1999 Vol. 2, Issue 2

Department of Botany and the U.S. National Herbarium The Plant Press National Museum of Natural History Smithsonian Institution New Series - Vol. 2- No. 2 July - September 1999 Department Profile Dinoflagellate Studies Confined to Cells By Robert DeFilipps can occur in P. lima, resulting in an Some non-photosynthetic dinoflagel- agglomeration of up to 32 cells enclosed in lates are heterotrophic and engulf small angrove swamps, where the a temporary cyst, an unusual phenomenon prey such as ciliate protozoa. Others are land and sea intertwine, are which was also reported as new to science photosynthetic and have chloroplast. Mtropical ecosystems that still by Faust in 1993. Various species of photosynthetic hold countless surprises for researcher These reports demonstrate only a few of dinoflagellate are producers of toxins, Maria Faust. Mangroves are subjected to the interesting lifestyles exhibited by the such as the Gymnodinium catenatum environmental disturbances; they are a dinoflagellates, which are unicellular, responsible for paralytic shellfish poison- nursery ground for marine fishes; and cellulosic, aquatic microalgae whose walls ing (PSP), and the Gambierdiscus toxicus they nurture abundant populations of may be either smooth, or sometimes causing dreaded ciguatera fish poisoning dinoflagellate microalgae. Yet key exquisitely armor-plated (thecated) with in humans. Such outbreaks have occurred questions they present remain largely tooled intricate surface in all the world’s oceans, unanswered. Are mangrove communities patterns, and oc- causing fish kills or toxic as rich and productive as other tropical casionally even pro- red tides, especially in environments? Dinoflagellates are longed into horns Four thousand coastal areas where human morphologically and ecologically diverse resembling the pointed species are effluent is discharged (such microscopic, unicellular organisms. hoods atop sanbenito as Tokyo runoff, and from Widely distributed in marine and brackish garments worn by the known today Hawaiian pineapple and waters, and a major component of the flagellating penitentes of sugarcane fields), enriching microscopic food web, they are the least the Spanish Inquisition the nutrient load available understood component of plankton. (curiously, their cells also possess flagella, for the growth and proliferation of the Examination of the biodiversity of two whips per cell which cause gliding and organisms, but causing much fouling of dinoflagellates has revealed an astonishing tumbling motions as they swim). In some the seafood which ingest quantities of the number of new surprises among previ- kinds of dinoflagellate vegetative repro- dinoflagellate cells, and consequently ously undiscovered naturally occurring duction, such as known in Prorocentrum incurring millions of dollars of damage to events. mariae-leboriae, each daughter cell retains industry. Spontaneous fusions of mating cells, one parental valve and synthesizes one new The taxonomy, biodiversity, ecology, “dancing groups” of gametes of valve, as happens in the unrelated diatoms. and environmental importance of Prorocentrum lima which merge through inoflagellates have originated from dinoflagellates, at the forefront of marine a fertilization bridge, were reported by the Ciliaphora, heterotrophic biology, constitute the research focus of Faust in 1993, the first time that sexuality Dciliated invertebrates that engulfed Faust, an investigator of these tiny algae. had been observed in that species of cryptophyte algae which became their How tiny is “tiny” in this case? Some Belizean mangrove phytoplankton. After symbiont as an organism. Their fossils are dinoflagellates, such as Gambierdiscus, resting, the four daughter cells arising known from the Lower Miocene of are so small that they can swim freely in from the zygote of P. lima remained approximately 20 million years ago, while the interstitial spaces between sand sexually viable for as long as three weeks. the root word “dino” given to this ancient grains. By contrast, the world’s largest Moreover, instead of its usual vegetative lineage is basically Latin for “whirling”, dinoflagellate, in the genus Noctiluca, is a division into two cells, sometimes an rather than the Greek for “fearful” as in spheroid attaining 2 mm in diameter. alternative type of asexual reproduction “dinosaur”. Continued on page 8 Page 1 New Faces Visitors Robert Ireland has returned to the Sergei Vickulin, Komarov Botanical Cambridge, Massachusetts; Philippine department as a collaborator. Ireland was Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia; Impatiens (May 24) previously assistant curator of bryology Hydrocharitaceae (March 26-May 5) from 1958 to 1961, working with Mason Eric Christenson, Sarasota, Florida; Hale in the Castle. Most of his professional Peter Jorgensen, Missouri Botanical