Special Symposium Issue - see page 13 Department of Botany & the U.S. National Herbarium The Plant Press New Series - Vol. 13 - No. 4 October-December 2010 Botany Profile Food, Glorious Food By Gary A. Krupnick he ninth annual Smithsonian a place “dear to [her] heart.” She was hon- Olsen also spoke of the two indepen- Botanical Symposium was held on ored to have been in the same department dent origins of rice domestication. Two T24-25 September at the National with Cuatrecasas for several years, and monophyletic groups (Japonica, Aro- Museum of Natural History in Wash- even noted matic and ington, DC, bringing together botanists, that she Indica, Aus) anthropologists, archaeobiologists, and had named are nested other scientists to examine “Food for a species within Thought: 21st Century Perspectives on (Polylepis Oryza Ethnobotany.” The event, hosted by the pepei) in rufipogon. A Departments of Botany and Anthropol- his honor, weedy rice ogy, was held in collaboration with the using for the species epithet a form of his (red rice, Oryza sativa) has lead to major United States Botanic Garden. nickname “Don Pepe.” loss in rice crop yields in the southern The symposium began with opening United States. Using molecular neutral remarks by Warren L. Wagner, Chair ruce D. Smith, Curator of North markers, Olsen examined the origin of of the Botany Department, and Cris- American Archaeology, Smithso- US weedy rice: US crop varieties (de- tián Samper, Director on the National Bnian Institution, who chaired the domestication), other Asian domesticated Museum of Natural History. As Wag- morning session, introduced the first set rice, wild Oryza populations, or multiple ner introduced Samper, a slide of the of speakers. Kenneth Olsen of Washing- origins. He argued that the weed is likely Encyclopedia of Life webpage for ton University in St. Louis first spoke of derived from domesticated rice, but not “Sampera V. Funk & H. Rob, 2009” was “Genetic Signatures and Consequences directly derived from extant crop variet- displayed. The webpage <http://www. of Dual Crop Domestication Events in ies, which suggests a long-term presence eol.org/pages/17860196> recently went the Old World Tropics.” Olsen discussed of current weed populations. live in honor of Samper’s birthday. Vicki evidence as to whether or not certain spe- Next, Allison Miller of Saint Louis Funk and Harold Robinson named the cies under domestication were brought University spoke about the “Evolution genus Sampera (Asteraceae) in honor of into cultivation once or multiple times. of Clonally Propagated Plants under Samper’s research and service. He presented two cases studies, coconut Domestication.” Miller presented two Before the seven invited speakers (Cocos nucifera) and rice (Oryza sativa), case studies, horseradish (Armoracia which both show evidence of more than gave their talks, Laurence Dorr presented rusticana) and pecan (Carya illinoin- the ninth José Cuatrecasas Medal for one domestication event. Using microsat- ensis), to explain the evolutionary Excellence in Tropical Botany to Beryl ellite markers and a worldwide germplasm dynamics of clonally-propagated crop B. Simpson, C.L. Lundell Professor of collection, Olsen showed differentiation perennials. One of the evolutionary Systematic Botany, University of Texas between coconut populations in the Pacific consequences of clonal reproduction for at Austin. Simpson is an expert in the and Indian Oceans. These patterns reveal plant mating systems is reduced fertility. phylogeny and biogeography of vari- that cultivated coconuts are derived from Miller explored the possible mecha- ous angiosperm groups, with particular two distinct ancestral gene pools, with nisms underlying reduced fertility by emphasis on plants from the American independent cultivation origins in the testing the hybrid origin of horseradish. Southwest, Mexico, and Central and Pacific and Indian Oceans. There is also A phylogenetic and Bayesian approach South America. While accepting her evidence of Pacific coconut admixture in suggests a progenitor-descendant rela- award, Simpson spoke of her long rela- the southwestern Indian Ocean, specifi- tionship between A. macrocarpa and A. tionship with the Smithsonian Institution, cally along ancient Austronesian trade routes. Continued on page 16 Travel Pedro Acevedo traveled to London, cially the types from the Guianas at the