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Home , Adiantum tenerum, Aristida portoricensis, Bombay (mango), David Fairchild, Fairchild (mango), Garden festival

summer 2015

Summer at : A Timeless Design published by fairchild tropical botanic garden contents

FEATURES

CHARLES TORREY SIMPSON 27

FAIRCHILD’S 33 COLLECTION

RF ORCHIDS Selection will vary $5-$225. DEPARTMENTS

FROM THE DIRECTOR 4 FROM THE CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER 5 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS 7 GET IN ON THE CONSERVATION 9 BEACHCOMBING FOR ORCHIDS TROPICAL CUISINE 11 WHAT’S BLOOMING 13 SERAM ISLAND, SOUTH VIS-A-VIS VOLUNTEERS 16 MOLUCCAS EXPLAINING 19 THE SHOP CONSERVING 22 COLLECTIONS 33 WHAT’S IN STORE 37 PLANT SOCIETIES 43 AT FAIRCHILD WHAT’S IN A NAME 44 EDIBLE 51 GARDENING SUPPLIES | UNIQUE TROPICAL GIFTS | HOME DÉCOR SOUTH GARDENING 52 ECO-FRIENDLY AND FAIR-TRADE PRODUCTS | TROPICAL GOURMET FOODS BUG BEAT 55 GIFTS AND DONORS 62 EXPLORING FOR ORCHIDS ACCESSORIES | BOOKS | APPAREL | ORCHIDS AND MUCH MORE GARDEN VIEWS 64 38 IN SERAM ISLAND FROM THE ARCHIVES 68 CONNECT WITH FAIRCHILD 70 fairchild tropical botanic garden from the director from the chief operating officer

I am writing this letter from , halfway around the globe, on a two-week tour love every aspect of Fairchild, but it’s the Garden’s design that continues to inspire me. of great botanic . My job often takes me to far corners of the world, to meet It’s a testament to the importance of a great designer that after more than 70 years, the colleagues and exchange and ideas. My current trip is different: this is a summer Garden’s landscape design still resonates. Ivacation, and my wife and two children, ages 6 and 10, are traveling with me. IWilliam Lyman Phillips was the landscape architect that Robert Montgomery hired in 1943 to During the past week, we visited the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Chelsea Physic design Fairchild. Phillips wanted an overall sense of informality in the Garden’s design, one Garden (London); the Eden Project and the Lost Gardens of Heligan (Cornwall, U.K.); that would allow, “the utmost freedom in the choice of vegetation, compatible with any stage Gardens by the Bay and the Singapore Botanic Gardens (Singapore). All are extraordinary, of growth; whereas formality would limit the choice [and] would impose demands on specific world-class gardens with unique plant collections and well-developed teaching strategies. size and form,” he said. At the same time, he knew he needed to create a sense of unity and All receive a steady stream of visitors of all ages. definition within that principle of informality. And, so, he established unity via the Garden’s open spaces—the importance of which he wrote about assuredly in his 1954 memoir: Visiting gardens informally with my , while also observing other visitors, has been a great way to see how learning takes place in different kinds of gardens. The gardens we The Key: Open Spaces visited vary widely in size, age, budget, collecting focus and style of interpretation. Never- The entire plan is essentially an articulated complex of openings. The necessity of theless, I observed three common elements among the visitors to all gardens. open spaces was obvious, for without well-defined openings, no scenic effects, would be possible. They were necessary in order to assure light to bordering trees At Fairchild First, garden visitors are overwhelmingly drawn to the plants that have special value for and opportunity for growth. Open spaces, furthermore, could be compared to rooms humanity. This is true for people of all ages, but especially for children. Plants that provide and corridors in a picture gallery, where the walls carry the things displayed. The At Fairchild, we have interpretation food, medicine, clothing and shelter, as well as the plants that have religious significance, all more wall developed, the more effective would be the use of land. within our tropical fruit and edible have the most engaging stories and attract the greatest attention. garden collections, but there are Phillips went on to describe the underlying principles for the open spaces: variety, opportunities for us to provide more Second, it is clear that children enjoy playing an active role in teaching and learning. At Fair- information about other useful consistency and contrast. child, we often see children leading their families around the garden and explaining what plants. This is especially true within they have learned in our K-12 Explorer, Discovery and Challenge programs. It was interest- our rainforest and Caribbean plant Variety. The openings between planting masses or plots are never twice alike; they collections. Dr. David Fairchild ing to see the same phenomenon in other gardens, where I have often overheard children differ in length, in width, in shape, in orientation, in character. From few points can spent his career studying the teaching their parents and older siblings. any great portion of the Garden be seen, and the visitor is led on from point to point world’s economically and culturally in a well-justified hope of discovering a new kind of interest. The openings were and significant plants, so we have a Third, I am reminded that plants are always the stars of the show in any botanic garden. Even remain the vital elements of the Phillips plan. wealth of information within our with the awe-inspiring architecture and technology on display at Gardens by the Bay and the archives that we must share. Eden Project, those gardens are built around a core of diverse, valuable and well-maintained Consistency. The pattern is of a piece. The lines and shapes are dominantly free, plants. The Ginger Garden at the Singapore Botanic Gardens, the and Alpine casual, irregular, naturalistic, favoring if not absolutely assuring a natural randomness We are increasingly giving high Garden at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and the Jungle exhibit at the Lost Gardens of in planting. school students opportunities to Heligan stand out as botanically and horticulturally rich collections that attract a great deal teach. On weekends, students of attention from visitors. Contrast. There is contrast between large and small openings and masses, between enrolled in our new BioTECH sunny and shady passages, between the close, intimate views on the upland and the magnet high school are stationed It is clear that Fairchild needs to prioritize the diversity and value of our plant collections, broad open views on and over the lowlands. The Overlook is thrust out over the lower edge of the escarpment; the view from it is panoramic. The Palm Glade terrace is set outside our laboratories, where while raising the level of throughout our landscapes. Our rare, unusual and they provide information on our back on the upper edge of the escarpment; the view from it is narrow and deep. spectacular plants will continue to draw the attention of visitors and encourage them to Million Orchid Project and other learn more. Fairchild initiatives. Phillips’ design has been the Garden’s touchstone since its implementation. We adhere to This spring, Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) held a Congress on educa- his principles carefully and with great precision. You can find a copy of Phillips’ memoir tion in botanic gardens, where many new innovations in teaching and interpretation were on our website, if you wish to learn more about how the Garden was designed. And, if you presented. The past week has been a great opportunity for me to see those innovations in wish to experience it in person, come visit and see for yourself how his thoughtful design action around the world, and to distill some common elements that might be useful as we continues to make Fairchild one of the most beautiful gardens in the world. Be sure to stop develop new programs at Fairchild. and appreciate the open spaces: They inform the Garden’s overall beauty, especially during the summer months, when the warmth and allow the open spaces to fill in. Best regards, Summer regards,

Carl Lewis, Ph.D. Director Nannette M. Zapata Chief Operating Officer and Editor in Chief advertisement schedule of events contributors POND PROBLEMS? The official publication of WE ARE YOUR ANSWER! Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden JOYCE MASCHINSKI, editorial staff PH.D. is Fairchild’s WE DO IT RIGHT Conservation Ecologist. She leads editor in chief chief operating officer the South Florida Conservation THE FIRST TIME! Nannette M. Zapata Team, which does both applied and theoretical research on rare 305-251-POND(7663) design Lorena Alban plants of South Florida and the www.PondDoctors.NET U.S. Caribbean. She received production manager her B.S. and master’s degrees at Licensed/Insured Gaby Orihuela the University of Arizona and her doctorate from Northern features writers Arizona University. Georgia Tasker Kenneth Setzer Richard Lyons’’ Nursery inc.inc. Rare & Unusual Tropical Trees & Plants staff contributors Flowering •• FruitFruit •• NativeNative •• PalmPalm •• BambooBamboo •• HeliconiaHeliconia Richard Campbell, Ph.D. JENNIFER POSSLEY Hummingbird •• BonsaiBonsai && ButterButterflyfly Erin Fitts has been a field biologist at Mike Freedman PROUD MEMBER OF Fairchild since 2001. Her Marilyn Griffiths Festivals Lectures Walking Tours responsibilities include mapping Nancy Korber 23RD ANNUAL COMMERCIAL WINGED WONDERS Noris Ledesma, Ph.D. and monitoring the rare flora of INTERNATIONAL GROWERS’ SUMMIT AND THE PLANTS Miami-Dade County, and she www.RichardLyonsNursery.comwww.RichardLyonsNursery.com Brooke LeMaire THEY LOVE Joyce Maschinsky, Ph.D. MANGO FESTIVAL AT FAIRCHILD has special interests in and [email protected]@RichardLyonsNursery.com Year-round Jennifer Possley Featuring: Friday, July 10 non-native invasive plants. Prior @lycheeman1@lycheeman1 onon TwitterTwitter Every Saturday and Sunday Niki Saylor The of 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. to joining Fairchild’s staff, she Nursery:Nursery: 2020020200 S.W.S.W. 134134 Ave.,Ave., MiamiMiami 10:00 - 11:30 a.m. Alison Walker Saturday and Sunday, RSVP required. earned a Bachelor of Arts in Phone:Phone: 305-251-6293305-251-6293 •• fax:fax: 305-324-1054305-324-1054 DISCOVERING THE biology from Kalmazoo College Mail:Mail: 12301230 N.W.N.W. 7th7th StSt •• Miami,Miami, FLFL 3312533125 copy editors July 11 and 12 RAINFOREST and a Master of Science in Mary Collins 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Special July and August, agronomy from the University Rochelle Broder-Singer TH 16 ANNUAL MANGO Programs Every Saturday and Sunday of Florida. Kenneth Setzer BRUNCH 11:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. advertising information VOLUNTEER Sunday, July 12 ALISON WALKER, Leslie Bowe INFORMATION DAYS 11:00 a.m. Saturday, August 22 Fairchild’s youth education 305.667.1651, ext. 3338 Family Fun RSVP required, 10:00 a.m. manager, has a love for previous editors THE BUZZ ON tickets $100/$125 Tuesday, August 25 teaching people about the 1945-50 HONEYBEES Have you taken a 10:00 a.m. power of plants through school Lucita Wait 1950-56 TH Saturday and Sunday, 77 ANNUAL MEMBERS’ Thursday, August 27 and community gardens. With Nixon Smiley 1956-63 September 12 and 13 walking tour lately? DAY PLANT 1:00 p.m. degrees in plant sciences and Lucita Wait 1963-77 SALE AT FAIRCHILD 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. entomology, she uses her For weekday and weekend Ann Prospero 1977-86 Saturday and Sunday, horticultural background and schedules, please visit Karen Nagle 1986-91 Plant ID L.E.A.F. (Let’s Explore October 3 and 4 at Fairchild) her education experience to www.fairchildgarden.org/walkingtours Nicholas Cockshutt 1991-95 Workshops provide training, workshops Susan Knorr 1995-2004 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Drop-in family program 1:00 p.m. on the at the Learning Garden and support for students and FAIRCHILD TROPICAL BOTANIC GARDEN The Tropical Garden Volume 70, 6TH ANNUAL teachers, using gardens as an Number 3. Summer 2015. following Fridays: September through BIRD FESTIVAL outdoor classroom. The Tropical Garden is published quarterly. July 3 November, Subscription is included in membership dues. Saturday and Sunday Every second and © FTBG 2015, ISSN 2156-0501 August 7 October 1 and 2 September 4 fourth weekend All rights reserved. No part of this publication MARTIN MOTES, may be reproduced without permission. 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. October 2 10:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. PH.D., a Fairchild research November 6 fellow, is a native Miamian who FALL GARDEN FESTIVAL, has grown and studied orchids FEATURING THE 75TH Accredited by the American Association of Plant Show for 60 years. The author of three Museums, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden ANNUAL RAMBLE books and articles on orchids, is supported by contributions from members Friday, Saturday and Sales he has spoken at several World and friends, and in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, and Sunday, THE INTERNATIONAL Orchid Conferences and at the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, the John November 13, 14 and 15 AROID SOCIETY SHOW numerous other national and D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the This schedule of events is ON THE COVERS National Endowment for the Arts, the Institute of 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. AND SALE subject to change. For up-to-the- international forums. He is Panoramic, aerial view looking east across Museum and Library Services, the Miami-Dade minute information, please call the Lowlands and the historic Garden Club of Saturday and Sunday, an adviser to the Fairchild County Tourist Development Council, the Miami- 305.667.1651 or visit America Amphitheater, the Landbridge, and September 19 and 20 MillionOrchid Project. Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the www.fairchildgarden.org/events Glade, Royal and Coconut Lakes. Notice Key Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Biscayne peeking out in the far distance. Mayor and Board of County Commissioners and Photo by Gaby Orihuela/FTBG with the support of the City of Coral Gables. SUMMER 2015 7 fairchild get in on the conservation board of trustees

