Oxford Plant Systematics With news from Oxford University Herbaria (OXF and FHO), Department of Plant Sciences, Oxford

OPS 22 June 2016

Widespread mistaken identity in tropical plant collections

Natural history specimens showing: top left – herbarium collections in Oxford University Herbaria (OXF); below - seed and fruit collections (FHO) © John Baker, Oxford Plant Sciences. Top right - diversity of plant herbarium specimens © Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Foreword Contents

This year’s issue of OPS provides plenty of Foreword food for thought as it highlights the central Stephen A. Harris …………………………………………………………..…….… 2 role of the specimen in botanical research. Twenty-five years ago three Australian News biologists asked the question about the Innovative Plant Diversity Research: a new website for Oxford University contents of herbaria: 'what would be lost if Herbaria, Media coverage & Systematics Association Conference …..…….…...... 3 label data were recorded, a careful selection of sheets kept and the rest pulped?' (Nature Visits and workshops ………………………………………………………….……. 3 346 (1990): 602). The question provoked a flurry of letters to Nature (e.g., 347: 222- Publications 2015 ………………………………………………………..…….…….. 3 224, 704) from the leaders of international biological collections and scientists Student reports involved with specimen-based research. Completing the global inventory of plants: species discovery and diversity Today, biological collections are being used Zoë Goodwin ..………………………………………………………………………. 4 in manners that were only being dreamed of in the early 1990s. Do hotspots of species endemism promote novel lineage diversity? The research of Robert Scotland, his Cicely Marshall ………………………………………………………….….…...... 4 students and collaborators, highlighted in this issue of OPS, shows herbaria are not Ecology and evolution of CAM in the montane genus Puya (Bromeliaceae) even in a position to be able to make the Juan David Beltrán ……………………………………………………………….… 5 ‘careful selection’. The level of mis- identification in herbaria estimated by Zoë Agriculture and conservation in Oxfordshire Goodwin is sobering for curators but must Claudia Havranek ……………………………………………………….…...... … 5 also be a note of caution for users of specimen-based data; caveat emptor. David Systematics of the sweet potato and wild relative species Harris makes the point that hard-pressed Pablo Muñoz Rodríguez …..…………………………………….……………..….... 6 curators must find the resources to make the specimens in their collections available, Evolution of Ipomoea in the Neotropics reduce backlogs by getting specimens into Tom Carruthers ……………………………………………………………….….... 6 cupboards and undertake housekeeping activities so specimen labelling is kept up to Bioquality in Belize date. Annotations by taxonomic specialists Gail Stott ………………………………..………………….…………….……...…. 6 enhance the quality of herbarium collections. Expedition and workshops in Ethiopia Rapid and effective access to specimen- Ben Jones and Rosemary Wise ………………………………………….………..... 6 based data and images is also important for Foundation Monographs. Wholesale Half the world’s natural history specimens may have the wrong name collection digitisation makes specimens Oxford University News & Information Office ……………….…………………..... 7 readily available to large numbers of different users, increasing the teaching and Are half the specimens in the herbarium at Edinburgh wrongly named? research value of the collection. Yet to David Harris ……………………………………………………………….………. 8 achieve this there must be significant investment in digitisation. Furthermore, Creating a fast-track for accurately classifying plants: Foundation Monographs there will be significant costs associated Oxford University News & Information Office ….……………………….……...... 9 with annual storage and security of data and images, not to mention periodic changes in Where accuracy obscures truth: a point of view technology. Collection digitisation must John R.I. Wood …………………………………………………………..…….…... 9 happen to make data available but it must be nuanced and it must be sustainable. At the Illustrations in the Morisonian Herbarium same time, physical specimens must also be Stephen A. Harris ……………………………………………………….……...… 10 maintained, and systems put in place that prevent curation of the digital and physical German contributors to Oxford University Herbaria collections diverging. Serena Marner …………………………………………………………………..... 12 To John Wood's point of view one may also add the importance of editors ensuring News from the Herbaria types for new taxa have been deposited in Serena Marner ………………………………………………………….…….…... 14 the herbaria stated, and these types are made available for critical study by other Herbarium apprenticeship researchers. James Ritchie …………………………………………………………….….……. 15

Stephen A. Harris A smell in the air Curator of Oxford University Herbaria Keith Kirby ……………………………………………………………………….. 15

Department of Plant Sciences The rediscovery of long-lost Acanthaceae from the Himalayan region University of Oxford John R.I. Wood ………………………………………………….………….…….. 16 South Parks Road Oxford, OX1 3RB, U.K. Typesetting and layout of this issue of OPS by Serena Marner Tel. +44 (0) 1865 275000

