DAVIS BOTANICAL SOCIETY LASTHENIA

LASTHENIA, the Newsletter of the Davis Botanical Society, is published in collaboration with the staff of the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory UPCOMING EVENTS! and Center for Diversity. Editor: Kate Mawdsley Issue Contributors: E. Dean, E. Cho, K. Mawdsley, E. Sandoval, C. Burton, Sat. April 2 Arboretum/Conservatory Plant Sale M. Showers, D. McNair, A. Ayalon, K. Keatley Garvey, S. Matson Sat. April 23 Zim Zim Falls Field Trip Design: Susan Gloystein Layout: Ellen Dean Sat. April 23 Arboretum/Conservatory Plant Sale DBS OFFICERS, 2015-2016 Thu. May 5 Spring Meeting and Speaker, Hugh President: Andrew Latimer President-elect: Judy Jernstedt Safford, “Fear and Loathing in the Sierra Nevada, Membership Vice President: Tom Starbuck, Johanna Kwan, & Kate Confronting a Wicked Climate Change Problem” Mawdsley Secretary: Erin Wilkus Sat. July 16 Field Trip to Mount Conard, Lassen Treasurer: Robert Rhode National Park Past President: Brenda Grewell Members at Large: Cherilyn Burton, Craig Thomsen Student Member at Large: Allyson Ayalon Ex officio: Dan Potter, Ernesto

Sandoval, Ellen Dean

UC Davis Mail ID: BTNY BTNY ID: Mail Davis UC

Davis, CA 95616 95616 CA Davis,

University of California of University

One Shields Avenue Avenue Shields One

Plant Sciences Mail Stop #7 Stop Mail Sciences Plant Center for Plant Diversity Diversity Plant for Center

8 No. 45 Winter 2016 LASTHENIA NEWSLETTER OF THE DAVIS BOTANICAL SOCIETY

BIODIVERSITY DAY 2016 AT THE CONSERVATORY

Biodiversity Museum Day, which took Each museum set its hours that place on February 13, 2016, was a great day; the Conservatory was open from success at the Botanical Conservatory, 10am-4pm and the Herbarium from Herbarium, and the nine other collec- 1pm-4pm. The 700 people who visited tions that participated. the Conservatory lingered, listened, and I regularly thank visitors for thoroughly enjoyed our diverse collec- breathing extra carbon dioxide onto tion. the Conservatory’s during their We couldn’t have made the visitor visits, and on Museum Day, our plants experience so memorable without the received a good amount! The sheer help of a number of people. During the numbers of visitors that come to cam- first part of the day, visitors had Doug pus on Picnic Day probably generate a Walker (Director of the College of Bio-

higher amount of CO2, but if we were to logical Sciences greenhouses) and John Ernesto Sandoval demonstrating orchid measure the quality of the visitor expe- Stuart Berger (volunteer of all things pollination at Museum Day 2016. rience, I would argue that that this an- succulent) to serve as docents for the Photo: Eunah Cho nual collaboration of campus museums desert rooms. Barry Rice (carnivorous has greater value to our attendees. plant guru and volunteer extraordi- naire) captured the minds and imagina- tions of those who congregated around the carnivorous plants. Jonathon Hol- PLANNED GIFT BENEFITS THE HERBARIUM guin (Plant Biology major and Conser- This article is written by our editor vatory student employee) helped out in of Lasthenia, Kate Mawdsley, who various locations and explained the eth- has taken the initiative to include nobotanical importance of plants along the herbarium in her estate plan with generally sharing the wonders of (along with two other campus units). the biology of our botanical beauties. This process is known as planned Allyson Ayalon (graduate student in giving. We greatly appreciate Kate’s Plant Sciences and current Davis Botani- thoughtful support of the herbarium; cal Society board member) maintained she contributes in so many ways. her post at the Titan Arum plant which We thought that an article on her awed visitors with its significant single experience with planned giving would continued on page 2 be helpful to us and our readers. If you are interested in planned giving for the Herbarium or the Conservatory, please IN THIS ISSUE contact Ellen Dean (eadean@ucdavis. Kate Mawdsley collecting plants at edu) or Ernesto Sandoval (jesandoval@ Washoe Meadows State Park. Museum Day 2016...... 1 ucdavis.edu). Photo: E. Dean Lassen Field Trip...... 3 Team Chili Pepper...... 4 I’m a perfectly reasonable target for a campus development officer (read: fund- raiser): I’m long retired after spending my entire professional career in the UC Newspaper Exhibit...... 5 Davis library, and, honestly, the University paid and pensioned me pretty well. Viruses from Specimens...... 6 So I wasn’t surprised, last year, to be approached, very tactfully, by the new New Cone Poster...... 7 continued on page 7 1 MUSEUM DAY (CONT. FROM PAGE 1)