Bruce W. Greer President Louis J. Risi Jr. Senior Vice President & Treasurer Charles P. Sacher Vice President Suzanne Steinberg Vice President Jennifer Stearns Buttrick Vice President L. Jeanne Aragon Vice President & Assistant Secretary Joyce J. Burns Secretary Leonard L. Abess Membership Alejandro J. Aguirre Fairchild’s Jason Downing and student Sydney Ramsamooj plant endangered orchids at Jose Marti MAST Academy. Anne Badour AT FAIRCHILD Nancy Batchelor Fairchild Staff Helps Jose Marti MAST Academy Norman J. Benford Membership Categories Your Benefits... Faith F. Bishock Students Plant Endangered Orchids We have expanded and added membership • Free daily admission throughout the year Bruce E. Clinton Fairchild staff visited Jose Marti MAST Academy in Hialeah last May to help plant the first categories to better fit your needs: • Free admission to all daytime events and art exhibitions Martha O. Clinton round of native orchids the students have been propagating as part of Fairchild’s Million Swanee DiMare • Free admission to the Wings of the Tropics Exhibit Orchid Project. The project aims to reintroduce 1 million endangered orchids to South José R. Garrigó Florida’s public spaces through the process of micropropagation. • Free parking Individual $90 Kenneth R. Graves Admits one adult • Free admission to all Members-only events, including Willis D. Harding Jose Marti MAST is one of 30 schools participating in the annual Fairchild Challenge Dual $110 Members’ Lectures, Moonlight Tours, the Members’ Day Patricia M. Herbert education competition that have elected to add the Million Orchid Project to their Plant Sale and select Members-only evening events Admits two adults Robert M. Kramer, Esq. curriculum. The students began by propagating the orchids in flasks and charting their Family $135 • Quick Admit at all admission points James Kushlan, Ph.D. growth in their classroom lab. Then they built a shadehouse, where the orchids continued Admits two adults and • Subscription to the award-winning magazine Lin L. Lougheed, Ph.D. to mature. Finally, the students worked alongside school faculty and Fairchild staff to children of members (17 and under) The Tropical Garden Tanya Masi install the mature orchids on trees in their . Grandparents $125 • Discounts on all ticketed day or evening events Bruce C. Matheson Students will continue to measure the orchids’ growth rate. They are contributing to an Admits two adults and grandchildren • Discounts at The Shop at Fairchild Peter R. McQuillan of members (17 and under) David Moore important conservation project, and their calculations will be key to the success of the • Discounts and priority registration for Million Orchid Project. Family and Friends $170 adult education classes and seminars Stephen D. Pearson, Esq. John K. Shubin, Esq. Admits four adults and children • Discounts to kids’ summer camps of members (17 and under) Janá Sigars-Malina, Esq. • Discounts on a wide variety of products and services James G. Stewart Jr., M.D. Fairchild Researcher Earns Sustaining $250 from participating Branch Out partners Admits four adults and children of members Vincent A. Tria Jr. Prestigious Grant • Free or discounted admission** to more than 500 other (17 and under). Receives six gift admission Angela W. Whitman gardens, arboreta and museums in the U.S. and abroad The National Science Foundation has awarded a Doctoral passes ($150 value) Ann Ziff (**certain restrictions may apply) Dissertation Improvement Grant to Emily Warschefsky, a Signature $500 Raymond F. Baddour, Sc.D. participant in Fairchild Graduate Studies as a Ph.D. candidate in For more information, please call Admits four adults and children of members Dr. Eric von Wettberg’s lab at Florida International University. the membership department at Clifford W. Mezey (17 and under). Receives eight gift admission 305.667.1651, ext. 3362 or visit T. Hunter Pryor, M.D. This grant supports Warschefsky’s research on the evolution and passes ($200 value) www.fairchildgarden.org/Membership Trustees Emeriti domestication genetics of the mango ( indica) and its wild relatives. Warschefsky will use the funding to sequence DNA Carl E. Lewis, Ph.D. from hundreds of samples of mango cultivars and wild Mangifera Director from around the world—including more than 100 mango Nannette M. Zapata, M.S./MBA cultivars grown at The Fairchild Farm. In addition, Warschefsky fairchild tropical botanic garden Emily Warschefsky Chief Operating Officer Photo by Gaby Orihuela/FTBG will visit botanic gardens throughout Southeast Asia to study and collect samples from Mangifera species in their living collections. Palm Conservation and Plant Exploration tropical cuisine in Northern Haiti A joint expedition representing botanical gardens of the U.S., Haiti and the Dominican Republic recently traveled to confirm the existence of Coccothrinax jimenezii in Haiti. A newly described species, C. jimenezii was first found on the shoreline of Lago Enriquillo, Dominican Republic, where fewer than 20 of the palms grow. On this expedition, 43 additional individuals of this species were found near the coast just west of Gonaïves, Haiti. The researchers also visited Making places and collected plants that had not been documented botanically in the last 85 years, since the great Swedish botanist Erik L. Ekman explored these areas. Botanists on this trip included Fairchild’s Dr. Brett Jestrow, Jardin Botanique Mango“Candy” des Cayes’ William Cinea and Angelo Joseph (Haiti), as well as Brígido Peguero of Jardín Botánico Nacional de la República Dominicana. This expedition was primarily supported by the Mohamed Bin Zayed Species By Noris Ledesma, Ph.D. Conservation Fund, as C. jimenezii is one of the most threatened palms of the Caribbean. The conservation project was administered and organized by Dried Mango Slices Expedition members sailing to the Île de la Fairchild researcher and Florida International University faculty member Tortue off the north coast of Haiti. Dr. Javier Francisco-Ortega. or years, mangos have been of great value in South or Leather Florida, grown with pride in the garden—a fruit to Ingredients: Mangos eat when ripe and at all stages of growth. Enjoying Grant Supports Fairchild’s truly fresh mangos is a Floridian’s privilege, but Equipment needed: Electric dehydrator South Florida Landscaping Fthere are also many ways to preserve the fruit. Since this is a wonderful year for mangos, it is an opportunity to preserve The climate in South Florida is too rainy and humid during Project some of the harvest. One of my favorite ways is by making the mango season for sun-drying of fruit to be practical. Electric dehydrators are the most convenient method for The Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust has awarded mango candy. drying mangos here. Several good dehydrators are available. a grant to Fairchild to support “Broadening the Dried fruit has a long tradition, dating back to 4,000 years Elsewhere, in regions where there is little and low Palette of Landscape Plants in South Florida.” This ago in Mesopotamia, and is prized because of its sweet atmospheric humidity, the fruit can be dried in the sun. June, Fairchild staff members Jason Lopez, Tiffany taste, nutritive value and long shelf life. Drying is an For drying slices, select ripe, firm mangos. Avoid fruits that Lum, Dr. Brett Jestrow, and Dr. Chad Husby excellent way to preserve mango fruit. In the form of dried are too soft and mushy, as they are difficult to slice and will visited nurseries in for possible new slices or fruit leather, the mango makes a delicious, sweet, result in slices that are dark in color. introductions to South Florida landscapes. The all-natural, healthy candy containing fiber, vitamins and newly acquired plants will be tested at Fairchild minerals. Most people like it, and kids just love it! Peel the fruit with a sharp knife and cut out any defective for suitability to our climate and for ornamental parts. Cut off the two sides, or “cheeks,” of the pulp, and then value. We expect to use the Stanley Smith award Drying does not change the flavor of the natural fruit, and cut off the two remaining narrow pieces from the edges of the to produce a slate of great new plants to distribute in many fruit the color retention is excellent. They can be seed. Discard the peels and seeds for . to our members and visitors. We look forward to stored in a small space, and be beautiful gifts. sharing our discoveries with you! Cut the pieces of pulp into lengthwise slices ¼ inch to ½ inch thick. Arrange the slices flat on the dehydrating trays. Place the trays into the dehydrator.

Set the temperature between 125°F and 135° F, and let the Microbes and Plant Health dehydrator run until the slices reach the desired consistency. We have recently learned that microbes in our own digestive tracts affect our Slices that are too soft or moist do not store well. Drying time digestion and metabolism. The same is true for plants. Chris Krieg, a researcher depends upon the thickness of the slices, the amount of fruit with Fairchild and Florida International University faculty member Dr. Eric in the dehydrator and the humidity. In South Florida, drying von Wettberg, along with their partners at Dicle University in and the times of eight to 10 hours are typical. However, check a few University of California at Davis, have been working to better understand hours earlier to avoid burning the fruit. Properly dried slices the relationship between specific microbes and plant health. The researchers have a beautiful golden-yellow color. have been systematically pairing different wild and cultivated chickpea varieties with the bacterial communities in from various natural in Dried mango slices or leather should be placed in closed bags Turkey. This work has the potential to help harness beneficial bacteria that can soon after drying. If they are left in a humid atmosphere without convert atmospheric nitrogen into a form that fertilizes plants or that protects protection, they will take up moisture and soften considerably. against disease in agricultural systems. Such a discovery would be beneficial The bags of dried slices or leather should not be stored at room in both the developing and developed worlds. temperature for more than a few days in hot weather, as they will ferment or develop mold on their surface and become inedible. L-R Dried mango products can be kept in a refrigerator successfully Dicle University doctoral student Fatma Basdemir and Dicle University College of faculty and administrators Cuma Akinci, Bekir Bukun and Mehmet Yildirim for at least two years or in a freezer for at least three years. inspect the growth of wild chickpea in the university’s in Diyarbakir, Turkey. advertisement what’s blooming Professional Real Estate Services for over 40 years CLASSES Estates AT FAIRCHILD Single Family Residences July through December Condominiums Registration is open! Major Commercial Properties www.fairchildgarden.org/classes worldwide connections. local expertise.

William Meyersohn Broker Associate Cellular: 305.343.5243 Direct Office: 305.668.1629 Main Office: 305.662.9975 Facsimile: 305.662.9986 Email: [email protected] 7500 Red Road, Suite A | South Miami, FL 33143

FAIRCHILD TROPICAL BOTANIC GARDEN

BloomingWhat’s This Summer Gala in the Garden By Marilyn Griffiths Photos by Marilyn Grifiths, Susan -Collins and Paolo Guillioli

SAVE THE DATE A stroll through the shady Tropical Flowering Tree Arboretum Saturday, February 6, 2016 provides a refreshing respite from the heat of the summer. As you wander through this lovely area, you’ll see the original terraced plots lined with limestone rock. This was one of the first areas of the Garden designed by William Lyman Phillips, the Garden’s landscape designer. Each plot fairchild tropical botanic garden contains representatives of a different plant family. Many of the trees are the original plantings from the 1930s and 1940s. Let’s take a look at what’s flowering during the summer. This summer By Natalie white- Catesbaea spinosa spectabilis Kigelia africana Stemmadenia litoralis the fun International Mango Festival, July 11-12 native to and , blooms Visitors to Fairchild can obtain a plot Kigelia africana (sausage tree) is Nothing says summer at Fairchild like the International Mango abundantly in the summer. The flowers map of the Garden, which includes a a large tree in Plot 29, the Bignoniaceae Festival! On July 11 and 12, join us for an exploration of the king of are a brilliant orange-red with a glowing list of currently flowering plants, upon family plot. Long, pendulous stems are tropical fruit. You can learn how to cook with mangos and how to yellow center and are surrounded by arrival and at any of the information adorned with large, cup-shaped burgundy is at grow them, plus take part in mango tasting. Did you know there are deep-green, crisp . Our best stations located throughout the grounds. flowers. Since they are traditionally more than 600 varieties? Trees carefully selected by our curators specimens are in Plot 21 at the base of the Volunteers at the Visitor Center desk also pollinated by bats, the flowers open at will also be available for purchase. There are also fun activities for Overlook near the tram road. have a complete list of Fairchild’s plants. night when bats are active, although trees the family! Come and enjoy the sticky sweet summery event! at Fairchild are hand-pollinated. Once Our website is an invaluable resource for Stemmadenia litoralis (milky way Garden information, including the lists pollinated, the flowers produce long, fairchild tree) has a well-proportioned shape and Fairchild Summer Camp sausage-shaped fruits. The woody fruits of plants with their locations, organized pale bark contrasting with deep green Most of our events have activities for kids, but if your kids really are eaten by many animals, from baboons by both common and scientific names, a leaves. A member of the Apocynaceae want to dig in deep, Fairchild Summer Camp is the way to go! We to elephants, and are used in traditional downloadable map of the Garden with plot family, you’ll see the resemblance to its offer two options: KoolScience and Junior Naturalist. Both options African herbal medicine. You may see numbers, helpful horticultural information relative, Plumeria, in the swirled white will introduce your child to the wonders of nature and the world of open flowers on the ground under the tree, and What’s Blooming information for each flowers. The blooms provide a delicate science. It’s the perfect way to make learning fun. and unopened, attractive buds may still month of the year. fragrance evoking early-morning freshness. be on the rope-like stems. Other members Stemmadenia is in Plot 47, along with Plan Your Staycation at Fairchild of the Bignoniaceae family in this plot other members of the Apocynaceae family. Summer means holidays and vacation with the family. Where better may also be flowering now, including to enjoy your staycation that at Fairchild? Stroll through the Garden Catalpa longissima, Markhamia lutea and The citrus family, , is a large one and discover new spots through a self-discovery walk, or explore Radermachia sp. ‘.’ containing not only the familiar orange butterflies and their host plants on our Winged Wonders and the and lime, but also many ornamental Plants They Love tour every weekend. Volunteers will be waiting (lily-thorn) in Catesbaea spinosa plants. An unusual species, Ravenia for you at the Rainforest, where every Saturday and Sunday from Plot 24 is a member of the 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. you can hear interesting stories about the spectabilis has been in our 34 family. This small tree is native to Cuba Rutaceae plot, Plot 39, for 50 plants and animals that inhabit this diverse ecosystem. For walking and and lives up to its years. A lovely ornamental tour details, please remember to check the website at common name—spines are interspersed shrub, it produces an 39 www.fairchildgarden.org/Visit/Tram-Walking-Tours and inquire at between the small, deep-green leaves. But abundance of pink the Visitor Center’s information desk upon arrival. the pendulous flowers more than make up flowers surrounded 29 for the spines: small, creamy-white, lily- by glossy, deep-green 47 Butterflies: A Flight of Summertime Fancy! shaped blooms cover the tree, which was leaves. It is native Stroll through the Wings of the Tropics exhibit and be amazed and planted in 1941. to Cuba and 24 captivated by its incredible landscape, flowering plants and Hispaniola. hummingbirds, plus the stars of the show: thousands of tropical Another member of the Rubiaceae family 21 butterflies. There’s lots to see and learn. After, head inside the is Rondeletia odorata (Panama- Glasshouse Cafe to take a break while continuing to enjoy the rose). This wonderful shrub, which is marvelous winged beauties.

Visit www.fairchildgarden.org to find the current year’s list of flowering plants for each month. Bauer, who has been chair of the Friends of Fairchild vis-a-vis volunteers (FOF) for the past four years, has been a volunteer at Fairchild for more than 20 years. As a tram guide of 17 years, he enjoys sharing his knowledge and love of plants with Garden visitors. He also volunteers with the Plants and People Horticultural Therapy program and is a great ambassador for Fairchild— Expressing Thanks and Gratitude to Our Volunteers both within and outside the Garden gates.

Hurst was incredibly surprised to be named a Volunteer of the Year, and she was deeply grateful Fairchild’s Annual Volunteer for the recognition of her 10 years of service. She’s made tremendous contributions assisting the membership department with database management, and as a Wings of the Tropics greeter and South Gate Appreciation Brunch receptionist, she ensures a pleasant experience for Garden visitors. Hurst’s enthusiasm, willing attitude Some of the 2015 Anniversary Pin recipients gathered together after the Brunch. More than 90 volunteers received pins acknowledging their service By Niki Saylor. Photos by Arielle Simon and Kenneth Setzer. and passion for the Garden are qualities to be admired. anniversaries, extending from five to 40 years.