Orchidaceae (May 28-30) career was spent in Canada, where he Garden, St. Louis; Vascular plants (March obtained his doctoral degree at the 29-April 2) James Luteyn, New York Botanical University of British Columbia, Vancouver Garden, Bronx; Ericaceae (June 3-4) in 1966. He then worked for the Canadian Claes Persson, New York Botanical Museum of Nature in Ottawa from 1966- Garden, Bronx; Polygalaceae, Rubiaceae Paul Berry, University of Wisconsin, 1994. While there he produced a moss (April 1-2) Madison; Venezuelan Guayanan flora of the Maritime Provinces. He has Melastomataceae (June 14-17) retired to the Washington, D.C. area and Patrick Lewis, University of the West will be a regular visitor to the U.S. Indies, Kingston, Jamaica; Monocots of Hamilton Beltran, University of San National Herbarium to continue his study Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands (April Marcos, Lima, Peru; Plants of Camisea of mosses. His contact will be Harold 2-June 1) (June 16-30) Robinson. Richard Carter, Valdosta State Univer- Jacques Florence, Museum National sity, Valdosta, Georgia; Cyperaceae (May d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris; Flora of French 10-15) Polynesia (June 16-July 15) Lucia Vasquez, Bailey Hortorium, Cornell James Bryant, Riverside Municipal University, Ithaca, New York; Fagaceae Museum, Riverside, California; Edmund (May 17-21) Jaeger Collections (June 28-July 2) The Plant Press Lana da Silva Sylvestre, University of Jose Cedeño, Jardin Botanico, University New Series - Vol. 2 - No. 2 São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; Brazilian of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras; Bromeliaceae Asplenium (May 21-Nov 19) of Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands (June Chairman, Department of Botany 28-July 22) W. John Kress ([email protected]) Julie Barcelona, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio; Philippine ferns (May 24- Steven Wolf, California State University, EDITORIAL STAFF 28) Stanislaus; North American Asteraceae (June 28-29) Co-Editors Tatemi Shimizu, Harvard University, Jane Villa-Lobos [email protected]) Robert DeFilipps ([email protected]) Collections Consulting Editor Deborah Hinrichs Selected Collections Statistics: January 1-May 31, 1999 Circulation Manager Transactions Specimens Shirley Maina Acquisitions-(incoming) ([email protected]) Open exchange 29 2,117 News Contacts Gifts 74 4,397 Amanda Boone, Robert Faden, Ellen Collected for museum 2 416 Farr, George Russell, Alice Tangerini, Disposals-(outgoing) and Elizabeth Zimmer Open exchange 84 4,823 Gifts 55 2,093 The Plant Press is a quarterly publication provided free of charge. If you would like to be added to the Forwarding 8 2,336 mailing list, contact Shirley Maina at: National Return to Owner 9 181 Musem of Natural History, Smithsonian Borrows-(incoming) 73 3,357 Institution, Department of Botany, NHB 166, Loans-(outgoing) 126 12,030 Washington, DC 20560, or by e-mail: [email protected]. Totals 460 31,750 Web site: http://www.nmnh.si.edu/departments/ botany.html. [by Deborah Bell and Chris Tuccinardi] Page 2 The Spirit of Botanical Exploration Chair e all look back in envy and excitement at on by the settlement of the region caused her great our predecessors of the 18th and 19th distress. Her final years were occupied with taking the Wcenturies who set out for unknown lands in message of habitat conservation wherever it might be With search of new plants and animals. These botanical and heard. zoological explorers included the likes of Darwin, Margaret Mee was not a professional botanist, but it Spruce, Wallace, Bates and von Humboldt. Their was clear that she knew much about plants. Margaret biological explorations of the newly discovered areas of Mee was not a professional explorer, but she went A the globe, particularly in South America and Asia, many places few Europeans or North Americans had lasted for years and the travel was neither fast nor easy ever visited. Margaret Mee was a painter and artist and usually by boat. These adventurers were driven who combined artistic expression with nature, science, View primarily by their curiosity of the natural world, and in her later years, conservation. Her early glorious although the discovery of new spices, medicinals and paintings of bromeliads, orchids, clusias, and heliconias food plants was often the prime motivation of their are striking in their color and form as well as scientific sponsors and benefactors. The discovery of new species accuracy. She painted bold flowers on white back- was a daily task even if many of these taxa were not grounds so the plants’ individual characteristics would W. described for decades. The unexplored habitats seemed stand out. However, in her later works the focal plant endless and unbounded. species of each

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