the sticky nature of the relationship between plants and their pollinators. In addition to the longtime and loyal volunteers already singled out, I must thank the three volunteers from campus service sororities who helped direct visitors to and from our collection and handed out maps to the other collec- tions. The other collections had similar success stories that day. Besides the Conservatory and Center for Plant Diversity Herbarium, the other par- ticipants were: the Arboretum and Public Garden, the Bohart Museum of

Allyson Ayalon explaining the Titan Arum. Visitors learn about where Vanilla comes Photo: Eunah Cho from at Museum Day. Photo: Eunah Cho . Allyson also expanded on the fine Entomology, the Museum of Wildlife features of its , and when time and Fish Biology, the Anthropology allowed, she showed visitors the fruits Museum, the Paleontology Collection, of the firecracker plant. the Phaff Yeast Culture Collection, the I spent some time engaging visitors Nematode Collection, the Raptor Center, as they arrived and oriented them to the and the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven. entrance to our “emerald cathedral.” A big shout out is due to Tabatha Yang Since we had a profusion of Phalaenop- for coordinating the event and signage. sis flowers, I decided to demonstrate The event was supported by many de- the finer points of orchid pollination partments, colleges, and administrative by pointing out the presence of pollinia bodies on campus, including the Office and the often deceptive pollination cues of the Chancellor. All in all, I think we that are characteristic of this diverse had one of the most successful Saturdays group of plants. A pointy pen cap Ernesto using a pen cap to demonstrate ever at the UC Davis Botanical Conser- served as the perfect pollinator to show orchid pollination. Photo: Eunah Cho vatory. E. Sandoval

MUSEUM DAY IN THE HERBARIUM

Above: Director Dan Potter shows visitors flowers from the daisy family under the microscope.

Right top: Student Preparator Diego Verduzco shows visitors how he The hands-on “make a plant specimen” table where mounts plant specimens. kids, young and old, played with glue and dried plants. Right bottom: Curator Ellen Dean Photo: Kathy Keatley Garvey shows visitors how to press plants. Photos: Kathy Keatley Garvey 2 RECENT GIFTS

Herbarium Endowment Herbarium Gifts in Kind Davis Botanical Society Eric Conn Vera Gottlieb Student Grants Fund Beth Corbin (In memory of June Ellen Halteman Eric Conn McCaskill) Johanna Kwan Ann Johnson Joseph DiTomaso Katherine Mawdsley Marie Jasieniuk & Frank Roe Lewis Feldman Marcel Rejmanek Sue Nichol Thomas Rost Jack Major Student Grant Fund Robert Preston Anonymous Calvin Qualset Conservatory Operations Mary Hektner Mandy Tu Reynotta Hoberecht Ann Johnson Carol Witham Carole Ludlum San Francisco Succulent & Herbarium Operations Cactus Society Judy Jernstedt Stephen & Jill Rae Thank you for Lesley Randall Katherine Mawdsley your support!

