Plant Press, Vol. 20, No. 1
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Department of Botany & the U.S. National Herbarium The Plant Press New Series - Vol. 20 - No. 1 January-March 2017 Botany Profile Wood Anatomy Climbs Back to the Smithsonian By Marcelo R. Pace he Smithsonian Institution hosts the anatomy lab of the Department of Bignoniaceae with over 300 species), a the second largest wood collection Botany is inspired by the extraordinary ladder (as in Schnella, Leguminosae), Tin the U.S. and one of the larg- stem anatomy of lianas (woody vines). successive cambia with visible con- est in the world, with 5,000 microscopic Unlike stems of trees whose wood is rigid centric rings of xylem and phloem (as slides and over 42,500 specimens from and able to sustain enormous organisms in several Caryophyllales, Menisper- 3,000 genera. Such a remarkable wood such as the Californian redwoods (Sequoia maceae, Convolvulaceae), or even a foot collection exists thanks to a proud lineage sempervirens, Cupressaceae), the stems (as in Serjania laruotteana, Sapindaceae, of plant anatomists who have worked of lianas are flexible and pliable. Indeed, which has a compound vascular cylin- at Smithsonian’s National Museum of unlike trees they tend to get more flexible der). Illustrations as early as the pre- Natural History, including Richard Eyde, as they develop (Rowe et al. 2004 J. Plant Hispanic Aztec civilization in Mexico Edward Ayensu, and especially William Growth Regul. 23: 108-128) and this is at seem to have made calendars inspired Stern. the very core of the lianescent habit. by the anatomy of lianas, such as the Stern was an accomplished wood first page of the Codex Fejérváry-Mayer anatomist who significantly increased wisting and twirling is critical to (see photo on page 10). In this particular the Smithsonian wood collection before climbing trees in order to reach the calendar codex illustration, the Aztecs becoming a Professor at the University Tforest canopy to obtain light. This depicted several plants, including a cross of Maryland. The collection increased increase in flexibility happens as a result section of a Bignoniaceae liana stem and from 14,017 samples when Stern started of radical modifications in their internal at least two additional plant species—on in 1960, to 35,000 samples by 1967 when anatomies; stiff cells of wood get inter- the left in the illustration a Ceiba and on he left the Smithsonian. His contribution mingled by soft tissues, such as nonligni- the right Theobroma cacao, both mem- to advances in wood anatomy continued fied parenchyma or phloem. These special bers of the Malvaceae. to extend beyond his tenure at the Smith- anatomical features are generally derived More interestingly, these unusual sonian, being an active member of the from unusual activities of the vascular shapes in the stem cross-sections tend to International Association of Wood Anato- cambium, generating extraordinary evolu- be taxon-specific and therefore diagnos- mists (IAWA), and mentoring future tionary novelties known as cambial vari- tic in their taxonomical identification. generations of plant anatomists. Among ants. These variants have evolved multiple These features have been used by vari- his students was Regis Miller who times in the evolution of woody plants, ous taxonomists (e.g., Alwyn Gentry in would later go on to become a renowned being present in distantly related groups Bignoniaceae research; Pedro Acevedo- systematic wood anatomist at the Forest such as fossil pteridosperms (Medullosa, Rodriguez in Sapindaceae research) as Products Laboratory of Madison, Wis- Dunn et al. 2003 Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol. key characters for the recognition of consin, and who later mentored my own 124: 307-324), gymnosperms (Gnetum genera and even species. doctoral advisor, Veronica Angyalossy spp. have multiple cambia), and more than More recently, Pedro Acevedo has (University of São Paulo, Brazil) when 100 families of angiosperm magnoliids, been leading a team effort with about she was a post-doctoral fellow in his lab. rosids and asterids (Angyalossy et al. 2015 15 contributors to expand and incorpo- in the book Ecology of Lianas). Angyalossy has since trained most of the th rate this knowledge of stem anatomy wood anatomists in Brazil. I am fortunate It has been known since the 19 as a tool for identification of Neotropi- to have the opportunity to return to the century that lianas produce stems of cal lianas and other climbing plants, Smithsonian to work on the wood collec- extraordinary anatomies, sometimes with which include about 11,000 native tion that Stern had built. the tissues resulting in unusual shapes species from over 660 genera, and 126 The work that I am carrying out in when examining the cross section of the stems, such as a cross (tribe Bignonieae, Continued on page 10 Travel Barrett Brooks traveled to Curacao York (10/14 – 10/16) to conduct genomic World War II Museum where Orli gave a (10/8 – 10/17) to provide