THE PLANT PRESS

Department of Botany & the U.S. National Herbarium

New Series - Vol. 22 - No. 3 July-September 2019 A perfect occasion to talk about domestication By Gary A. Krupnick

mithsonian’s Department of Botany and the United States Smithsonian Institution. Kenneth Wurdack, Department of Botanic Garden convened the 2019 Smithsonian Botani- Botany at NMNH, presented the annual José Cuatrecasas Scal Symposium, “What Darwin Couldn’t Know: Modern Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany to Sandra D. Knapp Perspectives on Crop Plant Origins,” at the National Museum of from the Natural History Museum in London. Unfortunately, Natural History (NMNH) in Washington, D.C., on May 17, Knapp was unable to attend in person. Ian Owens, Deputy 2019. The unusual title for the symposium is acquired from the Director of NMNH, accepted the Cuatrecasas Medal on her writings of Charles Darwin. In his 1868 book, The Variation of behalf. Owens read prepared remarks written by Knapp in Animals and Plants under Domestication, Darwin’s dim view of which she shared that Cuatrecasas was one of her botanical progress in understanding domestication in the vegetable king- heroes. She noted, “His influence and inspiration reach far, dom is evident when he wrote, “Botanists have generally neg- and will for generations to come.” While she was sorry to lected cultivated varieties, as beneath their notice.” have missed the ceremony, she requested that we live tweet In today’s age, there is a resurgence of research focused on the event (#SBS19). the plants most essential to human life. With seven engaging Allison Miller from Saint Louis University and the Don- speakers, the 17th Smithsonian Botanical Symposium high- ald Danforth Plant Science Center delivered the opening key- lighted contemporary research into the domestication of crops note talk, “What Darwin couldn’t know: Modern and their wild relatives as well as ornamental plants. Invited perspectives on crop plant origins and why it matters for the speakers included archaeobotanists, botanists, geneticists, and future of food.” She spoke about Darwin’s written observa- paleoethnobotanists utilizing molecular and genomic tools un- tions on variation in domesticated systems, using pigeons as known to Darwin. Continued on page 2 Kirk Johnson, the Sant Director of NMNH, and Eric Schuettpelz, the Acting Chair of Botany at NMNH, both pro- Special Symposium Issue vided opening remarks and welcomed the audience to the

Department of Botany & the U.S. National Herbarium EDITOR’S NOTE “The Search for Santessonia Continues”… Continues

n the January 2019 issue of The Plant Press (Vol. 22, No. 1), logue Frödén noted as well that between 1977-1984 (in the Julia Beros reported on an interesting mystery in the article, timeline of the publication of the genus) there does not ap- I“The search forSantessonia continues.” Harold Robinson told pear to be any record of African material sent from the Beros a story about Mason Hale’s discovery of the highly unusual Smithsonian. lichen, Santessonia namibensis, and when Robinson and Beros It is possible that the isotypes were never distributed, went to examine the type specimen, they found the specimen and after Hale’s death, were not well accounted for and missing. According to the original 1978 publication describing could have been lost to disorganization. The new genus the species, two isotypes were sent to Lund and Uppsala, and the was described by both Hale and Gernot Vobis in Botaniska holotype was sent to the Smithsonian. Notiser v.131, so it is also possible that the missing spe- Almost four months after the search began, motivation dwin- cimen is associated with Vobis’ name. There are multitudes dling, a message of hope appeared in Robinson and John Boggan of slight errors or misplacements or mislabeling that could email inboxes. The only hint revealed in the subject line: Santes“ - have led the isotypes astray. sonia namibensis type.” It is, however, reassuring to know that when a question Patrik Frödén, an assistant curator at Lund University in is put forth, our international botanical community will Sweden, read about the missing type and took it as a call to ac- respond! Though as the plot thickens, the search quiets tion. After checking the database and the herbarium he found no again…. inkling of the isotype that they were supposedly housing. He “Someday. Somebody. Somewhere,” Robinson sighs, then checked with the herbarium at Uppsala, and they replied: “the type will show up.” no isotype to be found. After going through the accession cata-

Symposium cultivated varieties, and rapid evolutionary were among other topics that Miller dis- Continued from page 1 change in response to artificial selection. cussed. She argued that understanding Miller continued her talk by describing crop plant origins is important for the con- an example. While Darwin wrote exten- how traits among domesticated grapevine servation of crop genetic resources, im- sively about animals (dogs, cats, horses, species (Vitis) vary under common con- provement of contemporary crops, and the pigs, and others), his writings about crop ditions. She explained that when a scion is development of new crops to meet the plants (cereals and fruit trees) were more grafted to a rootstock, the rootstock system needs of a growing population in a chang- limited. Miller reviewed Darwin’s contrib- affects which genes are turned on. Thus, ing climate. utions in understanding crop origins in- the rootstock influences the shoot system Natalie Mueller from Cornell Univer- cluding steps in cultivation, geographic phenotypes. The future of food, the devel- sity spoke about the past domestication of origins of crop plants, variation among opment of new crops, and food security plants in her talk, “Lost crops and ancient landraces: Deep histories of communities and their crops.” She uses long history to understand how social and environmental circumstances both foster and reduce agrobiodiversity. Her research focuses on 2,500 years of cultivation of erect knot- weed (Polygonum erectum). Her work has uncovered evidence of at least two domes- tication events, the existence of distinct landraces, and the preliminary evidence of feralization of erect knotweed. She ex- plains that for extant crops, it is possible to work backwards from known landraces to the archaeological record. With lost crops that are no longer present, it is necessary to explore variability through experimenta- tion. Mueller then went into detail on a proj- ect of hers exploring five lost crops: sump- Allison Miller delivers the opening keynote talk about modern perspectives on crop plant weed, goosefoot, erect knotweed, little origins. (photo by Gary Krupnick) barley, and maygrass. She documented and

Page 2 and managed in agroforests and homegar- dens, and grown in commercial orchards. Finally, Zerega shared a Hawaiian origin story for breadfruit (A. altilis), a species which has lost the ability to survive in the wild. Zerega concluded her talk by stress- ing that rather than focusing on improved control and increased production of indi- vidual species, tropical forest culture aims at the domesticating production processes of an entire ecosystem, encouraging diver- sity, and representing an alternative model of forest domestication. The afternoon session began with John Burke from the University of Georgia pre- senting his talk, “Genetics and the evolu- tion of crop plants: Insights from sunflower (and related species).” UsingHe - lianthus annuus as a model system, Burke described how a domestication gradient exists, where high levels of genetic diver- Briana Gross placing domesticated apple in a global and local context. (photo by Ken Wurdack) sity is present in the wild progenitor but that diversity drops as landraces and then collected seeds from populations of east- by discussing a five-step biological process modern cultivars evolve. He then asked ern North American crop progenitors. By of domestication – wild, wild harvested, which traits drove the evolution of the doing so, she was able to document vari- cultivated, semidomesticated, and domes- Continued on page 4 ability. Because the crops she studied are ticated. The domestication syndrome in- no longer in cultivation, she reconstructed volves the selection of traits that are suited best practices for cultivating the lost crops. to the human rather than the wild envi- The Plant Press She explored the role of developmental ronment. Forest tree crops, however, may plasticity in plant domestication by con- not fit in this syndrome. Zerega asks if for- New Series - Vol. 22 - No. 3 ducting both fieldwork and greenhouse ex- est tree crops are a result of domestication Acting Chair of Botany perimentation. By exposing progenitors to or intensification. One challenge in do- Eric Schuettpelz different kinds of growth conditions, she mesticating fruit trees in a forest is that hu- ([email protected]) was able to effect plant architecture, yield, mans are not the only animal acting on EDITORIAL STAFF and seed and fruit morphology. She hy- selection. For example, elephants act on pothesizes that unlike other wild plants, seed germination of jackfruits in Southeast Editor crop progenitors are usually plastic, and Asia. Another challenge is that many fruit Gary Krupnick ([email protected]) that ancient people chose to cultivate the trees are clonally propagated instead of select plants because they responded rap- grown from seed since many tropical trees Copy Editors idly in beneficial ways. have recalcitrant seeds. Robin Everly, Bernadette Gibbons, and For the last talk of the morning session, Zerega described in detail the domesti- Rose Gulledge

Nyree Zerega from the Chicago Botanic cation of four Southeast Asian tree species The Plant Press is a quarterly publication provided Garden and Northwestern University pre- in the genus Artocarpus (Moraceae). Tarap free of charge. To receive notification of when new sented, “Seeing the forest for the fruits: (A. odoratissmus) has two genetically dis- pdf issues are posted to the web, please subscribe Cultivation, domestication, and wild fruit tinct forms – a wild form with hairy buds to the listserve by sending a message to [email protected] containing only the trees in Southeast Asia.” She began her talk and a domesticated form with smooth following in the body of the text: SUBSCRIBE buds. The local people of Sarawak, Indo- PLANTPRESS-NEWS Firstname Lastname. nesia, recognize these forms. In cempedak Replace “Firstname Lastname” with your name. Sponsors of the (A. integer) the putative wild progenitor th If you would like to be added to the hard-copy 17 Smithsonian has been identified, and molecular analysis mailing list, please contact Dr. Gary Krupnick at: shows distinct cultivars that have different Department of Botany, Smithsonian Institution, Botanical Symposium colors, tastes, and sizes. Jackfruit (A. hetro- PO Box 37012, NMNH MRC-166, Washington, phyllus) has a long history of human use DC 20013-7012, or by E-mail: [email protected].