ginia (9/7) to present the LeafID applica- Leiden, and Berlin (7/3 – 7/28) to study Jussieu herbarium and to present a talk at tion project to the college biology class of collections of Sapindaceae from the Gui- the Passiflora Society International Meet- the Central Virginia Governor’s School for anas; and to Manaus, Brazil (9/4 – 9/18) ing 2010 near Blois. Science and Technology (CVGS) and use to coordinate a symposium on Sapindales Vicki Funk traveled to Providence, their assistance in gathering more data for in the Amazon Basin, to present a talk at Rhode Island (7/30 – 8/5) to present a the project. the 61st National Brazilian Botanical paper at Botany 2010; and to Manaus Paul Peterson traveled to Wye Mills, Congress, to visit the INPA herbarium Brazil (9/4 – 9/9) to present a paper the Maryland (7/24 – 7/27) and Annapolis to study Paullinia, and to visit a planta- Brazilian Botanical Congress. Junction, Maryland (8/23 – 8/24) to tion of Guaraná (Paullinia cupana) in Carol Kelloff traveled to Providence, collect with state botanist Christopher EMBRAPA, Manaus, Amazonas. Rhode Island (7/30 – 8/5) to present a Frye, Maryland Department of Natural Walter Adey traveled to Quebec City, poster at Botany 2010. Resources; to Providence, Rhode Island Canada (9/24 – 9/28) to deliver a talk at Gary Krupnick traveled to Edmonton, (8/1 – 8/4) to present a talk at Botany Lavall University. Canada (7/3 – 7/7) to present a poster at 2010; to Bennington, New Hampshire Laurence J. Dorr traveled to Phila- the 24th International Congress for Conser- and Brunswick, Canada (8/5 – 8/10) for a delphia, Pennsylvania (9/23) to use the vation Biology. collecting expedition; and to Little Rock, library of the Academy of Natural Sci- Dail Laughinghouse traveled to East Arkansas (9/1 – 9/2) and San Antonio, ences and to participate in a Ph.D. com- Lancing, Michigan (7/10 – 7/13) to pres- Texas (9/2 – 9/3) to collect grasses. mittee meeting at Drexel University. ent a poster at the PSA annual meeting; to Harold Robinson traveled to Provi- Christian Feuillet traveled to Macapa, Belize (7/16 – 7/23) to conduct field work dence, Rhode Island (8/1 – 8/5) to attend Brazil (7/24 – 8/8) to study the collections mainly with cyanobacteria and diatoms; Botany 2010 as an invited speaker. of Gesneriaceae and Passifloraceae of the to Steuben, Maine (7/25 – 7/31) to take Rusty Russell traveled to Riverside, Herbário Amapaense (HAMAB) and to a seminar on freshwater diatoms at the California (7/9 – 7/25) for the “Mapping attend the 2nd International Congress on Humboldt Institute; and to Ceske Bude- of Century of Change in the San Jacinto Biodiversity of the Guiana Shield; and to jovice, Czech Republic (8/16 – 8/20) to Mts.” project; and to Woods Hole, Massa- Paris, France (9/8 – 9/22) to work on the deliver a talk on a new combination of a chusetts (9/23 – 9/27) to attend a confer- Passiflora and Dilkea collections, espe- cyanobacterium, based on material from ence at the Marine Biological Laboratory. South America at the 18th International Laurence Skog traveled to Provi- The Plant Press Association for Cyanophyte Research dence, Rhode Island (7/30 – 8/5) to attend Symposium. Botany 2010. New Series - Vol. 13 - No. 4 Diane and Mark Littler traveled to Robert Soreng traveled to Russia and Belize City, Belize (8/11 – 8/26) to con- Georgia (7/13 – 8/23) to collect seed of Chair of Botany tinue ongoing research; to Athens, Ohio grasses and other forages in the northwest Warren L. Wagner (9/23 – 10/1) to receive an award, give Caucasus Mountains and adjacent steppes. ([email protected]) a seminar, and discuss future research at Alice Tangerini traveled to Pittsburgh, Ohio University; and to Tallahassee, Flor- Pennsylvania (9/21 – 9/26) to attend and EDITORIAL STAFF ida (10/7 – 10/10) to attend a workshop. participate in the Annual Meeting of the Editor Ida Lopez traveled to Lynchburg, Vir- Continued on page 5 Gary Krupnick ([email protected]) Visitors News Contacts MaryAnn Apicelli, Robert Faden, Shirley Zhou Zhuo, Kunming Institute of Botany, Maina, Rusty Russell, Alice Tangerini, Mike Martin, Johns Hopkins University; and Elizabeth Zimmer Ambrosia (Compositae) (1/1/09-6/30/11). China; Cyanthus (Campanulaceae) (4/1/10-3/29/11). The Plant Press is a quarterly publication pro- Qing Liu, South China Botanic Garden, vided free of charge. 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