24) to visit the laboratory of Vinita in the 2015 lecture series of the Torrey (6/1 – 6/30) to do research at the National Gowda at the Indian Institute of Sci- Botanical Society. Library of Greece and to deliver classes ence Education and Research and to train Robert Soreng traveled to Turkey and lectures at local institutions. laboratory technicians in methods used to (4/17 – 5/23) to collect grasses for revision Elizabeth Zimmer traveled to Vienna, generate DNA sequence data. of Poa in Turkey and annotate specimens Austria (6/21 – 6/25) to speak at the Plant Sylvia Orli traveled to Gainesville, at Gazi University, Ankara (GAZI). Molecular Ecology and Evolution’s Inter- Florida (5/18 – 5/22) to attend the Society Meghann Toner traveled to Gaines- national Conference. for the Preservation of Natural History ville, Florida (5/18 – 5/22) to present a Collections conference. Melinda Peters traveled to Gaines- Visitors ville, Florida (5/18 – 5/22) to deliver a Ning Zhang, National Museum of Natural (4/14-4/19). talk on mercuric chloride contaminated History Buck Fellow; Vitaceae (1/7/13- 6/30/15). Jan Vandersmissen, Université de Liège, The Plant Press Belgium; History of botany (4/22). Eduardo Pasini, Universidade Federal New Series - Vol. 18 - No. 3 do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil; Compositae Catherine Phillips, Huntington Botani- Chair of Botany (8/18/14-4/30/15). cal Garden; Cactaceae and Crassulaceae Warren L. Wagner (4/27). ([email protected]) Craig Costion, University of Adelaide, Australia; DNA barcoding (11/3/14 Tom Lovejoy and 14 students, George EDITORIAL STAFF -10/31/15). Mason University; Plant conservation and herbarium tour (5/4). Editor Yeni Rahayu, Bogor Agricultural Uni- Gary Krupnick versity, Indonesia; Sumatran Tetrastigma Peter Schafran, Old Dominion Univer- ([email protected]) (Vitaceae) (2/2-4/17). sity; Southeastern U.S. Isoetes (Isoeta- ceae) (5/5-7/31). Copy Editors Monica Carlsen, Missouri Botanical Gar- Robin Everly, Bernadette Gibbons, Bruce Stein, National Wildlife Federa- Rose Gulledge, and Elizabeth Jacobsen den; Araceae and Zingiberales (2/17/15- 2/16/17). tion; Centropogon (Campanulaceae) (5/7). News Contacts Bo Pan, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botani- Erin Walch, Smith College; Flora of San MaryAnn Apicelli, Rusty Russell, Alice Jacinto internship (5/11-6/26). Tangerini, and Elizabeth Zimmer cal Garden, China; Pueraria (Fabaceae) and related genera (2/20-4/29). Chang-Tzu Wang, Patuxent Research The Plant Press is a quarterly publication pro- vided free of charge. To receive notification of Kenia Velasco, Sociedad para el Estu- Refuge; Collections management (5/11- when new pdf issues are posted to the web, please 5/15). subscribe to the listserve by sending a message dio de los Recursos Bióticos de Oaxaca, to [email protected] containing only the Mexico; Traditional ecological knowledge following in the body of the text: SUBSCRIBE Christine Clancy, Australian and New PLANTPRESS-NEWS Firstname Lastname. of the Dixaza-speaking Community (4/4- Zealand Society for the History of Replace “Firstname Lastname” with your name. 7/31). Medicine; Mediterranean medicinal plants If you would like to be added to the hard-copy (5/14). mailing list, please contact Dr. Gary Krupnick at: Young Eun Chang, International School, Department of Botany, Smithsonian Institution, Belgium; Chinese medicinal plants and PO Box 37012, NMNH MRC-166, Washington, Mamiyil Sabu, University of Calicut DC 20013-7012, or by E-mail: krupnickg@ traditional medicine (4/6-4/17). Department of Botany, India; Zingiber- si.edu. José Nascimento, Jr., Campinas State aceae (5/15). Web site: http://botany.si.edu/ University, Brazil; Clusia (Clusiaceae) Emily Warschefsky, Florida International Page 2 Visiting Scientists Have a Sight for Sori Chair his year’s Smithsonian Botanical Symposium Generation Pteridology,” and during the event was unique in its focus on a particular taxo- itself, the pteridophyte herbarium saw nearly 50 nomic group (pteridophytes), as well as in its visitors (see list of visitors beginning on page 2). With T Many of these visitors spent several days conduct- duration (spanning an entire week). “Next Generation Pteridology” (see profile on the cover) focused entirely ing research in the collection, and the great influx on the biology of ferns and lycophytes. The first day of experts resulted in some extensive curation of A was filled with a broad spectrum of accessible presenta- our specimens.