2 Oxford Plant Systematics OPS 22 June 2016 News do we find and conserve areas of high and education in Africa in 2015. The first ‘bioquality’? three-day RBS workshop took place for http://oxfordsparks.ox.ac.uk/content/big- foresters and botanists on the Shire River Innovative Plant Diversity questions-relationships-1-people-and-plants- Basin Project at the Zomba Herbarium Research: a new website for balancing-conservation-and-commerce Malawi in May. This was supported by the the Oxford University Herbaria World Bank and entitled ‘Strengthening the information base of natural habitats, A new website was launched for the Oxford Systematics Association biodiversity and environmental services in Herbaria and our plant diversity research Conference the Shire Basin, Malawi’. team. The site provides an overview of In November, at the Yaounde Herbarium activities, people and publications as well as Cameroon, they gave an RBS presentation digital access to our botanical specimens, and bioquality training for botanists working images and illustrations. in Cameroon on an RBS survey of Nguti. It There are detailed pages on the integrated was part of a European Forestry Institute research areas of taxonomy, phylogenetics, (EFI)-funded project entitled ‘Improving the species discovery, botanic survey, bio- transparency in spatial planning of quality, the BRAHMS project, plant commodity production in the context of ecology, biogeography and field guide palm oil development in Cameroon’. preparation. The central role of specimens in research is stressed. Caroline Pannell continued her visit to Access is provided to all our published Berlin Botanischer Garten and Botanisches newsletters, the Oxford Tropical Forest Museum until July 2015, visited the Paper series and the Plants 400 website. herbarium of the University of Michigan, Our digital herbarium data, images, Ann Arbor (MICH), and New York illustrations and paintings are searchable Botanical Garden (NY) in September 2015. In November 2015 she was the guest of with cross referencing to the historical In his capacity as President of the Colin Hughes at the Institut für collection databases, the fossil collection Systematics Association Robert Scotland Systematische Botanik, Universität Zürich, and the xylarium. Our current team organized the 2015 Systematics Association for three days. She determined the entire members are listed on the People page and Biennial Conference in Oxford. This took holdings of Aglaia in Z. The curator, Reto the taxonomy research page lists some of place during August 26-28th, hosting 225 Nyffeler structures digitization efforts of the our alumni. Website address: delegates from more than 20 countries herbarium as ‘manageable’ projects and http://herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/bol/oxford presenting 80 talks and 70 posters. The focuses on groups to which Z can add theme of the conference was ‘Systematics: information in the form of expert BRAHMS v8 the science that underpins biology’ and annotations. As a result of Caroline’s visit, The next generation of BRAHMS software comprised four thematic sessions on he will digitize and publish their Aglaia is well on the way. BRAHMS v8 is ecology, evolutionary radiations, fossils and collection during 2016. being developed for collection managers in taxonomy. The conference was held at the herbaria, botanical gardens and seed University of Oxford Museum of Natural banks; plant taxonomists; and those working History with the conference dinner being broadly on the study of plant diversity. For held at Christ Church College. During the Publications 2015 the latest developments, see conference delegates were able to view http://herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/bol/brahms/Software/v8 Ferdinand Bauer’s paintings for the Flora Cuccuini, P., Nepi, C., Abuhadra, M. N., Graeca at the Sherardian Library in the Cecchi, L., Freitag, H., Luccioli, E., Maier Denis Filer Department of Plant Sciences. The Stolte, M., Marcucci, R., Peruzzi, L., conference also hosted a BioSyst EU Pignotti, L., Stinca, A., Wallnöfer B., Wood council meeting, the umbrella body for J.R.I. (2015). The Libyan collections in FI Media coverage Systematics Associations across Europe. (Herbarium Centrale Italicum and Webb Herbarium) and studies on the Libyan flora Stephen Harris was interviewed about by R. Pampanini – Part 1. Bocconea 27: 3- seventeenth-century plant collections as part 132. of a BBC television series The Secret Visits and workshops History of the British Garden. He also Goodwin, Z.A., Harris, D.J., Filer, D., John Wood made two visits to the appeared regularly on BBC Radio Oxford Wood, J.R.I., Scotland, R.W. (2015). Americas in 2015 to look at specimens of talking about plants as part of Plants 400 Widespread mistaken identity in tropical Ipomoea. In March he visited Arizona to see http://herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/bol/plants400, plant collections. Current Biology 25: 1066- specimens sent from across the Americas a joint project between the Herbaria and the 1067. Oxford Botanic Garden and Harcourt for study by the late Dan Austin, an expert in the genus. This visit was particularly Arboretum. Stephen’s popular book on the Harley, R.M., Wood, J.R.I., Mercado, M., useful in clarifying the identities of species importance of plants for people, What have R. Liesner. (2015). Lamiaceae. In from northern Mexico. In November John plants ever done for us? Western civilization Jorgensen, P.M. Beck, S.G. & Nee, M. visited Cuba, an island outstandingly rich in in fifty plants, was published in 2015. (eds.) Catalogo de las plantas vasculares de endemic species of Ipomoea. Although field Bolivia: 736-747. Missouri Botanical work was not possible, extensive material of Garden Press, St. Louis, Mo. William Hawthorne has been discussing the nearly unknown Ipomoea montecristina Hadač was found, a new species was his latest research. ‘Relationships’ part 1 – Harris, S.A. (2014). Grasses. London: discovered and several problems related to People and plants: balancing conservation Reaktion Books. and commerce. species collected by Eric Ekman and described by Ignatz Urban were resolved. How can working with people to understand Harris, S.A. (2015). What have plants ever how they use their local plants be used to done for us? Western civilization in fifty William Hawthorne and Cicely Marshall protect them when industry moves in? How plants. Oxford: Bodleian Library. gave Rapid Botanic Survey (RBS) training

Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford 3 Khoury, C.K., Heider, B., Castañeda- Student reports Well, the complicated answer is that a Alvarez, N.P., Achicanoy, H.A., Sosa, C.C., curator’s job is not to name collections Miller, R.E., Scotland, R.W., Wood, J.R.I., themselves, but to manage the collections so Rossel, G., Eserman, L.A., et al. (2015). th that experts can visit and access the Distributions, ex situ conservation priorities, Zoë Goodwin (D.Phil., 4 year) collections in order to produce taxonomic and genetic resource potential of crop wild Completing the global revisions of groups, such as the one studied relatives of sweetpotato [Ipomoea batatas inventory of plants: species here, and make new determinations on the (L.) Lam., I. series Batatas]. Frontiers in discovery and diversity specimens. Plant Science 6: 251. doi: This is where the second result from my 10.3389/fpls.2015.00251 paper is important; that half of the Supervised by Dr Robert Scotland (Oxford) specimens collected up to 2000 had been and Dr David Harris (Royal Botanic Garden Marner, S.K. (2015). Charles Darwin’s collected since 1970. This pattern is Edinburgh) botanical connections with Oxford. replicated in all the data sets I examined and NERC funded Fritillary 6: 12-19. in all specimens collected in GBIF. This http://www.anhso.org.uk/fritillary/frit6/ huge increase in the numbers of specimens This year part of my thesis was published in in natural history collections means Current Biology. In the paper I examined Särkinen, T.E., Hughes, C.E. (2015). collections are increasing faster than many the complete determination history of all Systematics and biogeography of Amicia experts can cope. Overall this is positive: specimens in the genus Aframomum. I did (Leguminosae, Papilionoideae). Systematic the more specimens we have for a species this by recording all of the species names Botany Monographs 98: 1-72. the more we understand that species, both in applied to each specimen, the authors of the form, natural history, ecology and determinations and dates of the determin- Scotland, R.W., Steel, M. (2015). distribution. This is especially important ations from every single determination slip Circumstances in which parsimony but not given the evidence we have inadequate on each duplicate of each specimen on loan compatibility will be provably misleading. numbers of specimens for many tropical at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh Systematic Biology 64: 492-504. plant species. (RBGE) for a recent revision by David These two results mean the roles of natural Harris and Alexandra Wortley. By Spielmann, A., Harris, S.A., Boshier, D.H., history curators and taxonomic experts are comparing all of the historical determin- Vinson, C.C. (2015). Orchard: Paternity more important than ever in the current ations made on each specimen to that of the program for autotetraploid species. biodiversity crisis. Rather than being determination of each specimen in the Molecular Ecology Resources 15: 915-920. complacent about our existing knowledge of current monograph I was able to score each the natural world we have ever more species historical determination as being either Wasshausen, D.C., Wood, J.R.I. (2015). to discover and to understand. And that correct (including basionyms), a synonym Acanthaceae. In Jorgensen, P.M. Beck, information is held within the specimens in (heterotypic or homotypic), as indeterminate S.G., Nee, M. (eds.) Catalogo de las plantas our natural history collections. (specimens identified as Aframomum or vasculares de Bolivia. Missouri Botanical Zingiberaceae) or as ‘other’ (any other Garden Press, St. Loius, pp. 179-192. Goodwin, Z.A., Harris, D.J., Filer, D., status, including incorrect). Combining this Wood, J.R.I., Scotland, R.W. (2015). determination information with the dates Wood, J.R.I. (2015). New species of Widespread mistaken identity in tropical that the determination was made allowed me Acanthaceae from Bolivia. Kew Bulletin plant collections. Current Biology 25: 1066- to graph the relative status of each specimen 70(34): 1-6. 1067. duplicate throughout history. This produced two important results. Wood, J.R.I. (2015). Acanthaceae. In Firstly, that at any given point prior to the Bernal, R., Gradstein, S.R. & Celis, M. rd monograph less than 50% of the specimens Cicely Marshall (D.Phil., 3 (eds.) Catálogo plantas líquenes Colombia- had the correct name. Until the 1970s less year) Do hotspots of species Catalogue plants lichens Colombia. than 15% of specimens had the correct Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá. endemism promote novel name, from the 1970s onwards the work of http://catalogoplantascolombia.unal.edu.co lineage diversity? Lock, Dhetchuvi and Harris the percentage rose to 42%. Not all of the remaining Wood, J.R.I., Carine, M.A., Harris, D.J., Supervised by Dr Stephen Harris (Oxford) specimens were incorrectly named, some Wilkin, P., Williams, B.R.M., Scotland, and Dr William Hawthorne (Oxford). were determined under synonyms and up to R.W. (2015). Ipomoea (Convolvulaceae) in Funding: Clarendon Scholarship and Merton a third were indeterminate. Synonyms and Bolivia. Kew Bulletin 70(31): 1-124. College. indeterminate names are not wrong, but they are not correct either. Consider the value of Wood, J.R.I., Mercado-Ustariz, M., Beck, My interest is the Upper Guinean these specimens for conservation assess- S.G. (2015). El género Lepechinia angiosperm flora, in particular its endemic ments or species modelling, both sets of (Lamiaceae) in Bolivia. Revista de la elements. My aim is to draw on names mean large numbers of specimens are Sociedad Boliviana de Botánica 8: 27-50. biogeographic, phylogenetic, ecological and missing from analyses. Blind acceptance of taxonomic methods to illuminate the the synonyms, by a non-taxonomist for Wood, J.R.I., Simão-Bianchini, R., origins, diversification and botanic relation- example, gives the impression that there are Fuentes, A.F. (2015). Convolvulaceae. In ships of the Upper Guinean forest flora. multiple species rather than just one. Jorgensen, P.M. Beck, S.G., Nee, M. (eds.) I have spent the last year assembling a In my study I was only investigating Catalogo de las plantas vasculares de large database of African plant distributions, tropical plants, however there is plenty of Bolivia. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, with thanks to collaborators at the evidence that the situation is similar, if not St. Louis, pp. 520-531. Conservatoire et Jardin Botaniques de la worse, in other diverse groups, such as fungi Ville de Geneve, University of Bonn and the and insects. Wood, J.R.I., Williams, B.R.M., Mitchell, National Hebarium of the Netherlands. Our Many people see this result as a criticism T.C., Carine, M.A., Harris, D.J., Scotland, database now holds more than 97,000 of the curators of natural history collections; R.W. (2015). A foundation monograph of species and infraspecific taxon names, and surely they cannot be doing their job Convolvulus. Phytokeys 51: 1-282. more than 3 million distribution records. adequately if such large proportions of Our current focus is to map bioquality collections do not have the correct name? hotspots across tropical Africa, using this