UPCOMING FIELD TRIP TO LASSEN NATIONAL PARK

The Davis Botanical Society is of Mount Conard, which rises to 8,204 organizing a field trip to hike to the feet elevation. Mount Conard is open summit of Mount Conard in Lassen and windswept and supports plants that Volcanic National Park on July 16, are adapted to high elevations and xeric 2016. Lassen Volcanic National Park conditions, such as silky is located in northeastern California (Raillardella argentea), flat-stemmed at the southernmost end of the Cas- onion (Allium platycaule), and Drum- cade Range. The park is known for its mond’s anemone (Anemone drummondii geologic features and recent volcanic var. drummondii). The hike is approxi- activity, and also boasts a rich diver- mately 4.3 miles round trip, with 1,000 sity of plant and animal life. Mount feet of elevation gain, and we will likely Conard is a remnant of the 600,000 encounter patches of snow while hik- year-old composite volcano, Mount ing. Tehama, located in the southwest The hike will be lead by Dave and corner of the park. Mary Ann Showers, who worked for The hike will begin at the Kings many years as Ranger Naturalists at Las- Creek Picnic Area and will follow the sen Volcanic National Park. During the trail through the red and white fir summer season they led hikes through- Flat-stemmed onion. forest to the lush subalpine meadows out the park, including walks that Photo: Steve Matson at Crumbaugh Lake, where a variety focused on wildflowers and geologic of wildflower species can be observed features. They also presented evening blooming in midsummer. Some plants campfire programs at the park amphi- were established at the summit of we expect to see along this section theaters. Lassen Peak to assess seedling recruit- of the hike include early snowmelt Dave and Mary Ann wrote and il- ment and growth of selected alpine species such as fawn lily (Erythro- lustrated The Field Guide to the Plants of species. Dave studied the mosses of nium purpurascens), marsh marigold Lassen Volcanic National Park, available Lassen Volcanic National Park for his (Caltha leptosepala), and steer’s head for purchase at the park visitor centers. master’s thesis, and the park was one ( uniflora), and meadow spe- With Vern Oswald, a renowned bota- of several Cascade Range study loca- cies such as corn lily (Veratrum cali- nist, they co-authored the 1995 revision tions for Mary Ann’s master’s thesis, fornicum var. californicum), western to the Flora of Lassen Volcanic National which investigated the systematics of columbine (Aquilegia formosa), and Park . Gray’s catchfly Silene( grayi), cascade scarlet Indian paintbrush (Castilleja In 1982 they began a research alpine campion (Silene suksdorfii), and miniata ssp. miniata). project at several locations in the park Sargent’s catchfly Silene( sargentii). From Crumbaugh Lake, the hike to document changes in alpine flora; will leave the trail and continue cross they revisited the sites to collect data in Cherilyn Burton country up the ridge to the summit 2012, 2013, and 2014. In 1996 transects & Mary Ann Showers

