THE JEPSON GLOBE a Newsletter from the Friends of the Jepson Herbarium

THE JEPSON GLOBE A Newsletter from the Friends of The Jepson Herbarium VOLUME 26 NUMBER 1, Spring 2016 Curator’s Column: Museomics The Jepson Manual: Vascular Reveals Secrets of the Dead Plants of California, Second By Bruce G. Baldwin Edition: Supplement III Over the last decade, herbaria By Bruce G. Baldwin have received well-deserved public- The latest set of revisions to The Jep- ity as treasure troves of undiscovered son Manual, second edition (TJM2) and biodiversity, with the recognition that the Jepson eFlora was released online most “new” species named in the last in December 2015. The rapid pace of half-century have long resided in col- discovery and description of vascular lections prior to their detection and plant taxa that are new-to-science for original description. The prospect also California and the rarity and endanger- has emerged for unlocking the secrets of ment of most of those new taxa have plants and other organisms that no lon- warranted prioritization of revisions ger share our planet as living organisms that incorporate such diversity — and and, sadly, reside only in collections. Map of California, split apart to show newly introduced, putatively aggressive Technological advances that now al- the Regions of the Jepson eFlora. invasives — so that detection of such low for DNA sequencing on a genomic Source: Jepson Flora Project. plants in the field and in collections scale also are well suited for studying Regional dichotomous keys now is not impeded. The continuing taxo- old, highly degraded specimens, as re- nomic reorganization of genera and, to cent reconstruction of the Neanderthal available for the Jepson eFlora some extent, families in order to reflect genome has shown. By David Baxter and Niels Klazenga improved understanding of relation- An example of how next-gener- The Jepson Flora Project has col- ships more precisely is also important ation DNA sequencing of herbarium laborated with Niels Klazenga, Royal to capture in the Jepson eFlora and specimens can contribute to studying Botanic Gardens Victoria to integrate TJM2 Supplements. In situations when extinct plants was published in January the Jepson eFlora dichotomous keys limited time and resources require a (Zedane et al. 2016. Biol. J. Linn. Soc. into the Atlas of Living Australia’s di- choice between pursuing such revisions 117: 44–57). That study, which I enjoyed chotomous key platform KeyBase. Now, versus those that involve incorporation participating in, focused on a plant that eFlora users are able to select the region in floristic resources of new minimum- has the sad distinction of being the only in which they found a plant, and get a rank rarities or invasives, then priority genus to become extinct historically simplified version of theeFlora key for must go to the latter, in the interests of in the California Floristic Province identifying plants in that region. The (Continued on page 4) (CA-FP): Hesperelaea (Oleaceae). new interface is now available at ucjeps. Hesperelaea was an endemic tree on berkeley.edu/eflora/filter_keys.html. ALSO IN THIS ISSUE Guadalupe Island, at the southwest John Muir Herbarium (JOMU) corner of the CA-FP, ~150 miles west of California’s beta diversity Unexpected Fossil Flora the Baja California Peninsula. Edward California is a famous “biodiversity New Faces in the Herbaria Palmer made the first and only collec- hotspot,” boasting over 6,500 native Doctoral Diss. Improvement Grants tion of Hesperelaea in 1875 and noted plant taxa. Biodiversity researchers New Edition, Monterey Co. Flora that feral goats had killed all but a few refer to the total number of species in Checklist from Crooked Creek Station individuals of that species, which was an area as “alpha diversity.” California Summary of Changes in Revision 3 (Continued on page 3) (Continued on page 4) Unveiling John Muir’s Herbarium (JOMU) By Andrew S. Doran, Assistant Director for Collections John Muir was one of America’s ter, Jean Hanna Clark, inherited Muir’s most famous environmentalists/con- historic herbarium collection, bundled servationists, and herbaria in the with Muir’s plant press. The specimens United States have scatterings of his were first lent to the National Park Ser- botanical specimens (73 specimens vice by Mrs. Clark in the late 1960s and are cataloged in the Consortium of later donated to the park, along with the California Herbaria). Muir’s specimens plant press, by her children in the 1980s. were highlighted in the 2008 publica- It is clear from his numerous books tion Nature’s Beloved Son, John Muir’s that although his focus was conservation Botanical Legacy by Bonnie Geisel, but in a broad sense, his love and knowledge few people are aware that the bulk of his of plants was something he took most specimens and his personal herbarium to heart. His notes and descriptions of (over 1,000 specimens) are part of the them show