4 Oxford Plant Systematics OPS 22 June 2016 database. Identifying hotspots of bio- However, there is no formal definition of garden conditions. I am going to test the diversity is an established way to prioritise the climatic niche of CAM plants and the performance of the enzymes PEPC and areas for conservation, but is also a valuable environmental variables that distinguish it PEPCK at low temperatures in CAM tool in land use planning, especially in high from the niche of C3 plants. species of Puya from different elevations. biodiversity areas. Our approach relies on Puya (Bromeliaceae) comprises about 230 scoring each component species of a species, and is found from central Chile to community for its global range (‘Star Venezuela and Costa Rica. The genus is Claudia Havranek (D.Phil., 2nd rating’), and then calculating the proportion predominantly Andean, but extends from year) Agriculture and of globally rare species in each plant sea level to 5000 m. Surveys of carbon- community. This metric, called the Genetic isotope values, show approximately 20% of conservation in Oxfordshire Heat Index, is a weighted range size rarity Puya species are CAM plants; usually at index, where rarity is measured globally. least ten are found at very high elevations Supervised by Dr Stephen Harris (Oxford). Species name and location data were (>4000 m). The aim of my project is to Funded by an Oxford-HDH Wills 1965 substantially checked and cleaned. For investigate the occurrence of CAM in Puya Charitable Trust Graduate Scholarship. records without coordinates, the text locality to define the climatic niche in which this information was parsed to assign bounding mode of photosynthesis is favoured and What could BREXIT mean for agri- box coordinates. For records with thereby to formulate a hypothesis about the environmental policy? The UK has as yet coordinates, the text locality information ecological and evolutionary significance of made limited progress towards its was also parsed, and compared against the CAM. environmental commitments. With 70% of coordinates to identify internally I have analysed the climatic niche of CAM UK land devoted to farming, it is clear that contradictory records. All analysis and and C3 species in Puya using georeferenced agriculture must play a significant role in mapping was conducted by fitting the herbarium records. After quality control, I meeting these targets. But we do not records’ bounding boxes inside the sampling compiled a set of 433 herbarium records currently have sufficient data to analyse areas of interest, so that the geographic representing 149 species. CAM species of how effective agri-environmental schemes resolution at which the record was collected Puya are largely restricted to the central in the UK are, nor how to go about could be respected. Andes and the lowland regions of northern improving them. Our metric is based on a proportion, so the Chile. More importantly, temperature and Current agri-environmental policy within same metric can be calculated at any scale, elevation are not major contributors to the UK is determined by EU laws and giving it applicability in local land predicting photosynthetic pathway, whilst directives. The upcoming UK referendum management scenarios as well as aridity index, precipitation seasonality and on membership to the EU provides the highlighting broad regional or global actual and potential evapotranspiration ratio opportunity to consider if BREXIT would patterns. Each species is assessed for its make major contributions. provide the freedom to make substantial global range before proportions are To explain the apparent lack of CAM changes to the UK policy, and help progress calculated, so the system can bridge the gap species of Puya in the northern Andes, I am to these targets. between species-specific valuations of exploring different hypotheses. The first My work has focussed on evaluating biodiversity, and the biodiversity value of proposes there is a lack of suitable CAM current UK agri-environmental policies for ecosystems at different scales. Our metric is habitats in the northern Andes. However, their effectiveness in conserving plant continuous, so we can avoid the binary ten different climatic niche models show, diversity. I used data from fieldwork in ‘hotspot/not hotspot’ distinction which can there are suitable regions in the northern Ditchley Park, Oxfordshire to evaluate how leave areas falling foul of a threshold. Andes for CAM species. A second successful payments to farms for We accept as a premise of the system that hypothesis is that the apparent lack of CAM maintaining hedgerows and margins have the data is never complete, and so the species in the northern Andes is a result of been in encouraging floral diversity. By system is built to be flexible in the light of sampling bias. During my last visit to the surveying the plant diversity found in new information. The proportion of globally National Herbario in Colombia (COL) I margins, alongside key hedgerow rare plant species in a flora is by no means sampled exhaustively the Puya species characteristics, it was possible to identify the only important factor when designing a occurring in the northern Andes. The the most important factors for plant land management plan, but it is an important carbon-isotope values from these collections diversity on farms. one. will contribute to understanding the This data can then be used to evaluate how apparent lack of CAM species in the effective agri-environmental schemes cur- northern Andes. rently are, and goes some way in addressing Juan David Beltrán (D.Phil., 3rd According to the carbon isotopes values, whether EU-based agri-environmental policy is effective, both economically and year) Ecology and evolution and based on the latest taxonomic review of Chilean Puya, the photosynthetic pathway environmentally. The data suggests that of CAM in the montane genus of P. alpestris ssp. alpestris is C3, whilst P. many factors which are thought to be Puya (Bromeliaceae) alpestris ssp. zoellnerii is CAM. I am environmentally friendly by the currently analysing RNA-seq data from both government, and which the government Supervised by Professor Andrew Smith subspecies to test the genetic differences therefore financially incentivises, have (Oxford) and Dr Stephen Harris (Oxford). between them. I will also measure day–night negligible effects on plant diversity. Funded by awards from the Louis Dreyfus- CO2 exchange patterns, titratable acidity and With UK government reports citing Weidenfeld Scholarships and Leadership enzymatic activity of both subspecies. farmland as a target area on which to Programme and from Colciencias. High-elevation CAM species of Puya are improve our progress to environmental remarkable because they must fix CO2 commitments, further research is needed to Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) is a nocturnally at very low temperatures. My evaluate how we can improve our agri- photosynthetic pathway used by nearly 6% current hypothesis is that CAM species from environmental schemes. The available data of vascular plants. CAM plants fix CO2 at higher elevations have molecular does suggest that current agri-environmental night and maintain their stomata closed for adaptations to fix CO2 at very low schemes are of limited effectivity. But we most of the day, thereby minimising the temperatures compared to their counterparts are not even close to having sufficient data amount of water lost in transpiration. at low elevations. Currently I am conducting to know how we might be able to change it. Therefore, CAM is considered to be a experiments to investigate if cold tolerance Current agri-environmental policy within water-saving mechanism representing an in high-elevation CAM species is the UK is determined by EU laws and adaptation to dry and warm environments. maintained after cultivation in common directives. The upcoming UK referendum

Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford 5 on membership to the EU provides the The Neotropics contains particularly high Gardens Conservation International, opportunity to consider if BREXIT would plant species diversity, with different clades delivered a week-long workshop on provide the freedom to make substantial having an uneven distribution within and establishing and maintaining conservation changes to the UK policy, and help progress among the various Neotropical “biomes”. collections of endangered and important to these targets. Whilst leaving the EU With respect to Ipomoea, recent taxonomic ecosystem trees. would provide the opportunity for the work has highlighted that the genus is With more than 46 critically endangered change needed in agri-environmental policy, particularly species rich in the Neotropics, woody taxa in need of urgent conservation the question should not be “should we stay with two particularly interesting clades. One action in Ethiopia, tree species such as or should we go?” but “how, either in or out, is located predominantly in Paraguay, in an Hagenia abyssinica (Bruce ex Steud.) J.F. could we have better policy?”. ecologically heterogeneous region in- Gmel. and Juniperus procera Hochst. ex corporating the understudied paraná, chaco Endl., are of particular importance and cerrado biomes. The other is centred in throughout the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia, Pablo Muñoz Rodríguez the Caribbean, but is considerably more Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia). In this (D.Phil., 1st year) Systematics widespread. region of low forest cover, but high I have recently returned from a field trip to diversity of shrub and tree species, the of the sweet potato and wild Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina where I remnant forest stands are adversely affected relative species was able to increase the depth of sampling by anthropogenic disturbance and climate within these two radiations, record where change. Land-use and frequently occurring Supervised by Dr. Robert Scotland (Oxford) different species were growing and observe droughts, reinforced by climate warming, and Dr. Steve Kelly (Oxford). the Neotropical biomes. result in a constant loss of forest habitats Interdisciplinary Bioscience Doctoral Based on the increased level of data now containing high diversities of trees and Training Partnership Programme, BBSRC. available for Ipomoea, I will construct a shrubs species. More than 90% of the total maximally resolved and robust phylogenetic energy used in Ethiopia is produced from Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.) is tree for these two radiations to provide biomass, with fuelwood being the major one of the ten most important staple foods in insights into the relationships within the two component. the world, and produces more biomass and clades. The phylogenetic tree will be time- nutrients per hectare than any other crop. In calibrated and constructed in conjunction recent times it has proved especially with an analysis of the spatial distribution significant in addressing vitamin A and ecological characteristics of different deficiency in developing countries. species. At a time when crop diversity is paramount This will enable me to answer questions for global food security, understanding the such as: what are the distinctive evolutionary relationship between crops and evolutionary dynamics of the paraná, chaco their closest relatives is of major importance and cerrado biomes of Paraguay and to what because of the interest in wild species for extent is dividing the region into different breeding programmes. However in the biomes relevant in this context? How do specific case of sweet potato, most aspects evolutionary transformations and their of that relationship remain unclear, in part underlying processes differ between deeper due to a lack of reliable taxonomic (and more persistent) lineage divergences knowledge of its wild relatives. Therefore, compared to more recent (and ephemeral) the aim of this research is to resolve lineage divergences? What are the overall different aspects of sweet potato evolution, contributions of non-adaptive and adaptive with a focus on the 15 putative species that lineage divergences and how do they differ are its closest wild relatives. at different spatial scales? This research utilizes high-throughput DNA sequencing of a set of specimens Hagenia abyssinica (Bruce ex Steud.) J.F.Gmel. representing the geographical and st Gail Stott (D.Phil., 1 year) Botanic Gardens and Arboreta can morphological variation of the species Bioquality in Belize involved. These data form the basis of this contribute to plant conservation in many project and will provide information on ways, including the production and Supervised by Dr William Hawthorne whole chloroplast genomes and a substantial dissemination of research leading to an (Oxford). number of nuclear genes. From this increased understanding of plant diversity Funding: NERC Doctoral Training information we aim to identify suitable (Global Strategy for Plant Conservation Programme DNA regions to resolve the limits between (GSPC) Objective 1), the effective Gail has spent the last five months carrying individuals and species. conservation of plant diversity (GSPC out a Rapid Botanic Survey in Belize. Her Objective 2), the promotion of education aim is to increase the botanic distribution and awareness about plant diversity (GSPC st data available across the country, and to use Objective 4) and by ensuring the capacity Tom Carruthers (D.Phil., 1 this to inform better land management for public engagement has been developed year) Evolution of Ipomoea in strategies. Her thesis will focus on using to implement the Strategy (Objective 5). the Neotropics species distribution models to infer This week-long practical workshop took biodiversity hotspots in Belize. place at the Wondo Genet College of Supervised by Dr. Robert Scotland (Oxford) Forestry & Natural Resources, Ethiopia. NERC funded. There were 45 participants from Ethiopian Expedition and Botanic Gardens, arboreta and similar I am interested in the evolution of plants institutions, and the training, as part of over different spatial, ecological and workshops in Ethiopia ongoing capacity-building activities, temporal scales. For my D.Phil. I will be focused on key areas of collection investigating the evolution of Ipomoea in In December 2015, Ben Jones, Curator of management, including seed collection, the Neotropics. the University’s Harcourt Arboretum and propagation, nursery management and tree Kirsty Shaw, Conservation Officer, Botanic planting.

