Department of Botany and the U.S. National Herbarium The Plant Press National Museum of Natural History Smithsonian Institution New Series - Vol. 2 - No. 1 April - June 1999 Department Profile A Prolific Asian Plant Corrector By Robert DeFilipps of the Asiatic aroid genus Aglaonema, American Society of Plant Taxonomists, an Henry Nicolson is one of the which includes the popular “Chinese the Botanical Society of Washington, and world’s foremost “plant correc- evergreen” of horticulture, became the the Flora Malesiana Foundation, and is a Dtors”. While studying the true very first listing under the new series founding member of the International identity of an aroid from the insular entitled Smithsonian Contributions to Aroid Society and the AETFAT (Associa- periphery of Asia, the “Telinga potato” Botany (1969). Fast-forwarding to three tion pour l’Etude Taxonomique de la which was known for over a hundred decades beyond 1969, he was recently Flore d’Afrique Tropicale). years as Amorphophallus campanulatus, appointed by Chairman W. J. Kress to the essions of intensive field work in he unhesitatingly corrected its name to A. position of managing editorship of the Southeast Asia (17 months); Nepal paeoniifolius. He also rescued, from a Smithsonian Contributions to Botany. S(1 year); Yunnan, China (3 maze of generic uncertainty, one of the With approximately 200 publications months); Sri Lanka (1 month); India; most well known of all houseplants, the (including three books) under his belt, Dominica (West Indies), and elsewhere variegated “pothos”, and designated it as Nicolson’s advice on botanical nomencla- paved the way for substantial publications the cultivar Epipremnum pinnatum ture is widely sought by an international with reference to the Flora of the Hassan ‘Aureum’. In fact, if it were possible to clientele, and perhaps acknowledged in District, Karnataka (India); Rheede’s do so, this avid family genealogist would more taxonomic articles than that of (1669-1698) Hortus Malabaricus; and the correct his own birthplace from the actual almost any of his contemporaries. Flora of Dominica: Dicotyledoneae. locus of Kansas City, Missouri, to the Nicolson spent his honeymoon in 1959 at Currently, Nicolson is completing a major more affectionate town of Shenandoah, the International Botanical Congress in project, initiated by Dr. F. Raymond Iowa where he grew up, but that’s Montreal, Canada, and since the mid- Fosberg, documenting the publications another story. 1950s his career has always included a and collections of the Forsters, a father- The seeds of a nascent interest in generous amount of devotion to the and-son team who accompanied the botany surrounded him as a youth, for his activities of worldwide botanical organiza- second voyage of Captain Cook, and family owned several seed and nursery tions. He served the International Associa- whose work became a cornerstone of companies in the Midwest, and his first tion for Plant Taxonomy (IAPT) as an Pacific botany. Additionally, he intends to educational venture was business school, officer on numerous committees (e.g., take a shot at preparing a revision of the in order to absorb techniques for involve- Spermatophyta; Typification of Generic Indomalaysian genus Anadendrum ment in the family’s concerns. While Names; Orthography; Bureau of Nomen- Schott, for publication in the venerable enrolled in business school (MBA, clature; Awards; Nominations; Editorial Flora Malesiana. Stanford University, 1957), a desire for Committee of the International Code of This year is already a very busy one for botany which had originally surfaced at Botanical Nomenclature), and as nomen- Nicolson, who is one of the ten members Grinnell College (AB, 1955) began to clature editor of the journal Taxon from of the Steering Committee for the 1999 proliferate as various collections of 1979 to date. He was IAPT vice-president International Botanical Congress to be cultivated plants were made, and culmi- from 1985-1993, and is now in the last held in August in St. Louis, Missouri. A nated in a master’s degree (1959) and year of a six-year term as president of the new set of rules and recommendations, doctorate (1964) from Cornell University. IAPT, which began in 1993 when he was the “St. Louis Code” of botanical He joined the Department of Botany in elected prior to the Tokyo Congress. In nomenclature, will arise from the the National Museum of Natural History addition to those impeccable credentials, deliberations of the participants. Being in 1964, and his doctoral thesis, a revision he has been intimately involved with the Continued on page 6 Page 1 Visitors Travel Lars Peter Kvist, Royal Veterinary and Pedro Acevedo (12/14/98-3/1/99) Paul Peterson (2/23-3/23) traveled to Agricultural University, Copenhagen, traveled to Puerto Rico to conduct Lima and Tacha, Peru to collect grasses for Denmark; Gasteranthus (Gesneriaceae), research and complete field work. ongoing research. plant extinction in Ecuador (Jan. 5-17). Mark and Diane Littler (12/14/98-3/ Paula DePriest (3/11) traveled to 10/99) traveled