THE PRESS

Department of Botany & the U.S. National Herbarium

New Series - Vol. 22 - No. 1 January-March 2019 Asexuality as a detour, not a dead end By Kathryn Picard

istorically, asexuality has been seen by evolutionary homoplasy due to shared ecological habits can mask—or, al- biologists as a short-term solution to a long-term ternatively, falsely suggest—hybridization and/or speciation. Hproblem, with any temporary competitive advantages Yet, for the overwhelming majority of specimens housed derived from eschewing sex eventually overshadowed by the in herbaria, these data are not available. The primary goal of absence of mechanisms to increase genotypic diversity. Yet, de- my postdoctoral work is to apply classical spore analysis tech- spite its ostensible limitations, asexuality is a widespread repro- niques to the fern collections in the United States National ductive strategy, especially among where it is generally Herbarium to establish both reproductive mode and ploidy manifested as apomixis. level estimates for the most diverse fern order, . Apomictic ferns deviate from the typical fern sexual life Comprising approximately 80% of extant fern species, the cycle in two ways: 1) the production of unreduced spores Polypodiales lineage is distributed globally and exhibits myr- through meiosis, and 2) the development of an adult fern (spo- iad morphologies corresponding to an equally broad range of rophyte) from the somatic tissue of the free-living gametophyte ecological habits. Unifying these otherwise disparate taxa is without the fusion of sperm and egg. For the few fern lineages the generally consistent production of 64 spores per sporan- that have been studied, approximately 10% of species have been gium in sexually reproducing individuals. By contrast, apo- found to be apomicts. Across angiosperms, the incidence of mictic individuals produce half the number (usually 32) apomixis is markedly lower, with fewer than 1% of species un- unreduced spores per sporangium, allowing for the relatively derstood to exhibit this reproductive mode. With both the po- Continued on page 4 tential evolutionary pitfalls of asexuality and the broad disparity between ferns and angiosperms in mind, it seems only natural to ask why apomixis has played such an outsized role in Approximately 10% of fern species have fern diversification. Reproductive mode and ploidy level are important life his- been found to reproduce asexually. tory characters that can inform phylogenetic studies and tax- onomic revisions of fern taxa, particularly in groups where

Department of Botany & the U.S. National Herbarium CHAIR WITH A VIEW L.J.Dorr

Working hard

think all of us have had a job or two when we were ing machine could crush my hand). (OHSHA was in its in- younger that sticks with us because of some lesson or les- fancy). Not only did the machines I operated fill the milk Isons that we learned. I had my share of odd jobs in high bottles, but they also placed them in crates, stacked the school and college. Nothing particularly inspirational, moti- crates, and carried the stacked crates into an industrial size vational or instructive. Certainly nothing that hinted at my cooler where someone else loaded them onto tractor-trailers. present career. I mowed lawns, painted houses, delivered pre- The job also required an ability to ignore unpleasant odors, a scriptions for a drugstore, washed dishes, stocked shelves in a useful adaptation because milk was constantly spilled on the warehouse, worked on a bookmobile, and clerked for a grain floor and there was no time to mop it up until the end of a company. Some jobs I enjoyed more than others. The job I shift. detested and quit after a few days was conducting marketing My coworkers were almost all immigrants from the Cape surveys. I was expected to stop people on the street in down- Verde Islands. I was the chance replacement for a machine town Boston, people minding their own business, and try to operator who had saved enough money to take the summer get them to answer a series of questions about their use or fa- off to return to Africa to marry. The foreman was tough. In miliarity with certain commercial products. The information theory, he held his position because he was the only em- was preliminary to an advertising campaign. It took me al- ployee who spoke both Portuguese, or Creole, and English. most no time to realize that marketing and sales would not In reality, I think he held his position because he could be in- be my future. timidating. He was, as best I could tell, the only employee The job I took the summer after my first year in college who was a veteran of the Portuguese Colonial War and he had an unusually strong impact on me because it showed me told me stories about combat in Angola. He kept order in the how very hard people could work when they have goals. I dairy even though I noticed that he initiated most of the bottled milk for a dairy. It required an odd combination of roughhousing. stamina (standing for long periods), boredom (watching I worked a swing shift. I went to work at four each after- endless gallons of milk move down a conveyor belt), and noon and worked until at least eleven when I was required to agility (reaching in to fix something quickly before the stack- disassemble and clean the bottling machine at the end of my shift. If the last truck from Vermont with raw milk ran late I would stay until the milk was processed, bottled, and the equip- ment taken apart and cleaned, which meant sometimes I did not head home until five or six in the morning. I was paid $2.10 an hour, which I thought was great. I also worked six days a week, which might seem a lot except that several of my co- workers (and the person I had temporarily replaced) routinely worked seven days a week. No one in the dairy, except possibly the chemist who checked the milk after it was pasteurized, thought of his or her job as a career. In southern New England and on

Continued on page 13

The staff of Smithsonian’s Office acilityof F Management and Reliability works to maintain, repair, and service the historic buildings and grounds of the Smithsonian Institution. Supporting the Department of Botany are LeAnthony Bennett (Supervisor), Jose B. Lobo, Nataya Ross, Keith Pollard, Chaddie Matthews, Feron L. Bazemore, and Carlos Umaña. Not present, Marilyn Blue. (photo by G. Krupnick)

Page 2 EDITOR’S NOTE After 21 years in print, The Plant Press has a new look. The partial U.S. federal government shutdown delayed the release of this issue, and most of the content was prepared before the shutdown began. The staff of the Department of Botany is happy to be back at work, fulfilling its mission in being a leader in botanical biodiversity re- search and providing modern responsible stewardship of the national collection. We hope you enjoy the new layout and im- proved design of the newsletter. The editor of the newsletter welcomes and encour- ages feedback, which can be sent to [email protected]. HONORS & AWARDS Museum staff honors its peers