that botany was one disci- museum collection of the John Muir pline he took very seriously (see Fig. 1) National Historic Site, a unit of the Na- and he referred to himself as a botanist tional Park Service located in Martinez, on several occasions. California. Although he traveled widely, In a new project, the University Fig 2. John Muir illustration by Peter Van it is fitting that his specimens are now and Jepson Herbaria are working in Valkenburgh, who also sketched other preserved and cared for as part Muir’s partnership with the John Muir National notable naturalists in the early 20th Cen- tury, including Willis Linn Jepson. Muir’s house where he raised a family with his Historic Site through a Cooperative specimens have been used in a variety wife Louie Strentzel and lived the last Ecosystem Study Unit (CESU) agree- of projects. For example, the Curator of 24 years of his life. Muir’s granddaugh- ment funded by the National Park Ser- the Jepson Herbarium, Bruce Baldwin, vice to document and conserve Muir’s recently needed to sample tissue from a historic herbarium using professional Muir specimen for genetic analysis, the archival preservation and digitization type of one of the plant species named for techniques developed and employed Muir, Carlquistia muirii (Muir’s tarplant), on our own collections for many years, to determine whether that reportedly Yo- including connecting his specimens semite specimen is referable to any of the with his journals, notes, and archives. geographically distinct, evolutionary lin- Since the late 1970s, various pres- eages resolved within that species, which ervation methods were used to curate is otherwise unknown north of the Kings his specimens and botanical notes but River drainage in the Sierra Nevada. they did not conform to modern archival techniques and the specimens are in and mounted on archival paper. The need of further conservation, curation, second phase will be to print barcodes and digitization to make them more (JOMU catalog numbers) that will be widely available. linked to the original National Park Additionally, recataloging is also ‘Group’ catalog numbers and data that necessary to achieve better physical are known about the specimen, includ- Fig 1. Some notes from the Muir her- and intellectual curation of individual ing locality, date, and taxon name. The barium include his descriptions of the specimens because the collection was third phase will be to produce high plants he collected, which ultimately will originally lump cataloged from two resolution images of the specimens with be tied to his specimens. Data about the main expeditions: Muir’s travels to their newly printed labels. These images specimens is dispersed across numerous Canada and Indiana (1864–1867) and will be linked to the catalog records and institutions that received his archives his world tour to Australia, New Zea- put online and made searchable, thus over the years as the house had passed land, China, Japan, Hawaii, the western making this overlooked herbarium of out of family ownership by 1921 and was United States, Florida, Scotland, and the famous naturalist available for the in private hands until the 1960s. Since South America (1903–1904). first time. then, ancestors have donated furniture, To begin the project, the collection The fourth phase will be identify- archives, and notes. Courtesy of the Na- has been assigned the standardized In- ing related specimen data in Muir’s tional Park Service, John Muir National dex Herbariorum designation ‘JOMU.’ journals. Since 1970, the Holt-Atherton Historic Site, JOMU 3561, B-2. Next, the specimens will be curated (Continued on page 3) 2 (JOMU, continued from page 2) Special Collections at the University of the Pacific (UOP) has been the repository for the John Muir Papers and over a dozen Muir related collections, including Muir’s journals from 1867–1913. The UOP collection will be critical in helping to piece together specimen data. Additional information will come from archives at other institutions, including Harvard, where botanist Asa Gray received some of Muir’s specimens. Fig 3. John Muir’s house in Martinez, CA. Muir (pictured Fig 4. The Muir house in 2015 with the same, more mature palms. with his family) married Louie Strenzel in 1880, moved The house is open to the public 7 days a week from 10 AM to 5 PM. into the house in 1890 and lived there untill his death in Hopefully, in the future, there will be an exhibit on Muir’s botanical 1914 with already established specimens of Washingto- expeditions. The property also has a number of historic structures nia filifera at the front entrance. Image courtesy of the including the Martinez Adobe, built in 1849 by the family for whom National Park Service, John Muir National Historic Site, the town of Martinez was named. Photo by Andrew Doran. JOMU 1732. (Curator’s column, continued from page 1) named for him, H.

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