to the Smithsonian Marine Annapolis, Maryland to attend a joint Greg de Nevers, California Academy of Station at Fort Pierce, Florida and the meeting of the Potomac and Northeastern Sciences, San Francisco; Flora of Mada- Florida Keys to continue ongoing research. Divisions of the American Phytopathologi- gascar (Feb. 2-Aug. 1). Linda Moreland (1/11-1/16) traveled to cal Society, on the theme of “Bridging Leesburg, Virginia to attend a Supervisory Technology Gaps in Education and Teresa Sholars, College of the Redlands, Management Training Course. Research”, at which she presented a California; Lupinus spp. (Fabaceae) Deborah Bell (1/14) traveled to the lecture and contributed a poster. (March 5-6). Philadelphia Maritime Museum to evaluate their compactor ramp for possible use in Sherrie McLeRoy, Historian; T. Munson the department’s current compactor collections (Vitis sp.) (March 9-10). installation. Vicki Funk (1/16-2/8) traveled to Ana Maria Suarez, Universidad de La Stellenbosch, South Africa to attend and Habana; Cuban marine macroalgae (April participate in the Inaugural Meeting of the 1-30). Southern African Society of Systematic Biology (see related article in this issue), Editors Note and to Raleigh, North Carolina (2/24-2/25) As of this issue (New Series, Vol. 2, No. to meet with a graduate student committee 1, April - June 1999), The Plant Press at Duke University. will be published on a quarterly basis. Laurence Skog (1/19-1/31) traveled to The Plant Press Paramaribo, Suriname to participate in the international Flora of the Guianas meetings New Series - Vol. 2 - No. 1 and field trips. Susan Richardson (1/28) traveled to Chairman, Department of Botany the University of Maryland, College Park, W. John Kress ([email protected]) to attend the Interstate Pest Control Conference. EDITORIAL STAFF Dieter Wasshausen (2/3-2/7) traveled to the New York Botanical Garden to Co-Editors examine Bolivian and Brazilian plant Jane Villa-Lobos specimens, and to Jacksonville and West ([email protected]) Palm Beach, Florida (2/13-2/24) for Robert DeFilipps ([email protected]) manuscript and photo consultations with Kirsten Llamas at the Fairchild Tropical Consulting Editor Garden. Deborah Hinrichs Warren Wagner (2/9-2/23) traveled to Circulation Manager the University of California at Irvine, to Shirley Maina research Schiedea (Caryophyllacae) with ([email protected]) Steven Weller and Ann Sakai. Robert Faden (2/14-3/13) traveled to News Contacts London, England to study Commelinaceae Correction In the article on the “Revised Checklist for Amanda Boone, Robert Faden, Ellen at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in the Flora of Myanmar” which appeared in Farr, George Russell, Alice Tangerini, connection with work on the Flora of and Elizabeth Zimmer issue no. 6, we inadvertently forgot to Tropical East Africa. mention that Ida Lopez is a member of the The Plant Press is a quarterly publication provided W. John Kress (2/16-3/5) traveled checklist preparation team. free of charge. If you would like to be added to the intermittently to Durham, North Carolina mailing list, contact Shirley Maina at: National Musem of Natural History, Smithsonian to teach a course on monocots at Duke Institution, Department of Botany, NHB 166, University, and to Miami, Florida (3/13- Washington, DC 20560, or by e-mail: 3/19) to teach the same course at Fairchild [email protected]. Tropical Garden. Web site: http://www.nmnh.si.edu/departments/ botany/html Page 2 The I Words Chair ntegration of science and Interdisciplinary tantly, the new drive to integrate is based on the research. The “I” words. What do these terms realization that nothing exists in isolation, that the Imean, and are they important in our work? Open planet is growing smaller, and that the solutions to With any copy of Science or Nature and there will be at least global problems are embedded in a larger view of some mention of how we as scientists need to integrate interactions that can only be understood by an inte- our disciplines. Such integration clearly may occur at grated approach to science and society. many different levels, for example, between the natural Do we need to return to the concept of the Renais- A history disciplines of zoology and botany, or between sance intellectual who studied, understood, and the scientific disciplines of biology, chemistry and published on art, nature, government and economic physics, or even between the intellectual disciplines of growth? No, very few of us can have the individual science, politics and economics. Is the degree of breadth to comprehend all of these disciplines in the View integrative success proportional to the level of interdis- depth that is required to be successful. Rather, each of ciplinary collaboration? In other words, if I publish us needs to develop an integrated perspective on what with an economist, will the scientific impact be greater we do as individual scientists in our respective disci- than if I publish with a mammalogist? Two important plines and open up our research to the possibility of W.