The National Museum of Natural His- hours watering, pruning, and trimming tory presented the 2018 Peer Recognition in addition to cleaning floors, Awards on December 11. Award recip- equipment and anything else that needed ients are individuals and teams who have attention. Ida Lopez’s devotion is evident given their time and talent to the mu- by bringing the volunteers together, over- seum above and beyond what their jobs seeing the plant care, ensuring all tasks call for, and to those who have done were covered, and providing contracted something that makes a difference in the resources as needed. The greenhouse is a The Plant Press outside community, for the museum, or living and breathing facility and its sys- for the larger Smithsonian community. tems are essential to providing the envi- New Series - Vol. 22 - No. 1 The Peer Recognition Award Committee ronment for the collection to thrive. Chair of Botany is composed of 14 Museum staff Without any professional training in fa- Laurence J. Dorr members representing a cross-section of cilities management, Ken Wurdack as- ([email protected]) the entire museum community. sumed the necessary duties. By EDITORIAL STAFF Ten awards were presented at the cer- troubleshooting systems and partnering emony. Department of Botany’s Ida with SI facilities experts, he helped keep Editor Lopez and Ken Wurdack, and volunteers the greenhouse facility in working order, Gary Krupnick Julia Steirer and Lou Woody received monitored structural and mechanical ([email protected]) the Green Thumb Team Award. The fol- systems, and obtained service and repairs Copy Editors lowing is taken from 2018 Award Pro- when needed. The sacrifice of the team to Robin Everly, Bernadette Gibbons, and gram: save this valuable collection has allowed Rose Gulledge When the unexpected happens and a their fellow curators, and the national The Plant Press is a quarterly publication provided solution is not in sight, unsung cham- and international research communities, free of charge. To receive notification of when new pions often rise and make things right. to continue their research on living pdf issues are posted to the web, please subscribe When the Museum found itself without a plants. The plants housed in this facility to the listserve by sending a message to green house manager, these four individ- are an important reservoir for genome- [email protected] containing only the following in the body of the text: SUBSCRIBE uals stepped up and decided to do what quality tissue, and the conservation of PLANTPRESS-NEWS Firstname Lastname. they could to care for, maintain and pro- these rare and threatened species is vital Replace “Firstname Lastname” with your name. tect a valuable collection of nearly 6,000 to our research mission. Without their living plants at the Botany Research exceptional efforts, these collections If you would like to be added to the hard-copy mailing list, please contact Dr. Gary Krupnick at: Greenhouse. Museum volunteers Julia would have perished. Department of Botany, Smithsonian Institution, Steier and Lou Woody worked numerous PO Box 37012, NMNH MRC-166, Washington, DC 20013-7012, or by E-mail: [email protected]. ABOVE: NMNH Sant Director Kirk Johnson presents the Green Thumb Team Award to Ida Lopez, Julia Steirer, Lou Woody, and Ken Wurdack. (photo by James Di Loreto, Web site: https://naturalhistory.si.edu/research/botany Smithsonian)

Page 3 Asexuality Continued from page 1 easy discrimination between sexual and Most previous studies of apomixis in we will be focusing our efforts on the asexual individuals. Furthermore, as spore ferns focused on the examination of non- nearly 4,000 Polypodiales type specimens size is positively correlated with genomic type material. However, fern lineages in held at the US National Herbarium. For content, we can use mean spore diameter which polyploidy, hybridization, and apo- each specimen with ample fertile tissue, to estimate ploidy level for closely related mixis are prevalent are often characterized intact sporangia will be isolated, dissected, species (and sometimes genera), thus pro- by cryptic diversity, increasing the pos- and separated from the spores within, viding insight into the distribution of poly- sibility of specimen misidentification. which will then be counted and measured. ploidy—which is often associated with Thus, to ensure the accuracy of any repro- By examining spores of type specimens, apomixis—across ferns. ductive mode assigned to a given taxon, we will add a sorely needed facet to the life

Reproductive mode data is available for only a few fern lineages, thus the relative abundance of apomictic species is likely underestimated. Adiantopsis asplenioides (, Polypodiales) is the first reported apomictic species for the .

Page 4 Type specimens are examined for fertile tissue (A) bearing intact, undehisced sporangia (B, outlined; C, removed from specimen). Spores from dissected sporangia (D) are counted and measured to determine reproductive mode and estimate ploidy level, respectively. This specimen, Dryopteris macropholis, is a 16-spored apomict originating from the Marquesas Islands. (images by K. Picard) history data available for these specimens, likely to occupy expanded ranges, tolerate tween reproductive mode, ploidy level, and and provide benchmarks for spore size more extreme environmental conditions, various environmental gradients. that can be used in downstream analyses and more readily establish island pop- This project is in collaboration with of fern diversification. ulations than their sexual counterparts. In Amanda Grusz (University of Minnesota- Our spore analyses will also ultimately addition to being overrepresented in island Duluth) and Michael Windham (Duke allow us to investigate longstanding ques- floras overall, ferns display clear patterns University). tions of fern ecology and evolution, chief of habitat differentiation between sexual among them being the role of asexuality in and asexual populations. Using digitized fern dispersal, diversification, and niche collection records, we will estimate range partitioning. Studies across plant and ani- sizes for each taxon included in our spore mal taxa suggest asexual species are more survey and explore the relationship be-

