Jepson Globe

THE JEPSON GLOBE VOLUME 14 NUMBER 1 A Newsletter from the Friends of The Jepson Herbarium Director’s Column: SPECIAL FEATURE: BOTANICAL TRAVELS TO IRAN New Collaborations and by Barbara Ertter Electronic Resources by Brent Mishler perus communis. The bryophyte flora was so With advances in technology, data- rich that the bryologists base structure, and our understanding in our group were enticed of biodiversity, a new field, biodiver- from each site only by the sity informatics, has emerged. The promise of even more di- Jepson Herbarium has developed some versity at the next. Even exciting new informatics resources and one of our hired drivers initiated collaborations with other in- got into the spirit, finding stitutions and organizations that share yet one more moss re- our goal of providing continual, rapid cord for Iran right where scientific evaluation and dissemina- our Nissan Patrols were tion of the large amounts of new data parked. that are being generated on California This, my second trip plants. Enjoying a laid-back picnic lunch to Iran, had been arranged by Fosiee above timberline with a group of con- Tahbaz, the first female professor at the The Online Interchange genial companions, does life get any University of Tehran College of Agri- Many of our readers are likely better? Granted, the main language of culture. A visiting scholar at UC-Davis already familiar with the Online In- conversation was Farsi, the slopes had at the time of the Iranian revolution two terchange (http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/ been well-grazed by village sheep, and decades ago, Fosiee chose to stay in interchange.html), the clearing house few things were in bloom at this ele- the United States, eventually finding a for authoritative, up-to-date informa- vation in October. Still, it was a treat new professional home in the Univer- tion about the California flora. There to find blooming lamb’s-ear (Stachys sity and Jepson Herbaria (Globe vol. have been several recent enhancements byzantina) in its native haunts, and 9 no.1). The stories she shared of the to the site. The first is the new design the view over the precipitous valleys natural beauty and floristic richness of of the taxon report pages. In addition and cloud-shrouded Caspian plain was her beloved country made me hope that to providing the latest information on downright awesome. We had begun I could one day have a chance to travel identification, taxonomy, and nomen- our transect of the north slope of the there myself. This dream became a real- clature, the pages now have links to Alborz Mountains behind Ramsar ity when relations between Iran and the additional information maintained by that morning, passing through zones United States began to soften following the herbarium (i.e., distribution maps of sun-dappled alder forest with wild the election of Iranian President Kha- and the specimen database) and links cyclamen, mixed scrub around impos- tami. Fosiee’s seemingly audacious to external resources including Cal ing rock outcrops, and open grasslands bid to have a group of “distinguished Photos, the California Native Plant with fall-blooming crocus making an botanists” invited to Iran as guests of Society, and Flora of North America. appearance next to wind-swept Juni- several universities paid off, and in Continued on page 5. Above: Dr. Parhami and Dr. Norris collect Continued on page 2. bryophytes near Semnan. Continued from pg. 1. within a rich natural community. In order to obtain our visas, we needed May 1999 she and I did a whirlwind The plan we eventually came up an invitation from our primary host tour of botanical diplomacy in northern with, which brought us to the picnic in institution, the College of Agriculture and central Iran (Globe vol. 10 no. 3). the mountains overlooking the Caspian of the University of Tehran (Fosiee’s After this introductory trip, we Sea, was to assemble a team of quali- previous home institution in Karaj, began thinking of ways to repay the fied botanists representing a diversity about half the distance from Tehran generosity and warm hospitality that of institutions around the United States as Davis is from Berkeley, and with we had been treated to. We also and Iran, with the goal of amassing as much the same institutional relation- wanted to expand the opportunity to complete a set as possible of Iranian ship). Even with the backing of Dean American colleagues who could form vascular plants and bryophytes for the Alireza Talaii, formal approval entailed mutually beneficial collaborations with University Herbarium. In addition to lengthy discussion and a vote by the their Iranian counterparts. The poten- the intrinsic value of the specimens entire faculty. Logistics within Iran tial for research collaborations was themselves, which could be used for a were handled by herbarium curator obvious, especially given the strong variety of phylogenetic and compar- Teimour Ramak Maassoumi, who did biogeographical comparisons that ative purposes, the