• Department of Botany, National going back 6,000 years. While the wild rel- Museum of Natural History Web site: ative has not been identified yet, there is a https://naturalhistory.si.edu/research/botany • United States Botanic Garden high level of diversity in morphology. Jack- fruit is harvested from forests, cultivated On the cover: Helianthus annuus by G.A. Cooper

Page 3 Symposium Continued from page 3 domesticated sunflower. Selection on larger seed sizes was highly influential, but surprisingly some directional selection ef- fects were often in unexpected directions. Burke explained that it was possible that selection on oil-related traits may have led to these surprising findings. Burke then focused on the timing of se- lection. He examined if seed size was a se- lecting trait early in the process of domestication, and oil traits were selected later in the process. By crossing wild sun- flower with a primitive landrace, he dis- covered that past breeding efforts may have had unintended consequences. He explained that a post-domestication selec- Dolores Piperno presenting the closing keynote talk on agricultural origins in the lowland tion process for high oil content led to Neotropics. (photo by Gary Krupnick) maladaptive alleles being introduced into the modern sunflower gene pool. explained that perennials show much more After an afternoon coffee break, Logan Briana Gross from the University of mild genetic bottlenecks – while annuals Kistler from NMNH presented his talk, Minnesota Duluth next spoke on, “Do- retain an average of 60 percent of their ge- “Unraveling the evolution of domestica- mesticated apple in a global and local netic diversity, perennials retain an average tion in maize with ancient genomes.” He context.” Apple (Malus x domestica) is a of 91 percent. Using collections from spoke about how corn became a global global temperate perennial crop with its USDA-ARS’ Plant Genetic Resources Unit success, primarily due to genomic plastic- wild progenitor from western China. Gross in Geneva, New York, she sampled the ge- ity. Kistler examines ancient DNA to un- notypes from 45 countries of domesticate derstand the order of events into apple, and compared the genotypes to the domestication. Maize evolved from teo- Acknowledgements main progenitor M. sieversii, and two sinte, an inedible plant. Origins of domes- species that may have contributed to the tication date back approximately 9,000 The success of the Symposium was due crop, M. orientalis and M. sylvestris. Gross years ago in the Balsas River valley in Mex- to the significant time and efforts of found M. x domestica has retained 95 per- ico where starch grains and phytolith ev- the following people: cent of the variation present in M. sieversii. idence has been found. Maize then arrived Organizers: Thus, domesticated apple has maintained in Central America about 7,500 years ago • Sahara Moon Chapotin its diversity for over thousands of years. and spread into South America around • Laurence J. Dorr She did not find an improvement bottle- 6,500 years ago. Kistler, however, has dis- • Gary Krupnick neck either—modern domesticated apple covered evidence that shows the domesti- • Sue Lutz has as much variation today as was present cation process was still happening in • Susan Pell in the 1600s. Mexico after it spread. • Eric Schuettpelz Gross spoke about diversity in the local Examining 40 maize landraces, 9 ar- • Kenneth Wurdack landscape. Domesticated apple has become chaeogenomes, and 70 published datasets, • Elizabeth Zimmer naturalized in North America, surviving Kistler uncovered a stratified domestica- without care for many years. Unidentified tion process, where semi-domesticated Support: apple trees are common on the landscape. maize led to semi-domesticated sub- • Mary Ann Apicelli, Admin- She spoke about a project in northeastern groups leading to the diverse landraces we istrative Specialist in Botany Minnesota, examining microsatellite see today. In other words, the diversity of • Marisol Arciniega-Melendez, markers to identify unknown local trees. modern maize is the result of multiple Fund Manager for Botany She was able to genetically match 76 un- waves of human-mediated dispersal. Thus, • Rose Gulledge, SI Botany known trees to 20 named cultivars, of maize domestication was not complete be- which eight were developed by the Univer- fore people started moving maize around. Photographers: sity of Minnesota apple-breeding program Some lineages failed while others were • Gary Krupnick in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Six other successful. • Kenneth Wurdack cultivars were Russian dating back to the To close out the presentations, Dolores And many others who helped in a 1700s and early 1800s. Gross concluded Piperno from NMNH delivered the clos- myriad number of ways. that local breeding programs have a strong ing keynote talk, “Current perspectives on influence on regional genetics. agricultural origins in the lowland

Page 4 Neotropics.” Archaeological evidence shows that the earliest sites of farming are often in caves and rock shelters, where grinding stones, Cucurbita phytoliths, popped teosinte grains, Phaseolus beans, chili pepper seeds, and avocado stems have been found. Piperno spoke about the im- portance of phenotypic and developmental plasticity, which gives plants the ability to adjust their phenotypes in response to en- vironmental variability and change. Piperno explained that CO2, tempera- ture, and precipitation levels were quite different in agricultural societies 12,000 years ago. She spoke about a greenhouse experiment where she grew teosinte in CO2 and temperature conditions that re- sembled late-glacial and Early Holocene environments. Teosinte grown in growth chambers resembling modern conditions resulted in plants having the architecture and inflorescences we see today; but those that grew in the late-glacial and the Early Holocene growth chambers resulted in Presenters and guests interact at the closing reception and poster session of the 2019 plants with an appearance that was more Smithsonian Botanical Symposium. (photo by Gary Krupnick) maize-like. She explained that gene expres- sion might be the key that gives rise to domestication process. In other words, we cluded a closing reception and a poster phenotypic change. Piperno thus argues cannot assume ancestral plants were simi- session. Poster topics ranged from the do- that foragers and early cultivators worked lar in morphology to today’s plants. Pip- mestication of edible hibiscus, mush- with teosinte phenotypes and gene expres- erno plans to follow up this research by rooms, and Agave, to the conservation of sion levels considerably different—and al- looking at other traits such as fruit bitter- crop wild relatives both in the wild and ready with some maize-like traits—than ness in squashes and pod twisting in lima maintained in botanic gardens. the modern teosinte presently used as the beans. An optional field trip allowed attendees morphological and genetic baseline for the The Symposium’s evening events at the the opportunity to partake in three be- U.S. Botanic Garden’s Conservatory in- hind-the-scenes tours of the Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Library of Natural History, an event hosted by Smithsonian Libraries. The library located at NMNH had on dis- play a wide selection of stunning books highlighting Darwin’s publications, medi- cal botany, Native American plant use, and more. Leslie Overstreet, Curator of Natural History Rare Books, spoke about the col- lection of James Smithson’s books housed in a temperature and humidity controlled vault within the library. Other books pre- sented included John Hill’s The British Herbal (1756) and William Jowit Titford’s Sketches Towards a Hortus Botanicus Americanus (1811). The 18th Smithsonian Botanical Sympo- sium is scheduled to take place at the Na- tional Museum of Natural History and the U.S. Botanic Garden on Friday, May 15, 2020. The topic is still to be determined. Check the Department of Botany’s website for updates. plants on display at the Cullman Rare Book Library. (photo by Allie Alvis)

Page 5 Abstracts from the Speakers of the 17th Smithsonian Botanical Symposium The 17th Smithsonian Botanical Sympo- sium, “What Darwin Couldn’t Know: Modern Perspectives on Crop Plant Origins,” was held 17 May 2019. The in- vited speakers explored contemporary re- search into the domestication of crops and their wild relatives. Below are the abstracts from the papers that were presented by the invited speakers.