Page 5 Ancient plants tell stories of today By Pamela Tuchscherer “A person would have to Retired teacher and Department of Invertebrate Zoology volunteer Pamela Tuchscherer ex- take themselves out of the plores her experiences attending the Smithsonian Botanical Symposium, “Plants in the Past: Fossils and the Future,” which convened at the National Museum of Natural History in May human context to begin to 2018. She also gives us a first look of the new David H. Koch Hall of Fossils – Deep Time, think in terms of geologic which is scheduled to open to the public on June 8, 2019. time. They would have to It’s hard to grasp the concept of deep controversial concept even to some scien- think like a rock.” time. I reflected on this geologic period as tists. Terry Falke, photographer I studied a fossil illustration in the rare I examined Artis’ publication, and book, Antediluvian Phytology. The plant other rare books highlighting fossil plants, fossil was 55 million years old. What could at the Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Library of and life systems with more than 30,000 ft2 I use as time markers in that distant past? Natural History. Having entered through of new fossil displays. It was after the dinosaurs roamed the locked doors, I had entered one of the two Jonathan Wilson, paleobotanist at Hav- earth, but before humans existed. Imagine most secure locations in the museum. (The erford College, and a speaker at the Sym- what Edmund T. Artis, 1800s fossil collec- other being the gem vault). The library, posium raised the question, “How can we tor and author of the book, thought when containing 10,000 anthropology and natu- better estimate the way climate change will he collected the Carboniferous plant fossil ral science rare books, is used by scientists impact today’s ecosystems?” Plant fossils, fragment. He tried to envision it as a whole and researchers working on and he explained, are key sources of environ- organism even though it had little in com- classification of species. I viewed the books mental information because their wood mon with existing plants. Back then, geo- on display during a behind-the-scenes tour structure, as well as leaf shape and size, logic time before humans was a offered during the Smithsonian Botanical record and respond to environmental Symposium, “Plants changes in a predictable biophysical way. in the Past: Fossils Vegetation and climate influence each and the Future,” other. This is referred to vegetation-climate where I was intro- feedback. “For example,” Wilson notes, duced not only to “drought causes plant death and reduces unique extinct plant the amount of carbon dioxide stored in species, but also to plant tissues, thereby increasing at- the origins of some mospheric CO2 concentration and global of today’s plant di- temperatures.” versity. Wilson used the rich archive of envi- Kirk Johnson, Di- ronmental evidence preserved in fossils to rector of the Mu- understand vegetation-climate feedback in seum of Natural deep time. He thinks it is critical to build History and a pa- an understanding of the whole extinct leontologist himself, plants’ physiologies from root-to-stem-to- gave the opening re- leaf, rather than trying to reconstruct them marks at the Sympo- based on existing relatives. Extinct plants sium and noted that may not have functioned in ways known the discussion of an- today. By comparing the physiology of cient plant fossils co- these plants with today’s living plants incides with the strategies, it will help explain the adapta- development of the tion of an organism to environmental Natural History Mu- changes over time. Wilson believes, “The seum’s Deep Time history of plant life holds important clues exhibit. A goal of the about the planet’s future.” exhibit is to show the Scott Wing, Smithsonian curator of public that paleon- fossil plants, has discovered that fossil tology is relevant to plant records show evidence for the modern life. It will triggers and effects of global warming. He demonstrate how an- Filicites miltoni from “Antediluvian Phytology, illustrated by a has studied plant fossils that reveal the in- cient plant and ani- tense global warming that occurred 55 collection of the fossil remains of plants, peculiar to the coal mal fossils are key to formations of Great Britain” by Edmund T. Artis (1825). (Image million years ago during a period labeled understanding the PETM (Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maxi- courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, https://biodiversitylibrary. interaction of earth org/page/51300329) mum). In addition to high temperatures,

Page 6 high levels of carbon in the atmosphere Botany website redesign were evident. This period is widely recog- nized as “the best geological analog for the The National Museum of Natural His- taxonomic, and other special interests. Ex- human-induced global warming that is tory has launched a new website at amples include Guiana Shield, Hawaiian happening now.” https://naturalhistory.si.edu/. The new Islands, West Indies, Lianas and Climbing The newDeep Time exhibit, opening in visitor-focused site works on both desktop Plants of the Neotropics, Onagraceae, and June 2019, will make comparisons between and mobile screens, integrates with multi- Zingiberales. events in the history of life and our current ple Smithsonian-wide systems, and has If you are looking for specimens, im- alterations of Earth systems. Wing points improved accessibility and adherence to ages, loans, or access to the Herbarium, out, “We’ve changed the composition of current accessibility standards and require- visit Collections Access. TheResources the atmosphere, changed the climate and ments. The new Museum website includes page provides digital resources, nomencla- the chemistry of the ocean. There is no a redesign to the research department tural tools (Index Nominum Generico- ecosystem that doesn’t have human finger- webpages, including the Department of rum, Appendices I-VII of the International prints. We are now as powerful as geologi- Botany—now found at https:// Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, cal forces were in the past. Things that we naturalhistory.si.edu/research/botany. and plants), and access to newsletters and do now will echo forward into the future.” Botany homepage navigation begins journals (Contributions from the U.S. Na- Fossils of grains and leaves will with the orange circle in the lower left of tional Herbarium, Smithsonian Contrib- be featured in highlighted displays in the the screen. Click on this and you see “Bot- utions to Botany). exhibit that will help visitors understand any” with a subordinate list of choices: The Opportunities page offers infor- ecological change over time and emphasize • About mation for the visiting researcher, such as the importance of plants in shaping this • Research how to find and apply for travel awards, change. Fossil interactive programs and • Collections Access fellowships, internships, and volunteer po- activities will provide hands-on experi- • Resources sitions. The News and Highlights page ences. In addition to describing current • Opportunities will focus on the latest events and other undesirable global changes, the exhibit will • News and Highlights activities sponsored by the department, reveal practical solutions to global change • Staff such the Smithsonian Botanical Sympo- including urban gardening and conserva- • Contacts sium. tion programs. The About page presents a short his- If you are looking for a staff member of Entering the exhibit, the public will tory of the U.S. National Herbarium and the Department of Botany, visit the Staff start at the Earth’s creation, 4.6 billion the Department of Botany. Research dives page. The Department’s mailing address, years ago and end with their future. Vis- into the current research specialties of the phone number, fax number, and email ad- itors will walk through individual displays Botany Curators, organized by geographic, dress is available on the Contacts page. and observe changes over time. As they progress and travel through millions of years, they’ll discover how climate change and plant and animal interactions can transform the environment. There will be dinosaurs, but these extinct species will be shown in the context of their place in the ecosystem and their evolution through time. Plant fossils hold clues to both the past and the future and help scientist un- derstand the results of the rapid biological change taking place today. “What few real- ize,” Wing notes, “is that this rise in CO2, and the heat wave it will cause, will persist for thousands or tens of thousands of years.” The hope is that visitors will gain a larger sense of the legacy they leave behind as well as the one they have inherited.

Navigation of the newly redesigned Department of Botany website at https://naturalhistory.si. edu/research/botany begins with the orange circle on the left of the screen.