At the brunch, Fairchild also honored the 2015 Volunteer Team of the Year: The Ramble Antiques and 2015 Anniversary Pin Recipients Collectibles Committee. Comprised of 17 volunteers, ore than 350 Fairchild volunteers were headed by Dorothy Errera, this committee works 20 years Jean Southwood feted and celebrated for their dedicated 2015 together for many months behind the scenes, collecting Carl Bauer Nan Spiegel and invaluable service to the Garden at Volunteers of Willis D. Harding Jane Sprogis donations and polishing, cleaning and pricing Fairchild’s annual Volunteer Appreciation the Year Mary Rose Karen Steinberg-Lewis goods to get them ready to sell at the Ramble. Their Marianne Swan Brunch on April 1. The celebration began before the Ted Adelman 15 years M collaborative efforts come to full fruition on Ramble Carl Bauer Evelyn Tallon Shirley Berckmans volunteers even entered the brunch, as they chatted and Stephanie Thorman morning, when buyers swoop in to find their treasures, Cornelia Hurst Terry Blechman laughed with new and old friends, enjoyed soft guitar Melody Trott Jack Broman with proceeds benefitting the Garden’s programs. Pete Vandervlugt strumming and were surrounded by zebra longwing 2015 Volunteer Marnie Broman Howard Williams butterflies fluttering in the morning sun. Volunteers Marjorie Brown In addition to the Volunteer and Volunteer Team Team of the Stephanie Williams excitedly anticipate the annual event, which honors their Year Beth Collinsworth of the Year awards, more than 90 volunteers were Swanee DiMare 5 years contributions of talent, effort and time. With 77,000 hours Ramble Antiques & awarded pins recognizing their service anniversaries, Edith Einspruch Ted Adelman Collectibles Committee given by more than 750 active volunteers during 2014, Roselle Foster Margie Askins extending from five to 40 years.Volunteer Brenda Polly Carico there was much to celebrate. Pat Hackett Jim Berlin Ann Chitty Whitney expressed her appreciation for the annual Jane Iversen Sonia Calderon Dorothy Errera brunch, saying, “It is a privilege to work at Fairchild. Susan Lustbader Diane Chasin The horticulture staff beautifully decorated the Lakeside José Garrigó Shelly Mascaro Nancy Cliff All the staff, everywhere in the Garden, are so kind Susanne Kayyali Marquee with Garden plants including bougainvillea and Jackie McAlonan Rosie Flores and friendly to all of us.” For staff, the volunteers are Jan Luykx jade vine clippings, bottle brush flowers, monstera leaves Jill Sidran Bernadette Formoso Sigrid McNeil essential, and they feel it’s their privilege to work Jana Sigars-Malina Cathy Gilewicz and fruit of nearby pandanus. To show their appreciation (L-R) Garden Director Dr. Carl Lewis and 2015 Volunteers of the Petsy Mezey Year Cornelia Hurst, Carl Bauer and Ted Adelman. with all the amazing people who serve as Fairchild Vincent Tria, Jr. Connie Herrera to the volunteers, more than 80 staff members prepared Bev Murphy Jimmy James volunteers. We were grateful to have this chance to Hélène Pancoast 10 years delicious fare, ranging from Croatian Crêpes to Masala John Kennedy tell them so! Josef Pommer Shelley Adelman Chicken and from Lemony Lentil and Chickpea Salad to Floyd Krause Doris Rudnick Herb Allenson Ferris added that, “By supporting the Garden’s vital Ruth Krieger Spanish Rice Pudding—continuing an eagerly-anticipated Magella Sauve Mary Ann Baldoquin Muriel Lusenti annual tradition. mission, volunteers create a better community and Neice Schreiber Carolann Baldyga Frank Macaluso Melody Trott Joyce Berman world.” She also announced three Volunteers of the Jacquelyn McCarthy Ricki Weyhe Elaine Brockhouse The brunch included speeches from Fairchild Director Year, who exemplify this supporting role through their Bob McMillan Hallie Yanno Polly Carico Dr. Carl Lewis, Board of Trustees President Bruce Greer dedication and commitment: Ted Adelman, Carl Bauer Dianne Clancy Bob Mercer and Director of Volunteer Services Arlene Ferris. In his and Cornelia Hurst. Sheila Frazier Andre Naranjo Deborah Olivieri speech, Lewis spoke with gratitude of the ways in which Service Pins Bobbi Garber 40 years Pauline Goldsmith Patty Phares Adelman, with five years of service, was recognized volunteers support the Garden’s mission by educating Bobbe Dooley Susan Hays Eduardo Ramirez students, guiding visitors on tram and walking tours, for teaching with the Discovery, L.E.A.F. and Weekend Bev Murphy Everett Hoffman Joy Reid promoting Garden memberships, maintaining the beauty Educator programs, for driving the shuttle two days a William P. Murphy Cornelia Hurst Juan Riera Jean Ross week and for his leadership as a Wings of the Tropics Day 35 years Don Lindsay of the Garden through horticulture, contributing to South Yevette Shapiro T. Hunter Pryor Jane Morrison Florida conservation through the Million Orchid Project Captain. In his thank-you speech, he acknowledged the Janet Mosely Peter Siegel and more. Greer expressed his heartfelt thanks to the Garden’s founders and thanked the staff for working so 25 years Susan Muci Richard Stuart Charlie Keppie† Trish Swinney volunteers as well, saying, “Fairchild couldn’t do all it hard so that he could “come play in the Garden.” Pam Normandia Louis J. Risi, Jr. Donna Rich Karen Turner Volunteers enjoyed delicious fare prepared by Fairchild staff and does without the volunteers.” Ellen Roth Camilo Villamizar celebrated at the annual brunch held in their honor. (Bottom left Mary Weirich to right) Wings of the Tropics volunteers Alejandra Villamil, Lucy Diane Rourke Petrey, Nina Delgado, Susan Hills, Liz Trifiletti, Jane Anne Pincus Ybis Sanabria and Tere Sproul. 16 THE TROPICAL GARDEN SUMMER 2015 17 explaining Volunteering The at Fairchild Transformative Become a Fairchild volunteer and let a Nature of few hours of your time blossom into a world School Gardens of new experiences! By Alison Walker. Photos by Fairchild Staff Fairchild volunteers serve the Garden, The benefits of planting seeds in a school the community and the world through their hands-on participation in Fairchild’s garden are many. As the popularity of school programs and activities, while meeting gardens grows, so does the wealth of research others who share their interest in plants and demonstrating their benefits. gardens. Current volunteer opportunities range from hosting to helping with the Wings chool gardens have been shown garden consultations and providing of the Tropics exhibit and guiding visitors. to have a positive impact on grants—as well as student achievement and to drawing on the wealth of expertise To learn more about becoming a Fairchild significantly increase science represented across the Garden. As the volunteer and how you can help the Stest scores, improve social skills and students benefit, so do South Florida behavior, increase nutrition knowledge, ecosystems. More than 25 elementary Garden grow, come to one of our Volunteer raise consumption of fruits and schools have installed pine rockland Information Days. vegetables and improve environmental gardens at their schools through stewardship and respect for nature. This Fairchild’s Connect to Protect Network, research comes at a time when U.S. while 30 high schools are growing Saturday, August 22, 10:00 a.m. students are scoring below international native orchids as part of Fairchild’s Tuesday, August 25, 10:00 a.m. averages in standardized testing, Million Orchid Project. food-related diseases are becoming a The diversity of school gardens TOP Thursday, August 27, 1:00 p.m. national epidemic, less than 2% of U.S. A student from Arch Creek Elementary children eat the recommended serving is as wide as the diversity of the harvests tomatoes for a fresh and of vegetables and research shows that plant kingdom itself: We see native delicious salad. For reservations and additional information gardens, wildlife gardens, food BOTTOM children are not getting outside enough. Students from Bel-Aire Elementary proudly please call 305.667.1651 ext. 3360. forests, sensory gardens, medicinal show off everything they have learned in Through The Fairchild Challenge, gardens, cultural gardens and more. their garden. Can’t make it this time? Additional approximately 20,000 students at The variety of activities that the more than 120 K-12 schools across gardens support is impressive as well. Volunteer Information Days will be held in Miami-Dade County plant, maintain, In the garden, students are writing January. We hope to see you soon! grow, learn and thrive in their school poetry and learning new vocabulary; gardens. The Fairchild Challenge doing observations, measurements, supports schools’ gardening efforts by comparisons and graphing; growing FAIRCHILD TROPICAL BOTANIC GARDEN conducting teacher workshops, offering food for homeless shelters; using

SUMMER 2015 19 artistic skills to make brochures and leader. When we visited the school, that CALLING ALL AMATEUR maps to tell the story of their garden; student stood up in front of the whole meeting local farmers and learning group and presented his garden poem to about the importance of sustainable us, living proof that school gardens can agriculture; learning about resource transform individuals and communities. PHOTOGRAPHERS! conservation through rain barrels and composting; and understanding that Lastly, the garden offers an important Snap your best photo of a South Florida not all bugs are bad—and that bees, opportunity for students to develop bird for a chance at winning this year’s butterflies and ladybugs are all an a sense of stewardship. There is important part of a healthy garden growing concern about “nature deficit competition, a featured part of Fairchild’s ecosystem. School gardens are a disorder,” a term coined by Richard annual Bird Festival. wonderful springboard for learning Louv in his insightful book, “Last Child about plants and science, as well as in the Woods.” This generation will Please submit the completed application and digital topics across the curriculum. grow up to be voters and policymakers. photo entries by Friday, September 18, 2015. How can we expect them to protect The value of experiencing this in a our precious natural resources if Visit www.fairchildgarden.org/birdfestival hands-on, real-world context cannot they have not had an opportunity to be overestimated. Students who do personally connect with nature? For for the application form and poorly in the classroom often excel in many students, especially in urban more information. a garden setting. A school garden gives Miami-Dade County, school gardens students the invaluable opportunity to are one of the few opportunities for Photo by Ignacio Carrera make real-world observations based them to experience that connection. on scientific concepts learned in the classroom. Every year, teachers tell There are many measures of success fairchild tropical botanic garden us stories of students who finally that can be observed in the garden, understand a concept once they whether it is a child trying broccoli are able to witness it in the garden. flowers for the first time and loving School gardens are also known as them, a second grader wanting nothing D.D.M. HORTICULTURE SERVICES, INC. an “education equalizer,” in which but a composter for her birthday or A Design, Build and Maintenance Company. students of all different abilities can a group of older students mentoring work together and learn from each their younger cohorts. Many of these other. Teachers tell us that the garden students go home and encourage their is the one place that their AP students families to begin a garden, which is a can work collaboratively with students great measure of success. who have special needs or disabilities. But for us, some of the most gratifying In addition to the academic lessons to moments are found in the feedback we be had in the garden, there are also get from teachers and students. Here is invaluable life lessons. Students learn just a small sample to leave you with: the important concepts of responsibility, cooperation, collaboration, patience “Our garden makes me feel TOP responsible because the plants there A rain barrel helps students from Phyllis and respect. In the garden, the lines Ruth Miller Elementary practice water that separate different cultures and depend on me. They need us and we conservation. generations dissolve. Students can need them.” —2nd grade student ABOVE become teachers, and individuals Students at Southside Museums Magnet “The garden is an act of love. It is a Elementary work together to beautify their from very different backgrounds find garden oasis, which is tucked in between place where we all get together and common ground, literally. One teacher downtown Miami high-rises. help our environment. When you told us of a student who didn’t speak work in the garden, you help nature a word for the first several weeks of and you also help your community. school. Once the class began to work The garden makes me feel like a good To learn more about Fairchild’s on its school garden, the student slowly person.” —4th grade student school garden efforts, visit began to open up, and eventually grew www.fairchildchallenge.org. into the garden spokesperson and Debra DeMarco www.ddmhorticulture.com 6790 SW 74 Street B.S. Ornamental Horticulture. Tel. (305) 663 0993 Cel. (305) 710 8848 South Miami, FL 33143 20 THE TROPICAL GARDEN conserving

SAVING SKY ISLAND SPECIES IN By Joyce Maschinski, Ph.D. and Jennifer Possley RIGHT Jennifer Possley and Yahaida Camacho pause briefly behind the federally endangered PREVIOUS PAGE elfin tree fernCyathea dryopteroides. Looking north from Sierra Bermeja. Photo by Joyce Maschinski/FTBG Photo by Jennifer Possley/FTBG BELOW RIGHT Eureka! This frond of federally endangered Dr. Joyce Maschinski and Puerto Rican Polystichum calderonense is full of ripe colleagues carefully descend down a spores and has a proliferous bud at the tip. culvert toward a fern . We can propagate new ferns from both. Photo by Jennifer Possley/FTBG Photo by O. Monsegur

If you wanted to pinpoint places on into a huge sinkhole. Mogotes are isolated, Carefully stepping across jagged limestone individual plants where we were able to Earth where you would find the greatest steep-sided hills with a rounded, tower like boulders, our party of six professional collect fronds with ripe spores. Unlike the diversity of plants, where would you form that are surrounded by plains. Karst botanists hunted for the elusive fern. And we fern habitat of Tectaria or Polystichum, look? What qualities would you seek? regions are characterized by limestone and found three! this was an elfin forest. All the trees had Mild tropical climate? Variable ? dolomite, where drainage mainly occurs via comparatively low stature, though they still IDiverse topography? Indeed. Another an underground river system, Puerto Rico’s We also pursued this fern in two other towered above us. These elfin tree ferns characteristic to consider is isolation, the northern karst region is quite wet and green. locations. Each supported dense thickets of share habitat with large tree ferns, giving the essential ingredient for speciation (the As we peered into the sinkhole, it looked vegetation, so that our searches reminded us forest a beautiful tiered effect. creation of new and distinct species through like an algae-covered concrete culvert gave of hunting for a needle in a haystack. At one evolution). Throughout the planet, oceanic us the easiest way down. If the algae had site, it seemed miraculous that Jennifer Possley Surrounding this sky island was a formidable islands and sky islands (or mountains) been thick enough, we could have slid found a T. estremerana. Finding so few plants perimeter of weedy grasses and aggressive, support many unique plants and animals. down without shredding our clothing or certainly caused us concern and highlighted thorny Hypolepis ferns (similar to bracken, And sky islands on oceanic islands are injuring our bodies, but, alas, it was not, so the urgency of our conservation efforts. but with spines), which most likely deter all exquisite biodiversity hotspots (regions with we made do by scooting on our thick-soled but the most fern-obsessed visitors. On another day, on yet another mountain, significant numbers of species under threat). hiking boots in a crouched position, gingerly we scrambled to the summit of La Silla de In southwestern Puerto Rico, we visited the standing and grabbing onto any available Calderón (elevation: 3,700 feet) in Monte tropical dry forest in the Sierra Bermeja Although most people travel to Puerto Rico non-poisonous branches for dear life as we Guilarte State Forest in Puerto Rico’s mountain range (ranging from 600 to 1,000 to play along its beautiful beaches or in its made our descent. In hindsight, we should west. We were in search of Polystichum feet), where the U.S. Fish and Wildlife lovely cities, last fall we headed uphill to have brought ropes. the highest peaks in the north and southwest calderonense, a fern species only known Service has a small preserve. Most of the of the “La Isla del Encanto,” where few Once we got into the sinkhole, a fairyland from two mountaintops. Our climb range comprises private ranches or ‘fincas’. people go. There, sky islands host many rare of ferns opened before us, nodding and rewarded us with breathtaking views and an Volcanic, serpentine, chert, red clay plants that need conserving due to threats of dripping from the morning rain. All around opportunity to collect spores and the tiny and amphibolite rock formations are the development, invasive species and climate us, ferns grew on rocky outcrops, crevices, buds that are borne on the end of fronds. foundation for the unique plant residents.

change. As part of an important recovery living tree trunks, and dead branches. With our botanist colleagues, we climbed At the top of Mt. Jayuya (elevation: effort for seven endangered Puerto Rican Many that had relatives in South Florida we to the peaks in search of four federally 4,260 feet), near the center of the island, endemic species, we made collections for greeted enthusiastically as old friends. But endangered species: grasses University of Puerto Rico graduate student conservation and research at Fairchild. in this sea of ferns, we sought the critically chaseae and Aristida portoricensis (pelos del Yahaida Camacho has been studying the endangered Tectaria estremerana. Described diablo), aster Vernonia proctorii ( dwarf tree fern, Cyathea dryopteroides We began our first field day in mogote in 1984 and last seen in 1992, we weren’t Lepidaploa proctorii) and heath shrub Lyonia (synonym Alsophila dryopteroides) for the country, in Puerto Rico’s northern karst even sure that this federally endangered truncata var proctorii. Rainfall and plant past two years. She expertly guided us to region, peering over the edge of a highway fern would still be present at this location.