Allison Miller Saint Louis University and Missouri Botanical Garden Opening keynote: “What Darwin couldn’t know: Modern perspectives on Speakers of the 2019 Smithsonian Botanical Symposium at the National Museum of Natural crop plant origins and why it matters for History (from left): Dolores Piperno, Natalie Mueller, John Burke, Logan Kistler, Nyree Zerega, the future of food” Briana Gross, and Allison Miller. (photo by Ken Wurdack) Charles Darwin regarded domesticated plants and animals as powerful models for Natalie Mueller Nyree Zerega understanding variation and evolution by Cornell University Northwestern University and the selection. In the first chapter of his 1859 “Lost crops and ancient landraces: Chicago Botanic Garden work The Origin of Species by Means of Deep histories of communities and their “Seeing the forest for the fruits: Culti- Natural Selection (“Variation Under Do- crops” vation, domestication, and wild fruit trees mestication”) together with his subsequent Agrobiodiversity is a priceless but in Southeast Asia” book The Variation of Animals and Plants threatened resource. It took over 10,000 The farm is not bounded by the field Under Domestication (1868), Darwin de- years of evolution under human manage- and continues into the forest; and the lines scribed several themes related to the origin ment and selection to create the many va- between wild, cultivated, and domesticated of crop plants. First, I review some of Dar- rieties of crops and crop relatives that are plants are often somewhat obscure. This is win’s key contributions to understanding available today, and many of these only especially true in the case of fruit trees, crop origins, including first steps in culti- exist in seed banks. While extant crop di- many of which can have life spans longer vation, geographic origins of crop plants, versity is impressive, there is increasing ev- than humans. The idea of domestication variation among cultivated varieties, rapid idence that many more crops and useful syndromes that are prescribed to many an- and dramatic evolutionary change in crop variants were lost in antiquity. Moreover, nual crops is not quite so clear cut for plants in response to artificial selection, our knowledge of the practices and cir- trees, and domestication terminology can and hybridization in crop evolution, cumstances that tend to increase agrobio- sometimes lead to ambiguity and con- among others. Second, I share modern diversity is limited and there are fewer and fusion. Thinking about domestication as a perspectives on a subset of these topics fewer living communities where this pro- process rather than an end point or a state using a crop that Darwin addressed in his cess can be studied. I use two case studies to be reached is valuable. This is true in work, the grapevine (Vitis vinifera). Third, from my current research in eastern North polycultural tropical agroforestry systems, I highlight three contemporary challenges America and Kenya to illustrate that the where humans have to some degree do- for which Darwin’s evolutionary perspec- archaeological record, coupled with ex- mesticated the forest, and the diversity of tive is directly relevant: conservation of perimental methods, has an untapped po- fruits have evolved alongside other large crop wild relatives, improvement of con- tential to reveal lost crops and practices, as animal dispersers – sometimes begging the temporary crops, and the development of well as the social conditions that create question of whether some fruits were new crops. In summary, Darwin estab- and support agrobiodiversity. These are “ready-made” in nature, and how much lished a strong foundation for understand- pressing concerns in an era of ecological were humans involved in changing them. ing of crop plant origins and evolution, knowledge loss, global climate change, and Examples from Southeast Asian fruit trees and much progress has been made in re- population growth. are of interest when considering the wild cent years; future work can use this foun- to domesticated continuum and informing dation to enhance food and ecosystem conservation of agrobiodiversity. security in a changing climate. Page 6 John Burke Briana L. Gross domestication syndrome genes came to University of Georgia University of Minnesota Duluth fixation in South American lineages. New “Genetics and the evolution of crop “Domesticated apple in a global and genomes from indigenous South American plants: Insights from sunflower (and re- local context” landraces and archaeological maize help lated species)” refine our understanding of maize domes- The domesticated apple (Malus x do- tication, and illuminate a scenario where The origin and evolution of crop plants mestica) is a perennial fruit crop of global humans carried maize far beyond its native is a topic of great interest to researchers in importance, having expanded out of Eur- range while the domestication process was a variety of disciplines. From an agricul- asia to the temperate regions of the north- still in a relatively early stage. The domesti- tural perspective, the value of such work is ern and southern hemispheres. cation process then continued in parallel clear. Elucidation of the genetic basis of Documenting the changes associated with in multiple parts of the Americas. traits that make for a desirable crop plant apple domestication and the spread of has the potential to facilitate ongoing apple cultivars into new environments is breeding efforts. From an evolutionary critical for understanding of the evolution Dolores R. Piperno perspective, studies of the domestication of this important crop, and also for under- National Museum of Natural History and improvement of crop plants have the standing perennial plant domestication in and Smithsonian Tropical Research potential to shed light on fundamental bio- general. A variety of genetic approaches Institute logical processes. In my talk, I will discuss used to compare domesticated and wild Closing keynote: “Current perspectives what is known about the evolution of culti- apples show that domesticated apple is dis- on agricultural origins in the lowland Neo- vated sunflower Helianthus( annuus L.), tinct from its wild relatives, but also that it tropics” with a particular focus on the origin of this lost almost no genetic diversity as it moved important oilseed crop, the genetic archi- around the world over time. This stands in The development of agricultural so- tecture of domestication-related traits that sharp contrast to patterns seen in annual cieties 12,000-9,000 years ago was one of distinguish it from its wild progenitor, and crops, which usually undergo moderate to the most transformative events in human the genomic consequences of selection and severe bottlenecks during domestication. and ecological history. The New World introgression during its evolution. This On a local scale, orchard trees can survive tropical forest was an early and independ- work builds on a foundation of population for decades after abandonment, and do- ent cradle of agriculture with the emer- and quantitative genetic analyses, and ex- mesticated apple has naturalized and gence of plant cultivation and tends through the generation and analysis spreads autonomously in some regions. In domestication taking place at the same of large-scale genomic datasets to identify northern Minnesota, abandoned and natu- time as in other major regions of the the unique contributions of wild sun- ralized apple trees are common on the world. As in other areas of the globe, our flowers to the modern sunflower gene landscape, and genetic identification of understanding of this issue has been ad- pool. unknown trees has shown that most are vanced by a steady stream of archaeo- cultivars from the fruit breeding program botanical, paleoecological, and at the University of Minnesota. This work molecular/genetic data, now including demonstrates the importance and impact from ancient DNA. Also importantly, a re- of local plant breeding efforts for global newed focus on formulating testable crops. theories and explanations for transitions from foraging to food production has led to applications from evolutionary ecology Logan Kistler and phenotypic (developmental) plasticity National Museum of Natural History not previously applied to agricultural “Unraveling the evolution of domesti- origins. New data are causing reconsidera- cation in maize with ancient genomes” tions of how novel phenotypes, including domesticated species, originate; whether Maize was domesticated from wild teo- the living wild progenitors of major crops sinte in Mexico beginning around 9,000 utilized in archaeobotanical and genetic BP, and it traversed Central America to research are faithful replicas of what the spread into South America by ~6,500 BP. last foragers and first cultivators saw However, recent genomes from archae- 12,000-10,000 years ago; and the influence ological maize dated to ~5,300 BP near its of artificial selection on the domestication site of origin reveal partial domestica- process. This paper reviews this body of tion—a mix of maize-like and teosinte-like evidence and offers comparative perspec- alleles at loci involved in domestication. tives from other regions of the world on This creates a paradox: maize was still only how, why, where, and when plant food partially domesticated near its site of do- production and domestication arose in the mestication long after it became estab- John Burke speaking about the genetics and Neotropical forest. lished as a crop species in South America, the evolution of crop plants. (photo by Ken so it is unclear how the full complement of Wurdack)