3 TEAM CHILI PEPPER IS ON THE MOVE

Those of you who have been reading elevation, date, and plant community. this newsletter for more than just a few Information is entered into data forms years may recall that I study the neo- or spreadsheets. Sometimes, I also take tropical in the photographs of the specimens so as to family (). Lycianthes is best remember what they looked like. known for the horticultural shrub Blue After all this work, I have a good Bush (sometimes called Paraguay idea of the variation included in a par- Nightshade - ), a ticular group of Lycianthes species, and beautiful plant that (in California) pro- I have to decide how many species I am duces dark purple flowers for most of going to recognize in the group. This the year. I wrote an article for Lasthenia is hard for me; it often involves a lot in 2008 that recounted the herbarium of pacing, sighing, drinking water, and hopping I did in Mexico in 2007 to using the bathroom. Then, more pacing examine specimens of Lycianthes. Lycianthes rantonnetii. Photo: E. Dean and sighing. Finally I have to assign Since then, I have continued my names to the species I am recognizing. SLO-O-O-WW but steady progress on After this, we began to organize all This is where the spreadsheet of names the genus, and that stick-to-it-ive-ness the names that have been published and type specimens comes in. I need to was rewarded in 2015 with the funding for Lycianthes species since the time of make sure that I use the oldest correct of a National Science Foundation grant Linnaeus. The names may have been name for the species I am recognizing, to study the phylogenetic relationship published in a different genus (like and if more than one name has been between Lycianthes and its closest rela- ), and so this list is constantly used for the same species, I have to tive (green peppers/chili pep- expanding. Each name has a type speci- place those other names into synonymy pers). The grant is being led by several men associated with it that is in a her- with the one that I am using. Finally, I researchers: Lynn Bohs (Univ. of Utah), barium somewhere in the world. Many construct a species description for each Gloria Barboza (National University of of these type specimens are now avail- species, summarize where the species Córdoba), Allen Van Dynze (UC Davis), able online at the website Global Plants. grows, including elevation and habitat, Sandra Knapp (British Museum), and So, one can look at them online, or ask and construct a dichotomous key to me. This team is going to do field work, for a scan of the specimen, or have the the species. This is all very detailed- write on online species descriptions for specimen sent on loan. To organize this oriented work. Did I mention that there all the New World species of Lycianthes information, we have constructed a are reasons that NO ONE wants to be a and Capsicum, describe new species, spreadsheet listing every name we have taxonomist? and produce a phylogeny for both found, including the journal where the I am extremely excited about this genera based on the latest genomics species was published and informa- project and working with the research- techniques. I am in charge of the species tion about the type specimen. We are ers involved in the grant. The specimens descriptions for Lycianthes of Mexico also making a little DropBox folder for that I measure are usually borrowed and Central America. each name, and inside the folder is an from herbaria with strong Neotropical How does one begin such a project? electronic version of the original species collections such as the New York Bo- First, review work that has already been description and, if we have viewed it, tanical Garden or the Missouri Botanical done: look at floristic treatments for ar- a scan of the type specimen. This is A Garden. However, as part of the grant, eas where Lycianthes grows; look at pub- LOT of work. No wonder no one wants I have funding to visit some other her- lications that have come out describing to be a taxonomist. And that is just the baria. This past summer, I spent a week new species or covering parts of the beginning. at the Field Museum of Natural His- genus; and review the last monographic Once this preliminary leg work has tory, and this year, I will be visiting the treatment of the genus (done in 1919 been completed, it is time to choose a Smithsonian Institution’s herbarium. by the German botanist Georg Bitter). group of species within Lycianthes and To date, I have already described Scan or download electronic versions actually look in great detail at as many two new species, Lycianthes michaelneei of the different articles and put them in specimens from the group as one can. (named for my mentor and great Solana- little folders in DropBox. Thankfully, Lycianthes has not been studied as a ceae taxonomist Michael Nee) and Lyci- I had a wonderful intern from Brazil whole since 1919. In any group of spe- anthes venturana (named for the prolific last summer named Igor Jacarini. He cies, there will be some species that are Mexican collector Francisco Ventura). scanned and made pdfs of all my paper somewhat well-understood and others That takes the number of new species Lycianthes files so that I can work on that are poorly known. This means that that I have described to six (along with them anywhere I go. Then, a post-doc many specimens are not identified cor- two varieties), and I have more to go. on our grant, the wonderful Genevieve rectly in herbaria. I have very specific There are plenty of mysterious Lyci- Walden (who was an undergraduate in measurements that I take on every speci- anthes in Mexico and Guatemala, two the herbarium pre-2005), did yet more men – hairs, stems, , flowers, etc. more places that I will be visiting. article-hunting and downloaded yet And it is also important to record the I will give you updates as we get more Lycianthes materials and put it all data on the specimen labels that pertain further into the project. to the collection location, including in little folders in DropBox. E. Dean 4 CURATING A COFFEE BREAK: THE HERBARIUM NEWSPAPER EXHIBIT My personal botanical journey did not for a girl who grew up digging for nos- begin with hiking or gardening, but talgic goodies at the Goodwill. rather in musty, picked-over thrift shops This project involved a careful cross- in the smoggy San Fernando Valley of over of curation from two viewpoints: Los Angeles. From