Page 7 The digitization conveyor project hits 2 million scans

After three years of production, the pressed specimens every day, or one spe- Ericaceae, and many more. The pterido- Department of Botany is excited to an- cimen image every 4-6 seconds. Staff are phytes and Cyperaceae are also complete. nounce that the Botany Digitization Con- continually preparing, moving, scanning, The team is now working their way veyor Belt has reached 2 million scans of filing, and repairing botanical specimens through the last third of the dicots, and ex- botanical specimens this December 2018. for this long-term project. pect to be 80 percent complete with this This number also coincides with the tran- Which plant families can be found in group by late spring 2019. The goal is to scription of 1.5 million conveyor specimen the online catalog? The digitization team digitize all pressed specimens in the US images. Total number of inventoried spe- has completed a large portion of the dicot- National Herbarium within the next three cimens from the US National Herbarium yledons, including Asteraceae, Fabaceae, years, funding permitted. Stay tuned for has now reached over 3 million records, Rubiaceae, Melastomataceae, Acanthaceae, updates in the coming months and years. and can be found in our online catalog (https://collections.nmnh.si.edu/search/ botany/). These landmark figures are the result of very hard work from the Department of Botany and the Smithsonian’s Digitization Program Office staff, in collaboration with the digitization company Picturae. The Botany Conveyor Belt runs five days a week, capturing the images of 3,000-4,000

Clockwise from top: Sarah Evans prepares to scan an herbarium specimen; Euonymus americanus (Celastraceae), just one of the 2 million scanned botanical specimens from the US National Herbarium; the digitization team – Julie Weinstein, Sarah Evans, Victor Shields, and Genevieve Stegner- Freitag. (staff photos by I. Lin)

Page 8 The 2019 Smithsonian Botanical Symposium, May 17, to explore plant domestication

The Department of Botany and the and contain original research. The dead- including spaces. Posters should be no United States Botanic Garden will convene line for abstract submission is April 12, larger than 30” x 40” (portrait orientation). the 2019 Smithsonian Botanical Sympo- 2019. Abstract submissions should include Presenting authors are required to attend sium, “Beneath the following: the poster session (6:30 pm – 8:30 pm) to their Notice: Author(s) take advantage of opportunities to discuss Domestication name(s) includ- their work with symposium participants. of Useful ing affiliation(s) There is no registration fee to attend Plants,” t o b e and email ad- the symposium or reception, but attendees held at the Na- dress(es); list the must register online at http://sbs19.event- tional Museum title in sentence brite.com/. Email [email protected] for more in- of Natural History in Washington, D.C., on case; titles are limited to 150 characters; formation. May 17, 2019. abstracts may not exceed 1,500 characters Darwin was not only interested in Ga- lapagos finches, but he also spent a consid- erable amount of time experimenting and thinking about domestication of animals and plants. He took a dim view of progress in understanding domestication in the vegetable kingdom and wrote, “Botanists have generally neglected cultivated varie- ties, as beneath their notice” (The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestica- tion, 1868). This is no longer the case. There is a resurgence of research focused on the plants most essential to human life. The 17th Smithsonian Botanical Sympo- sium will highlight current research into the domestication of crops and their wild relatives as well as ornamental plants. Speakers will include archaeobotanists, botanists, geneticists, and paleoethnobot- anists utilizing molecular and genomic tools unknown to Darwin. A full lineup of speakers will present their talks during the day at the National Museum of Natural History’s Baird Audi- torium. The event will be followed by a re- ception and poster session at the U.S. Botanic Garden that evening. In addition, the 17th José Cuatrecasas Medal in Tropical Botany will be awarded at the Symposium. This prestigious award is presented annually to an international scholar who has contributed significantly to advancing the field of tropical botany. The award is named in honor of Dr. José Cuatrecasas, a pioneering botanist who spent many years working in the Depart- ment of Botany at the Smithsonian and de- voted his career to plant exploration in tropical South America. Capsicum annuum L. from Köhler’s Medizinal-Pflanzen in Naturgetreuen Abstracts for poster presentations may Abbildungen mit Kurz Erläuterndem Texte. 1883-1914. Gera-Untermhaus, be emailed to [email protected]. Topic must be Germany. http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/303190 related to the study of plant domestication

Page 9 The search for Santessonia continues By Julia Beros “It was a good story while it lasted,” he schia that he noticed something distantly chortled while shuffling the lichen Type familiar: with black globular apothecia I wanted to see the type folders back into their cabinet shelf. From speckling the surface, it resembled a cos- specimen in the lichen- the cabinet marked “SAG - SAZ,” and no mic system (of lichen). Immediately he flesh, only to be left sight of the elusive Santessonia. He tapped knew it was a remarkable find. A chance the folders back in place, assumed a pos- discovery. Without even looking at the unrewarded and puzzled. ture of momentary reflection, and ushered spores Hale was certain that this was a new us to his office. The story began after lunch genus. self,” Robinson said aloud. “No,” I re- as Harold Robinson, of bryophyte, crypto- Before DNA analysis was practical and assured, “you are misleading both of us.” gram, Diptera, and Asteraceae fame, re- popular, spores were the main indicator of Certain of his history, Robinson found his galed the tale of Mason Hale’s eminent genetic differentiation among species. (and formerly Hale’s) copy of the 3rd vol- discovery of the highly unusual lichen, Upon returning to the Smithsonian, work- ume of the Index Nominum Genericorum Santessonia namibensis, the first of its kind. ing at his most enthusiastic as Robinson (Plantarum). Near to the back, printed on Hale was a prominent lichenologist, describes, Hale looked closer: peculiar as all of about a centimeter of the page, his George Llano’s successor at the Smith- well, the double-celled thick walls of the story was confirmed: “Santessonia Hale & sonian Institution, and made major con- spores were similar to the genus Buellia, Vobis, published 1978.” Yet where had the tributions to taxonomy, in particular to though they lacked any other semblance. original specimen vanished? Parmeliaceae. Well-traveled and a remark- To describe the species Hale chose a col- Upon returning the next day to the able linguist, able to read and write in Ja- lection made by E. R. Robinson, another herbarium, I found a packet of papers lain panese, Finnish, and Tamil for starters, he significant lichenologist and prolific collec- across my work station: a printed email once even corrected Robinson’s grammar tor, to make the type. Enlisting Gernot correspondence with John Boggan (collec- along with another notable linguist George Vobis to help in authoring the new lichen, tions management of the Type Specimen Steyskal, explaining that the origin of the Hale paid tribute to Swedish lichenologist Herbarium) and a scanned copy of the article “a” is the abbreviated form of “an.” Rolf Santesson. In 1978 their new species original genus publication, both gifts from Well into his career studying lichens, Santessonia namibensis was published in Robinson. What great proof! Proof, Hale was on a trip to Namibia collecting in the journal Botaniska Notiser v.131. maybe, of the great poof, the vanishing of the desert amongst the obscure welwit- Entrenched in Robinson’s storytelling, I the type. To my disappointment the corre- schia plants, two leaves extending end- wanted to see the type specimen in the spondence only confirmed that there was lessly into the landscape of sand. It was lichen-flesh. We hurried down the hall to no paper trail leading to the location of the there behind a vale of drying shredded leaf the cabinets, only to be left unrewarded specimen, and it was certainly a mystery ends curled around the base of a welwit- and puzzled. “I seem to be misleading my- that it was unfindable. Equally disappoint-