Page 7 Knapp Receives 17th Cuatrecasas Medal The Department of Botany and the She has written extensively about the rules Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (2003); David United States National Herbarium present governing the naming of organisms and Mabberley from the University of Leiden, this award to a botanist and scholar of in- has authored or coauthored over 150 sci- The Netherlands, and the Royal Botanic ternational stature who has contributed entific research publications (garnering Gardens, Sydney (2004); Jerzy Rzedowski significantly to advancing the field of trop- over 15,000 citations), in addition to books and Graciela Calderón de Rzedowski from ical botany. The José Cuatrecasas Medal for and numerous reviews and opinion pieces. Instituto de Ecología del Bajío, Michoacán, Excellence in Tropical Botany is named in Knapp’s non-technical books have focused Mexico (2005); Sherwin Carlquist from honor of Dr. José Cuatrecasas, a pioneer- on the history of botany and plant explora- Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden and ing botanist and taxonomist, who spent tion, including on noted tropical explorer Pomona College (2006); Mireya D. Correa nearly a half-century working in the Alfred Wallace, who was a contemporary A. from the University of Panama and Smithsonian Institution’s Department of of Charles Darwin and founded the field of Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Botany. Dr. Cuatrecasas devoted his career biogeography. (2008); Norris H. Williams from the Flor- to plant explora- ida Museum of Natural tion in tropical History and the Univer- South America sity of Florida, Gainesville and this award (2009); Beryl B. Simpson serves to keep from the University of vibrant the ac- Texas at Austin (2010); complishments Walter S. Judd from the and memory of University of Florida at this outstanding Gainesville (2012); Ana scientist. Maria Giulietti Harley The winner from the Universidade Es- of this prestigious award is selected by a The Cuatrecasas Medal selection com- tadual de Feira de Santana, Brazil (2013); committee made up of four botanists on mittee took special note of Knapp’s many H. Peter Linder from Zurich University staff in the Department in consultation accomplishments as a scientist, tropical (2014); Paulo Günter Windisch from Uni- with other plant scientists outside of the botanist, and educator. Of special rel- versidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Smithsonian Institution. Nominations for evance to this year’s Smithsonian Botanical Brazil (2015); Kamal Bawa from the Uni- the Medal are accepted from all scientists Symposium is her long interest in the Sola- versity of Massachusetts Boston (2016); in the Botany Department. The award con- naceae, and in particular, putting order to Robin B. Foster from the Field Museum sists of a bronze medal bearing an image of the challenging genus Solanum, with over (2017); and Alan K. Graham from the Mis- José Cuatrecasas on the front with the re- 1500 species, including such staples as po- souri Botanical Garden (2018). cipient’s name and date of presentation on tatoes, tomatoes, and eggplants, and stun- the back. ning Andean diversity. In her decades of The 17th recipient of the José Cuatreca- neotropical research, Knapp has described sas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Bot- over 75 new plant species and has advo- any is Sandra D. Knapp. She earned a B.A. cated strongly for the importance of floris- from Pomona College in 1978 and her tics and collections. Knapp has been a Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1986, fo- champion of conserving biodiversity and cusing on Solanum sect. Geminata under exploring the relationships between plants the guidance of Solanum expert Michael D. and people, noting the importance of the Whalen. In 1992, Knapp joined the Natu- “cultural, societal, economic, and nu- ral History Museum in London, initially to tritional aspects of our relationships with manage the large Flora Mesoamericana crop plants, as well as our use and knowl- project and presently as Head of the Plants edge of the genetic diversity stored in their Division. Knapp has received the Peter wild relatives.” She has written extensively Raven Outreach Award (2009) from the on the challenges and opportunities for American Society of Plant Taxonomists 21st century botanists, as well as the chang- and the Linnean Medal for Botany (2016) ing roles of taxonomy, collections, and from the Linnean Society of London, the field research in a world with declining world’s oldest biological society (founded biodiversity. in 1788); she was elected President of the The past recipients of the Cuatrecasas latter society in 2018. Knapp has been very Medal are Rogers McVaugh from the Uni- active in the International Association for versity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Plant Taxonomy, where she has served as (2001); P. Barry Tomlinson from Harvard President of the Nomenclature Section. University (2002); John Beaman from the Sandra Knapp

Page 8 Ernani Guingona Meñez (15 August 1931 – 01 May 2019) Ernani Guingona Meñez was born on ippines, Christmas Islands, Queen Char- 15 August 1931, in Manila, Philippines. He lotte Islands, southern Chile (1969), south- finished his secondary schooling at Mapa ern Argentina (1971), Tunisia, and the High School in Manila and his undergrad- Mediterranean. He was consultant to the uate degree (BA in Botany) at the Univer- UNESCO in the establishment of the Uni- sity of the Philippines, Diliman. At UP, he versity of Mexico Marine Sorting Center; worked with Gregorio T. Velasquez, con- the Italian Marine Sorting Center in sidered the father of Philippine phycology, Genoa; the Harbor Branch Foundation in as a student assistant-laboratory instructor. establishing the phycological herbarium at Velasquez introduced him to Maxwell Fort Pierce Facility, Florida; and the US- Doty, phycologist at the University of Ha- EPA for the EPA Lake of Tunis Eutrophica- waii and recommended him to be Doty’s tion Project in collaboration with the field assistant on his project ofCaulerpa, Tunisian Institute of Fisheries. He was also Gracilaria and Eucheuma species around Senior Advisor to the Philippine Science the Philippines. and Technology Advisory Council in In 1958, he left the Philippines to pur- Washington, DC (1988 until retirement) sue further studies at the UH while at the and Contributing Scientist at the Silliman same time working as Doty’s assistant University Marine Laboratory (now Insti- under the sponsorship of the U.S. Atomic tute of Environmental and Marine Energy Commission and the National Science). country resulting in the economic boom Science Foundation. He finished an MS in For his contributions in advancing ma- and added livelihood of the Filipino fisher- Botany in 1962. He was offered an assis- rine science in the Philippines, Meñez was folks; and his continued and sustained tantship by Robert Scagel, foremost Cana- awarded the Pamanang Pilipino Award by support of marine botanical studies” by dian marine phycologist at the University Philippine President Fidel Ramos in 1993 serving as external adviser to post gradu- of British Columbia. at the Malacañang Presidential Palace. The ate students, raising funds to support Fili- In 1964, Elmo Yale Dawson (foremost award is conferred to “Filipinos overseas, pino students/junior scientists for American phycologist), curator in the De- who, in exemplifying the talent and indus- advanced training in marine biology at the partment of Botany at the Smithsonian’s try of the Filipino race, have brought the Smithsonian Institution and the National National Museum of Natural History, in- country honor and recognition through Cancer Institute, and for marine botanists vited him to supervise and fill a vacant po- excellence in his profession or line of and other scientists for research in the sition in the Smithsonian Oceanographic work.” He was also presented with a Certif- USA; giving free summer courses on sea- Sorting Center. At SOSC, Ernani worked icate of Recognition by President Ramos, weeds and seagrasses; providing invaluable as botanist and was appointed as director at Los Angeles, California for “his ded- references, specimens, equipment and in 1988 to 1998. He retired from the ication and commitment toward the pro- supplies to Philippine colleagues doing re- Smithsonian as Botanist Emeritus. While motion of the common good and in search/teaching and for publishing mono- at the Smithsonian, he got time off to fin- keeping the ‘balikbayan’ spirit alive graphs and articles on Philippine seaweeds ish a PhD (major in Botany) at the Univer- through aspirations, ideals, and work in and seagrasses, thus contributing to the sity of New Hampshire. the service of the Filipino people and the knowledge on Philippine seaweeds and Meñez was author and co-author of community of nations.” He expanded and seagrasses to the scientific community more than 20 publications on algae, spe- opened new areas for collaboration on worldwide and opened new areas of re- cializing on the order Ceramiales (Polysi- science and technology between the Phil- search. phonia and Tiffaniella), and seagrasses. He ippines and Smithsonian by drafting and Dr. Meñez died on 01 May 2019 at the published extensively on the seaweeds of facilitating the signing of a memorandum age of 87. He is survived by his wife Chu- the Philippines, Tunisia, the Mediterra- of understanding in 1989. chi Rosal, four sons, and six grandchil- nean, and Libya. Among his notable pub- A Plaque of Recognition was awarded dren. lications was a monograph on seagrasses to Meñez by the Department of Environ- -Submitted by Hilconida P. Calumpong with Ronald Phillips (Smithson. Contrib. ment and Natural Resources and Silliman Director, Institute of Environmental and Mar. Sci. 34: 1-104; 1988). He also scien- University in the Philippines for “his sup- Marine Sciences, Silliman University tific illustrated four books (Scagel, R., et al. port, cooperation and contributions in the 1967. An Evolutionary Survey of the Plant progress and development of phycology” Kingdom; Scagel, R. 1967. Guide to the by organizing the 1st and 2nd US-Philip- Common Seaweeds of British Columbia; pines Phycology Workshop” (1984; 1992) Scagel, R., et al. 1969. Plant Diversity; Hale, in the Philippines;” for having pioneered M. 1969. How to Know the Lichens). the first successful investigation of the fea- Meñez collected extensively in the Phil- sibility of mariculture of Eucheuma in the