6 Oxford Plant Systematics OPS 22 June 2016 present which are economically important in the production of household paint. We had several stops during the journey from Wondo Ganet to Goba to collect typical Afro-montane species for me to paint, including Hagenia abyssinica (Bruce ex Steud.) J.F.Gmel.. Similar in size and shape to English oak, these trees were in full bloom with long, pendulous panicles of small, deep-pink flowers. I had by now purchased a piece of plywood for a drawing board and could easily work in the car at any time when Ben and Kirsty botanised. My ‘studio’, as in Bolivia with John Wood, was stored in my work bag and could be assembled in less than two minutes. At over 4000 m, the air was cool in the Bala Mountains. The vegetation in this Workshop at Wondo Genet College of Forestry & Natural Resources, Ethiopia. Dec. 2015 (© Ben Jones) rather bleak landscape consisted mainly of small hummocks of helichrysums and The workshop served as a crucial work and watercolour; rather a lot for three occasional stands of giant lobelias, (Lobelia networking opportunity enabling new days. With plenty of flowering plants on the rhynchopetalum Hemsl.). We were partnerships to be made, friendships to be campus, the participants were all puzzled extremely lucky to see and photograph one forged and collaboration between that I gave them leaves to draw. There was of the endangered Ethiopian wolves, which institutions. These links began the formation a good reason for this, leathery leaves do not nonchalantly walked towards us and crossed of a national network, which will encourage wilt and the correct representation of leaf the road just behind our parked car. The institutions to share plant material, characters is a good exercise in observation final two days were spent in a lodge on Lake providing increased security for target and accurate drawing skills. Langano. This lake is too mineral-rich to species by enabling more genetic diversity On the second day I introduced the class to support the snails which transmit bilhartzia to be held within collections. Such line drawings and covered the various and is the only one of the chain of Rift partnerships also facilitate sharing of techniques of working with pens. With the Valley lakes where one can safely swim – as propagation and care tips, which can be very limited range of art materials that we long as you take care to avoid wallowing critical for species where few individuals were able to purchase in Addis Ababa this hippos. remain. was challenging. Next time, I will do all the Participants worked to identify their core shopping in Oxford! Rosemary Wise mission and develop a collection policy for For the final day I had made up little ‘paint Botanical Artist their garden that reflected this mission. Each boxes’ for each person and demonstrated yet institution was encouraged to ‘adopt’ a more techniques, colour mixing and how to threatened tree local to their botanic garden build up the colours with a series of light as a flagship for their institution, to drive the washes of paint. People were probably tired Below are three short commentaries conservation mission of their gardens of green leaves by now so flowers appeared covering the Goodwin et al paper and the forward and generate wider interest and – and soon, predictably, wilted. All the foundation monographs of Convolvulus and support for tree conservation locally. The participants had had very little experience of Ipomoea published in Current Biology and skills developed during the training course drawing but were keen to learn and Kew Bulletin in 2015 (see publications). will now be applied to these flagships to persevered. At the end of the day they put eventually prepare for population restoration on an exhibition of their work for Ben and programmes. Kirsty’s students to see. I gave a short talk Half the world's natural With the right support, a relatively easy to the entire group explaining the history specimens may step for botanic gardens and arboreta is to importance of such a course, which should utilise their wealth of expertise and give botanists the necessary skills to have the wrong name knowledge, for purposes of either in or ex illustrate their publications. One of ‘my’ situ conservation activities. From this students followed this up, stressing the need knowledge base, expertise in horticulture, for a longer course. As many as 50% of all natural history curation, species-based research, and After this I was free to paint. In the specimens held in the world's museums educational displays can be used to broaden woodland above the campus we collected could be wrongly named, according to a engagement, through outreach initiatives, Brucea antidysenterica J.F.Mill.. The new study by researchers from Oxford joint projects and short courses. Scottish botanist James Bruce (1730-1794) University and the Royal Botanic Garden was suffering from a common tropical Edinburgh. Ben Jones complaint and was given tea made from the Even the most accomplished naturalist can Harcourt Arboretum Curator leaves of this tree which is reputed to have find it difficult to tell one species of plant cured him. In many ways this first visit to from another or accurately decide which Ethiopia could be regarded as a recce for genus a small insect belongs to. So when a I joined the December 2015 trip to Ethiopia; me, to see a new flora and to start thinking new specimen arrives at a museum, finding this was my 43rd botanical expedition. For about the range of educational posters that the right name from existing records can the first three days at Wondo Ganet I ran an could follow. A botanic garden is in the sometimes prove difficult. In turn, that can introduction to botanical illustration course process of being established in the nearby lead to specimens being given the wrong with seven enthusiastic participants: five town of Shashemene. I painted three plants name – which can prove problematic for university lecturers and two technicians. from there including Vernonia galamensis biologists. This was a forerunner to a longer course to (Cass.) Less.. Although this species is 'Many areas in the biological sciences, be held later this year and my idea was to common over northwest Africa, only in including academic studies of evolution and cover techniques of drawing, pen and ink Ethiopia it is found to have certain oils applied conservation, as well as achieving

Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford 7 the 2020 targets under the Convention on the sweet potato – on the Global Oxford), has just published a paper on Biological Diversity, are underpinned by Biodiversity Information Facility database. misidentifications. accurate naming,' explains Dr Robert Examining the names found on 49,500 In that paper two world-wide phenomena Scotland of the Department of Plant specimens from the Americas, they found are quantified: Sciences at Oxford. 'Without accurate that 40% of these were outdated synonyms 1. In large tropical plant groups most of the names on specimens, the records held in rather than the current name, and 16% of the specimens in that group are unlikely to have collections around the world would make no names were unrecognisable or invalid. In the correct name unless the whole group has sense, as they don't correspond to the reality addition, 11% of the specimens weren't recently been revised by an expert. outside.' Dr Scotland also points out that the identified, being given only the name of the 2. The number of herbarium specimens negative effects of this are increasingly genus. worldwide is increasing exponentially. multiplied as large databases are aggregated The team thinks there are three main If you had asked me, before Zoë’s study, online, gathering together vast amounts of reasons for these inaccurate names. First, what percentage of collections had the specimen data, many of which have they suggest that there simply isn't enough wrong name in the herbarium I might have incorrect species names. time or research devoted to writing guessed it was about 20%, now I am sure it So his team, which includes researchers monographs. Second, they point out that the is well over half. from the University of Oxford and the Royal number of specimens in the world is That will not be the case for some groups: Botanic Garden Edinburgh, decided to carry increasing too quickly for research to keep the specimens from Britain and Ireland will out a formal study to establish just how bad up – with 50% of the world's specimens in mostly have the correct name. Similarly the the situation was. Gathering data into the 2000 having been collected since 1969. And folders from areas where there has been a Botanical Research and Herbarium finally, there are now so many museums and recent Flora written by botanists based in Management System (BRAHMS), herbaria around the world that experts Edinburgh will contain a high proportion of developed at Oxford by co-author Denis cannot view all the specimens in a genus specimens with the correct name. The plants Filer, it was possible to compare and and revise the names accordingly. of Turkey, Bhutan, Nepal, Chile, the analyse the species names used on the But there is a more worrying problem Arabian Peninsula and Socotra may need sampled specimens. The team actually used underlying their snapshot of incorrect some updating but for the most part they are three different approaches to work out how naming. Of 1.8 million different described internationally important collections with a many mistakes there were likely to be. species on Earth, 0.35 million are flowering high proportion of names following the First, they considered how the name of a plants and a further 0.95 million are insects. latest taxonomy. Certain groups such as single specimen might change over time. While Dr Scotland and his team have shown conifers, Rhododendron, Begonia, Gesner- Over the years, specimens in museums that the names of flowering plants are iaceae, Zingiberaceae and Sapotaceae will gradually have their names reviewed, as commonly incorrect, other researchers have also be well named, due to the years of in- scientists learn more about the family, or shown that the insect kingdom is potentially house taxonomists and visiting experts new specimens help to redefine an existing in an even worse situation. 'We think a checking them. But apart from the other species. The team studied 4,500 specimens conservative estimate is that up to half the groups for which an expert has seen all the of the African ginger genus Aframomum, a world's natural history specimens could be specimens – and perhaps the specimens detailed monographic study which had been incorrectly named,' says Goodwin. from the living collection at RBGE – the completed in 2014, providing an accurate The team suggests that digitised specimens rest have less than a 50% chance of having account of all the species and their – that can be remotely accessed so that the correct name. specimens. The team were surprised to find researchers anywhere can use them for So how does that make me feel? Isn’t it my that prior to this monograph at least 58% of species-level taxonomy – as well as DNA job as the curator to make sure the specimens were either misidentified, given sequencing are two essential tools that can specimens have the right name? an outdated or redundant name, or only be used to improve the names associated That is a common misconception: “large identified to the genus or family. As few with the world's natural history collections. natural history collections have to have the plant groups have been recently But they also caution that these approaches most up-to-date name to be useful”. Not at monographed, the team suggests that a will only improve the quality of naming if all! The real function of these collections is similar percentage of wrong names might be integrated alongside taxonomic projects. For to allow specialists to generate the most up- expected in many other groups. their part, the team is already actively to-date names and understanding of plants Next, the researchers considered how exploring new integrated approaches to for society. Lots of unnamed specimens in duplicated specimens from the same plant taxonomy and has brought these techniques the herbarium mean lots of new information. might be given different names in different together into what they call 'foundation The specimens are there to be identified, museums. It is common practice for plant monographs'. They have recently published renamed, analysed and synthesised to give collectors to take several samples of a single two such studies, for Convolvulus and us new and better knowledge of our green plant and distribute these to museums and Ipomoea in Bolivia. planet. herbaria around the world. 'It's a bit like In addition – given the dynamic nature of separating identical twins at birth,' explains Reproduced by kind permission of the our understanding of plants and fungi in so Zoë Goodwin, the first author of the paper. Oxford University News & Information many parts of the world, it would be a waste Once distributed, they are often indepen- Office of time for a curator to try to name three dently named by an in-house expert. million specimens. Our job as curators is Analysing the Dipterocarpaceae, a family instead to make sure the specimens are in of rainforest trees from Asia, the team found the right family and the right genus so that that 9,222 collections had been divided into Are half the specimens when the expert wants to consult them she two or more duplicates, making a total of or he can find them. 21,075 specimens. Of these, 29% had in the herbarium at There is one task we curators need to different names in different herbaria. 'And at allocate more time to, taking recent least one of these names must be wrong,' Edinburgh wrongly monographs and revisions and to update points out John Wood, another of the named? specimen names from those publications, if authors on the paper. the specimens in our herbarium were not Finally, the team considered mistakes Zoë Goodwin, who first arrived at RBGE as annotated by the taxonomists who wrote the contained within aggregated records stored an M.Sc. student, became a member of staff, books. online. They scoured the records of Ipomoea and is now a D.Phil. student (University of Give me your misidentified, your – a large and diverse genus which includes undetermined, your piled masses of

8 Oxford Plant Systematics OPS 22 June 2016 specimens yearning to be named (with apologies to Emma Lazarus) – we will put you in the cupboards and have you waiting and ready for the next specialist to work on you.

David Harris Diversity of herbarium specimens © Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (Reproduced by kind permission of David Harris) classifications. But comprehensive mono- Where accuracy graphs take a long time to produce and involves intensive study. ‘It would be lovely obscures truth: to monograph the whole world, but that’s a a point of view Creating a fast-track for pipe-dream,’ explains Dr Scotland. ‘Especially in the tropics, where there are accurately classifying too many plants, written about in too many In recent years my attention as a writer and places, often in too many different reviewer of taxonomic papers has been plants: Foundation languages, with too much redundancy in drawn to three areas where the search for Monographs existing names. The size of the task is just precision is obscuring the truth and leading too big.’ to error. In all cases this is partly the result of fashion and partly a response to the It can take botanists decades to accurately Instead, the team thought there could be demands of reviewers and journal editors. classify plants after they’ve collected and middle-ground between the two approaches. 1. The inclusion of precise coordinates stored away samples from the wild. But now ‘We wondered if we might be able to using a GPS with specimen citations. There Oxford University researchers have combine some of the speed of a floristic is, of course, nothing wrong with this so developed a technique to try and streamline approach with some of the rigour of a long as the coordinates were recorded at the the process. Monograph,’ explains Dr Scotland. ‘And precise point at which the plant was In 2010, researchers from the Department we’ve ended up with what we call collected, but how often is this the case? I of Plant Sciences, led by Dr Robert “foundation monographs”.’ The new recall my frustration at trying to refind a Scotland, published a paper that investigated approach combines the time-limited species of Salvia based on the cited degrees, how long it takes for plants to be described approach and short descriptions of a flora minutes and seconds only to find out after they’ve been first collected. The results with the DNA, phylogeny and fieldwork of subsequently that the same precise came as a surprise: it turned out that just 14 monographs, enabling species to be coordinates were used for all collections percent of specimens were described within uncovered quickly, but accurately. made over a trajectory of several kilometres. five years, and on average it took 35 years With a year of funding from Research This may be an extreme example but I for specimens to be recognised and Councils UK’s Syntax program, Dr would wager that three quarters of all GPS described as ‘new’. ‘People might imagine Scotland’s team that included the coordinates made by a group travelling in a that researchers venture into the wild, point experienced taxonomic botanist John Wood, car were taken at the place where the car at something and say “that’s new”,’ explains performed a one-year pilot study to create a stopped, not the place where the plant was Dr Scotland. ‘But it doesn’t work like that: foundation monograph for Convolvulus collected. The same thing would probably mostly they get collected and added to (bindweed). It worked well: in 12 months, be true of a base camp from which collections, then they're discovered at a later they accounted for 190 species, including 4 collectors went out to bring back specimens date.’ All the while, then, collected flowers new species. to be included as part of the day’s “catch”. sit dried and mounted and stored in herbaria. That was enough to help them secure a Very few collectors in a group would have From their figures, the team estimated that larger grant from the Leverhulme Trust to their personal GPS or be systematic enough of the 70,000 species of flowering plants perform a three-year study of the Ipomoea to record data for each collection made. If thought to remain un-described, up to half (morning glories), a genus that includes the my observations are correct it is likely that may in fact sit in collections awaiting sweet potato. Taking 1,500 samples from over 90% of recorded GPS coordinates are discovery. Given the rate of discovery around the world, they sequenced DNA inaccurate at least as regards the “seconds” currently averages around 2,000 flowering from the samples to refute or corroborate recorded. My own suggestion is that plant species per year, the team vowed to existing species concepts. In the first coordinates should be ‘corrected’ to degrees investigate whether there may be a way to published part of the study they described and minutes only with seconds given to a expedite the process. 18 new species of Ipomoea from Bolivia, single decimal place unless the collector Generally, botanists perform one of two accounting for 102 separate species in that specifies that that the collection was made types of study to describe species in a given country which was a five-fold increase from from a single specimen at the precise genus. The first, called floristics, is what was known at the time of the last recorded GPS reading. performed in a limited timeframe and compilation. 2. Conservation assessments. Most reput- describes all plant species in a particular As far as Dr Scotland is concerned, we’re able journals now require authors to provide country or region, using short descriptions likely to see more species being identified conservation assessments for any species and simple illustrations with generally no like this in the future. ‘We’re probably described in a paper. This is required for assessment of phylogeny or DNA seeing the end of the traditional approach to new species and is particularly deleterious sequencing. The second, referred to as the botanical taxonomy,’ explains Dr Scotland, in this case. The correct assessment in the monographic approach, takes a global view ‘the world has enormous taxonomic case of almost every new tropical species is of all the species in a given genus, problems and to tackle them we need to Data Deficient within IUCN guidelines as it accurately demarcating each species and adopt new working practices and methods is likely to take many years to establish the providing comprehensive descriptions, for speeding up the taxonomic process’. true distribution of a species after its first genetic analyses and detailed illustrations. description. Yet editors and reviewers often The latter is considered the gold standard An Oxford Science blog insist on authors applying mathematical in botanical taxonomy, not least because it Reproduced by kind permission of Oxford assessments based on Geocat to establish provides a reliable means of identifying University News & Information Office areas of occupancy and areas of occurrence, redundancies (synonymy) in existing assessments often based on a few records

Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford 9 and which can take no account of the Illustrations in the Druce was complaining about the difficulty complex mosaic of habitats either in of accessing material in the herbaria and the mountainous areas such as the Andes or in Morisonian Herbarium general conditions under which the material savannas such the cerrado or chaco biomes. was stored. Druce’s concerns over the In many cases the area is poorly explored conditions are borne out by the substantial botanically and even when well-known very Planting the Oxford Physic Garden began in amount of water damage suffered by sheets few botanists are able to reliably identify the early 1640s with the appointment of in the Morisonian Herbarium and the poorly known species so plants are often Jacob Bobart the Elder, and subsequently amount of remedial conservation work that under-recorded. Any attempt to assess his son, also called Jacob. The Bobarts has been necessary during recent digitisation potential presence is equally likely to be appear to have used herbarium specimens as work. flawed, as most ‘potential distributions’ I permanent records of the plants growing in The Morisonian Herbarium was created by have had a chance to review accord poorly the seventeenth-century Garden, and to Bobart the Younger to illustrate Robert with the reality of a plant’s true distribution. record the diversity of plants being returned Morison’s Plantarum Historiae Universalis Consequently most of the published to British shores. The Bobarts built three Oxoniensis of which only Part 2 (1680) was assessments can only be regarded as separate herbaria during their stewardship of published in Morison’s lifetime provisional, if not downright wrong. Should the Garden: Bobart the Elder’s Herbarium; (Mandelbrote, 2015). Part 3 (1699) was all new tropical species be assessed as Data Bobart the Younger Hortus Siccus (Harris, completed by Bobart the Younger, whilst Deficient? Possibly, but that does not 2006); and the Morisonian Herbarium Part 1 was never completed, although preclude an author with good field (Vines and Druce, 1914). Until Bobart the herbarium specimens were amassed. Despite knowledge making a provisional assessment Younger’s death in 1719 these herbaria its name there is no evidence Morison was based on observations which would provide were the Bobarts’ private collections but involved in making the Morisonian some understanding of the likely threat to a were treated as the de facto herbarium of the herbarium; the name comes from the species, as well as the size of its population. Physic Garden; they are the founding ordering of part of the collection. However, Informed comments of this sort are nearly collections of Oxford University Herbaria. it is evident the herbarium was added to always a more reliable and more The Bobart’s herbaria were significantly after Bobart the Younger’s death. informative assessment of conservation increased in size and quality with the The Morisonian Herbarium comprises status than a mechanical assessment of area bequest of William Sherard’s herbarium to more than 7,000 herbarium sheets collected of occupancy or occurrence. the University in 1728. Sherard’s interest in from across the then known world. Bobart 3. Typification. Several journals and some plants and herbaria had been sparked by the Younger experimented with multiple Flora projects are now demanding that all Bobart the Younger in the 1680s, when he methods to record the diversity of plants cited names are typified, thus obliging was an undergraduate studying law. with which he was familiar. In addition to authors to lectotypify or, if necessary, Until the end of the eighteenth century, the herbarium specimens, 290 sheets either have neotypify names which lack a unique University’s herbaria were housed in the illustrations attached or are solely holotype. It is argued that this will eliminate private accommodation of the Sherardian represented by an illustration. Five types of ambiguity in the application of names, thus professors. Eventually, short-lived herbar- illustrations are represented: pen and ink advancing scientific precision. Unfort- ium space was found by converting the drawings, pencil sketches, engravings, water unately this presupposes that the author has eastern conservatory in the Physic Garden. colours and nature prints. The vast majority a good knowledge of the original author’s However, the space was needed for other of these illustrations appear to have been methods, handwriting, access to type things so in the early nineteenth century made in the late-seventeenth century or material, as well as a comprehensive there was a ‘Room for Seeds & Herbarium’, early eighteenth century. knowledge of the genus or family they are which backed onto a garden shed, on the writing up. Unfortunately this is not always banks of the River Cherwell (Daubeny, the case. A writer of an account for the 1850). In 1852, the then Sherardian Flora of Argentina, for example, may have Professor, Charles Daubeny, convinced the expert knowledge of Argentinian plants and University to accept the herbarium and issues related to the typification of plants library of Henry Fielding (Daubeny, 1853). described by authors who worked on the Fielding had spent much of his inherited Argentinian flora. However this does not fortune accumulating one of largest personal hold good for their knowledge of the herbaria in the Victorian world. Overnight, typification of plants introduced from other Fielding's herbarium tripled the size of the countries. Authors are thus being obliged to Garden's herbarium, thrusting it once again make typification decisions for which they into the top rank of the world's collections. are not equipped. While this will no doubt The Fielding Herbarium got a new home in increase the need to publish corrections and the converted western conservatory. Since secondary lectotypifications, it is hardly 1951 the herbaria have had purpose-built desirable or wise. It would be much better to accommodation in the Department of Plant allow authors to make well-founded Sciences, outside the Garden. decisions on lectotypification where they The first Fielding Curator, Maxwell feel able but not to oblige them to make Masters, was appointed in 1853, but premature and often incorrect decisions. resigned after about three years. Subsequent These are just three areas where our care of the herbarium was sporadic. No obsession with precision is resulting in the Fielding Curator was appointed again until multiplication of errors. I would urge 1886, when Selmar Schönland arrived but writers, editors and reviewers to adopt a he remained in post for only three years. more flexible approach to all these issues. The post was vacant until George Claridge Truth should not be sacrificed to the god of Druce became honorary curator in 1895 precision. (Harris, 2007). With no one to look after it, Engraving of ‘Helichrysum sive Chrysocome the conditions under which specimens were frutescens latifolia flore corymbifero, toto aureo’ John R.I. Wood kept had deteriorated; curation was only (Helichrysum orientale (L.) Vaill.; Research Associate taken seriously under Druce’s stewardship. Mor_III_086_01) associated with Morison (1699, Section 7, tab.10)