joint expedition an absolutely outstanding job arranging exist between Iran and western North would provide a superb setting for fos- a diverse itinerary, assembling field America. Iran’s central plateau, in the tering relationships between American equipment, and making necessary rainshadow of high mountain ranges, and Iranian botanists. Fortunately the travel arrangements. At the end of the is comparable to the Great Basin with National Geographic Society’s Com- expedition he also had responsibility its interior-draining basins and isolated mittee for Research and Exploration for processing and identifying the vas- mountain ranges. Over 250 genera of agreed that this was a worthy goal and cular plant collections and shipping one vascular plants have native species in provided the funding needed to make set to Berkeley. both areas, the winner by far being the plan a reality. With a nervous eye on current Astragalus (milkvetch, locoweed) with Our trip in October 2002, the first events in the Middle East, Fosiee, Dan, nearly one thousand species reported of two funded by NGS grant 7286-02, and I boarded our Lufthansa flight on from Iran at last tally. The similarities was in part a trial run. As a result, the October 1, arriving in Tehran in the also allow for successful introduction only American participants were from wee hours of the morning of October of plants from one area to the other, the University and Jepson Herbaria: 3, after an eight hour layover in Frank- ranging from beneficial crop plants and Fosiee, myself, Dan Norris (Curator furt. The following day we were on our horticultural novelties to some of our of Bryology), and, for the second half way west to Hamadan in the northern most pestiferous weeds. It was strange of the trip, Herbarium Director Brent Zagros Mountains, where we stayed in to see several representatives of the Mishler. Fosiee had the challenging the comfortable guest house of Bu Ali latter, including yellow starthistle (Cen- task of handling international arrange- Sina (“Avicenna” to the Western world) taurea solstialis), tamarisk (Tamarix ments, including all communications University. In addition to Maassoumi sp.), and cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), with Iranian institutions and scientists (Iranians go by last names), we were occurring simply as minor elements with whom we would be interacting. accompanied by two other scientists DON’T MISS OUT! Come see the Darlingto- There are still a few spaces nia fens, the foxtail pine left on this exciting woodlands, serpentine, and workshop! subalpine botanical trea- sures of Trinity County! CALL TODAY TO RESERVE YOUR PLACE! 510.643.7008 Two Looks at the Mount Eddy and the Flora of the Klamath Trinity Alps Region JULY 17 - 20, 2003 with JOHN SAWYER 2 Guided by the leprechaun-like Rangebar, director of the field station, we spent most of one day making sporadic collecting stops along a tamarisk-lined salt wash, originating at an enclosed hot springs. I was intrigued to see the tamarisk, an attractive blue- green species, acting as a well-behaved member of the local community, leaving me to wonder what kept it from forming the monocultures that has made tamarisk the bane of desert waterways in the southwestern United States. I was also delighted by the sprawling Capparis spinosa, whose buds are used as culinary capers and Dr. Ghomani, Chancellor of the University of Bu Ali sina, Hamadan (former student of Tahbaz), whose pickled fruit I had sampled a few and Dr. Soleimani, who met with Ertter, Norris, and Tahbaz were extremely interested in future days earlier. All in all we found a good collaborations between their University and UC Berkeley. diversity of late-blooming species to from the College of Agriculture: plant by a well-developed cold, I spent the collect, and even some mosses tucked physiologist Hossein Lessani and plant afternoon resting at the Razi University away in rocky outcrops. anatomist Marzieh Mahdavian. The guest house while the rest of the group A side trip into the rugged Alborz botanist in charge of the herbarium at visited an oak forest not far from the Mountains, which divide the interior Hamadan, Fazlolah Tajbakhsh, was border with Iraq, accompanied by local plateau from the Caspian Sea, allowed thrilled with the opportunity to take botanist A.A. Hojat Jalali. us to collect along a mountain stream us to nearby collecting sites around Our next destination was far on the above the town of Shahmirzad, pop- Ekbatan Dam, where we were able opposite side of Tehran, where we took ular as a tourist destination in the hot to locate a reasonable selection of advantage of the late season to collect summer months. One visiting family, late-season and riparian species. We Chenopodiaceae at the northern edge of delighted with the presence of Ameri- were also treated to a tour of the univer- Dasht-e Kavir, one of Iran’s great salt cans, invited us to share their afternoon sity’s natural history museum, where deserts.

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