Page 9 Designing a state-of-the-art taxonomic research workstation As botanists develop more knowledge nical collections, herbaria can provide ested in the ways in which visitors do their the science of taxonomy becomes increas- these resources to taxonomists in every research when using the herbarium. ingly complex. Between 1753 and 2016, part of the world. In designing an integrated taxonomic the number of known plant species has Digitization, however, is only one step workstation, her objectives include (1) risen from about 6,000 to 390,000, an aver- of the process. Herbaria also need to create transforming the workflows of fundamen- age increase of nearly 1,500 species each an environment where taxonomic re- tal taxonomic research using digital re- year. Over 2,000 new species were discov- searchers can bring all the digital resources sources to increase efficiency and ered in 2015. The number of specimens together with the physical specimens, effectiveness; (2) ensuring that data result- held globally in herbaria has also in- using tools and equipment to make work- ing from the research are consistently and creased. There are now over 3,000 herbaria ing with massive amounts of complex in- accurately recorded to ensure accessibility around the world holding nearly 400 mil- formation easy and intuitive. This kind of and availability for reuse; and (3) integrat- lion specimens. workstation is most famously seen in tele- ing molecular processes and data to in- Any taxonomist working now therefore vision programs such as CSI, but herbaria crease speed of identification and has an immense and expensive task of need to be implementing the technology characterization of specimens. gathering information about the species and data management in our institutes if Haston’s research is supported by a Fel- that they are studying, involving travel to they are going to have a chance to produce lowship in Digital Scholarship sponsored various herbaria or the risk of damage or the taxonomic basis for global biodiversity UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Coun- loss to specimens if they are sent on loan. in time to help its survival. cil (AHRC) and the Smithsonian Institu- With about 10-20 percent of flowering Elspeth Haston, the Deputy Her- tion. plant species still to be described, it is esti- barium Curator of The Royal Botanic Gar- mated that about half of these have already den Edinburgh, University of Edinburgh, New publication been collected and are held in herbaria is visiting the Smithsonian’s Department of around the world. Botany during the months of June, Sep- highlights the Scientists need to find solutions to tember and October to focus on the practi- making collection information more cal development of a taxonomic research Guiana Shield widely accessible in order to speed up the workstation which enables the best use of plant collections research process given the scale of the hi-tech and lo-tech solutions to enable a challenges they are facing. In many cases, a researcher to effectively use both physical Report from Guyana, June 1994: Having high-resolution digital image of the spe- and digital resources. She is very interested just flown into Kaieteur National Park, cimen with electronic collection data at- in the work processes that the museum Carol Kelloff, Paula DePriest, and Mike tached will enable researchers to carry out staff and associates employ to study the Tamessar (University of Guyana) realize much of the basic work. By digitizing bota- botanical specimens, and she is also inter- that Eric Christenson, who had flown in with them, is missing. Christenson is found at the airstrip, with camera and gear unpacked, focused on a Vanilla bicolor Lindl. vine in bud. “Christenson had only seen an illustration of this flower and was questioning whether the subtle colors of blue and pink that were “painted” on the original drawing were the true colors. He […] was willing to camp out under the vine not to miss the opportunity. […] The next morning the flowers opened, and Christenson was very pleased to see that the artist’s rendering of the colors was cor- rect.” Carol Kelloff, Vicki Funk, and Sara Al- exander have published “Smithsonian Plant Collections, Guiana Shield: 1985– 2014, Biological Diversity of the Guiana Shield Collectors” (2019, Smithsonian In- stitution, Smithsonian Contributions to Botany), which covers the collections of 36 A large number of specimens are still being collected and these all need to be identified, collectors. This volume is intended as a ref- digitized and included in revisions, with some undoubtedly being new species. (photo erence for herbaria holding collections by Elspeth Haston) Continued on page 11

Page 10 Origin and diversification of the sunflower family -Adapted from EurekAlert A study that explores the origin and di- Funk (Smithsonian Institution), found Africa around 42 million years ago. versification of Asteraceae, the sunflower that the family likely originated around 83 According to the authors, the findings family, was recently published in Proceed- million years ago in the Late Cretaceous illuminate the evolutionary processes un- ings of the National Academy of Sciences Period in southern South America. The derlying the wide reach and vibrant diver- (https://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.19038711 earliest diversification out of South Amer- sity of a major group of flowering plants. 16). Asteraceae, composed of an estimated ica may have occurred around 50 million 25,000-30,000 species, accounts for nearly years ago, during a period of dramatic cli- 10 percent of all flowering plants. Global mate change. Subsequently, the family Guiana Shield in distribution, the family occupies nearly rampantly diversified during the middle- Continued from page 10 every type of habitat on Earth and is to-late Eocene epoch, 42-37 million years marked by a complex inflorescence exem- ago, a period marked by global cooling, re- made during collection trips sponsored by plified by the North American sunflower, sulting in more than 95% of existing the Biological Diversity of the Guiana in which individual flowers are clustered to species. Shield Program (BDG), and as an aid to mimic a single, large flower to lure polli- Biogeographical analysis suggests that botanists and taxonomists interested in the nators. The origins, migration routes, and the family migrated to North America, region. Part I contains expedition narra- patterns of diversification that led to the south and central Africa, and Asia, with tives and maps of teams’ routes; part II lists family’s ecological success remain unclear. ancestral range estimates suggesting differ- collection localities by collector, with col- Using phylogenetic analysis of nearly ent possible dispersal routes out of South lection number ranges, habitat descrip- 1,000 genomic locations in around 250 America. Regardless of the route, the fam- tions, geographic coordinates, and species, Jennifer Mandel (University of ily’s prolific diversification and global col- assisting collectors; part III lists collections Memphis) and colleagues, including Vicki onization likely began once it reached in numerical order with identifications; and part IV lists collections ordered by de- termined taxonomic name; followed by four plates of color photos. It also includes a dedication to Tom Hollowell, data man- ager of the BDG from 1996 to 2005. The publication is available as a free pdf down- load at https://opensi.si.edu/index.php/ smithsonian/catalog/book/210.

Floral diversity of tribes in the Asteraceae family. A recent study suggests the family originated in the Late Cretaceous Period in South America and later migrated to Africa where it diversified rampantly. (A) Barnadesieae; (B) Famatinantheae; (C) Stifftieae; (D) Mutisieae; (E) Hecastocleideae; (F) Eric Christenson on the trail from Pertyeae; (G) Cardueae; (H) Vernonieae; and (I) Heliantheae. (Image Kaieteur Falls to Tuiket, June 1994. (photo courtesy of PNAS) by Carol L. Kelloff)

Page 11 Herbarium specimen conservation project: Agnes Chase and Albert Hitchcock’s 1908 field expedition

By Shannon Hicks and Erika Gardner Tucked away in the US National Her- work as a botanical illustrator in the Na- funded her own trips with the help of sev- barium’s mounting preparation room is a tional Herbarium for the U.S. Department eral women’s rights organizations she was a specimen conservation cabinet that tem- of Agriculture (USDA). Chase was a self- part of because the government would not porarily holds specimens in need of re- taught botanist; she would often stay late at pay for her to travel on other expeditions. pairs. Many specimens are in need of the herbarium so that she could learn as In 1922, Agnes Chase’s First Book of Grasses simple repairs, but in some instances, the much as possible about botany. Since her was published, intended to demystify the specimens require a major overhaul. One highest level of formal education was study of grasses. By the end of her career, bundle awaiting repairs is a stack of 55 grammar school, her years as a botanical Chase had over 70 publications describing Poaceae specimens collected by Agnes illustrator served as her primary form of and classifying America’s grasses and had Chase and Albert S. Hitchcock. The origi- education. She became very passionate contributed 12,000 grass specimens to the nal herbarium paper and specimen label about Poaceae, the grass family, later say- herbarium. was acidifying and extremely brittle. With ing that, “Grass is what holds the earth.” This summer, Hicks conserved spe- time, the plant material on the sheet would After a few years as a botanical illus- cimens from a 1908 field trip that Chase be compromised and eventually succumb trator, Chase’s enthusiasm and aptitude for took with her mentor, Hitchcock, for the to shattering with the slightest bump. It botany was noticed by agrostologist Albert book they coauthored, The North Ameri- was pertinent to get these specimens re- S. Hitchcock. Chase and Hitchcock can Species of Panicum. The specimens mounted and filed back into the main col- worked together for many years, and she were mainly from Colorado, Wyoming, lection as soon as possible for scientific later succeeded him as Senior Botanist in and Idaho. The grasses collected were pri- use. Shannon Hicks, Botany summer vol- charge of systematic agrostology at USDA marily from the genus Poa, a very com- unteer, worked to get these specimens fully in 1936. In 1937, Chase became in charge mon group of grasses. conserved. of the grass section of the National Her- The specimen conservation process is a Agnes Chase, born Mary Agnes Meara barium, gaining the title of Custodian. very intricate one with many steps to en- in 1869 in Illinois, was a pioneer for Throughout her career, Chase traveled sure that the specimen is returned to a women in botany. In 1903, Chase began worldwide to study grasses; she often state where it will last for at least another

Specimen before and after restoration. Left: Signs of brittle paper crumbling is found near the bottom left corner of the sheet. Tears and ripswould continue to occur if specimen is left in this condition on acidic paper. Right: All restored specimens are mounted on paper products that are pH neutral and museum archival quality. The original label is kept with the specimen.