A specimen of Santessonia namibensis collected from the Skeleton Coast National Park, Namibia, by Mason Hale in 1986. (photo by G. Krupnick)

Page 10 ing was the publication, which pointed out that as a co-authored genus two isotypes were sent to Lund and Uppsala, and the Holotype was sent with Hale to the Smith- sonian. Boggan continued to clarify the murky details of this somewhat foolish pursuit. While the Smithsonian does have multiple accessible specimens of Santessonia nami- bensis, some of which are Hale’s, “none of them predate the publication of the name.” Boggan further explained that in 1990, at only 61 years old, Hale passed away from illness, leaving much of the work he had begun without closure. It is quite sad to think that his work was cut short because of something beyond his control, but per- haps it holds the potential for new liche- nologists to pick up some of his loose ends. Frustrating to say the least, on the brink of this wild goose chase unfolding, the government shutdown closed off po- tential routes to continue the search. A story like this is not uncommon with her- barium specimens. Collections are so vast and so old, and collectors have a voracious appetite, tirelessly adding new specimens and increasing their workload. There is great clutter and chaos, even in the most diligent of institutions, and among the clutter and chaos are great treasures: spe- cimens of great importance lost to the backlog of bureaucracy or the ephemer- ality of botanical fame, misidentified spe- cimens that could hold the key to a reorganization, seed packets of extinct species, or even a love letter tucked away in a collector’s folders. Despite the setbacks of disorder and the capricious state of the IN MEMORIAM government, the search for the Santessonia type continues. Perhaps under a pile of loans, or misread and misplaced, or pos- sibly in a cabinet in Sweden, the missing Karen Adey, producer and executive the research and development of new type waits to be found. To honor the legacy producer of more than a hundred Smith- water cleaning technology. Early in her of the foundational work of Hale and sonian films, passed away on December career, she founded the Smithsonian’s others and to provide foundations for fu- 29, 2018. Wife of Research Botanist Motion Picture Unit in 1969, and in the ture studies, scientists will forever be busy Emeritus, Walter Adey, she has spent the 1980s, she was the Deputy Director of in the Herbarium, making discoveries of past 20 years managing and accompany- Smithsonian Productions, a now shut- their own. ing research cruises aboard the Adey re- tered film, video, and radio unit. Her search vessel Alca i in the North Atlantic. productions won 5 Emmy Awards and Julia Beros is a volunteer working with Re- Adey worked closely with her husband more than 70 national and international search Associate G. Karen Golinski on the on directing underwater videos and on honors. bryophyte collection reorganization. She studied botany at Sarah Lawrence College and worked in botanical science at the New York Botanical Garden.

Page 11 over the last several years with the lack of adequate greenhouse management, has been beyond the call of duty. All of us in the Department thank her for her efforts. With regards to research, Ida has been instrumental in most if not all of the hun- dreds of papers and books that have been published through our lab during her ten- ure. Not only has she been a co-author on a number of those papers, but her keen eye for effective and clear figures and illustra- tions was unsurpassed. The book I pub- lished with Ted Fleming on the “Ornaments of Life” (University of Chi- cago Press) is loaded with Ida’s handiwork and our opus on “Methods and Protocols of DNA Barcoding” (Humana Press/Springer) could not have been done without her contributions. Whenever I came back from a field trip that was focused on pollination of Heli- conia in the Caribbean or searching for new gingers in Southeast , I realized that Ida also needed that kind of field ex- perience to help her manage all the other aspects of the lab. So off we went to Dom- inica to build an experimental shade house for breeding system studies in Heliconia, and off we went to Myanmar to work with the Forestry Department, and off we went to Yunnan, China, to collect gingers. I was right: her excellent assistance in the field provided a much better background for coordinating our research activities at home. Time to go back to the field, huh, Ida?!? In addition to those full-time activities in research and collections, Ida managed DEPARTURES the lab and all the lab workers within. Not only did she manage the funds for our re- search grants, both internal and external, Farewell to Ida Lopez but she also initiated the contracts and placed all the orders. Probably most im- By W. John Kress portant was the wonderful care that she Ida Lopez came to the Smithsonian in the enthusiasm and welcoming spirit of provided for the scholarly visitors, the in- June 1998 as a Museum Specialist to work the Collections Management Team in Bot- terns, the post-docs, the students, and all with me to develop the Zingiberales and any quickly solved that problem and she the other colleagues who passed through Monocot Research Program in Botany. I became a specimen devotee. This was not the lab. It was an unending stream of per- could tell immediately when I first met her only true concerning herbarium spe- sonalities. Probably one of her most re- that our partnership in pursuing science, cimens, but also the development of our warding activities was mentoring young collection development, and running the extensive and important living collection scientists through the YES Program at day-to-day operations of the lab had the in the Botany Greenhouses. Over the years NMNH and through local high schools. I potential to be a long-term interaction. the improved care and maintenance of thank her for all of these interactions that Now, twenty years later, my first impres- both living and preserved specimens be- made the lab so rich and vibrant. sion has proven correct. Congratulations, came one of her prime concerns. And the This short summary of Ida’s time at the Ida, on a tremendously successful career. devotion she has shown towards our living Smithsonian is starting to sound like a “ca- I do not think Ida knew much about collections, not only the Zingiberales, but reer performance appraisal” for Ida. Ho- Museum Collections when she arrived, but all of our research specimens, especially

Page 12 wever, performance appraisals really do not always get to the core of one’s contrib- utions to the museum and to science. Ida was deeply committed to learning about and participating in natural history science. And I think she made our lab ex- ceptional in that way because everyone who came to the lab learned to share that commitment. Our scholarly activities were a success because to her. Thanks, Ida. Yes, thanks so much.