technical div- sequencing on plant samples; and to Hang- presentation about digitization conveyer ing and laboratory support for NMNH’s zhou, China (10/19 – 10/25) to give an belt workflows. Deep Reef Observation Project (DROP) invited talk at a workshop entitled, “Build- Paul Peterson and Kostyantyn Rom- and to retrieve and deploy Autonomous ing Sino-US Collaboration in Biodiversity aschenko traveled to San Luis Potosi, Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS) on Studies—New Approaches and Theories.” Mexico (11/13 – 12/5) to collect grasses the reef; and to Las Vegas, Nevada (11/15 Vicki Funk traveled to Louisville, with collaborator Yolanda Herrera Arrieta. – 11/20) to attend equipment training Kentucky (11/2 – 11/8) to present talks at Eric Schuettpelz traveled to the courses and recertification at the annual the Waterfront Botanical Gardens, Bel- United Kingdom (11/8 – 11/15) to give a Diving Equipment & Marketing Associa- larmine University, and Kentucky Wes- keynote presentation at the annual meeting tion (DEMA) event. leyan University. of the British Pteridological Society held Manuela Dal Forno traveled to W. John Kress traveled to Durham, at the Royal Horticultural Society Garden Florianópolis, Brazil (10/3 – 10/6) to give North Carolina (11/11 – 11/13) to partici- Harlow Carr in England and another at a presentation in a lichen symposium pate in a board meeting of the Organiza- the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in hosted at the VIII Congresso Brasileiro de tion for Tropical Studies. Scotland. Micologia; and to Itatiaia, Brazil (10/11 Serenity Montaño traveled to Mada- Warren Wagner traveled to San – 10/14) to collect lichens in the Itatiaia gascar (11/29 – 12/23) with the Rainfor- Mateo, California (10/11 – 10/14) to National Park with colleague Marcela est Trust-National Geographic biological attend and give a presentation at a board Cáceres (Universidade Federal de Ser- survey expedition to conduct a preliminary meeting of the National Tropical Botanical gipe). evaluation of an unexplored rainforest Garden. Laurence Dorr traveled to Cambridge, fragment, to determine its suitability as a Jun Wen traveled to Beijing, China Massachusetts (11/8 – 11/11) and to St. site for her dissertation research, as a long- (11/25 – 12/2) to participate in organiza- Louis, Missouri (12/11 – 12/16) to conduct term forest research plot, to collect and tion meetings for the XIX International research on Malvaceae and historical col- process botanical samples of the biodi- Botanical Congress and to conduct her- lections at the Harvard University Her- versity unique to the forest, and to collect barium studies on Vitis and Ampelocissus baria and the Missouri Botanical Garden, locational information for mapping and (Vitaceae). respectively. remote sensing analysis. Kenneth Wurdack traveled to St. Ashley Egan traveled to Ithaca, New Sylvia Orli and Laura Tancredi trav- Louis, Missouri (12/12 – 12/16) to eled to New Orleans, Louisiana (10/11 – conduct research in the herbarium of the The Plant Press 10/14) to attend the annual North Ameri- Missouri Botanical Garden. can Axiell User Conference at the National New Series - Vol. 20 - No. 1 Chair of Botany Visitors Laurence J. Dorr Monica Carlsen, Missouri Botanical Gar- Community College; Vitaceae (9/19/16- ([email protected]) den; Araceae and Zingiberales (2/17/15- 3/15/17). 2/16/17). EDITORIAL STAFF Sheena Wang, Johns Hopkins University; Editor Morgan Gostel, George Mason Uni- Connecting botanical data (9/19-12/6). versity; Compositae and GGI-Gardens Gary Krupnick Olivia Bascle, George Mason University; ([email protected]) Program (9/1/15-8/31/17). Bulky bamboo collection digitization Copy Editors Patrica Barbera Sanchez, Real Jardín (9/27-12/9). Robin Everly, Bernadette Gibbons, and Botánico de Madrid, Spain; Aveninae Rose Gulledge (Poaceae) (7/27-10/23). Alison Taylor, American University; Col- lection management (10/11-12/14). The Plant Press is a quarterly publication pro- Pedro Jimenez Mejias, New York Botani- vided free of charge. To receive notification of Marc Appelhans, University Gottin- when new pdf issues are posted to the web, please cal Garden; Cyperaceae (9/12-10/12; subscribe to the listserve by sending a message 12/9-12/10). gen, Germany; Zanthoxylum (Rutaceae) to [email protected] containing only the (10/17-10/18). following in the body of the text: SUBSCRIBE Vikram Shivakumar, Alexandria, PLANTPRESS-NEWS Firstname Lastname. Chih Chieh Yu, National Taiwan Uni- Replace “Firstname Lastname” with your name. Virginia; Clauseneae (Rutaceae) (9/12/16- versity, Taiwan; Berberis (Berberidaceae) If you would like to be added to the hard-copy 3/10/17). mailing list, please contact Dr. Gary Krupnick at: (10/17-10/19). Department of Botany, Smithsonian Institution, Lyra Morina, University of Maryland, PO Box 37012, NMNH MRC-166, Washington, College Park; Valuing botanical collec- Agathe Haevermans, Muséum National DC 20013-7012, or by E-mail: krupnickg@ d’Histoire Naturelle, France; Botanical si.edu.