Page 12 100 years. The first step in specimen con- family phylogeny proved useful. For each ceae collection. These valuable specimens servation is to carefully dismantle or re- grass specimen that had a name change, will be refiled into the main collection and move the plant from the herbarium sheet Hicks attached an annotation label to the will be of great use to the scientific com- without incurring damage. Fortunately specimen. After the specimens were con- munity for many years to come. these specimens were not glued directly to served, they were handed over to the Poa- the herbarium paper. The original adhesive ceae team, which is currently working on strips that were used to tack down the spe- rehousing and organizing the entire Poa- cimens had begun to deteriorate or had broken. Using tweezers and a probe, Hicks Winner of youth art contest visits Smithsonian carefully removed the strips and placed the plant in a newspaper folder, and loose Alice Tangerini participated as one of served salamander, courtesy of the Depart- seeds and flowers in an archival fragment the seven judges for the 2019 Saving En- ment of Vertebrate Zoology’s Herpetology packet. These fragments contain genetic dangered Species Youth Art Contest, an Division through Keven de Quieroz and material that could potentially be valuable event sponsored by The Endangered Addison Wynn. to researchers. Each specimen label, sheet Species Coalition (ESC) and open to K-12 Tangerini photographed the specimens number, and annotation/note were cut grade students. The student’s artwork de- and researched images online as resource from the sheet and kept with the plant to picted threatened or endangered animal material for Sam. The liquid collection of a later be transcribed onto archival paper. and plant species found in the United dozen salamanders in a jar proved fasci- After the sheet was dismantled, the States. Artwork was sent digitally to all of nating for Sam and his mother, who ac- specimen was mounted onto archival the judges, which included artists, photog- companied him. Sam had a great time paper. Remounting grasses requires an ar- raphers and conservationists. The contest drawing from the resources and using tistic eye because the goal is to make the is an integral part of the annual Endan- Tangerini’s microscope and camera lucida. specimen a usable identification and re- gered Species Day, held this year on May Sam was honored at an award ceremony search tool. Hicks rearranged the spe- 17, 2019. later that evening at the Rayburn Building. cimens in a way that showed significant The contest winner was first-grader More information about the winners of characters, such as the flower spikelets, au- Sam Hess of Portland, Oregon. Sam’s col- the 2019 Saving Endangered Species Youth ricles and ligules, which are used as a laged drawing of the Texas Blind Sala- Art Contest is available at http://www. means for identification. The trick to mander won the grand prize which endangered.org/winners-of-2019-saving- mounting specimens is to not use too included a private drawing lesson given by endangered-species-youth-art-contest- many strips and to arrange them in a way Tangerini. In order to give the lesson, announced/. that is both functional and aesthetically Tangerini procured specimens of the pre- pleasing. Some specimens, those that had bulky bases and roots, required sewing. After mounting, Hicks tested each spe- cimen to make sure that all parts of the plant were properly tacked to the sheet. Recreating labels is a very important part of the conservation process as it doc- uments the scientific name of the plant, who collected it, and where it was col- lected. Chase often described the habitat where the plant was found and how it grew. Transcribing the labels was very challenging at first because Chase hand wrote all her labels. Often Hicks compared words and letters on different labels in order to decipher another. It became like detective work, and Hicks learned to rec- ognize how Chase wrote specific letters and words. Once each label was printed on archival acid-free paper, it was glued onto the sheet. All original labels and notes were then stored in separate fragment packet, which were also attached to the sheets. Hicks checked each scientific name for Oregon 1st-grader, Sam Hess, winner of the Grand Prize of the 2019 Saving Endangered taxonomic changes. Paul Peterson and Species Youth Art Contest, receives a private drawing lesson by Alice Tangerini. (photo Rob Soreng’s recently published grass by I. Hess)

Page 13 Conger and the diatoms

By Julia Beros Paul Sidney Conger made only one concession to using the Scanning Electron Microscope. That is, only once were the habits of Conger interrupted by the forces of change. For a career that spanned dec- ades in the field of microscopy, Conger’s steady work was technical, meticulous, and though only visible under the lens of a mi- croscope, monumental. After assisting Al- bert Mann at the Carnegie Institution for Science in his study of diatoms (1922- 1935), he moved onto the USDA, which segued him to his career at the Smith- sonian Institution (though his associated library material did not make the same in- stitutional transition and remains with the USDA, much to Conger’s chagrin). Conger was named honorary custodian of dia- toms, 1935-1943; then associate curator, 1944-1966; and botanist emeritus of cryp- togams, 1967-1979. In a recent conver- sation with Harold Robinson the story of Conger’s contributions to the Smithsonian, microscopy, and diatoms sparked a long query into the quirks and legacy of Mr. Conger. Revealing whole worlds to our human Paul Conger’s unpublished scanning electron microscope image of the diatom, Baccillaria eyeballs, new images for neural pathways paradoxa. Broken valve showing interior structure and exposing one side of the raphe. to decode and translate, the mystifying im- agery of the microscopic world is nothing position on the slide by surrounding it house. short of something unbound and celestial. with the girdle removed from a large dis- One species, Baccillaria paradoxa, was Universes that exist under the guise of our coid diatom (ever resourceful), so that his of particular interest to Conger and his human habitual. For Conger this universe subject was findable without coordinates. colleague Robinson. A colonial diatom in was his second home. Known for mount- Many of his innovative ideas came from “peculiar arrangement” the single cells lay ing material on a slide with tight precision, testing out new methods that he read flat atop each other sliding laterally across he was able to manipulate indiscernible about in one of his favorite magazines, their bodies, much like the arrangement of material with great accuracy. He was a me- Popular Mechanics. a fold-out ruler, without ever disconnect- chanic of fine hand skills, using pieces of Single celled alga with rigid silica ing at the tip. Most diatoms move against threads to slice or angle material, to mount shells, diatoms, were the focus of most of water, but in this case they move against and affix even the tiniest sliver of a spe- Conger’s microscopy endeavors. Too small each other in their colony. Perhaps they cimen so that it would willingly reveal its to see, they exist en masse floating in exchanged a bit of protoplasm in the 1/10 hidden structures beneath the scope. He oceans, rivers, lakes, the water; all one of the diatom that always remained con- was a gifted technician, even in his early need do is dip a rope into the water and a nected to the adjacent cells. In the hope to eighties. “party-mix” of diatoms will eagerly attach. discover the mechanism of communica- In Conger’s day there were two Viewed under high powered light micro- tion and movement among the diatoms, methods of mounting diatoms: smearing scopes, their great variety in structure and Robinson convinced Conger that the Scan- them on a slide and recording the posi- patterning are reminiscent of tiny jewels, ning Electron Microscope (SEM) would tions on the microscope setting, which pocket lint, or miniature plastic figurines. help them understand this curious organi- meant the microscope was commandeered Many diatomists made great artworks zation. “The advent of the SEM had one for the entirety of the time needed to study under the microscope, creating mosaics great advantage. Previously the limited the material (i.e. indefinitely). Then there from these tiny alga, and Conger even kept depth of focus in microscopic images was Conger’s way; mounting the selected a collection of slides with these microsco- made full views of objects like diatoms im- diatom on the center of the slide (some- pic realist “paintings,” one even depicting a possible,” Robinson recalls, “Conger would times a row of diatoms), and marking the man with a cane on a leisurely stroll past a use double exposures, one to record the

Page 14 surface of the valve, and second to record 1979, at age 83, Conger was hit by a bicy- tunately his position was voided after he the outline. This resulted in an unwelcome clist and did not recover from the injuries, passed, and his office remains quiet. To halo-effect. SEM had a greater depth of still with plans to write a paper on the sub- Robinson, “the Scanning Electron Micro- focus, and a whole diatom or pollen grain ject of B. paradoxa. scopes (SEM) have revitalized two fields of could be seen in clear focus.” The SEM Conger’s lifelong devotion to micros- botany: palinology and diatomology,” and shoots a focused beam of electrons back copy is one to honor; he transformed what subsequent work studying B. paradoxa and and forth that disperse throughout the mi- had been seen as a chore into a delicate its mode of protoplasm streaming con- croscope chamber and reconstructs these artform. Reluctant to retire at the man- tinues. For Conger, though, the pleasure points electronically, much like a TV pic- datory age of 70 (and hoping an exception was in the process. In being patient. The ture. would be made for him) he continued to work of discovery is eternal as the nature Conger was not the type to be rushed come to work. He could finesse the invisi- of life is to change. A continuous cycle of or corralled, even when it was time to ble into revealing all its secrets, and his exchange witnessed by those who take the move from the Smithsonian Tower Castle steady unbothered work created a founda- time to watch stillness. to the Natural History Museum he made tion for many to come after him. Unfor- special arrangements to take his time. On the second floor of the old south tower, two floors below the cryptogamic collec- tion, and one floor below the old depart- mental library with the tile mosaic of the Smithsonian seal, Conger had a large work-space rarely visited by others in the department. Displaced from his oasis, he was sent to the West Wing of the Natural History Museum. Carrying his belongings over one by one in paper bags, a crusty old bottle of ether casually accompanying him across the National Mall (later attracting the attention of the bomb squad, for fear that it had crystalized into an explosive compound), the move began in 1965. Conger never quite felt settled in his new smaller office. Not one to be rushed into using a different tool either, Conger finally prepared his favorite diatom for the SEM. Using a thread powdered with crystals, he sliced the material in order to get a de- tailed interior look. “I am not pleased with the views we have here,” mumbles Robinson as he goes over the stack of photos that were tucked away in his office in a trove of unpacked envelopes and parcels. Eerily unfamiliar, the images they captured of B. paradoxa are certainly humble in comparison with the false-color images of today’s microsco- pists. A diatom of 5 microns long, Conger was able to prop it up with a thread and make a cross section of the valves, expos- ing the raphe (where the streaming of pro- toplasm occurs) and the structure holding the valve together. These glamour shots of the diatom revealed a unique bridge design that encased the raphe, maybe this was part of the answer they were trying to un- cover. Alas, after taking these first few pho- tographs they never made it to the apical part of the diatom to see the most complex Paul Conger’s unpublished scanning electron microscope image of Baccillaria paradoxa. part of the structure. Shortly thereafter in Interior view at tip of cell showing raphe enclosed by connecting bridge structures of the valve.