24 THE TROPICAL GARDEN SUMMER 2015 25 SimpsonCharles Torrey

RIGHT Jennifer Possley and Joyce Maschinski with Puerto Rican colleagues. By Georgia Tasker Photo by C. Pacheco Photos by Archives/FTBG BELOW Federally endangered Lyonia truncata var. proctorii. Photo by O. Monsegur

densities were much lower here than in cuttings and recorded GPS locations. In He was called the Sage of Biscayne the fern habitats (they reminded Dr. Joyce some locations, we encountered many Maschinski of Arizona), but the vistas individuals in a cluster, while in other Bay. Already 54 when he moved were equally spectacular. locations they were sparse and spread far and wide. to South Florida, Charles Torrey On the first peak in Sierra Bermeja, a sober shock greeted us. A landslide Our goal was to collect a representative Simpson explored the rocky caused by road construction on unstable sample of the genetic diversity within soils had buried one-third of the Lyonia each population. Capturing seeds, spores prairies and tropical hammocks plants known from this site. We were too or stem cuttings at the perfect stage of late to rescue those plants. The remaining development often proves challenging on of South Florida early in the 20th plants were accessible, but the steep a collecting trip. Even with a trained eye, mountain slopes and unstable scree (the it is difficult to collectAristida seeds and Century, teaching himself what mass of small, loose stones covering the fern spores at the peak of ripeness—and slope) made our collections precarious. the plants don’t always coordinate with grew here, what depended on it What’s more, as we gazed across the our collecting calendar. Nevertheless, landscape, we saw our plants covered we are already beginning to unlock the and how to utilize it. While his with the parasitic love vine, Cassytha secrets to propagating these sky island filiformis. Why would this parasitic species, increasing the likelihood that we friend John Kunkel Small recorded vine target the rarest species on the will be able to safeguard their germplasm slope—and do so with such vengeance? for decades to come at Fairchild, in Puerto what he saw in taxonomic terms, As we spotted our target species along Rico, and at the National Center for the slopes, we collected seeds or stem Genetic Resources Preservation. Simpson was a romantic, given to rhapsodizing about the enchanted ground on which he walked.

We are grateful for funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and for logistical and field support from our host, Omar Monsegur, and colleagues José Cruz Burgos, Iván Llerandi-Román, Carlos Pacheco, José Martinez, Xiomara Labiosa, Ramón Rivera, José Sustache, Jeanine Velez Gavilan, Benjamin van Ee, Rubén Padrón, Yahaida Camacho and José Albarracin. 26 THE TROPICAL GARDEN fter arriving in South Florida in 1903, Simpson spent the next 30 years native palms and mangrove trees,” he told the Daily tramping through the tropical watery wonderland around him. Dr. David News in the 1931 interview. “I was enchanted Fairchild referred to him as the John Muir of Florida. But Marjory Stoneman with the natural beauty of the place and wanted Douglas wrote: “It has been said that if Mr. Simpson had lived in California to rest and study wild life.” His brother Joseph, he would have been considered a second John Muir. To us, he is no second a plant collector in Bradenton, wrote about his anything, but always Charles Torrey Simpson himself. ...” purchase, “If it is a piece of that high hammock on Biscayne Bay just north of Lemon City, then I must Miami’s Simpson Park is named for him, as is Simpson’s stopper, Myrcianthes congratulate you ten thousand times ten thousand fragrans. A native orchid, Calapogon tuberosus var. simpsonii, also honors on the beautiful paradise that you have selected for him. Simpson’s apple cactus, an endangered species, once was named Harrisia your future home.” Asimpsonii thanks to J.K. Small, but now is called Harrisia fragrans. Simpson built his own home, which survived the Tall and strong, Simpson was a self-taught expert on mollusks who had 1926 hurricane but not the Palm Bay Club of later worked for the Smithsonian Institution (with a starting salary of $75 a month). decades. He called it the Sentinels for the two He collected his first freshwater shells as a youngster in Illinois, and ultimately pines in front of it. He designed it to stand 10 feet became an expert on them. He learned to love plants and nature from his above ground. “From basement to rooftop, outside mother, while his schooling was lacking because “parsing a sentence was a and in, it is my own handiwork and after 28 years task beyond me and fractions and mathematics, I just hated. The fields and it stands without a crack or a strain,” he said in woods were my school.” an interview.

Simpson served in the Union army in the Civil War, and then joined the Navy for Henry Nehrling, who collected plants in Gotha, three years. After that, he returned to Illinois and married. “In the next few years, Florida, outside of Orlando, persuaded Simpson to I became a Jack of all trades—farming, carpentering and mining, and for nine write a paper for the Florida Horticultural Society. years I worked an Illinois coal mine,” he told the Miami Daily News in 1931. ”I wrote a paper on Dade county plants and Dr. “While following the plow, it was my custom to carry a little box on the plow Charles Torrey Simpson David Fairchild and Charles Deering liked it so well, they had photographs standing in his hammock at handles and when a shell or specimen was found, I put it in the box and looked taken and had the matter published and distributed free as a guide for plant ABOVE his home, the Sentinels, in Charles Torrey Simpson. up the subject in a book or sent the specimen to the state geological survey.” Little River. growers of this area. Then I got my foot in it. Fairchild wanted me to write BELOW something to help growers of plants and flowers, and I wrote a little book Simpson, left, with Dr. David For a few years, he lived in Bradenton, Florida, and worked as a carpenter. called ‘Ornamental Gardening in Florida.’” Fairchild on the day he He traveled to Honduras for west coast Florida nurseryman Pliny Reasoner, received the Meyer Medal. collecting ornamental plants. He had an affair with his business partner’s wife “Simpson introduced to South Florida a new form of tropical landscape design: and took his family to Nebraska in the wake a departure from formal, geometric plantings,” Rothra wrote. “Influencedby of the scandal. He went bankrupt as a farmer, the American rustic trend seen in other parts of the country, Simpson had yet continued his passion for shell collecting “Simpson introduced demonstrated his concepts on his own grounds at the Sentinels. Now his and wrote scientific papers on them. He innovative ideas would change the way many Floridians viewed their property.” came to the attention of William Dall at the to South Florida a Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of Natural Nature, Simpson wrote, is the great landscape . He liked “banks of History, who offered him a job. new form of tropical shrubs against masses of trees” as well as views in the distance. Planting beds “should be careless and irregular …” And the concern among early botanists At the Smithsonian, he classified and arranged landscape design: a for destruction of natural areas prompted Simpson to recommend, “If one 2,000 species of freshwater mussel shells. has a piece of untouched high pine forest I would suggest that it be left for a His 500-page report, “A Synopsis of the departure from formal, wildwood garden.” Naiades, or Pearly Fresh-Water Mussels” was a reclassification that was a revolutionary geometric plantings.” In 1927, James Pray, chairman of the Harvard School of Landscape work but was criticized by some authorities. Architecture, wrote Simpson, asking for a copy of “Ornamental Gardening in A year later, his biographer Elizabeth Rothra –Elizabeth Rothra Florida” because, ”the first part of it at least is such a clear statement of sound says, he produced a “monumental study of doctrine independent of locality.” 1,540 manuscript pages with 7,600 entries.” It would languish unpublished for 12 years. Liberty Hyde Bailey, David Fairchild, John Gifford, John Kunkel Small, Charles Discouraged, Simpson resigned and moved to Deering, plant people all, knew Simpson and each other. And while they Florida to retire. revolved like planets around the Fairchild sun, Simpson was the sun to South Florida , and his hammock was a favorite out-of-this-world tour. He bought 9½ acres in Little River fronting on Biscayne Bay. “It was a wild jungle of rocks,

28 THE TROPICAL GARDEN SUMMER 2015 29 David Fairchild recalled in “The World Grows Simpson made many excursions to Cuba, bringing Round My Door” that Simpson’s hammock back plants. Eventually Fairchild put him on the included exotic palms. “Beautiful rare orchids Department of Agriculture payroll. In 1927, the and bromeliads were fastened to the oaks. It awarded him an honorary was an education in the of the tropics science doctorate, the school’s first. to wander with this great naturalist through his place and hear him tell about his plants.” He also earned the Meyer medal for plant introduction, about which Marjory Stoneman Fairchild mentions him again in “The World Douglas wrote in 1923, “The quiet and painstaking Was My Garden,” writing, “His charming and often painful work of such scientists as he, personality and unfailing generosity towards working all unnoticed in the of the region, every one who came for information or too often, goes without recognition by the people plants made his place a general rendezvous. whom his work will most benefit. The scientific Professor Simpson and I took a liking to mind, it is true, works for the excitement of the each other from the start and a friendship chase, for the love of the subject. In Mr. Simpson’s developed which lasted to the end of his life.” case, for sheer devotion to South Florida.” Simpson Park, the only ragged remnant of the Brickell South Florida’s colorful tree snails (Liguus Hammock still extant, was dedicated to him in fasciatus) were a natural attraction for Simpson, 1927. The city Commission declared him to be and he collected them and wrote scientific “father of all South Florida naturalists.” papers about them. Yet, he warned, “at present the Liguus are almost exterminated in Florida.” Like Florida’s other early naturalists, Simpson spent Those in Cuba, where he believed the snails his later years rallying for creation of Everglades originated, would be wiped out in many areas National Park. He wrote for the Miami News in as forests were cut to grow sugar cane. 1928 that, “It was the birds that gave color and glory to the whole. I cannot describe them, they covered the glades by the On shore at Lake Hicpochee and 3-mile Naturalist Simpson wrote “In Lower Florida Wilds” in 1920. In it, he tells of millions, roseate spoonbills, the saintly herons and egrets, that dream of color canal, Florida, May 1917. “C. T. Simpson is not praying although using ecclesiastical venturing into Brickell Hammock, which once stretched for miles along the the flamingo, a host of ducks and pelicans and gulls. Only a few now are left language. In jumping from the boat, he shore of Biscayne Bay. He calls it the primeval forest and his descriptions of the uncounted millions; that are mostly a lovely memory.” landed on mud instead of sand.” reveal his love of what he finds: “Only a part of the original forest still stands -J.K. Small Photo by J.K. Small and it is probably that most of that will soon be destroyed. Let us enter it now The Tropical Everglades National Park Association was formed in 1928. David before it is too late to observe, study and wonder; to be filled with reverence at Fairchild was president and Ernest Coe the executive secretary. Simpson, sight of so magnificent a growth; for like an old Greek or Roman temple, it is Gifford and Stoneman Douglas were among the planners who lured park stately and beautiful, even as a ruin.” representatives to Miami in 1930. National Parks personnel came to look at the proposed park area, and Simpson and Gifford took them on a boat trip to “His charming Following a road cut long ago through the Brickell forest, Simpson describes the Everglades. Congress approved the preservation of the area for national the trees as forming a tunnel: “We are now in the primeval forest and on either park purposes. personality and side of us is a solid wall of vegetation towering up sixty or seventy feet. The sight to me is always an inspiring one and it fills me with a vague sense of fear.” On December 17, 1932, Simpson went into his office to work on a talk he unfailing generosity would soon give; he fell out of his chair and died of a heart attack. To Simpson, limestone sinks in hammocks are made “ravishingly beautiful by towards every one who the ferns and other shade and moisture loving plants that occupy them. No David Fairchild dedicated a copy of his book “Exploring for Plants” to the words that I can summon will properly describe the wonderful effect produced TOP surviving Flora Simpson. Among the things he wrote: “As I sit and look out came for information or by these fern gardens.” A path through Simpson Park. upon the palms and lianas and bamboos which the professor planted in the ABOVE early days of his sojourn here, I seem to hear his joyous laugh again and see A portrait of Simpson hangs in the plants made his place Mangroves that grew below the mouth of Little River, some “braced by air garden center at Simpson Park, the sparkle in his face. It has never seemed the same here since he went, and I roots fully 18 inches in diameter that sprung from a height of 25 feet above the depicting the “Sage of Biscayne Bay” have never ceased to miss his companionship.” a general rendezvous.” ground,” reached 60 to 70 feet tall. “They were sacrificed to human avarice for receiving his honorary doctorate. the tannin in their bark and the potential furniture in their close-grained, red –David Fairchild wood. Today the whole forest is a desolate ruin,” he wrote.

30 THE TROPICAL GARDEN SUMMER 2015 31 plant collections

FAIRCHILD’S

FERNCOLLECTION Text and photos by Mike Freedman Experience a luxurious tropical garden with a large selection of proven and exotic plants for South Florida

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Visit our website, then visit our garden 9995 SW 66 St. Miami, FL 33173 305-274-9813 www.palmhammock.com LEFT Ferns at the Garden are on the move. Ferns’ popularity heyday during the 1970s led to Native tenerum Propagation of Exotic (creeping star-hair fern) an expansive, if chaotic, fern collection at Fairchild. A fairly recent Fairchild initiative plants itself on the rock wall Ferns of Special Interest of the William F. Whitman Worth to restore South Florida habitats has brought a new interest in ferns, many of which are Tropical Fruit Pavilion. As mentioned, Fairchild’s fern collection was once quite extensive. Of the 10,000 or so ferns in the imperiled here. We’re also collecting wild fern material from many tropical regions and RIGHT Thelypteris sancta growing world, we probably had several hundred. I can recall the Wait at the Fairchild nursery. propagating exotic ferns of special interest. seeing nearly all of the 18 or so species of Platycerium By Jennifer Possley (staghorn fern) on the walls of our Tropical Plant Conservatory (then called “The Rare Plant House”). Mike Freedman mentions that some of the rare ABOVE (L-R) he Garden is fortunate to have a Tropical Fruit Pavilion, you’ll see beds of Tectaria Because this is such a small and interesting group of ferns in Fairchild’s rare native fern program Native ferns as dedicated conservation department. heracleifolia (broad halberd fern), a fern that’s listed replacement for plants, I’ve decided to try to restore our collection are “grown here” at Fairchild. This process invasive exotics? Most of us are unaware of the number of as threatened in Florida. This planting has been so of staghorn ferns, planting some individuals around Thelypteris of cultivating ferns from spore takes patience (L) Native fern species that grow in at-risk habitats, successful that countless young examples of this grandis (stately maiden the Garden and distributing or selling the rarer and and dedication that can only come from a fern), growing in plots such as solution holes. Not only are these ferns fern can be seen growing on the rocks of the east more unusual species. At the moment, seven species 32A and 134, being tried T true love of ferns. Take the Caribbean maiden numerous, but many are spectacularly beautiful, mist wall. This is a phenomenon that we hope to where (R) Phymatosorus are under spore cultivation here, with expectation fern (Thelypteris sancta) as one example. scolopendria (wart fern) is like Adiantum tenerum (brittle maidenhair) growing see spread, as spores from rare native ferns once of acquiring spores from a further five or so. The ’ only population of this currently growing. on the west wall of the Gallery Building, among again recolonize old habitats. To aid in returning diminutive fern grows in a Miami-Dade County other places, and Ctenitis sloanei (Florida tree fern). a healthy native fern population, ferns grown by Because fern spores occur in such quantities, can preserve, under a canopy of Brazilian pepper (a There are filmy ferns, ferns that have short-lived Fairchild staff will sometimes be offered as distribution travel so far on air currents and can grow so readily management nightmare!). green spores and miniature ferns like Thelypteris or sale plants. To ensure survival of rare native ferns, on damp surfaces, care must be exercised in choosing sancta (Caribbean maiden fern), Thelypteris reptans spores are continually being collected and stored in a ferns to grow and propagate. In the past, some exotic After several attempts, I finally made a (creeping maiden fern, found on rocks on the seed bank in Colorado. ferns have escaped and become nuisances. Lime- collection of healthy spores from wild plants in southwest side of the William F. Whitman Tropical loving (high pH) ferns are particularly dangerous. October 2013. I passed the spores to Freedman, Fruit Pavilion) and Microgramma heterophylla, Phymatosorus scolopendria (wart fern) and Pteris who immediately started the laborious process climbing vine fern growing at the base of the large Collection of Tropical Ferns vittata (Chinese brake fern) are examples of exotic of propagation. Finally, almost two years later, oak in Plot 3B)—all ideal candidates for terrariums. Ferns have a great advantage over flowering ferns that have become established here in South plants have reached full size. Other native ferns can be used as bedding plants, plants—they produce spores, rather than seeds. Florida, perhaps forever. Exotic ferns that grow in as or to grow in and cover rock walls. Cutting a ripe fern frond in Haiti or Hawaii can acidic soil or are epiphytic stand a better chance The fern pictured above and its cohorts will Jennifer Possley, a member of the Fairchild yield millions of viable spores that can be brought of behaving themselves, as they’re unlikely to find likely be planted at Fairchild or in a Miami- Conservation Team, has been fighting to rescue ferns home in a small envelope. Once home, some of local wild habitats that aren’t hostile to their growth. Dade County preserve in order to safeguard the on the brink. Spores that she’s collected from these these spores can be planted and the rest stored species’ existence in Florida. ferns are being grown here and at a lab in Ohio. in a refrigerator. Jason Lopez, Dr. Brett Jestrow At the Garden we have the ability to vary temperature, and other Fairchild staff and local botanists have to water during the dry season, to grow ferns in special Many of the ferns grown from these spores have brought back fern spores from a number of tropical soils, etc., in order to favor their continued health. As already been returned to local nature preserves countries. Recently Jennifer Possley and Dr. Joyce with the staghorn ferns, sometimes tree ferns or other such as the Deering Estate and Hattie Bauer Maschinski traveled to Puerto Rico in search of exotic ferns that need specialized care will be offered Hammock, restoring endangered populations there nearly extinct ferns. They were able to bring back for distribution or sale to the public. One aspect to a sustainable level. Others have been planted a few good fern fronds. As a result of this trip, of the Garden’s original mission was to cultivate in selected locations around the Garden. Walking hundreds (thousands, really) of these endangered and distribute plants of interest. Ferns are now around the central island in the William F. Whitman ferns are now growing in our facility. becoming a prominent feature of that mission.