the moment I got the first is curation of plant collections, my driver’s license on my 16th birthday, which was essential in order to process my first adventures were to flea markets the plants held in the newspapers at the and second-hand stores. From a young beginning of this process. The second age I have been obsessed with all things involves curating museum exhibits, vintage. In hindsight this is perhaps which involves selecting elements in- due to watching many old sitcoms tended to teach or illustrate something like, “I Love Lucy,” “Happy Days” and novel for the visitor. Both aspects of the “The Brady Bunch” on Nick-at-Night curatorial process undoubtedly involved The author, Allyson Ayalon, with her as a kid. My friends and I would spend spending many hours over minutiae in exhibit. Photo: Daniel McNair. hours hunting for antique trinkets, and order to get my vision to come to frui- I particularly found myself captivated was curating some of the collections tion. by treasures and trinkets with beautiful of Dr. Ledyard Stebbins. In the process floral patterns and botanical illustra- of preparing labels for plants collected tion—especially if they had the plant’s over many decades, we discovered that, Latin name. in addition to the unique flora Dr. Steb- So, the first time I saw the UC Davis bins was known for collecting through- Herbarium during a class tour, I instant- out his 60-year career, he left behind a ly fell in love with the museum of dead special trace of history one could have plants. The posters with antique prints easily overlooked: the newspapers in of Helianthus and Lavendula immedi- which he placed newly collected speci- ately charmed me, and the absolutely mens. Although in Stebbins’ time they unmistakable smell of 300,000 dead were merely day-old headlines, the old plants that infuses the first floor of the news has become part of American his- Sciences Lab Building—like old records tory to us today. Articles, photographs, but better—had me hooked. Five years and illustrations told subtle stories of after my first tour at the herbarium, I culture, race, gender, and politics that now get to give tours, curate floras, and were amazing to read in today’s context. The poster prepared for the exhibit by build exhibits--including the apparently So for the next two years we set Allyson, Daniel McNair, and Ellen Dean most un-botanical exhibit displayed at aside interesting sheets and snippets of was shown at the Northern California the annual botanical tea this past Janu- newsprint. I became obsessed with read- Botanists Meeting in January and is avail- a r y. ing the stories, as well as finding vintage able for viewing at their society’s website. The idea for the “newspaper exhibit” advertising and photos from the culture came up about two years ago when I of yesteryear. It was a task that was easy I was also determined to reach out to the greater, multi-disciplinary campus community to bring new visitors to the herbarium. Herbaria around the world have a special role as both science and historical museums, and this exhibit was intended to illustrate just that. Over the years that I have worked at the her- barium, I have made it my personal mis- sion to share what I call “the best kept secret at UC Davis” with the greater public. So, drawing in a new audience to come see this exhibit, teaching the broader community about the special role of herbaria in science and muse- ums, and even simply encouraging great The “newspaper exhibit,” entitled A Botanists’ Newsfeed for the 20th Century, featured conversation over a cup of coffee, makes the newspapers used to press plants by 20th century collectors whose specimens are in the all of the work invested into this exhibit herbarium. It was mounted for the Herbarium Tea on January 20 and re-exhibited in worthwhile. smaller form for Museum Day; it will also make an appearance on Picnic Day 2016. Photo: Daniel McNair A. Ayalon 5 VIRUSES EXTRACTED FROM HERBARIUM SPECIMENS PROVIDE INSIGHTS INTO THE PAST Herbarium specimens are known for from 1917. Her analysis of the viruses their usefulness for plant extracted from our specimens provides (see my article on Lycianthes elsewhere new information about the timing of the in this issue), including as a source for introduction of BYDVs into California DNA. In addition, in the past decade and proves that they were already pres- the specimens of the Center for Plant ent in California in the early 1900s. Diversity herbarium have been used in Similar work was done more re- studies of plant viruses. cently using our wine grape specimens In her 2007 article in the Journal of by M. Al Rwahnih et al. of UC Davis. Ecology, Carolyn Malmstrom of Michi- In a note published as a Plant Disease gan State University and her co-authors “First Look” paper in 2015, the authors reported on their successful isolation reported on their successful isolation of of barley cereal yellow dwarf viruses grapevine red blotch-associated virus (BYDVs) from early 20th century speci- (GRBaV) genetic material from a 1940 mens in our agronomy grass collections. Sonoma County specimen. This work These viruses suppress grass growth in proves that GRBaV was certainly present both native and cultivated systems, and in vineyards in California by 1940, if Specimen of Vitis vinifera cultivar Early Dr. Malmstrom has hypothesized that not earlier. Burgundy from which grapevine red they may be partly responsible for the Use of our specimens for the isola- blotch-associated virus was extracted. decline in native California grasses and tion of virus material is innovative; it The specimen was collected by Harold the invasion of nonnative grasses during has become possible due to new DNA Olmo. Photo: D. McNair the 19th century. isolation and sequencing techniques. from a research project are more impor- The genetic material from (dead!) Using our specimens for these types tant than the destruction of part of a viruses that Malmstrom’s team extracted of studies requires destruction of part leaf. In the case of the research reported from our specimens is among the oldest of the specimen which will, of course, here, I think that the results are exciting virus material yet recovered from plants; never grow back. We have to weigh enough to justify the leaf tissue that was the oldest grass specimen used was whether possible interesting results taken from the specimens. E. Dean COLLECTIONS NEED ADOPTIVE PARENTS