Page 15 NEW FACES Caly McCarthy joined This summer,Jun Wen and Liz Zimmer ForestGEO as Administrative are co-mentori ng Regina Fairbanks, a Assistant in April 2019 and is Natural History Research Expe riences based at the Smithsonian’s (NHRE) student intern who will be a jun- National Museum of Natural ior at the University of Pennsylvania in the History in Washington, DC. fall. Fairbanks is working on phyloge- McCarthy combines her nomics of the ginseng ge nus, Panax. Ka- interest in plants with her thryn Picard and Eric Schuettpelz are proclivity for details in this co-mentori ng Zahra Domin, an NHRE position. Prior to this role, intern who will be a senior at Dominican McCarthy worked at Turtle University this fall. Additionally, they are Tree Biodynamic Seed co-mentoring Smithsonian interns Noah Initiative and lived as a co- Olson and Blake Fauskee, both recent worker at Camphill Village, graduates of the University of Minnesota an agricultural community Duluth. All three interns are investigating of diverse ages, origins, and the incidence of asexuality (in the form of developmental abilities in apomixis) within fe rns and asse ssing the Copake, New York. McCarthy holds a Bachelor of Arts in both history and role apomixis plays in shaping fern biogeo- environmental studies from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. graphical patterns.

ForestGEO hosts annual analytical workshop in Singapore

From June 23 through July 5, 53 forest each working on a specific analysis or ma- R coding and statistical methods, among ecologists from 23 countries convened for nuscript using data from one or more of other topics. The mentorship and training ForestGEO’s 2019 annual analytical work- ForestGEO’s 67 forest dynamics sites. This of early career forest ecologists through shop at Nanyang Technological University two-week intensive workshop grants par- the annual workshops is one way that For- in Singapore. The group was a mix of early ticipants a focused environment in which estGEO strengthens scientific capacity ac- career scientists, students, postdocs, and to talk with mentors, attend and give semi- ross the globe. professors, and ForestGEO staff scientists, nars, practice scientific writing skills, learn

The 2019 ForestGEO Analytical Workshop participants on their field trip to Bukit Timah Forest Dynamics Plot in Singapore.

Page 16 Alice Tangerini had her artwork, Curcuma Robin Everly traveled to Phoenix, Ari- STAFF ACTIVITIES arracanensis, displayed in the Queensland zona (5/13 – 5/17) to attend the 51st annual Museum in conjunction with the Guild of meeting of the Council on Botanical and Natural Science Illustrators (GNSI) 2019 Horticultural Libraries at the Desert Bota- Marcos Caraballo gave two workshops on Conference in Brisbane, Australia, July 1- nical Garden and to give a presentation en- plant taxonomy and molecular biology on 7, 2019. The juried exhibit was strictly dig- titled, “Smithsonian libraries adopt a book May 24 and May 31 to two groups of high ital this year due to the logistical program: a way to learn, preserve, and school students from the Youth and Diver- constraints of shipping framed artwork. raise funds for your library collection.” sity Program of the National Council for During the exhibit reception the artworks Erika Gardner traveled to Chicago, Il- Science and the Environment (NCSE). On were projected on several screens simulta- linois (5/24 – 5/31) to present a poster, June 3, Caraballo was a judge at the 2019 neously in the lobby of the museum and “Q?rius about engaging students in the EnvironMentors National Science Fair for then individually in the theater audito- Herbarium: an after school Botany pro- high school students from underrep- rium. The artwork can be viewed online in gram,” at the annual meeting of the Society resented groups, an activity sponsored by the GNSI website, http://2019gnsi- for the Preservation of Natural History NCSE. On June 25, he helped train the conf.org/exhibits. Collections (SPNHC). Q?Crew High School Volunteers on the Karen Golinski traveled to Port Ed- scientific value of herbarium collections ward, Canada (4/24 – 5/7) to teach a field for research during a “Collections Zone course in Bryology for the University of Deep Dive” workshop in the Q?rius Edu- Northern British Columbia; and to Corner cation Center at NMNH. Brook, Canada (6/20 – 6/24) for the an- nual meeting of the Mosses and Lichens On April 16-17, Gary Krupnick presented Specialists Subcommittee of COSEWIC a poster, “The immense value of museum (Committee on the Status of Endangered collections in conservation research,” at Species in Canada). Smithsonian’s first ConCom 2019 event Carol Kelloff traveled to the Apalachi- hosted by Smithsonian’s Conservation cola area of Florida (4/12 – 4/19) with Commons. The event was designed to rec- Mark Strong to collect vouchers and tissue ognize Smithsonian’s superheroes in samples of the rare and endangered plants science and conservation with team-build- of this area as the ongoing fieldwork under ing opportunities, share knowledge, in- the Global Genome Initiative (GGI); and crease storytelling skills, and enhance to Chicago, Illinois (5/27 – 5/30) to attend collaborations. the talks and council and committee meet- A number of Department of Botany re- ings of the Society for the Preservation of search fellows and associates presented Natural History Collections (SPNHC). talks during the Botany Seminar Series at Sue Lutz traveled to Manchester, New the National Museum of Natural History. Hampshire (5/3 – 5/8) to organize and On May 2, Kathryn Picard presented Illustration of Curcuma arracanensis by pack coralline algae collections made by “Creatures from the black lagoon: Next- Alice Tangerini Emeritus Curator Walter Adey during generation approaches to understanding summer field work in 2018 in the Gulf of the diversity and evolution of marine TRAVEL Maine, and to bring it back to the Museum fungi.” On May 9, Rob Soreng presented Support Center to house with the coralline “Plant collecting in Far East Russia.” On collection. June 13, Joel Nitta presented “Ferns on is- Betsy Collins traveled to Tumbes, Sylvia Orli traveled to New Haven, lands: Community assembly, comparative Piura, Lambayeque, Cajamarca, and La Connecticut (6/9 – 6/12) to attend the ecology, and biogeography of Polynesian Libertad provinces in Peru (3/25 – 4/24) to 2019 Digital Data in Biodiversity Research pteridophytes.” Other seminar speakers collect Bursera graveolens and to visit the Conference. over the past three months included Jen- HUT and USM herbaria. Eric Schuettpelz traveled to Turku, nifer Ackerfield from Colorado State Uni- Benjamin J. Crain traveled to the Re- Finland (5/18 – 5/22) to serve as the oppo- versity on April 18 who spoke about “A public of Palau (4/24 – 5/17) to shoot a nent for a graduate thesis defense at the prickly puzzle: Phylogeny and evolution of short film on the Palau Orchid Conserva- University of Turku. the Carduus-Cirsium group (Cardueae: tion Initiative for SI Global; and to Lon- Meghann Toner traveled to Chicago, Compositae)” and Charles Delwiche from don, England (5/19 – 6/2) to present a talk, Illinois (5/24 – 5/31) to present a talk, “All the University of Maryland College Park “The Palau Orchid Conservation Initiative: grasses great and small: Reorganizing and on June 6 who spoke about “Assembling an integrated approach to orchid research rehousing the Poaceae collection at the US the embryophyte form: the evolution of and management” at the 7th International National Herbarium,” at the annual meet- streptophytes.” Orchid Conservation Congress at Royal ing of the Society for the Preservation of Botanic Gardens Kew. Natural History Collections (SPNHC). Continued on page 18