34 THE TROPICAL GARDEN advertisement what’s in store

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birthdaysAT FAIRCHILD AT FAIRCHILD There is no better spot to celebrate than among the fluttering colors of Fairchild’s Wings of the Tropics exhibit! Discover thousands of tropical butterflies, participate in a butterfly release and get an up- close look at these winged wonders. More themes available, including: Artist’s Paradise, Enchanted Explorers, Garden Tea and Fun at Fairchild. For more information or to book a birthday party, contact Lauren Waller at 305.663.8044 or [email protected].

FAIRCHILD TROPICAL BOTANIC GARDEN FAIRCHILD TROPICAL BOTANIC GARDEN First described and illustrated by Georg the island’s north coast. Along the way, we is the science of Eberhard Rumphius in the 17th century (the made several stops to photograph orchids naming, describing and classifying type specimen is his drawing), Vanda furva in situ—sadly, the most visible were on the has been a source of confusion for more than canopy in branches of forest trees that had organisms, including all plants, 300 years. Determined to get the identity of V. been felled for lumber. In one very exciting furva straight for the monograph on the moment, looking high up in the canopy of a animals and microorganisms Vanda, I decided I needed to visit the South standing tree, we saw what appeared possibly Moluccas, where Rumphius had found the to be Renanthera moluccana, a plant so rare of the world, and it often takes species growing in mangrove trees. In 2011, I that neither a herbarium specimen nor a one to faraway places. However, flew to the island chain’s main city, Ambon, photo exists. Fortunately, it wasn’t the last Beachcombing for and set out in search of V. furva. It would time we’d spot that elusive plant. not be easy to find the plant, nor Rumphius’ typically the only delight the eye other Vanda, V. saxatilis, as the mangrove On Seram’s north coast, we boarded a skiff, in finds is in herbarium specimens habitat and trees where Rumphius had found which we traveled several kilometers across V. furva were almost entirely gone. On that the open seas to our lodge. Constructed of plants that have been dead trip, neither species could be found in the largely of Sago palm frond lumber, it perched region’s dooryard gardens, and 10 days of on pillars above a coral reef resplendent with The first photo of V. furva, 300 searching the coastal roads of Ambon and colorful fish, anemones and other sea life, a century or more. Fairchild’s years after it was described. the nearby islands of Seram and Boru failed including sea cucumbers. Next morning, ORCHIDS we headed out to search for the Vandas in a Herbarium contains a scientifically to yield either of Rumphius’ vandas. long boat with two crew from the lodge. important collection of tropical So, last year, I decided to return and take Seram Island, Our first stop, a sheer rock cliff sparsely another tack. I began my trip similarly, flying plants, collected over the past into Ambon. Upon landing, I met with my dotted with trees, proved fruitless; we found 80 years or so. guide, Victor, who immediately provided only the ubiquitous Vandopsis lissochiloides, South Moluccas valuable assistance. I showed him Rumphius’ which from a distance we had presumed to drawings of V. furva and V. saxatilis, and he be V. saxatilis. Our second stop, however, Perhaps, then, it shouldn’t be thought that he had seen similar plants on the proved to be one of the most unique littoral north coast of the largest Moluccan island, (the intertidal zone of a beach) habitats on Text and photos by Martin Motes, Ph.D. surprising that the pursuit of a Seram. Early the next morning, we set out the planet. A tree-covered mountainside by ferry north from Ambon to Seram’s south living specimen of the first Vanda coast. There, a car picked us up, we stopped to get Victor’s wife, Cicili (a “guide trainee” orchid species described by who relished the opportunity to practice her western science, Vanda furva, led English), and headed over the mountains to me almost to the farthest reaches of . relative, this plant has an essentially As if our good fortune could not have been monopodial growth habit (it grows upward greater, growing in the same tree as the true from a single point)—unlike the sympodial V. furva we discovered was a Renanthera (lateral) growth habit of Cymbidium. Because moluccana, the extremely rare plant we the species are related, botanists believe D. thought we’d glimpsed high in the forest picta likely represents the evolutionary link canopy days before. Although unfortunately between the two diverse groups. not in flower, theRenanthera bore an old flower spike, complete with several seedpods. The first day of exploration had Until then, R. moluccana was known only from accomplished nearly all that I had hoped an illustration in Rumphius’ work—a plant for from the trip, but Rumphius’ second with no herbarium specimen nor even a photo Vanda species had yet to be found. The known to science. The photo published here is next morning, we set out from our lodge the first record of the plant ofR. moluccana. in the opposite direction into a river estuary. There, we found swamp densely With all of our goals accomplished, we populated with Sago palms, punctuated with were able to spend the next day exploring hardwood trees. The trees supported various a mountain slope. Following a narrow path orchid species, mostly dendrobiums, but beside a dry watercourse, we ascended through also Coelogyne, Trichoglottis and Pholidota. secondary forest that contained the only Then, in a tree overhanging the river, we remaining large trees old enough to support spotted a Vanda—this one broader and with epiphytic orchids (clove or durian trees). thicker leaves than the species we had found Colorful butterflies—numerous in both quantity the previous day. Not much farther on, we and variety—were in constant motion around PREVIOUS PAGE plunged at a 75-degree angle to a coral reef, one more task remained that last afternoon The fishing village on the north found another plant in full bloom. The plant us, accompanied by beetles, centipedes and coast of Seram. where it broke into small patches of white had clear yellow, roughly triangular-shaped other insects. On one large tree, we spotted before we could return to Ambon the next ABOVE sand punctuated by rocky outcroppings lips, curiously doubled over on itself. The Grammatophyllum speciosum, the largest morning: returning our Vanda specimens The author with P. susannae and cable and caves etched by the sea (some even to the wild. Export of orchid species—even cover from nearby construction. unique redoubling of the lip created a tooth- TOP RIGHT of orchids. We also encountered a species with stalagmites). Wildlife abounded, from for scientific purposes—is strictly controlled Photo by Victor Lawatan like shape, which, together with the yellow The first photo of R. mollucana, so from the cosmopolitan genus Vanilla. rare no herbarium specimen exists. black-tipped sharks hunting in the shallows color, matched the description of V. furva by the Convention on International Trade to frigate birds only half a kilometer away BELOW in Endangered Species (CITES). Our present that Rumphius had written. At that point, we The incredibly intricate flowers Having measured and photographed the working tuna schools in the fathomless depths realized that the plant we had discovered of P. susannae. specimens for the Herbarium at Fairchild, knowledge of both Vanda species would of some of the deepest waters in the world. the day before was, in fact. V. saxatilis. indicate that their habitat is critically endangered and every effort should be made Upon landing on a small beach, we discovered The final pieces had fallen into place and to conserve them. Thankfully, Victor knew amabilis, which the locals call 300 years of puzzlement over Rumphius’ of an uninhabited island with mangrove “moon flowers,” as well as several species of two Vanda species was resolved. The unique trees that would be suitable hosts for the Dendrobium. Walking and wading for barely redoubling of V. furva’s lip created the tooth- specimens, which we had measured and 20 meters, we came upon a Vanda plant in a like shape that Rumphius described. V. saxatilis, photographed. As it happened, the island small mangrove. Although we believed it was the plant we had discovered on the first day, was almost precisely halfway between the either V. furva or V. saxatilis, the plant was also has a tooth-like (as thick as broad) lip two locales where we had found the species. not in flower—so we weren’t able to identify typical of many other related Vanda species. We returned our specimens to nature. it. Another 15 minutes of walking and wading The true V. furva had never been observed and brought us to the same plant in bloom. The photographed—the photos contained here in After our return to Ambon the next day, flower looked like Rumphius’ V. furva, which The Tropical Garden are the first ever taken! Victor and I explored the island a bit, he described as having a lip like a tooth. We Because of this, all commentators mistook examining roadside weeds and dooryard were certain we had discovered a flowering V. saxatilis—our beachside plant, which was gardens. As we traveled a coastal road beside plant in exactly the habitat in which Rumphius known from the South Moluccas—for V. furva. an open hillside, I spotted a flash of white had found it more than 300 years ago! While Rumphius’ drawings of the two species’ in the tall grass. Stopping and returning, we flowers are not clear enough to have resolved were elated to discover the crown jewel of Continuing along on this incredible the confusion, his illustration of the plants Rumphius’ species, Platanthera susannae, coastline, in the space of less than a clearly shows the distinct difference between which he had named for his beloved wife. kilometer, we found 20 more orchid species these two species. Rumphius shows V. furva as Pure white and incredibly intricately formed, in 12 genera. Most remarkable was the a large plant with broad leaves and V. saxatilis P. susannae is among the most beautiful widespread but elusive Dipodium picta, a as smaller with narrow leaves. This is just as orchids in the world. It was growing barely a plant so rare only four have been reported the two species are in life. meter from a newly dug ditch for high-speed in all of northern . A Cymbidium cable. The discovery of this exquisite species was a fitting, and thrilling, end to my journey. 40 THE TROPICAL GARDEN plant societies DISCOVERING The Rare Vanda aliceae Fruit Council Text and photo by Martin Motes, Ph.D.

We went with him to a deserted island that International was literally covered with tens of thousands of Vandopsis lissochilloides. There, we found a half-dozen other orchid species in several By Carla Hatten genera—but not our Vanda.

The next morning, we explored more of the coastline and were returning to our hotel when we passed a garden with numerous t our fruit sales, shoppers frequently ask, “Are these Arachnis and Dendrobiums visible over the fruits organic?” There is widespread public belief, wall. It is always useful to seek input from promoted by the organic food industry, that organic local orchid lovers, so we stopped. There in food is safer, more nutritious and tastes better the garden, attached to a tree, was our Vanda! than conventional food. These beliefs have fueled increased After brief bargaining, the lady of the house A demand for organic food, despite higher prices and lack of agreed to a price of 10,000 rupee (a little less scientific evidence. than $10) for a sample. She wanted me to take the entire plant; when told I only wanted Organic food is food produced in a way that complies with the flowers and a single to measure, she Adam Byrd with a 50-pound Mai 1 Jackfruit. organic standards set by government organizations, using Photo by Matthew Snow, MD pointed to the numerous other orchid flowers Vanda aliceae arly in the 20th century, Dutch botanist methods of organic farming. In general, organic farming she would gladly sell me for the same price. J. J. Smith discovered a Vanda species responds to site-specific farming and conditions by growing on Bacan Island in the north integrating cultural, biological and mechanical practices that Armed with our type specimen and The biggest advantage of using compost is that the organic Moluccas of Indonesia. He identified foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance and numerous pictures, we booked the overnight matter in compost is partially decayed, so its volume is much E Vanda hastifera conserve biodiversity. it as . During research for ferry and returned to Ternate. Upon our lower. Furthermore, microorganism activity has already started the monograph of the genus Vanda, I came return, we visited several other orchid in the compost, so the concentration of these microorganisms across Smith’s drawing of the flower. I One of the most important aspects of growing fruits and collections and found another specimen is very high. This makes compost a concentrated and easy-to- quickly realized that, while similar to V. vegetables year after year is fertilizing. Any , organic or of the new species. We were told this absorb source of organic matter for the growing plants. hastifera—which had been described in not, is a material that provides certain nutrients that help plants specimen had been collected on the , this species from 3,000 kilometers to grow. The difference between organic and artificial chemical For all these reasons, I would rather eat fruits and vegetables neighboring island of Halmahera, a likely away on the other side of the is the origin of the nutrients. Organic fertilizers are made that are free of chemicals, even if they do come at a slightly extension of the range of V. aliceae. was a new species yet to be described. from materials derived from living things, such as manures and higher price. compost. Chemical fertilizers are manufactured from nonliving The same garden held an un-flowered plant Someone needed to go out to Bacan Island materials. These products are often made from petroleum products of what was clearly a Vanda, its ragged leaf The Rare Fruit Council International meets the second Wednesday and rediscover Smith’s plant! I, of course, and rocks. Organic fertilizers work over time to create a healthy tips a dead giveaway. It, too, was said to of every month at Fairchild at 7:30 p.m. in the new Paul and volunteered. growing environment; they are easily biodegradable and do not have come from nearby Halmahera, although Swanee DiMare Science Village classroom. Meetings include cause environmental pollution. While chemical fertilizers provide exactly where was unknown. No known fruit tastings, door prizes, educational programs with speakers One reaches Bacan by first flying to Ternate rapid nutrition, they can contaminate both the land and water. species of Vanda have been reported from and lively discussions about tropical fruits and their culture. in the Moluccas. There, I met my guide, One of the best features of organic gardening is the ability to Halmahera. With just two days left before Admission is free and the public is welcome and encouraged to Harris, who arranged our passage on an locally produce fertilizers and other organic ingredients, and the my return flight, there was only sufficient join our club. Other activities include propagation workshops, overnight ferry to Bacan. We arrived in easiest among them is compost. Compost provides air, water, time to explore that island’s more accessible, field trips, plant sales, farmers markets and community education. Bacan in the dawn, with plenty of time for organic matter and microorganisms to your plants, thus enhancing populated areas. Unfortunately, two days’ exploring the coastline near the port. Later, their growth. It also maintains a healthy atmosphere for the soil search yielded no results. Someone will need Harris—who is from Bacan—hooked us up and helps keeps insects, plant diseases and weeds away. to go out there and find that second new with the local naturalist/crocodile hunter. Vanda species. I reckon I’ll volunteer. SUMMER 2015 43 what’s in a name

‘’ ‘’ ‘’

Mangifera ‘East Indian’ ‘’ ‘Nam Doc Mai’ ‘’