We have important uncurated collec- to have several With the hard work of a very tions that need several thousand dollars skills, includ- dedicated team, Jean Shepard, Kate of curation funding. Funding is used to ing familiarity Mawdsley, Tom Starbuck, and an army pay staff, buy paper and glue, and pay with geogra- of students, we have nearly curated our for database support. As of this writ- phy and plant unlabeled backlog, although there is still ing, we have just learned that Shirley taxonomy, and a mounting backlog of about 10,000 Tucker will be providing funding for the the ability to specimens. Jean and I are in “label it curation of John Tucker’s last collec- decipher hand- or throw it away” mode. With funding tions (thank you, Shirley!), but there are writing. This from the National Science Foundation, many more collections that need cura- skill set is more complex than our usual we have recently finished the labeling tion. If you would like to donate to this work-study student has, and so we hire of Ledyard Stebbins‘s last five percent project, please let me know (eadean@ a recent alum who has been with us for (found in a greenhouse in the early ucdavis.edu). Together, we can do this. a while. This costs more than our non- 2000s). Over the past 15 years we have The large collections that still need existent budget can handle. curated the last five percent of: Beecher to have labels made (from notebooks I joke that over the past 100 years, Crampton, Charles Rick (also found in and notes on collection newspapers) many people left their “last five per- a greenhouse), Gilbert Muth, Rodney include collections made by: Jack Major cent” in the herbarium. This was work Myatt, Alfred Kinsey, Grady Webster, in Alaska, Utah, Europe, and Nepal; that got lost in the shuffle of busy lives. June McCaskill, Andrew Leiser, Albert Charles Goldman at Castle Lakes; and When I came to the herbarium in 1995, Koyama, and numerous (too many to James Neilson at the Tahoe Basin. The there were nearly 100,000 specimens count) lesser-known collectors, many of Major and Neilson specimens are tricky in need of some type of curation them students. and difficult to curate, and the label- (unlabeled, unmounted, or in need of Help us get to the top of the moun- maker needs to work from cryptic notes repair). Many were specimens sitting tain and finish the labeling of the back- on the edges of newspapers. The speci- in newspapers left by visitors, faculty, log! Please contact me, if you would like mens may not be identified to genus. and students. This is called a herbarium to donate to this cause. Therefore, the curatorial assistant has “backlog.” E. Dean 6 CONES OF CALIFORNIA PINES: A POSTER (COMING SOON) FEATURING SPECIMENS FROM THE UC DAVIS CENTER FOR PLANT DIVERSITY HERBARIUM When I arrived in Davis in the dusty month of September, there wasn’t much in bloom that begged to be photographed. Thankfully, tucked away in the herbarium is the underappreciated but highly photogenic “Fruit and Cone Collection,” or as Ellen Dean jokingly calls it, the “Cone and Cone Collection” (since most of the collections are conifer seed cones). These fruits and cones are too big to mount on paper in the usual fashion, so they have their own drawer spaces in the her- barium and their own database and numbering system. This database made it relatively easy for me to find cone specimens of the pine spe- cies that the Jepson Manual recognizes for California in order to study and photograph them to create a poster. Fun fact: there are approximately 100-120 species worldwide in the genus Pinus, with 18 occurring in California (that’s a lot!). All 18 are shown in three-quarter scale on the poster, which is 16x23 inches. We hope that this poster will not only communicate the beauty and diversity of the genus Pinus in California, but also demonstrate the importance of our herbarium as a resource for studying plant diversity. Check out our website for a free digital version of the poster at her- barium.ucdavis.edu/taxonomicresources. Copies of the poster will be on sale soon with proceeds funding Center for Plant Diversity curaton. A huge thanks to Judy Jernstedt for providing funding for the print- ing. Ann Shivers-McNair, Susan Nichol, Genevieve Walden, Jessica Budke, Ellen Dean, Jean Shepard, Daniel Potter, Tom Starbuck, Craig Thomsen, Mac Alford, Kate Mawdsley, and Ernesto Sandoval gave helpful feedback. Jennifer Hurst at PIP Marketing did an amazing job with the color proofing and final prints. And thank you to my gener- ous family for funding a lot of the necessary camera equipment: Steve and Mildred McNair, Jerry and Beth Shivers, and Catherine Clark. D. McNair