Page 17 Travel Luber Jaquelini, Jardim Botânico do Rio Continued from page 17 de Janeiro, Brazil; Capparaceae and Cam- PUBLICATIONS pomanesia (Myrtaceae) (4/23 - 4/26). Warren Wagner traveled to Sarasota, Florida (4/9 – 4/11) as an invited speaker Elio Cruz and nine students, National Appeldoorn, R.S., M. Alfaro, D.L. Ballan- at the Marie Selby Botanical Garden. Council for Science and the Environment; tine, I. Bejarano, H.J. Ruiz, N.V. Schizas, Jun Wen traveled to Boston, Massachu- Herbarium tour and plant conservation W.E. Schmidt, C.E. Sherman and E. Weil. setts (4/28 – 5/1) to conduct field work and (4/26). 2019. Puerto Rico, pp.111-130. In: Y. Loya, attend a meeting at Harvard University; K.A. Puglise, and T.C.L. Bridge (eds.). Me- Raymund Chan, Independent researcher, and to Madrid, Spain (5/22 – 5/29) to col- sophotic Coral Ecosystems. Coral Reefs of Singapore; Asteraceae (5/6 - 5/12). lect Hedera iberica (Araliaceae) and associ- the World, Vol. 12. Springer, Cham. http:// dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92735-0_7 ated Mediterranean plants on the Iberian Tom Lovejoy and 12 students, George Peninsula, to give a seminar on phyloge- Mason University; Herbarium tour and Bunyavejchewin, S., A. Sinbumroong, B.L. nomics of the grape family at Universidad plant conservation (5/6). Turner and S.J. Davies. 2019. Natural dis- Autonoma de Madrid, and to participate turbance and soils drive diversity and dy- Lynn Gillespie, Canadian Museum of Na- in a graduate thesis defense at Universidad namics of seasonal dipterocarp forest in ture, Canada; Euphorbiaceae and Poaceae Rey Juan Carlos. Southern Thailand. J. Trop. Ecol. 35(3): 95- (5/13 - 5/17). Liz Zimmer travelled to Ithaca, New 107. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/ York (4/30 – 5/1) to meet with Chelsea Geoffrey Levin, Canadian Museum of Na- S0266467419000075 Specht, Patrick O’Grady and Fay-Wei, and ture, Canada; Poaceae (5/13 - 5/17). to present a seminar entitled, “Using DNA Chave, J., S.J. Davies, O.L. Phillips, data for plant evolutionary genetics: prog- Paloma Moore, Royal Botanic Gardens, S.L. Lewis, P. Sist, D. Schepaschenko, ress and prospects” to the Department of Kew; Pterocarpus (Fabaceae) (5/13 - 5/17). J. Armston, T.R. Baker, D. Coomes, Plant Sciences at Cornell University; and M. Disney, L. Duncanson, B. Hérault, Santos Miguel Nino and Daniela Cane- to Providence, Rhode Island (6/21 – 6/26) N. Labrière, V. Meyer, M. Réjou-Méchain, lón Barraez, Universidad Nacional Ex- to present a co-authored poster with her K. Scipal and S. Saatchi. 2019. Ground data perimental de los Llanos Ezequiel Zamora, advisee Peter Schafran, “Using flow cyto- are essential for biomass remote sensing Venezuela; Flora of Guaramacal (5/14 - metry and low-copy nuclear DNA se- missions. Surv. Geophys. 40(4): 863-880. 7/12). quences to identify new taxa in Isoëtes,” http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10712-019- and to meet with several Associate Editors Chris Campbell, University of Maine; 09528-w of Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution to Amelanchier (Rosaceae) (6/3 - 6/4). Funk, V. 2019. The 2018 Nicolson Fellow: discuss future plans for the journal. Issac Marck, University of California Targol Chatrenoor. Taxon 68(1): 178-179. Berkeley; Heliantheae alliance (Asteraceae) http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/tax.12018 (6/3 - 8/30). VISITORS Johnson, G. 2019. High throughput DNA Fabiany Herrera, Chicago Botanic Gar- extraction of legume root nodules for rhi- dens; Malvaceae and Lycopodiaceae (6/4 - zobial metagenomics. AMB Express 9(1): Carrie Tribble , University of California 6/7). 47. http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13568-019- Berkeley; Alstroemeriaceae (4/3 - 4/5). 0771-z Juan Herrera, Universidad de Valle, Co- Iasmin Laiane de Castro Oliveira , Uni- lombia; Botanical taxonomy (6/4 - 6/7). Kelloff, C.L., V.A. Funk and S.N. Alex- versidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, ander. 2019. Smithsonian Plant Collec- Brazil & Iowa State University; Poaceae Darío Schiavinato, Universidad de Bue- tions, Guiana Shield: 1985–2014, (4/8 - 4/30). nos Aires, Argentina; Tagetes (Asteraceae) Biological Diversity of the Guiana Shield (6/6 - 6/19). Collections. Smithson. Contrib. Bot. 110: 1- Jennifer Ackerfield, Colorado State Uni- 360. http://dx.doi.org/10.5479/si.1938- versity; Asteraceae (4/10 - 4/20). Igor Kessous, Universidade Federal do Rio 2812.110 de Janeiro, Brazil; Vriesea (Bromeliaceae) Tracey Parker, Independent researcher, (6/10 - 6/30). Khuraijam, J.S., J. Mazumdar and J.H. Nicaragua; Plants of Central America Wiersema. 2019. Typification of the Hi- (4/15 - 4/19). Olga Camacho, University of Louisiana at malayan endemic conifer Abies spectabilis Lafayette; Lobophora (Dictyotaceae) (6/11 Kelly Allred (Pinaceae) revisited. Taxon. http://dx.doi. , New Mexico State Univer- - 6/14). sity; Poaceae (4/16). org/10.1002/tax.12060 Judy Stone, Colby College; Witheringia, Marcus Falcao Kleinkopf, J.A., W.R. Roberts, W.L. Wag- , Jardim Botanico do Rio de Brachistus, and related genera (Solanaceae) ner and E.H. Roalson. 2019. Diversifica- Janeiro, Brazil; Fabaceae (4/23 - 4/26). (6/11). tion of Hawaiian Cyrtandra (Gesneriaceae) Andrew Henderson , New York Botanical Scott LaGreca, Duke University; Lichens under the influence of incomplete lineage Garden; Arecaceae (4/23 - 4/24). (6/17). sorting and hybridization. J. Syst. Evol. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jse.12519

Page 18 Lee, J.S., S.H. Kim, S. Lee, M. Maki, K. Ot- Mutuku, P.M. and D. Kenfack. 2019. Ef- in two hummingbird-pollinated plants: the suka, A.E. Kozhevnikov, Z.V. Kozhevni- fects of local topography heterogeneity on roles of exploitation barriers and pollinator kova, J. Wen and S.C. Kim. 2019. New tree species assembly in an Acacia-dom- competition. Evol. Ecol. 33(4): 481-497. insights into the phylogeny and biogeogra- inated African savanna. J. Trop. Ecol. 35(2): http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10682-019- phy of subfamily Orontioideae (Araceae). 46-56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/ 09992-1 J. Syst. Evol. http://www.jse.ac.cn/EN/ S0266467419000014 abstract/abstract59811.shtml White, A.E., K.K. Dey, D. Mohan, M. Pace, M.R. 2019. Optimal preparation of Stephens and T.D. Price. 2019. Regional Lin, Q.W., S. Liao, J.S. Ma and J.H. tissue sections for light-microscopic analy- influences on community structure across Wiersema. 2019. The valid publication of sis of phloem anatomy, pp. 3-16. In: J. Lies- the tropical-temperate divide. Nat. Comm. Abroma (Malvaceae). Taxon. https://dx. che (ed.). Phloem. Methods in Molecular 10: 2646. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ doi.org/10.1002/tax.12057 Biology, Vol. 2014. Humana, New York. s41467-019-10253-6 https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939- Luskin, M.S., K. Ickes, T.L. Yao and S.J. 9562-2_1 Wurdack, K.J. and C.E. Zartman. 2019. Davies. 2019. Wildlife differentially affect Insights on the systematics and morphol- tree and liana regeneration in a tropical Pezzolesi, L., V. Pena, L. Le Gall, P.W. Ga- ogy of Humiriaceae (Malpighiales): an- forest: An 18-year study of experimental brielson, S. Kaleb, J.R. Hughey, G. Ro- droecial and extrafloral nectary variation, terrestrial defaunation versus artificially dondi, J.J. Hernandez-Kantun, A. Falace, two new combinations, and a new Saco- abundant herbivores. J. Appl. Ecol. 56(6): D. Basso, C. Cerrano and F. Rindi. 2019. glottis from Guyana. 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Page 19 ART BY ALICE TANGERINI

Artocarpus altilis (Parkinson ex F.A.Zorn) Fosberg

The domestication of crop plants and their wild relatives was the theme of the 17th Smithsonian Botanical Symposium held on 17 May 2019. The challenges of domesticating tropical forest fruit trees, such as breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis), was presented in one of the talks. Alice Tangerini illustrated breadfruit for Edward Ayensu’s second book on medicinal plants, Medicinal Plants of the West Indies, published in 1981 by Reference Publications. Tangerini was part of a team of illustrators for the book including artists Mary Monsma and Cathy Pasquale. Tangerini examined herbarium specimens and books in the Smithsonian Botany Branch Library for details when she drew this illustration.

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