Celebrating the NMNH Centennial - see page 9 Department of Botany & the U.S. National Herbarium The Plant Press New Series - Vol. 13 - No. 2 April-June 2010 Botany Profile The History of the US National Herbarium By Conrad V. Morton† and William L. Stern† Editor’s note: In honor of the 100th Smithsonian plant collections, together and elsewhere.4 A great many botanical birthday of the National Museum of with those gathered during government- papers resulting from these expeditions Natural History, this issue of The Plant sponsored expeditions to the new West, were published in the reports of the U.S. Press looks back on the history of the were turned over to Asa Gray, a Regent of Railroad Surveys. The Smithsonian U.S. National Herbarium. We lead this the Smithsonian Institution and Professor Institution itself published several impor- issue with a reprint of C.V. Morton and of Botany at Harvard University, and John tant monographs dealing with plants W.L. Stern’s 1966 article “The United Torrey, Professor of Botany at Columbia from these explorations, namely, Asa States National Herbarium,” from Plant College. The assembled botanical collec- Gray’s “Plantae Wrightianae Texano- Science Bulletin 12(2): 1-4 (a publica- tions were in the actual custody of Torrey neo-mexicanae” (1853-1854), John tion of the Botanical Society of America, and were kept at Columbia College in Tor rey’s “Plantae Frémontianae” (1854), Inc.). Footnotes from the original appear New York City.2 and especially Professor William Henry as “CVM”, in addition to footnotes for The Smithsonian assisted with all the Harvey’s “Nereis Boreali-Americana,” clarification by Alan Whittemore (AW) U.S. Government exploring expeditions,3 the first general account of our marine and Gary Krupnick (GK). An updated among others those of Emory, Whipple, algae and still a fundamental reference history that will clarify these points fur- King, Gunnison, Pole, Stevens, Hayden, work. ther is being prepared by Laurence Dorr and Powell. Especially noteworthy were In 1868, only a few years before his and Alan Whittemore. the botanical collections of Charles Wright death, Torrey decided that he could no undertaken in conjunction with the U.S. longer retain custody of the herbarium. he United States National Her- North Pacific Exploring Expedition under In the absence of suitable quarters and barium dates back almost to the the command of Ringgold and Rodgers staff in the Smithsonian building in Tfoundation of the Smithsonian which provided plant specimens from the Washington, D.C., the first Secretary, Institution in 1846. Collections of plants Bering Straits, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Joseph Henry, made arrangements that resulting from various early government the Smithsonian collections be deposited expeditions were first deposited in the ent places were often combined under one number, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute, named originally in with a label that only said Texas-New Mexico. Asa which had been amassing a working col- Gray suggested the collecting area to Wright; Gray 1840 as the National Institution for the lection of herbarium specimens for the Promotion of Science. Later these plants was also the one who made up the sets, arranged their sale, and forwarded the money to Wright. See use of its personnel.5 were turned over to the newly founded Susan McKelvey, Botanical Exploration of the Smithsonian. Of particular interest Trans-Mississippi West 1790-1850 for details of 4 Some of these explorations are described in S.F. among these were the large collections of Wright’s 1848-1849 trip. Smithsonian’s only connec- Baird. 1855. Report on American explorations in the years 1853 and 1854. Appendix to the [Ninth the U.S. South Pacific Exploring Expedi- tion with this expedition was that Gray published the final account in a Smithsonian series.AW Annual] Report of the Regents of the Smithsonian tion, under the command of Lt. Charles 2 Torrey had some Smithsonian material on loan, in Institution. Beverley Tucker, Senate Printer. Wash- Wilkes, U.S.N., which formed the real addition to the many expedition specimens that had ington, D.C. CVM basis for a national herbarium. The earli- been given to him and were then in his personal her- 5 The Smithsonian material was never in Torrey’s custody. Torrey borrowed some specimens from est expeditions sponsored in part by the barium (now at NY). The materials Gray worked on (for instance, Wright’s collections and the collections the Smithsonian; the institution paid him to mount Smithsonian Institution itself included the from Commodore Perry’s Japan expedition) were in herbarium specimens from 1860 to 1869, but the explorations of Charles Wright in Texas the “actual custody” of Gray and are now at GH. AW bulk of expedition material that Torrey worked on and New Mexico in 1848.1 The early 3 These expeditions were under the Departments of was in his private herbarium, which was sold to the Navy and War. The collectors were employees of Columbia College (this material is now at NY). 