Some of the wild mangos the Fairchild scientists While some of the new wild mangos are grafted have collected include: and growing well, trees for sale at Fairchild’s Annual International Mango Festival will include indica Mangifera caesia, which Campbell says may only these cultivars of : be a combination of several species. Caesia By Georgia Tasker means light blue. ‘Angie,’ named for Angie Whitman, wife of the late Bill Whitman, a trustee of Fairchild and Mangifera pajang, which is from Borneo, donor of the William F. Whitman Tropical No one has ever seen a non-cultivated Mangifera indica, the and Indonesia. Pajang was a 16th- Fruit Pavilion. century kingdom in . mango from which South Florida’s multitude of cultivars ‘Julie,’ a mango of unknown origin, but widely Mangifera quadrifida, a Bornean species with grown in Jamaica; it is unknown where the have been selected, according to Dr. Richard Campbell, clusters of small purple fruit; quadrifida means name originated. cut into four. Fairchild’s senior curator of tropical fruit. “There’s no record ‘Bombay,’ another cultivar widely grown in Mangifera applanata, which Campbell says Jamaica; this mango was taken there in the of it being collected,” he says. “Is there such a thing?” probably contains genes from several species 19th century. It also is called ‘Paheri’ and was but has fruit that actually looks like a mango. introduced to the United States by Barbour Mangi is the Indian vernacular for “mango” There are 69 or 70 species of Mangifera, with The origin of M. applanata is unknown. Lathrop and David Fairchild in the 1920s. and fero is a Latin word meaning to bear, 26 or so producing edible fruit, according to the , the horse mango that according to Stearn’s Dictionary of Plant Names 1993 mango bible “The Mangoes, their Botany, Mangifera foetida ‘East Indian,’ which was taken to Jamaica by has such a strong odor it is called the Durian for Gardeners. But did Mangifera indica really Nomenclature, Horticulture and Utilization,” immigrants from eastern . Mango; foetida means foul smelling. originate in the foothills of the Himalayas, as its written by Andrew J.G.H. Kostermans and J.M. a seedling of Julie that was name might imply, or did it come from Bompard. Campbell and Ledesma are using that ‘Graham,’ introduced from Trinidad in 1932; is it named or Thailand or the Malaya peninsula? reference as a guide for their collecting, as it for , Dr. David Fairchild’s son? represents 40 years of fieldwork in Asia. Fossil leaves of mangos have been found, and from Thailand; the meaning of the earliest hail from northeast India, although Many wild mango species are forest dwellers, but ‘Nam Doc Mai,’ its name is unknown. experts cite the center of greatest diversity as the oil palm industry and spreading populations western Malesia—consisting of peninsular throughout Southeast Asia are destroying those ‘Cogshall,’ a seedling named for a Malaya, Borneo and . Those areas are forests, adding urgency to the collection of wild family on Pine Island. among the places Campbell and Dr. Noris mangos and their vital germplasm. Ledesma, Fairchild’s curator of tropical fruit, have searched for mango’s wild relatives to use in The Fairchild Farm’s mango-breeding program. SUMMER 2015 45 advertisement

Listening to your PALMS By Sara Edelman Photos by Susan Ford-Collins and Sara Edelman I’m cold When I tell people that palms talk to me, their The majority of palms are from tropical rainforests. Temperature, rainfall and humidity reaction is usually shock and disbelief. Wide- do not fluctuate greatly in those climates. In southern Florida, we may joke that we don’t have seasons, but the palms would disagree. eyed, they respond, “But palms can’t talk!” Dry air and cooler temperatures chill palms. Then, when temperatures drop deeply and Just as humans express their needs, so do plants. quickly, palms can be injured. Leaves turn brown around the edges. Cold-damaged leaves are the equivalent of goose bumps and bud rot is their version of hypothermia. When palms get too cold, the center of growth freezes and rots. The newest leaves may fall out of the crown. I’m content Leaves of this paurotis palm simply because they appear discolored, you are (Acoelorrhaphe wrightii) show A few treatments of hydrogen peroxide could Content palms are quiet palms. Their crown is signs of deficiency, taking away nutrients from an already deficient save your palm, but you must act quickly. Be composed of many dark-green leaves. Leaves a very common nutrient palm. The palm is trying to tell you what it deficiency in southern Florida. observant after a chilly spell. turn brown and die only as new leaves are needs: removing fronds exacerbates the issue. produced. The green color on the leaves is Palms grow slowly and also die slowly. They consistent—no gradients or yellowing. The I’m thirsty will communicate their needs throughout their trunk is solid and strong with no splitting or entire lives. Learning to listen to your palm will Palms show their water needs in their trunks. holes. Happy palms have enough resources to help it thrive and may even save its life. If you When a palm is not getting enough water, its produce flowers and reproduce. The state tree of have these body-language cues down, you are trunk will shrink. The trunk looks empty and Florida, Sabal palmetto, is generally a “happy” on the path to communicating with your hollow, because just as severe dehydration palm. While susceptible to leaf skeletonizer, this frondly palms! Florida native is tough and low-maintenance. can injure humans and animals, it causes internal damage that can be fatal for a palm. While content palms are quiet, unhappy ones Royal palms (Roystonea regia) are found in will display it in their leaves, crowns and trunks. swamps and require a lot of water. Too often, their extreme thirst is ignored and they die of dehydration. Make sure you give your thirsty I’m hungry palm some water. The effects of ignoring this When palms are unable to get enough nutrients need are disastrous. from the soil, they get hungry. Their leaves will change from deep green to yellow or This lady palm (Rhapis excelsa) All living organisms communicate, and brown. Palms crave magnesium, potassium and I’m bloated is perfectly content. Note the palms are no exception. While they can’t many dark-green leaves. manganese. Palms in need of magnesium will Conversely, overwatering your palm can be just as verbally convey their wants, they have have lime-yellow leaf tips; date palms (Phoenix serious. When we drink too much water, we feel perfected the art of body language. As A sp.) are commonly magnesium hungry. Palms bloated. Palms feel the same way. However, if the their caretakers, we must learn and understand in need of potassium will have yellow-brown overwatering continues, their internal structures their language in order to tend to them spotting, as sugar palms (Arenga sp.) often do. bloat and their trunk can split. While trunk splitting appropriately. Manganese-deficient palms will have frizzled is not fatal, it is an invitation for infection and newly developing leaves. This is most common disease. Bismarck palms (Bismarckia nobilis) Palm needs are simple—food, water and in Chinese fan palms (Livistona sp.) and paurotis are often overwatered. In the wild, they grow in protection—and their language mirrors this palms (Acoelorrhaphe wrightii). Many palms the deserts of Madagascar and have low water simplicity. They communicate all their needs in our South Florida landscape suffer from requirements. When they are irrigated with the rest with their plant body: leaves, trunk and deficiencies due to our nutrient-poor soils. of the plants in your backyard, the most common . Using form and color, they result is trunk splitting. If your palm trunk is splitting, can express happiness, hunger, thirst and Note that removing discolored leaves is one change the schedule immediately. Your oversaturation. When these needs are ignored, of the worst things you can do to your palms, palm is telling you, “I’m over-saturated!” the result can be fatal. Here are ways to learn because they store nutrients in their leaves. your palm’s language and respond to its needs: When you remove living, non-brown leaves

Over-irrigation of this bismarck palm (Bismarckia nobilis) has caused its internal structures to bloat and its trunk to split. While trunk splitting is not fatal, it opens the individual to secondary infection. 48 THE TROPICAL GARDEN advertisement edible gardening Have Orchids Delivered Twelve issues of Orchids magazine (print and/or digital format) U.S. Individual — one year $65 • U.S. Joint — one year $80 Access to special “members’ only” educational opportunities and more The Edible Mango Garden By Richard Campbell, Ph.D.

Edible gardening in South “Why mango,” you ask? The answer Every imaginable color and texture is is as obvious as a stroll around your available, allowing one to uniquely mold Florida is not really about neighborhood. The mangos hang from the garden into a personal statement. tomatoes and peppers. your neighbors’ trees, from trees in The only question is: “What does your empty lots and dusty rights-of-way. The mango garden say about you?” Certainly, we have a few mango thrives where no vegetable dare months where we can go. Mangos grow among the rocks and The ‘Angie,’ ‘Julie,’ ‘Fairchild,’ rubble, in the infertile sands and in the ‘Cogshall,’ ‘’ and ‘Nam Doc Mai’ have an impact in the most verdant estates. The fruit thrives on are just a few varietals that every edible vegetable arena, but we are the abject neglect of the street, suffering a garden should boast, but the list is long much worse effect under an overindulgent and there are no wrong answers. It is For membership information and benefits, ultimately at the mercy of hand. The mango in the edible garden here in the mango garden that you can Email: please go to www.aos.org or call the membership office at 305-740-2010. our tropical weather. thrives under the watchful eye of the toss aside your inhibitions and bring in [email protected] exacting horticulturist, measuring care anything from the bold and sassy to the so as to provide for the mango’s needs, reserved and elegant. Even availability in et, we are pushed by the but withhold excess. The tree flourishes a commercial nursery is not a requisite. media and by our friends from and fruits, and the gardener eats a hearty Take a class or two and practice a bit, the north, so we buy and we meal by his or her own hand. and your horizon will widen to include plant…we buy and we plant… hundreds of mangos from around the and we buy and we plant. In the end, we There is a mango for all tastes, all likes world. Go forth and multiply your Y and uses. The mango can be used mangos and the edible garden. Plant are sure that we are bad growers or that our changing climate makes it impossible as a vegetable, as a fresh fruit or for them in the spring, enjoy them in the to vegetable garden here in South Florida. preserves. It can be sweet or savory, summer, prune and care for them during But fear not South Florida edible gardener, mild or spicy. It is both a fruit of the the fall and respect them always. for your salvation hangs from the limbs aristocracy and the people, certainly and boughs of our most loyal friends. Of achieving much more than the zucchini. course, I am speaking of the mango and No, the mango is king and projects her cast of tropical fruit associates. its personality onto the garden and its owner. We can choose among the Drive around town in the late spring and dozens of available cultivars to meet our early summer and admire the fruit trees. needs. Southeast Asian, Indian, Brazilian The mango, avocado, sapodilla and or Jamaican, they are all represented. jackfruit stand strong against the summer sun, flaunting their pendulous fruit. The very sight provides for our edification and affords the gardener within each of us a most powerful and simple pleasure. These are the sights meant to please, and we are drawn to them—led into an edible Garden of Eden, as in the days of old. The fruit tree is the star, the temptress of Eden—and the mango is the most provocative of them all. south florida gardening American Begonia Society I used to think of begonias as common houseplants Begonia groups that my great-grandmother might have grown Rhizomatous begonias grow from for the summer, not much competition for the , and while they spread magnificent and unusual plants we can cultivate in horizontally, will not reach great heights. Cane begonias have thick stems the subtropics. But as usual, a closer look reveals resembling bamboo. Many are known much more to the story: The genusBegonia offers as “angel wing” begonias.

species and hybrids of dizzying variety. Begonia nelumbiifolia, the lily Begonia bipinnatifida is shrub-like The showy, hot pink flowers Semperflorens, aka “wax” begonias pad begonia. Its huge, nearly and rare in cultivation. It requires of Begonia maculata. are grouped together because of their round, peltate (stalk attached high humidity as in a greenhouse underneath) leaves indeed look or terrarium. The deeply divided waxy foliage. They live up to the name like those of the lotus. Give this leaves contrast dark green with “ever-flowering.” They have bushy large begonia room. wine-red undersides. growth and are good for year-round plantings.

Rex, a type of rhizomatous begonia, Visually, begonias differ wildly: Very generally, most begonias don’t is grown for showy, colorful leaves. BEGONIAS consider Begonia nelumbiifolia, the like extreme, long exposure to direct All of its varieties are descended from Beyond the lily pad begonia, which is common sun, though many do fine in bright Begonia rex. in and Central America. light, provided they have access to One could use its gigantic leaves as moisture. In “Begonias: Cultivation, Shrub-like begonias have a growth windowsill houseplant dinner plates, or as odd hats. Some Identification, and Natural History,” habit of multiple stems emerging from begonias are even epiphytic (growing author Mark C. Tebbitt advises that the soil surface to form a shrub-like harmlessly on other plants), with begonias with pale, thin leaves appearance. Begonia convolvulacea growing to generally prefer high humidity and Text and photos by Kenneth Setzer liana proportions. The tiny Begonia low light; those with thicker, hairless Tuberous or semi-tuberous begonias bipinnatifida looks more like a fern leaves like more light. Here in the grow from tubers and are prized for than a begonia. Begonia bogneri, with Garden, I have found identical species their showy flowers. In cooler areas, irst, a little family history: The Back to begonias: Begonias mostly long, grass-like leaves, also doesn’t flourishing in the shady Richard H. they will go dormant in fall and winter; genus Begonia belongs to the inhabit humid, tropical and subtropical look very begonia-like. Simons Rainforest and along paths in look for swollen stem bases. plant family Begoniaceae, habitats, and are found throughout the direct sun. and contributes a huge tropics, excluding Australia. Most—but Even with so much diversity, begonias Thick-stemmed begonias have, Fnumber of members, with about not all—begonias display asymmetric from different continents can often Potted begonias don’t tolerate “wet feet” predictably, thick stems, and 1,400 species. Hillebrandia is the leaves, and usually white or pink interbreed, a factor in the thousands of well, and can rot from overwatering rarely branch. only other genus in the family. A rare flowers. In most other flowering plants, varieties and hybrids available. (especially tuberous types entering Hawaiian endemic, it is the only family the (the small parts below the dormancy). However, they do thrive in Trailing-scandent begonias have member native to Hawaii. A paper , which together constitute the Begonia species sharing certain high humidity, which can be increased a trailing growth habit; these can be in the American Journal of Botany calyx) are green and clearly distinct similarities are grouped into botanical by misting and group plantings. trained to grow up trees in warmer in 2004 indicates that Hillebrandia from the petals. In begonias, the sepals sections, of which there are currently climates and are also great in sandwicensis is one of the older and petals are often both brightly 66. The sections make identification and Regions of high Begonia diversity are hanging pots. branches on the family tree: While it is colored and nearly indistinguishable; classification a bit easier. For hands-on studied as possible refugia—areas now only found in Hawaii, the species together they are referred to as tepals. horticulture, however, the American that remained relatively unaffected Find more information at the actually predates the formation of the Begonia Society places begonias into during past events such as glaciation, American Begonia Society’s web site: Hawaiian archipelago by millions Tiny Begonia seeds are unique in eight horticultural groups (see sidebar). thus allowing cold-sensitive plants www.begonias.org. of years. It must have originated having a ring of “collar” cells that These groups do not necessarily like begonias to survive ice ages. This elsewhere, and is therefore probably a allows one end of the seed to open correspond to taxonomic criteria such is one tough genus. Pretty neat for relict species, the remainder of a once- (acting like a door) for the seedling to as phylogeny or relatedness, and many grandma’s windowsill houseplant. wider distribution. emerge, akin to a chick breaking out of plants have characteristics befitting an egg. Of course, you would need a more than one group. good microscope to view this. 52 THE TROPICAL GARDEN advertisement bug beat