Chair With A View Continued from page 2

Cape Cod, Cape Verdeans traditionally provided a cheap source of labor, a mean tradition going back to whaling ship days. Working long hours gave each of the men (they were all men) in the dairy a chance to save and possibly start a family. Alter- natively, if they were raising or had raised a family, the goal was to retire and purchase a farm in the Cape Verde Islands. I hope NEW FACES they all did well. I never saw a single one of my co-workers after that summer and there was certainly no easy way to com- Kathryn Picard joined the Depart- For her doctoral research at Duke Uni- municate. Apart from the supervisor, no ment of Botany as a postdoctoral fel- versity, Picard explored the phyloge- one spoke English and my Portuguese was low in October 2018. Working under netic diversity of marine fungi and limited to a few choice swear words. the supervision of Eric Schuettpelz, developed high-throughput molecular Is there a moral to my story other than she is studying the incidence and evo- tools for generating reference sequence that it is a long-winded explanation as to lutionary consequences of apomixis in data from uncultured marine taxa. Her why I am not terribly fond of milk? I think the diverse fern order Polypodiales. Pi- research interests include systematics there are several. A number of us working card earned her Master’s degree at the of the flagellated fungi, the evolution of in this department are lucky. We get to University of Alabama where she mod- plant-fungal mutualisms, and devel- pursue ideas for a living and if our job is eled the early evolution of plant-fungal oping genetic resources for “dark taxa”. physically challenging it is only because we symbioses using a chytrid-alga system. opt to head into the field to hunt for plants in exotic locations. Some (but not all) of us are empathetic and appreciate how much our privilege is built on the work of others Barrett Brooks traveled to Tahoe City, cano de Botánica; and to lowland Ecuador who deal with support activities: house- California (10/8 – 10/14) to attend the (10/27 – 11/14) to conduct field studies. keeping, maintenance, security, finance, 2018 American Association of Underwater W. John Kress traveled to Natal, Brazil and administration. I try not to forget this Scientist Symposium, where he was recer- (10/5 – 10/12) to present a keynote lec- and although I am not demonstrative (reti- tified as an Instructor for the Divers Alert ture, “Monocots in the Anthropocene: cent Yankee that I am), I do appreciate all Network Divers First Aid course. species interactions in a rapidly changing the hard work done by staff that lets us Laurence Dorr traveled to Houghton, world,” at the Monocots VI Meeting. turn objects into wonder. Michigan (11/27 – 12/2) as an invited Paul Peterson traveled to Natal, Brazil speaker to Michigan Tech University to (10/5 – 10/16) to present two lectures at give a talk on machine learning using digi- the Monocots VI Meeting; and to Aguas- TRAVEL tized data. calientes, Mexico (10/29 – 11/29) to col- Pedro Jiménez Mejías traveled to lect plants with colleagues from the Pedro Acevedo traveled to Quito, Natal, Brazil (10/6 – 10/26) to participate Instituto Politécnico Nacional. Ecuador (10/15 – 10/28) to attend the XII in the Monocots VI Meeting and to collect Peter Schafran traveled to Alexandria, Congreso Latinoamericano de Botánica; plants. Louisiana (10/23 – 10/26) to attend the and to São Paulo, Brazil (10/29 – 12/22) to Joseph Kirkbride and John Wiersema 12th Biennial Longleaf Conference and conduct fieldwork in the states of Rondo- traveled to Quito, Ecuador (10/21 – 10/26) conduct field work. nia and Para, Brazil. to attend the XII Congreso Latinoameri- Continued on page 14