A DONOR’S EXPERIENCE (CONT. FROM PAGE 1) development person at the library. But the units to which my other interests language to put into my trust document I was interested, and impressed, by report. Ultimately I received a folder to refer to the agreement; and ultimately what happened between that first coffee containing “opportunities” from each of an electronic document appeared in my and my signing a letter of intent in the units, with price tags. Some of them, inbox one day for electronic signature. late December. This activity coincided endowing positions, for example, were I’m sure they would have been happy to with, and was part of, updating trust most impressive, and way beyond my hand carry a paper one, if that had been documents, which was my principal means and intentions. But there was a my preference. 2015 “resolution;” timing is certainly range, with some needs I’d been aware I’ll say it again: I was positively important. of but also quite a few I didn’t know impressed with the sensitivity, ability There was absolutely no hard sell, about. and desire to identify projects that just lots of information about changes I had unlimited time to think about were important to me, and low-key, and needs in the library, which is all the issues that factor into these kinds unhurried tempo throughout the dealing with the digital revolution at of decision. Younger readers won’t process. I’ve spent 50 years on the many levels and in many new ways. We know what I’m talking about, but lots Davis campus and in two of the campus also had several conversations about of you will. (Remember, I’m one of the Natural Reserves, and I’m happy to my other interests on campus, which Membership Vice Presidents of DBS; I think that I’ll ultimately make a lasting are the Herbarium and the Natural know our readership.) Finally I made contribution to the activities that have Reserve System. Over a period of several my choices: how much, to which units, given me a sense of purpose for most of months, the library’s development and when. my life. person met with her colleagues from If anyone was disappointed with my K. Mawdsley the College of Ag and Environmental decisions, I never had a clue. The plan Sciences and the Office of Research, was written up officially; I was given 7