Integrated Pest Management: Own your Own Organic Mango Farm Putting bugs to work for us Text and photo by Kenneth Setzer Annual Returns of 17% Integrated pest management escaped captivity as pets and are currently In their search for alternative methods of harming the Everglades ecosystem. control, scientists looked to the invasive (IPM) is a way of looking At the same time, some natural plant’s native home—and its native at the big picture when it pathogens—otherwise a normal part of predators. A shiny red beetle was found in the environment—are running rampant, Nepal, and later in , that provided comes to pest control. Rather possibly due to a warming climate. hope. Lilioceris cheni, a leaf-eating beetle, than taking a “spray and was tested over years and found to eat pray” strategy of ridding our I’m sure you have heard about the invasive nothing other than Dioscorea bulbifera air potato (Dioscorea bulbifera). This pest plants; it does not even eat other, related plants of harmful bugs or plant has been a bane of the outdoors in Dioscorea invasives, nor does it eat native our environment of invasive the Southeast U.S. for decades. A climbing Dioscorea species. Adult beetles even vine native to tropical Asia and Africa, feed on the air potato bulbils. species, IPM takes into it has been known to blanket natural account natural predators and areas in the Southern U.S., killing native In 2011, air potato beetles were initially plants in the process. It was introduced released to Kendall Indian Hammocks a pest’s lifecycle while using a to this country as a possible food source Park in Miami-Dade County, and Long minimum amount of chemical (it requires detoxification) or ornamental, Key Natural Area in Broward County. The , if any at all. and is noted as having been introduced result has been a decrease in D. bulbifera to Florida in 1905. Plant explorer William vines and an increase in native plants. The Bartram noticed it in a Mobile, Alabama, beetles continue to be reared and released PM has been employed in a garden as early as 1777. D. bulbifera as a natural bio-control. So far, so good. range of situations: in agriculture, spreads very quickly, and can re-sprout horticulture, conservation and from underground tubers as well as home gardening. It can utilize Biological Controls from the bulbils (tiny secondary bulbs) it fairly complicated strategies involving in Your Yard I produces and drops to the ground to create years of scientific study, or be assimple new plants. The bulbils resemble small You can practice biological controls like as cleaning your garden shears or potatoes—hence the common name. this in your own yard. Not only are air quarantining new plants to avoid spreading potato beetles becoming available to the fungi or other possible pathogens. A Biological Control for public, but ladybugs (beetles in the family Coccinellidae) are also readily available IPM is a simple concept, but, as you can Invasive Air Potato for purchase as controls for aphids, scale, imagine, a large, complex topic. And it is What to do? Physical removal isn’t psyllids and other plant pests. Green more necessary now than ever before. As permanent unless you find and remove all lacewing larvae also consume aphids, global trade has become more prevalent, of the subterranean tubers; even something mites, thrips, whiteflies and others. $36,500 for 2.5 acres of the famous Panama Mango, so too have hitchhikers—in the form of as drastic as burning a field to the ground Researchers are even using parasitoid wasps invasive, often destructive, organisms. might not work, because disturbed, to attack pests like the emerald ash borer. named after David Fairchild There are innumerable examples of this, cleared areas are especially vulnerable including the emerald ash borer and to air potato. work, but again By outsmarting the pests, we can put Asian longhorned beetle. Some harmful leave the underground tubers viable, plus beneficial bugs to work for us! Please call 888-851-7988 • www.simplynaturalinvestments.com organisms have been introduced in other herbicides cause other damage. ways, such as the Burmese pythons that TOP: Lilioceris cheni, the air potato beetle, decimating the invasive air potato For some reason, a common name for Majidea Zanguebarica, the black pearls of Zanzibar, strikes me as wonderfully romantic, oozing mystery and intrigue. M. zanguebarica is a small tree with compound leaves from East Africa. As a tree, it’s just okay, but the pods are fabulous. It is hiding near the Jean DuPont Shehan Visitor Center, behind the catering tent.

Eastern gamagrass, or dwarf Fakahatchee grass, Tripsacum dactyloides, forms lovely seed heads that lean gently to one side, as if caught in the beginning of a swan dive. Once Adansonia digitata, African baobab, sometimes is you begin looking at flower and seed stalks of grass, you may called the dead rat tree because its seedpods hang by long discover their delicate beauty. pedicles and look like—you guessed it—dead rats. After flowers are pollinated by bats, the seedpods may grow to six or eight inches long. White seeds are considered a food, and seeds are high in calcium and vitamins. in a package

Text and photos by Georgia Tasker

Woman’s tongue tree, Albizia lebbeck, used to be Bucida molineti, described by Manuel Gomez de la more plentiful in Miami neighborhoods. Its cream-colored Maza, a botanist from Havana, Cuba, is sometimes called the powderpuff flowers are intoxicatingly aromatic, but its bad geometry tree because its branching pattern forms tiers. This behavior (it suckers) has landed it on the invasive plant tree is from the Bahamas, and its seeds and leaves resemble Jamaica caper, apparis cynophallophora, has C list. The undulating seedpods are light beige to yellow in those of its better-known big brother, Bucida buceras—the generally demure seedpods as they are developing, khaki- color, contain brown seeds and seem rather modest when black olive. It is living in the lowlands among other Jewels colored and bashful. But when they open, the pods’ sticky compared to the royal poinciana pods so thrilling to squirrels. of the Caribbean. interiors are red. While most seeds germinate near the tree, some birds must surely be attracted to them. Why else fuss with producing the color?

Akee, Blighia sapida, is the national fruit of Jamaica, but it originated in western Africa. It arrived in Jamaica in 1793 with Captain William Bligh. Akee fruit must split open before it reveals its seeds, and only then can the pulp be eaten; otherwise it is highly poisonous. It grows on some older properties in Miami, but is not a common tree. Aglaonema commutatum fruits are yellow, then orange, then red. Small yellow seeds inside are easily squeezed from the berry, cleaned, soaked overnight in water and planted just beneath the surface of damp sphagnum moss, This is the fifth in the series “Plants and their Seeds.” The first story appeared in the Summer 2014 issue, the second in the Fall 2014 issue, the third in the Winter 2015 issue and the fourth in the Spring 2015 issue. where they germinate in their own good time. SUMMER 2015 57 advertisement xotic Orchids in a Lush Tropical Setting A hyper-interesting Put Your hyperdominant Visit R.F. Orchids, Story South Florida’s oldest and most prestigious orchid to Print firm, for the finest selection Your story deserves a quality of quality orchids in town. finish. Let Original Impressions print and produce your Exquisite gifts, stunning high-quality coffee floral arrangements and Mauritia table book to showcase more await you in our your creativity and spark conversation. tropical paradise. flexuosa

12900 SW 89 Court, Miami, FL 33176 Text and photos by Timothy Perez 305.233.1322 originalimpressions.com 28100 SW 182 Ave. | Homestead FL 33030 T: 305-245-4570 | F: 305-247-6568 www.rforchids.com

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*Thomas Keane is a Registered Representative - Securities offered solely through Ameritas Investment Corp. (AIC), Member FINRA/SIPC, AIC and The Miami Agency are not affiliated. Additional products and services may be available through Thomas Keane or The Miami Agency that are not offered through AIC. Securities e-mail: [email protected] The Amazon Rainforest is often described as a vast sea of trees (a sea that Humans aren’t the only species that uses M. Plant lovers who may not be dazzled by bright is unfortunately quickly evaporating). The metaphor is apt because many flexuosa. The South American palm weevil, plumage or large animals will surely take pleasure Rhynchophorus palmarum, feeds on the moriche in the aesthetic beauty of the moriche palm first-time visitors to the diverse Amazon can feel adrift in the forest’s endless palm, and in the marketplace, humans feed swamps. The slender, light-colored trunks can green expanses. Indeed, my first hike through the Amazon Rainforest was on both! Juvenile weevil larvae are harvested ascend upwards of 100 feet (30 meters) and are from rotting palm trunks and taken to market, often bedecked with wild Vanilla orchids, which are overwhelming; unfamiliar species were everywhere with no discernable then grilled and consumed. The most flattering rare outside the swamps. The palms’ disheveled, pattern. As a new student working at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden and descriptions of the larvae’s flavor invoke bacon, pendulous —with hundreds of Florida International University, I am still learning to navigate the waters but my palate detects woody flavors with fruits—contrast the linear patterns of their trunks. undertones of soil. They are an important source Crowning the palm are its many-pinnuled, of tropical plant diversity. Fortunately, I have access to Fairchild’s diverse of proteins and nutrients, especially calcium, for costapinnate leaves. Individually or collectively, living collections, where I find safe harbor from taxing taxonomy. many indigenous cultures of the Amazon. any plant enthusiast can appreciate M. flexuosa. While these beetle larvae may not up on your Moriche palms are a favorite of mine not simply

Preparation of the South In the foreground, an American palm weevil, anaconda at the edge of Rhynchophorus palmarum, opaque and placid waters of for consumption. a Mauritia palm swamp. Photo by Geoff Gallice Photo by Patrick Campbell

ne familiar species within the It is thought that Pre-Colombian cultures may plate, they may soon be damaging your backyard. for aesthetic allure or because their fruits and collection is Mauritia flexuosa. have intentionally or unintentionally aided The USDA has labeled these large beetles as leaves are easy taxonomic identifiers. Rather, Also known as the moriche dispersal of this palm as people ate its fruit potential palm-pests and vectors for plant diseases. M. flexuosais special because it is a reminder palm, this species can form and discarded its seeds. Today, the moriche of the fascinating and complex ecology of the expansive, nearly pure stands palm remains an important food and economic Another species that consumes moriche fruits is the Amazon. It is one of thousands of species, Oin permanently-inundated sites, and patches resource for many South American communities. Brazilian tapir, Tapirus terrestris. Aguaje, as moriche each with unique ecological associations, and of these stands occur throughout much of the When ripe, the egg-sized fruits are harvested fruits are called in Peru, constitute a major part of Fairchild Tropical contains Amazon basin. In fact, recent work by tropical and their shiny maroon, fish-like scales are tapirs’ diets and can disperse their seeds over long excerpts of these ecological stories from all over ecologists (including my advisor, Fairchild/FIU peeled away to reveal rich orange flesh that is distances to new swamps. And, the still, dark waters the world. For me, M. flexuosais one such story, plant conservation biologist Dr. Kenneth Feeley) commonly used for drinks and desserts. The of these moriche palm swamps are excellent places and it makes Amazonian diversity a little less indicates that a very large proportion of the trees thick, sweet and slightly-fermented juice from to encounter the anaconda, Eunectes murinus. intimidating and a lot more interesting. within the Amazon rainforest are composed of these fruits can easily be purchased from small Furthermore, brightly-plumed parrots roost a relatively small number of “hyperdominant” street-side vendors when in season. Oils from the among the palm’s costapalmate leaves. species—one of which is Mauritia flexuosa. This fruits are also gaining popularity for use in many species is so common that it has special names that different cosmetic products. vary from country to country and culture to culture. Timothy Perez is a member of Fairchild’s Graduate Studies program as a Ph.D. student at Florida International University, and is a member of Dr. Kenneth J. Feeley’s tropical ecology and conservation lab. His research interests include understanding tropical diversity, adaptations that promote large distributions and the effects of climate change on Amazonian plant communities. 60 THE TROPICAL GARDEN gifts and donors wish list Fairchild has a wish list of items that will enhance our programs, but we need Wish Makers. We hope The following gifts were made between March 1, 2015 and May 31, 2015. you see an item that you can help fulfill. Please notify the Member Services and Donor Relations Office at 305.667.1651, ext. 3310 if your information is incorrect. We apologize in advance for any errors or omissions. FOR OUR HORTICULTURE OPERATION • 2 Tablet Notebooks, $1,500 Major Gifts Fellow Mr. and Mrs. Mr. Scott Voelker and In Honor of • 12 Golf Cart Batteries, $1,200 Adam R. Rose and Mr. Moises Jacobs and Christopher G. Tyson Mr. Milton Chan Luis Javier Salazar Bassalik • Walk-Behind Aerator, $1,500 Peter R. McQuillan Ms. Jessica Lewis Mrs. Marta S. Weeks Wulf Mr. Arturo J. Xiques Mr. Luis J. Salazar Bassalik • Hardware for Accession Tag Embossing Machine, $2,000 Ms. Karina Orallo and and Mr. Karleton Wulf Mrs. Ann Ziff In Honor of • Plant Transport Van, $20,000 Education Mr. Reiniel Contreras Dr. and Mrs. Zach and Katarina Segal Programming Herbert Wertheim Tribute Program Dr. and Mrs. A. James Segal FOR CONSERVATION, RESEARCH AND Mr. and Mrs. Commemorative Gifts The Batchelor Foundation Ernest G. Bachrach Dr. Joseph A. Traina and In Memory of THE ONLINE HERBARIUM In Memory of Ms. Sandy Batchelor Mr. and Mrs. Scott Price Dr. Hillary Canning Linda Lehrmanon • Extra-Tall Tripod, $150 Dorothy Sacher Mr. and Mrs. Jose Hevia Mr. and Mrs. Ed Williamson Gail Harris • Macro Zoom Lens for Sony SLR Camera, $800 Mr. and Mrs. Fairchild Gifts Ms. Cristina Alfonso Mr. David M. Rogero Marilyn Lesser • Laptop Computer, $2,000 The following list combines Stephen D. Pearson Mr. Michael P. Bookmyer Mrs. Virginia Hester Joan Worton • New Display Giclee Prints on Canvas membership and gifts to In Honor of Loretta Mackay and Ms. Evelyn Curry Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Katcher Rusty Weinstein for Public Events, $2,000 Fairchild at $1,000 level Mr. and Mrs. Fred Bacher JP Morgan Chase & Co. Mr. Philip B. Korsant Rebecca Krys • Plant Canopy Imager, $6,000 and above. In Memory of George Khoury The Fay P. Aronson Trust Mr. and Mrs. John M. Malloy Liana • Seed Germination Chamber, $8,500 Dr. and Mrs. Alfred Feingold Ms. Fay P. Aronson Mr. and Ms. Robert Moss Lynn Seiler • Mid-Size Pickup Truck, $26,400 Diamond Fellow In Memory of DSO Designs Inc. Ms. Ella Gelvan Cindy Soloway • GPS Unit (GeoXT 6000), $8,000 Mrs. Ann Ziff Gerald L. Gallagher Mr. and Mrs. Mr. and Mrs. Marie Lerner Mr. and Mrs. Ms. Janet Patacca FOR THE RESEARCH LIBRARY Stephen D. Pearson Maurice Donsky Robin Rose M. Anthony Burns In Memory of • World Checklists for: Araliaceae, Conifers Mr. and Mrs. William Biggs Ms. Dina Barrera and Judy Rosenthal Mrs. Bunny Bastian Gerald Gallagher and Fagales, $300 Mr. Jeffrey Davis and Ms. Minerva Mazaira Cornelia Phillipson and Codina Partners Ms. Diane Myers Mr. Tom Coffey Mr. Michael Miller Mr. and Mrs. Jon Batchelor Terry Weinstein FOR SPECIAL EVENTS The Ethel and W. George Mrs. Nena Rich and Mr. and Mrs. Daniel M. Bell Tribute Bricks In Memory of • Mobile Kitchen, $3,000—WISH FULFILLED! Mr. Ted Rich Ms. Meghan S. Clarke and Gwendolyn Roberson Kennedy Family Foundation In Memory of Yvonne Shaw FOR THE FAIRCHILD FARM Mr. Richard W. Ebsary Mr. Rodolfo Vila Mr. W.J. Roberson II Mrs. Kendel Kennedy Ms. Fay P. Aronson • Golf Cart, $7,000 Drs. Javier Francisco-Ortega Mr. and Mrs. John M. Davis In Memory of Platinum Fellow and Hong Liu Mr. and Mrs. Paul J. DiMare Jossie J. Figueredo Tribute Benches FOR THE VISITOR EXPERIENCE OPERATION In Memory of Mrs. Jay W. Lotspeich Mr. and Mrs. Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey Feldman Ms. Mariaelena Ortiz • iPad, $500 Dr. Jean Bijan Samimy Ryder Charitable Foundation Gregory J. Freeborg Mrs. Lillian Fessenden In Memory of • Digital SLR Camera, $500 Dr. Lina Samimy Simply Natural Investments Dr. and Mrs. Ms. Marisela Garcia Monique Benoit Nadeau In Memory of Klara Farkas FOR MEMBER AND DONOR SERVICES White & Case L.L.P. Phillip T. George Ms. Tamara Garcia and Mrs. Marie C. Fournier Mr. Thomas A. Farkas • Laptop Computer/LCD Projector, $2,000 Jimmy Choo Mrs. Patricia A. Keon Mr. Nicholas Tarantino In Memory of Carl Cergol In Memory of Valerie Joseph • Digital SLR Camera, $1,000 Mrs. Jan R. Lewis Mr. and Mrs. Friends of Fairchild Mr. Lance Joseph Gold Fellow Mr. Edwin McAmis and K. Lawrence Gragg In Memory of Ray Casares FOR OUR STUDENTS ExxonMobil Foundation In Memory of Naomi Bell Hand Mr. Gerson Gonzalez Mr. and Mrs. Allan Herbert Ms. Marie Anello • New Vehicle for PlantMobile Outreach Program, $25,000 Ms. Agnes Gund Ms. Francinelee Hand Mr. and Mrs. James Mitchell Dr. Jane H. Hsiao In Memory of • Solar Conversion Kits for Education Golf Carts, $4,000 Marh Foundation Mr. and Mrs. Philip W. Skove Ms. Kathleen Kennedy-Olsen Edna C. Shalala • iPads for Explorer Field Studies Program, $2,500 Mexico Tourism Board Ms. Anne Kilkenny Tribute Trees Mr. and Mrs. David J. Preve Ms. Patricia M. Cloherty In Memory of • SMART Board for the Corbin Classroom, Shubin & Bass PA Dr. Lin L. Lougheed and Mr. and Mrs. In Memory of Nicolas Crespo Jossie J. Figueredo $2,000—WISH FULFILLED! Mr. Aaron I. Fleischman Jeffrey P. Rosenberg Ms. Marie Dexter Crespo Ms. Mariaelena Ortiz • Table-Top Easels, $125 Silver Fellow Dr. and Mrs. Martin R. Motes Jeff and Yolanda Berkowitz Dr. Donna E. Shalala In Honor of Baili In Memory of Marshall Glasser • Art Display Panels, $1,000—WISH FULFILLED! Mr. George T. Neary Family Charitable Mr. and Mrs. Eve Lawrence Ms. Hillary S. Cohen • Dark Field Microscope, $600 Mr. Kenneth W. O’Keefe and Foundation Inc. John K. Shubin, Esq. Mr. and Mrs. • Canon Double-Sided Feed Scanner, $3,000 Mr. Jason Stephens New York Life Mr. and Mrs. Eric T. Lawrence Dr. and Mrs. FOR OUR VISITORS Insurance Company Donald D. Slesnick II In Memory of Michael N. Rosenberg • Golf Cart, $7,000 Selma Alexander Fund II Mr. and Mrs. Teresa de Cardenas Soto Mr. and Mrs. Larry Rutherford • 3 Wheelchairs, $975—WISH FULFILLED! Wasserman Eugene E. Stark Jr. Mrs. Rossana Mendez-Clay Mr. and Mrs. Dr. and Mrs. Steven Neckman Incorporated In Memory of Klara Farkas FOR THE LIFELONG LEARNING PROGRAM Eugenio Sevilla-Sacasa Philip J. Rosenfeld Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Tobin Ms. Andrea Muller To make a donation, go to • Laptop and LCD, $1,200 Mr. and Mrs. Mr. and Mrs. In Memory of Jon A. Nickoloff www.fairchildgarden.org/ Richard P. Tonkinson E. Roe Stamps, IV Mr. James B. Nickoloff Support-Join/Donate-Now To fully fund a wish, donate a portion of the cost or donate the actual item, please contact Leslie Bowe at 305.667.1651, ext. 3338, [email protected] or please visit www.fairchildgarden.org/Donate 62 THE TROPICAL GARDEN garden views Spring brought warm weather, beautiful blooms Congratulations to The 2015 Lewis Vaughn and fun events to Fairchild Memorial Scholarship High School Winners By Brooke LeMaire Daniel Viciana and Meaghan Senzig Robert Morgan Educational Center with Dr. James Vaughn The Spring Garden Festival featuring the 36th Annual Spring FAIRCHILD TROPICAL BOTANIC GARDEN Plant Sale The Spring Garden Festival kicked off the season with local foods and edible gardens. The 36th Annual Spring Plant Sale was a tremendous success, and many plant species grown by Fairchild horticulturists sold out within the first few hours. Expert-led demonstrations showed guests how to make the most of their gardens, including how to attract butterflies. Garden market vendors distributed fresh vegetables, herbs and handmade products, while food vendors served refreshing meals. Cooking demonstrations by The Fairchild Challenge local chefs showed guests the best ways to prepare dishes for the spring, and students participating in The Fairchild Global Competition Challenge Green Cuisine competition debuted their best During the 2014-2015 school year, The vegetarian creations. The Spring offered a Fairchild Challenge, in collaboration with its relaxing ambiance with sweets and savories. Fairchild Challenge Partners offered a Global