Page 13 Travel Elizabeth Joyce, Australian Tropical Her- Continued from page 13 barium and James Cook University, Aus- PUBLICATIONS tralia; Aglaia elaeagnoidea (Meliaceae) Eric Schuettpelz traveled to Taipei, (9/17-10/5). Taiwan (10/8 – 10/19) to give a keynote Appelhans, M.S., J. Wen and W.L. Wag- presentation, “As the spores settle: seeking Boy Scout Troop #36, Carrollton, Vir- ner. 2018. Biogeographic patterns in the stability in pteridophyte systematics,” at ginia; Plant science merit badge (10/6). Pacific and Australasian regions. J. Syst. the Asian Symposium of Ferns and Lyco- Evol. 56(6): 573-575. http://dx.doi.org/10. phytes, and to conduct fieldwork. Simone Cartaxo Pinto, Museu Nacional, 1111/jse.12468 Alice Tangerini traveled to St. Louis, Brazil; Vitaceae pollen (10/15-10/19). Caraballo-Ortiz, M.A. and A.L. Morales- Missouri (10/10 – 10/14) to participate in a Susy Castillo Ramon, Museo de Historia Pérez. 2018. A lost Caribbean mistletoe re- conference of the American Society of Natural, Peru; South American Gentianella discovered: new record for Antidaphne Botanical Artists. (Gentianaceae) (10/15-11/2). wrightii (Santalaceae) in Puerto Rico. J. Jun Wen traveled throughout China Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 12(2): 683-687. http:// (9/25 – 10/15) to give an invited speech on Betsabe Castro Escobar and Victor De www.brit.org/sites/default/files/public/brit “Plant systematics: A century of progress Jesus Reyes, University of California at _press/JBRIT12-2/JBRIT2018-12-2- and outlook for 2050” at the 90th anniver- Berkley; Bignoniaceae (10/29-11/1). 683.pdf sary celebration of the Institute of Botany, Fred Barrie, Missouri Botanical Garden; Chinese Academy of Sciences, to conduct Flora Mesoamericana (11/5-11/26). Carrington, C.M.S., R.D. Edwards and field and herbarium work in Hubei, G.A. Krupnick. 2018. Assessment of the Shanxi, and Yunnan, and to receive an Jackeline Salazar, Universidad Autónoma distribution of seed plants endemic to the award on outstanding contribution to IBC de Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; Lesser Antilles in terms of habitat, el- 2017 from the Botanical Society of China. Canellaceae (11/9-12/6). evation, and conservation status. Caribb. Elizabeth Zimmer traveled to Norfolk, Nat. Sp. Iss. No. 2: 30-47. https://www. Raymund Chan, Independent researcher, Virginia (11/29 – 12/1) to present a talk on eaglehill.us/CANAonline/articles/CANA- Singapore; Compositae (11/12-11/17). “Using DNA data for plant evolutionary Sp2/12-Carrington.shtml genetics: progress and prospects,” and to Jennifer DeMuria, Alta Terra, LLC, New Cavavan, S., L.A. Meyerson, J.G. Packer, P. attend a dissertation committee meeting of York; Asian and Pacific Violaceae (11/13- Pyšek, N. Maurel, V. Lozano, D.M. Rich- graduate fellow Peter Schafran at the Old 11/16). Dominion University. ardson, G. Brundu, K. Canavan, A. Cica- Marcelo Pace, Universidad Nacional Au- telli, J. Čuda, W. Dawson, F. Essl, F. tónoma de México; Malpighiaceae (11/13- Guarino, W.Y. Guo, M. van Kleunen, H. STAFF ACTIVITIES 11/16). Kreft, C. Lambertini, J. Pergl, H. Skálová, R.J. Soreng, V. Visser, M.S. Vorontsova, P. Patricia Chan, Cornell University; Isoetes Weigelt, M. Winter and J.R.U. Wilson. Gary Krupnick attended the 18th An- internship (11/19/18-02/28/19). 2019. Tall-statured grasses: a useful func- nual International Conference of the tional group for invasion science. Biol. In- North American Pollinator Protection Julia Campbell-Such, National Museum vasions. 21(1): 37-58. http://dx.doi.org/10. Campaign (NAPPC) held at the U.S. De- of African Art, Kathryn Gabrielli and 1007/s10530-018-1815-z partment of Agriculture in Washington, Casey Mallinckrodt, Virginia Museum of DC. At the meeting, NAPPC convened Fine Art; African woods (11/27). Cheek, M., G. Prenner, B. Tchiengué and nine task forces who aim to establish goals Terry Lott, Florida Museum of Natural R.B. Faden. 2018. Notes on the endemic surrounding a certain pollinator issue, History; Veinless winged seeds of Amaryl- plant species of the Ebo Forest, Cameroon, from issues on honey bee health and bee- lidaceae, Bombacaceae, , Tili- and the new, Critically Endangered, Pali- friendly farming, to pesticide education aceae, Celastraceae, Meliaceae, Myrtaceae, sota ebo (Commelinaceae). Plant Ecol. and urban pollinators. Krupnick co- and Proteaceae (11/29-11/30). Evol. 151(3): 434-441. http://dx.doi.org/10. chaired the Selecting Plants for Pollinators 5091/plecevo.2018.1503 task force that explored pollinator-friendly Fernando Matos, New York Botanical practices for producing plant materials and Garden; Elaphoglossum (Dryopteridaceae) Dorr, L.J., C. Romero-Hernández and K.J. accessibility for consumers. (12/3-12/4). Wurdack. 2018. A new large-flowered species of Andeimalva (Malvaceae, Malvoi- deae) from Peru. PhytoKeys 110: 91-99. VISITORS http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.110.2 9376 Dorr, L.J. and K.J. Wurdack. 2018. A new Jie Yu, Southwest University, China; Plant disjunct species of Eriolaena (Malvaceae, DNA Barcoding (1/22/18-1/4/19). ) from Continental Africa. YaL i Wang, Kunming University, China; PhytoKeys 111: 11-16. http://dx.doi.org/10. Alpinia (Zingiberaceae) (7/25-11/30). 3897/phytokeys.111.29303

