Botanical Gold: Exploring the Treasures of the Herbaria Caroline j. Swartz Faculty and staff of the combined Harvard herbaria invite Friends of the and other special guests to an open house in May

On Thursday, May 8, 1986, from 5:30 to 8:30 tions are rich archival materials docu- p.m., the combined Harvard University Her- menting the work of past researchers and the baria (HUH) will offer a unique opportunity history of the collections. With over 4.5 mil- to visit behind the scenes of one of the lion specimens of plants, the Harvard Her- world’s richest botanical resources. Friends baria comprise the fifth-largest such collection of the Arnold Arboretum, Friends of the in the world and the largest university-asso- Farlow Herbarium, members of the New ciated collection of its kind anywhere; their England Botanical Club, and members of the associated libraries contain 224,000 items, Harvard community are cordially invited to constituting one of the world’s leading come and talk with Herbaria faculty and staff resources for systematic botany. Together, members about their research, botanical the specimens, books, and historical docu- exploration, and particular areas of study. ments form the foundation of modern botan- Guests will have a special opportunity to ical research and hold a wealth of information examine specimens of plants collected by about the whole history of botany. The botanists between the late 1700s and the accompanying article gives details on the present and to see records of historic plant various herbaria’s and libranes’s holdings. expeditions that date from the opemng of the The rich accumulation of matenal, par- American West and the United States’s first ticularly the herbarium sheets of pressed and ventures into world exploration, to recent dried plant specimens, document a signifi- expeditions to all parts of the globe. This cant portion of the world’s roughly 400,000 special evening will provide an opportumty kinds of plants and fungi. These collections to see why these rich collections are so were begun in 1842 by Asa Gray, the first important to researchers around the world in Fisher Professor of Natural History at Harvard the identification, classification, and study University. In the mid- to late 1800s, Gray of the evolution and distribution of plants. received specimens from many government- and privately-sponsored expeditions to little- known of the and to The Combined Herbaria parts expanding West, many other parts of the world. He described The HUH building houses the combined and identified these plants, accumulating a Arnold Arboretum-Gray herbaria and large number of specimens, now of great sci- libraries, the Farlow Herbarium and Library entific and historical interest. Gray’s per- of Cryptogamic Botany, the sonal herbarium, containing over 200,000 Orchid Herbarium and Library, the Eco- plant specimens, and his collections of nomic Botany Herbarium and Library, and botamcal texts were bequeathed to Harvard; the New England Botanical Club Herbarium they form the basis of the herbaria’s rich col- and Library. Associated with these collec- lections. 36

Connected to the HUH building is the collections of the HUH, the orchid her- Farlow Reference Library and Herbarium of barium owes its existence to the early efforts Cryptogamic Botany. William Gilson Farlow, of a smgle person, in this case, Professor a one-time assistant to Gray and first pro- Oakes Ames. fessor of cryptogamic botany (the study of lower in North in plants) America, appointed An Invitation To Attend 1874, endowed his personal collections at his death in 1919. His collections contained Come visit us, then, and follow an "explorer’s mosses, fungi, lichens, and algae. map" through the HUH buildmg. On display The Arnold Arboretum, established in will be records from the early days of botani- 1872 by its first director, Charles Sprague cal exploration in the American West and in Sargent, supports a substantial herbarium in other parts of the world; specimens prepared addition to its Living Collections. Sargent by Henry David Thoreau in his treks around donated his personal plant collection and New England; herbarium specimens col- library to the Arboretum, but during his lected by Ernest ("Chinese") Wilson and years as its director he made every effort to Joseph Rock in remote areas of China; early support field expeditions, pnmarily to eastern accounts and checks signed by Asa Gray; and Asia, where such collectors as E. H. Wilson material relating to more recent botanical were strongly encouraged to collect her- expeditions to distant parts of the earth. Staff barium specimens in addition to living plants members will reveal how plant specimens and seeds. Sargent’s training under Gray are prepared, from the time they are collected helped him to understand the great value an m the field, through the mounting process, herbarium would have in the Arboretum’s up to the time they are added to the collec- pursuit of botanical knowledge. tion and made available for scientific research. To this day, botanists at the Harvard Uni- Herbaria staff members, faculty, and versity Herbaria still travel to distant lands graduate students will be on hand to describe to carry out fieldwork and bnng back thou- the plants and documents on display and to sands of plants specimens and seeds for the convey through slide shows, photographs, herbaria and for the Living Collections of the and exhibits the kinds of research that are Arboretum. It is through the integrated use based on these collections. We encourage you of the herbanum, library, and Living Collec- to take advantage of this unique behind-the- tions that botanical knowledge will continue scenes opportumty to visit one of the world’s to be advanced. Says Peter Stevens, Professor richest botanical treasures and to learn about of Biology and Curator of the combined another aspect of botany at Harvard Univer- Arnold-Gray Herbaria, "By studying all the sity. species in one family, how they are classified, Discover what plants are used for food and how they relate to one another, or, in some medicine in other parts of the world. Learn cases, do not relate to one another, one how plants make food, through demonstra- begms to understand that correct classifica- tions of photosynthesis. Explore the fasci- tion is the basis for all sound evolutionary nating beauty and biological importance of ideas." Only in the herbarium can one study fern spores through fantastic photographs simultaneously all the species of a family, or taken with the scanmng electron micro- of a genus. scope. Gather insights on the difficulties that The Oakes Ames Orchid Herbarium is the explorers faced in the early American West, world’s largest herbarium devoted to a single and on some of the difficulties they faced in plant family. As with so many of the other dealing with a famous Harvard professor! 37