Photo by Morgan /FTBG Competition. For the first time, 10 national and international institutions created a challenge th that allowed students to share their talents The 9 Annual Fairchild and a piece of their world. Students looked for pollinator syndromes in local plants and FIRST PLACE—MIDDLE SCHOOL FIRST PLACE—HIGH SCHOOL: Artists in Bloom created drawings depicting the interaction Emma Bennett, MAST Academy, Miranda Miller & Jessica Burch, The 9th Annual Fairchild Artists in Bloom was held Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Miami Woodland Hills High, Phipps between a plant and pollinator. To the right are Conservatory & Botanical Gardens, in April, exhibiting more than 150 original works by the winners for middle and high school. Pittsburgh, PA students and instructors from art courses offered through Classes at Fairchild. Participating art students and instructors ranged from beginners to advanced, with a National Public Gardens Day focus on capturing nature on canvas. Media included Fairchild participated in National Public Gardens Day on May 8 by offering watercolor, oil and acrylic paintings as well as pastel reduced admission to all visitors. Created by the American Public Gardens and botanical illustrations. Association, the day is a nationwide celebration that invites people to explore the beauty of their local green spaces while raising awareness of the important role public gardens play in promoting conservation, education and environmental preservation. Photo by Morgan Brooks/FTBG 64 THE TROPICAL GARDEN SUMMER 2015 65 Chihuly at Fairchild The much-beloved Chihuly at Fairchild art exhibition closed on Sunday, May 31. The six-month glass exhibition featured the largest and most comprehensive collection of artist Dale Chihuly’s work, with works form the various series of his 45- year career represented.

Fairchild welcomed hundreds of thousands of visitors to the Garden of Glass during the six months. Guests marveled at the delicate beauty of Chihuly’s works as they strolled the grounds. On Thursday and Sunday nights, the Garden remained open until 9:30 p.m. giving visitors an opportunity to see the works beautifully lit and creating a unique and magical experience.

Fairchild Lecture Series Basic Horticulture Classes As part of the annual Fairchild Lecture Series, experts in Fairchild’s horticulture volunteers were offered a series their respective fields presented engaging talks on topics of horticulture classes this spring, taught by Fairchild’s including attracting birds to Florida gardens, conserving pine knowledgeable and experienced horticulture staff members. rockland habitats and creating botanical reliefs. Stay tuned Shown above, fern specialist Mike Freedman, taught fern Photo by Morgan Brooks/FTBG for the 2016 Fairchild Lecture Series schedule, which will be reproduction, identification and propagation, and the volunteers available soon. each received a plant to add to their own “mini-Fairchild” L.E.A.F. collection at home. (Let’s Explore at Fairchild) Children and their families enjoyed, learned and had fun during L.E.A.F.: Let’s Explore at Fairchild spring programs.

This past spring, children of all ages enjoyed activities ranging from gardening and crafting to completing educational worksheets while learning about conservation.

This enjoyable family program runs from September through May, every second and fourth weekend of the month, 11:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. Congratulations For a complete list of themes and dates, please visit to the 2014-15 Fairchild www.fairchildgarden.org/Visit/Family-Fun Challenge Top Scoring Schools Photo by Morgan Brooks/FTBG High Schools 1st Miami Palmetto Senior High School Early-Bird Walks 2nd Miami Killian Senior High School We’re Taking Donations 3rd South Plantation Senior High School Our birding volunteers took visitors on a journey to discover of Antiques, Collectibles Fairchild’s many species of birds and wildlife on Early-Bird Middle Schools and Old Books Walks. Arriving early in the morning to see and hear the 1st Palmetto Middle School On November 13-15, 2015, we will celebrate the 75th different calls of dozens of birds provided a peaceful and 2nd George Washington Carver Middle School anniversary of The Ramble! This festival has continued informative start to the day. 3rd The Biltmore School through the past 75 years because of volunteers’ countless Elementary School The Early-Bird Walks program will resume this fall, every hours of work and dedication to Fairchild. Volunteers who 1st Air Base Elementary School work on festival favorites, such as Antiques and Collectibles weekend from September through November. If you cannot 2nd Palmetto Elementary School wait until then, come to Fairchild and discover our summer 3rd LaScuola and Old Books, have already begun the process of accepting donations, pricing and preparing items for sale. South Florida residents! Congratulations to the 280 Pre-K through 12th grade schools that participated in the 2014-15 Fairchild Challenge. For more information about the program and a complete list of To donate antiques, collectables or books to The Ramble, participating schools, please visit www.fairchildchallenge.org contact Natalie White at 305.663.9081 or via email at [email protected]. Photo by Morgan Brooks/FTBG from the archives

David

FAIRCHILD’S By Nancy Korber Photos by Fairchild Archives, Dr. David Fairchild Photo Album #19 PHOTO ALBUMS Charcoal boat bringing charcoal from Nevis. St. Kitts laws Dr. David Fairchild preparing to photograph Crotalaria sp. growing in a field at the base of Mount forbid its forests being burned. St. Kitts, January 22 or 23, 1932. Messy on the estate of Mr. B. S. Davis, January 24, 1932. Photo #18305-5 by D. Fairchild Photo # 57846 by P. H. Dorsett, Misery, St. Kitts.

o you have a shoebox full of the negatives for those images. One additional album from 1944 We are working to digitize all of these of photographs—or, given Combining the information provides includes images mostly from Casa albums so that they can be available today’s technology, a cell a detailed record of Dr. Fairchild’s Popenoe in Antigua, Guatemala, on our website, easily viewable and phone or flash drive full travels for more than a 10-year taken in 1944. searchable by you. Soon you’ll be able Dof hundreds of undescribed images? period. to travel with Dr. Fairchild through the So did Dr. David Fairchild. Luckily for The albums themselves provide an far corners of the world in search of Most of the images illustrate the us, he also kept meticulous records interesting and often historically plants useful to the United States. and created at least 22 detailed photo Allison V. Armour Expeditions that important view of the natural history of albums. During the past several years, took place during the 1920s and the the areas through which Dr. Fairchild Fairchild’s archive volunteers have 1930s. We have 21 albums from traveled. He commented extensively been capturing all the information 1924 through 1932, which have on the plant life, of course; but he Fairchild left about those scrapbook images from all over the world— also included images and information images. The information comes including England, , the on human culture. The albums also from a number of sources, including Canary Islands, Morocco, Singapore, tell the story of an international plant his pocket notebooks, the albums Sierra Leone, Sumatra, Ceylon, the hunter in the early to mid-1900s. themselves and even the edges Bahamas and many more locations.

ABOVE View from sweet potato patch on hillside on Antigue route to Boggy Peak. Antigua, January 26, 1932. Photographer unknown LEFT LEFT Avenue of tamarinds 100 years or so old on Collecting a seed cluster of Pseudophoenix St. Joseph’s road out of Roseau, Dominica, on the Island of Saona. January 20, 1932. January 30, 1932. Photo #57788 by P. H. Dorsett Photo #18384-5 by D. Fairchild, Dominica,

68 THE TROPICAL GARDEN SUMMER 2015 69 connect with fairchild

­VISIT US GET INVOLVED Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden Become a Member 10901 Old Cutler Road, Coral Gables FL 33156 Become a member and enjoy Garden benefits all year long. T: 305.667.1651 F: 305.661.8953 Inquiries: 305.667.1651, ext. 3301 or 3362 7:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. (except Christmas Day) [email protected] th www.fairchildgarden.org/Membership b rd Admission: Free for Fairchild Members and children 5 and 77 annual under. Non-members: $25 for adults, $18 for seniors 65 and up Volunteer and Become a volunteer and help the Garden grow. DAYS $12 for children 6-17. Inquiries: 305.667.1651, ext. 3324 MEMBERS’ DAY [email protected] Eco-discount: If you walk, ride your bike or take public www.fairchildgarden.org/Volunteer transportation to Fairchild, receive $5 off admission for adults PLANT SALE and $2 off admission for children. Members, remember to bring Give your Rewards Card to earn your gift passes! Donate to the Garden and help support Fairchild’s programs. Inquiries: 305.667.1651, ext. 3351 Saturday and Sunday Military Discount: We are pleased to offer active military [email protected] personnel free admission. Please present Military IDs. www.fairchildgarden.org/DonateNow October 3 and 4, 2015 FAIRCHILD BLOGS 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Found at Fairchild EVENTS AND PRIVATE RENTALS Information about events can be found on Fairchild’s website. Discover Fairchild past and present with Fairchild writer Tickets for certain events may be purchased online. Interested in Kenneth Setzer. www.fairchildgarden.org/FoundatFairchild In conjunction with having your event at Fairchild? Please call us or visit our website. Gardening with Georgia Inquiries: 305.667.1651, ext. 3359 Plant writer extraordinaire Georgia Tasker writes about [email protected] plants and everything Fairchild. www.fairchildgarden.org/ www.fairchildgarden.org/Events GeorgiaTasker SHOP AT FAIRCHILD b rd festival GIFTS THAT GIVE BACK Visit The Shop at Fairchild for a large selection of gardening Give the gift of Fairchild and culinary books, home decor items and unique gifts. Inquiries: 305.667.1651, ext. 3351 Inquiries: 305.667.1651, ext. 3305 [email protected]. [email protected]. store.fairchildonline.com Thursday through Sunday www.fairchildgarden.org/GiftIdeas GET YOUR BINOCULARS October 1, 2, 3 and 4, 2015 MILLION ORCHID PROJECT You may borrow a pair of binoculars to get a closer look at Fairchild’s 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Learn how you can participate in The Million Orchid Project: a wildlife. Please ask at the Visitor Center’s information desk. program that will restore one million orchids in South Florida. Inquiries: Morgan Brooks 305.667.1651, ext. 3309 FOLLOW US www.fairchildgarden.org/MillionOrchidProject In partnership with www.fairchildgarden.org Tropical Audubon Society (TAS)

@FairchildGarden Bird Festival at Fairchild is made possible by the generous support of the James A. Kushlan Bird Conservation Program. fairchild tropical botanic garden 70 THE TROPICAL GARDEN Guaiacum sanctum. Photo by Susan Ford-Collins Printed on recycled paper that contains Non-Profit 10% post-consumer waste and is FSC® Organization Certified using vegetable-based ink. When U. S. Postage you are finished enjoying this magazine, PAID please recycle it by sharing it with a friend. Miami, Florida Permit No. 155