Page 14 Feuillet, C., L.E. Skog and D. Barabé. vancing Mg/Ca analysis of coralline algae gene expression between gametophyte and 2018. Paradrymonia badia (Gesneriaceae), as a climate proxy by assessing LA-ICP- sporophyte phases in the fern Polypodium a new species from the Guiana Shield. J. OES sampling and coupled Mg/Ca‐δ18O amorphum (Polypodiales). Front. Plant Sci. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 12(2): 549-544. https:// analysis. Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst. 19(9): 9: 1450. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls. www.brit.org/sites/default/files/public/brit 2876-2894. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/ 2018.01450 _press/JBRIT12-2/JBRIT2018-12-2- 2018GC007504 549.pdf Soreng, R.J. and L.J. Gillespie. 2018. Poa Nilsson, R.H., K.H. Larsson, A.F.S. Taylor, secunda J. Presl (): a modern sum- Gillespie, L.J., R.J. Soreng, E. Cabi and N. J. Bengtsson-Palme, T.S. Jeppesen, D. Schi- mary of infraspecific taxonomy, chromo- Amiri. 2018. Phylogeny and taxonomic gel, P. Kennedy, K. Picard, F.O. Glöckner, some numbers, related species and synopsis of Poa subgenus Pseudopoa (in- L. Tedersoo, I. Saar, U. Kõljalg and K. Aba- infrageneric placement based on DNA. cluding Eremopoa and Lindbergella) (Poa- renkov. 2019. The UNITE database for PhytoKeys 110: 101-121. http://dx.doi.org/ ceae, , Poinae). PhytoKeys 111: 69- molecular identification of fungi: handling 10.3897/phytokeys.110.27750 101. http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys. dark taxa and parallel taxonomic classifi- 111.28081 cations. Nucleic Acids Res. 47(D1): D259- Soreng, R.J. and R.H. Simmons. 2018. D264. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/nar/gky Noteworthy collections: Maryland, Vir- Gonzáles, P.C., A. Cano and H. Robinson. 1022 ginia, and North Carolina [Poa iconia 2018. A new genus of Compositae (Eu- newly reported from North America]. Cas- patorieae, Piqueriinae) from Peru, named Paetzold, C., M. Kiehn, K.R. Wood, W.L. tanea 83(2): 270-271. http://dx.doi.org/10. Centenaria to honour the 100th anniversary Wagner and M.S. Appelhans. 2018. The 2179/18-171 of the Natural History Museum of the Na- odd one out or a hidden generalist: Hawai- tional University Mayor of San Marcos. ian Melicope (Rutaceae) do not share traits Williams, S., W. Ad e y , J. Halfar, A. Kronz, PhytoKeys 113: 69-77. http://dx.doi.org/ associated with successful island coloniza- P. Gagnon, D. Bélanger and M. Nash. 10.3897/phytokeys.113.28242 tion. J. Syst. Evol. 56(6): 621-636. http://dx. 2018. Effects of light and temperature on doi.org/10.1111/jse.12454 Mg uptake, growth, and calcification in the Graves, G.R. and M. Dal Forno. 2018. Per- proxy climate archive Clathromorphum sistence of transported lichen at a hum- Price, J.P. and W.L. Wagner. 2018. Origins compactum. Biogeosciences 15(19): 5745- mingbird nest site. Northeast. Nat. 25(4): of the Hawaiian flora: Phylogenies and 5759. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/bg-15- 656-661. http://dx.doi.org/10.1656/045. biogeography reveal patterns of long-dis- 5745-2018 025.0410 tance dispersal. J. Syst. Evol. 56(6): 600- 620. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jse.12465 Xia, Z. and J. Wen. 2018. The complete Gurgel, C.F.D., J.N. Norris, W.E. Schmidt, chloroplast genome of the endangered H.N. Le and S. Fredericq. 2018. System- Robinson, H. 2018. [Review]: A new per- species Triaenophora shennongjiaensis atics of the Gracilariales (Rhodophyta) in- spective on the red algae of NW Australia. (Orobanchaceae s.l.). Mitochondrial DNA cluding new subfamilies, tribes, subgenera, Taxon 67(5): 1054. http://dx.doi.org/10. B Resour. 3(2): 506-507. http://dx.doi.org/ and two new genera, Agarophyton gen. 12705/675.29 10.1080/23802359.2018.1467242 nov. and Crassa gen. nov.. Phytotaxa 374(1): 1-23. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/ Robinson, H. and V.A. Funk. 2018. Ver- Yang, Y., C.W. Morden, M.J. Sporck- phytotaxa.374.1.1 nonia subgenus Austrovernonia, a new Koehler, L. Sack, W.L. Wagner and P.E. subgenus from South America (Composi- Berry. 2018. Repeated range expansion and Ibrahim, K.M., S. Dube, P.M. Peterson tae, Vernonieae, Vernoniinae). PhytoKeys niche shift in a volcanic hotspot archipel- and H.A. Hosni. 2018. Grasses of Mali. 110: 123-134. http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/ ago: Radiation of C4 Hawaiian Euphorbia Smithson. Contrib. Bot. 108: vi-146. http:// phytokeys.110.28890 subgenus Chamaesyce (Euphorbiaceae). dx.doi.org/10.5479/si.1938-2812.108 Ecol. Evol. 8(16): 8523-8536. http://dx.doi. Schafran, P.W. 2018. A whole chloroplast org/10.1002/ece3.4354 Kishor, K.C., M.D. Nandikar and L.J. genome phylogeny of diploid species of Dorr. 2018. (2643) Proposal to conserve Isoëtes (Isoëtaceae, Lycopodiophyta) in the Zhao, L., D. Potter, Y. Xu, P.L. Liu, G. the name asiatica (Malvaceae: Gre- southeastern United States. Castanea Johnson, Z.Y. Chang and J. Wen. 2018. wioideae) with a conserved type. Taxon 83(2): 224-235. http://castaneajournal.org/ Phylogeny and spatio-temporal diversifica- 67(5): 1034-1035. http://dx.doi.org/10. doi/full/10.2179/17-132 tion of Prunus subgenus Laurocerasus sec- 12705/675.19 tion Mesopygeum (Rosaceae) in the Schafran, P.W., E.A. Zimmer, W.C. Tay- Malesian region. J. Syst. Evol. 56(6): 637- Kishor, K.C., M.D. Nandikar and L.J. lor and L.J. Musselman. 2018. A whole 651. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jse.12467 Dorr. 2018. (2644) Proposal to conserve chloroplast genome phylogeny of diploid the name against G. da- species of Isoëtes (Isoëtaceae, Lycopodio- Zhou, J., E.A. Zimmer, C.B. Fenster and mine (Malvaceae: ). Taxon phyta) in the southeastern United States. M.R. Dudash. 2018. Characterization of 67(5): 1036-1037. http://dx.doi.org/10. Castanea 83(2): 224-235. http://dx.doi.org/ the mating system of a native perennial 12705/675.20 10.2179/17-132 tetraploid herb, Silene stellata. Am. J. Bot. 105(10): 1643-1652. http://dx.doi.org/10. Light, T., B. Williams, J. Halfar, A. Hou, Z. Sigel, E.M., E. Schuettpelz, K.M. Pryer 1002/ajb2.1158 Zajacz, A. Tsay and W. Ad e y . 2018. Ad- and J.P. Der. 2018. Overlapping patterns of

Page 15 Art by Alice Tangerini Dryopteris macropholis Lorence & W.L.Wagner

Asexuality, in the form of apomixis, may help ferns colonize islands more readily, but little is known about the incidence of asexuality across the group. Dryopteris macropholis is an endangered fern endemic to the Marquesas Islands. Recent analysis of spores from the type specimen revealed that it is an apomict (see cover article). Alice Tangerini began this illustration in Kauai at the National Tropical Botanical Gardens in September 2005. She was on a two-week assignment illustrating Marquesas Island ferns for Warren Wagner. Tangerini penciled the drawings at NTBG using collections from Wood 10489. She later inked them in 2009 for the publication.

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