Hosts for the Evening ~ David E. Boufford, Curatorial Taxonom- ist : current botanical exploration m the The are some of the staff members following People’s Republic of China. who will be present during the open house, A. of the and their areas of interest and expertise: D Michael Canoso, Manager Sys- tematic and Walter T. D L. Curator of the New Collections, Kittredge, Raymond Angelo, Curatorial Assistant: function, Botanical Club (NEBC) Herbarium: organization, England and of a research herbarium. Thoreau’s botanical contributions and the workings major role of the NEBC Herbarium. 0 Zepur Elmayan and Edith Hollender, Preparators: mounting of herbarium speci- ~ Peter S. Ashton, Professor and Director of the Arnold Arboretum: tropical forests of mens. southeast Asia. D Leslie A. Garay, Curator of the Oakes Ames Orchid Herbarium, and Herman R. R. Research 0 Jean Boise, Bibliographer: Research Associate: orchids of the the Sweet, Loculoascomycetes. world. D Allan Postdoctoral Her- J. Bornstein, D Ida Hay, Curatorial Associate, and Emily barium Intern: the Piperaceae (pepper family).

TWo herbanum sheets from the Herbanum of the Arnold Arboretum. The sheet on the left is a specimen of Cornus kousa, a dogwood native to Japan and Korea, that on the nght a specimen of a related species, Cornus flonda, the flowenng dogwood of eastern North Amenca. Visitors at the Herbana open house on May 8th mll be able to discuss such interesting similanties between the eastern Asian and eastern North Amencan floras ~nnth faculty and staff, as well as other botanical topics. Photograph by Joseph Wnnn. Courtesy of The Harvard University Gazette. 38

W. Wood, Curatorial Assistant: pressing and To Attend herbarium in the field. drying specimens Friends of the Arboretum will find free ~ Richard A. Howard, Professor and former parking in the Andover lot, which is located Director of the Arnold Arboretum: West behind the HUH building. They should enter Indian floras and exploration in the Carib- from Oxford Street. (See the accompanying bean. map.)/ 0 Hsiu-Ying Hu, Botanist: food and Complimentary hors d’oeuvres will be medicinal plants of China. served. ~ Geraldine C. Kaye, Librarian: fungi and other cryptogams in the Farlow Herbarium. ~ David C. Michener, Research Taxono- mist and Curatorial Administrator: the Wood Laboratory; sectioning wood for microscopic study. ~ Donald H. Pfister, Professor, Curator of the Farlow Library and Herbarium, and Director of the Harvard University Herbaria: Discomycetes, early mycological literature. 0 Bernice G. Schubert, Lecturer and Curator: Dioscorea (the yam) and Desmo- dium (beggar’s ticks; legume family). ~ Elizabeth A. Shaw, Bibliographer and Research Taxonomist: botanical exploration in the early American West. ~ Otto T. Solbrig, Mangelsdorf Professor of Natural Science and past Director of the Gray Herbarium: photosynthesis. ~ Stephen A. Spongberg, Horticultural Taxonomist: the early botanical exploration of China. ~ Peter F. Stevens, Professor and Curator, and Barbara A. Callahan, Librarian: the development of systematic botany as dis- played through botanical illustrations. ~ Rolla M. ’Ilyon, Jr., Professor and Curator, and Alice F. Tryon, Associate Curator: the world of ferns and fern spores, scanning elec- tron micrographs. El Carroll E. Wood, Jr., Professor and Caroline Swartz is coordmator of the and Ihsan A. Research J. membership Curator, AI-Shehbaz, Friends of the Arnold Arboretum. A graduate of Con- Associate: the flora of the southeastern necticut College, she has a special interest in Chinese United States. language and culture.