1 Charles Wright supported himself by the sale these departments, and the reports were prepared by Those expedition collections that were sent to of the herbarium material he collected. In order to independent scientists, often in exchange for receiv- Smithsonian in the 1850s were stored in the Castle make up large enough sets, specimens from differ- ing the specimens for their personal herbaria. AW Continued on page 16 Travel Pedro Acevedo traveled to Salvador Heliconias and hummingbirds. University, and to meet with Peter Schertz, Da Bahia, Brazil (1/29 – 2/19) to par- Paul Peterson and Robert Soreng curator of ancient art at the Virginia ticipate in an expedition to inventory and traveled to St. Louis, Missouri (2/7 – 2/12) Museum of Fine Arts; and to Ballston, collect local floras in Brazil. to do research at the Missouri Botanical Virginia (3/27) to deliver a paper entitled John Boggan traveled to Morristown, Garden herbarium and to learn the new “Digitizing Renaissance Herbals” at the New Jersey (3/18 – 3/19) and Manhattan, TROPICOS botanical information system. Capital Science 2010 conference. New York (3/19 – 3/21) to give talks on Rusty Russell traveled to St. Louis, Laurence Skog traveled to Sarasota, the genera Gloxinia and Seemannia and Missouri (2/22 – 2/25) to participate in a Florida (2/25 – 2/22) to work in the their relatives (Gesneriaceae) to the Frelin- workshop at the Missouri Botanical Gar- herbarium at the Marie Selby Botanical ghuysen Arboretum and Greater New York den to plan for a national effort to digitize Garden, and to confer with colleagues chapters of the Gesneriaceae Society. all herbarium holdings in North America, about the World Gesneriad Conference to W. John Kress traveled throughout entitled “United States Virtual Herbar- be held October 2010 at the Garden. Costa Rica (2/23 – 3/4) to conduct field- ium”; to Redlands, California (3/7 – 3/10) Warren Wagner traveled to Honolulu, work on Heliconia taxonomy and to as an invited participant in the Mapping Hawaii (3/10 – 4/6) as an invited speaker deliver the keynote address at the Orga- for Conservation Organizations Workshop, at the National Tropical Garden Board, nization for Tropical Studies Symposium involving conservation organizations using to serve as facilitator for an international honoring Luis Diego Gómez; to Boston, GIS technology; and to the San Jacinto NTBG Science review, and to conduct Massachusetts (3/10 – 3/11) and Ports- Mountains, California (3/19 – 3/28) for research for the completion of the flora of mouth, New Hampshire (3/11 – 3/12) to continuing fieldwork on the application the Marquesas Islands at NTBG and the present the books The Weeping Goldsmith of herbarium specimen data to studies of Bishop Museum. and Botanica Magnifica; to Chicago, floristic changes in the region. Jun Wen traveled to Raleigh, North Illinois (3/19 – 2/20) to present the books Alain Touwaide and Emanuela Carolina (3/22 – 3/24) to visit the North and give a lecture at the Chicago Botanic Appetiti traveled to Richmond, Virginia Carolina State University Genomics Labo- Garden; to Los Angeles, California (3/20 (3/9 – 3/10) where Touwaide delivered a ratory for training in the next-generation – 3/21) also to present the books and give public lecture “Why Does Medicine of the sequencing, and to give a seminar on the a lecture at the Huntington Library; and to Past Matter? Ancient Remedies for the 21st evolution of intercontinental disjunct Dominica (3/22 – 3/28) to do research on Century” at the Virginia Commonwealth plants to the Department of Plant Biology. The Plant Press Visitors New Series - Vol. 13 - No. 2 Mike Martin, Johns Hopkins University; Botany, China; Astilbe (Saxifragaceae) Ambrosia (Compositae) (1/1/09-6/30/10). and Aruncus (Rosaceae) (1/1-4/30). Chair of Botany Warren L. Wagner Zhumei Ren, Shanxi University, China; Jimmy Triplett, University of Missouri; ([email protected]) Gallnut aphid/host plant coevolution based North American Arundinaria, and Asian on DNA sequences (2/1/09-1/31/10). Pleioblaastus, Sasa, and Sasamorpha EDITORIAL STAFF bamboos (Poaceae) (1/1-12/31). Pingting Chen, Central China Agri- Editor cultural University; Vitaceae (3/1/09- Jianying Xiang, Kunming Institute of Gary Krupnick 2/28/10). Botany, China; Dryopteris (1/1-12/31). ([email protected]) Qing Liu, South China Botanic Garden, Eleanor Moran, University of Virginia; News Contacts Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guang- Plant conservation internship (1/4-1/15). MaryAnn Apicelli, Robert Faden, Ellen zhou; Chloridoideae (Poaceae) (7/4/09- Farr, Shirley Maina, Rusty Russell, Alice Jim Cohen, Cornell University; Borag- 7/4/10). Tangerini, and Elizabeth Zimmer inaceae (1/14). Dana Gadeken, University of Mary The Plant Press is a quarterly publication pro- Todd Lee and 12 students, Elon Univer- vided free of charge.