10 Oxford Plant Systematics OPS 22 June 2016 natural object (Cave, 2010). These nature All of the nature prints are made from prints were presumably done by Bobart the separate specimens, except two. The same Younger. specimen, collected from the Leiden Bobart appears to have experimented with Botanic Garden, was used to produce two nature printing for a brief period to record separate images: 'Bryonia aspera Zeylanica' botanical diversity. We do not know the (Mor_Misc_0732, Mor_Arb_0434_v). Un- precise time in which this experimentation surprisingly, the specimens used to create occurred but it is likely to have happened the nature prints were not preserved in the early in the eighteenth century. Unfort- collection. unately, specimens represented only by As a technique for the scientific recording nature prints are generally impossible to of plant diversity and enabling identification identify with certainty. of critical taxa the nature print method In 26 cases, the whole plant specimen is proved to have limited value. Bobart the represented only by a nature print, e.g., Younger clearly found the procedure 'Tussilago Alpina folio oblongo' unsatisfactory as the herbarium comprises (Mor_III_130_03). In a further 26 cases, only a tiny proportion (c. 1%) of nature the nature print of the whole plant includes prints. Despite their limited scientific value, fragments of dried specimens, such as some of Bobart’s nature prints have great flowers and leaves, e.g., 'Anemone aesthetic appeal. tenuifolia multiplici' (Mor_Misc_0591). Bobart's experimentation with nature References printing included 26 specimens represented by leaves only, e.g., 'Althaea arborescens Cave, R. (2010). Impressions of nature: a Pen and ink drawing of ‘Scorzonera humilis amplissismo folio incano et hirsuto' history of nature printing. British Library Syriaca, sinuata, flore subcaeruleo’, probably by Bobart the Younger, together with fragments (Mor_Misc_0539). One particularly delicate Publishing Division, London. collected by Huntingdon in Aleppo, Syria specimen used by Bobart the Younger was (Reichardia tingitana (L.) Roth. the flower of Gloriosa superba Daubeny, C. (1850). Oxford Botanic Mor_III_083_20b) (Mor_Misc_1599), though it is unclear Garden, or, a popular guide to the Botanic whether the specimen was raised in the Garden of Oxford. Printed by I. Shrimpton, There are 23 engravings from more than Physic Garden or received as dried material Oxford. four separate sources. At least two of the from India or elsewhere. The two most illustrations (Acc. No: Mor_III_086_01; frequently represented families are the Daubeny, C. (1853). Address to the Mor_III_356_24) appear to be versions of Asteraceae (10 specimens) and Apiaceae (8 Members of the University. Delivered on engravings eventually published in specimens). Many of the Asteraceae are May 20, 1853. Botanic Garden, Oxford. Morison’s Plantarum Historiae Universalis represented by flowering or fruiting Oxoniensis (1699). At least three artists specimens, whilst the Apiaceae are Dresser, C. (1857). On a new system of contributed to the 119 pen and ink drawings. primarily represented by basal and cauline nature printing. Journal of the Society of One of the artists, thought to be Bobart the leaves. Arts 5: 285-291. Younger (e.g., Mor_III_018_30 and Mor_III_344_01b), copied images from Harris, S.A. (2006). published sources or unpublished manu- Bobart the Younger’s scripts (e.g., Codex Comptoniana) or used Hortus Siccus. Oxford images to show the form of plants for which Plant Systematics 13: 10- only fragments of material were available 11. (e.g., Thelypteris tetragona (Sw.) Small; Mor_III_575_08). In other cases, pen and Harris, S.A. (2007). ink drawings represent plants that are Druce and the Oxford difficult to preserve or which lose their form University Herbaria. when dried, e.g., Cactaceae (Mammilaria Oxford Plant Systematics sp.; Mor_III_171_08) and succulent 14: 12-13. Euphorbiaceae (Mor_III_345_07). The 62 pencil sketches and five water colours are Mandelbrote, S. (2015). used in similar ways to the pen and ink The publication and drawings; most of the sketches appear to illustration of Robert have been done by Bobart the Younger. Morison’s Plantarum Of greatest interest among the illustrations historiae universalis in the Morisonian Herbarium are the 81 Oxoniensis. Huntington nature prints. Dresser (1857: 285) explains Library Quarterly 78: the simple procedure as it was applied as 349-379. early as the 1650s: 'the plant, after being dried, was held over the smoke of a candle Vines, S.H. and Druce, or oil lamp, when it became blackened by a G.C. (1914). An account deposit of soot, after which it was placed of the Morisonian between two sheets of paper and rubbed Herbarium in the with a smoothing-bone, which caused the possession of the soot to leave the prominence of the leaf and University of Oxford. adhere to the paper. In this way an Nature print and specimens of ‘Anemone Clarendon Press, Oxford. villosissima alba’ and ‘Anemones impression of the plant was produced'. By tenuifolia multiplici’ (Anemone sp.; the end of the nineteenth century, nature Mor_Misc_0591) Stephen A. Harris printing had come to mean the process of Druce Curator of Oxford University creating a printing plate directly from a Herbaria

Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford 11 German contributors to 1644, with a party from the Dutch West India Company. He was accompanied by Oxford University the Dutch physician Willem Piso and both were appointed by Count Moritz of Nassau- Herbaria Siegen. The Count was trying to establish a Dutch outpost in north east Brazil (near present day Recife). Marcgrave drew up When asked to give a talk to the Anglo- maps of the area, collected plants and German Society on the theme of German- painted watercolours. Most of Marcgrave’s born collectors in Oxford University collections are now held in Copenhagen (C) Herbaria, it was surprising to discover just but OXF holds twelve of his plant how much influence Germany has had on specimens, plus the Sherardian Library the collection. The connections go back to holds a copy of his edited notes which were the beginning of plant-based studies in published posthumously by Piso as Historia Oxford in the seventeenth century. The first Naturalis Brasiliae (1648). When the Dutch Keeper of the Oxford Physic Garden, Jacob West India Company was ordered to leave Bobart the Elder, was German. He took up Brazil in 1644, Marcgrave travelled to his post at the Garden in ‘about’ 1641 and Angola but unfortunately caught a fever and appears to have begun making plant died soon after his arrival. specimens soon after; many have survived Johann Jacob Dillenius, first Sherardian Professor to the present day. In the eighteenth Engelbert Kaempfer (1651-1716) was a of Botany at Oxford University century, the first Sherardian Professor of scientist, physician and explorer from Botany was appointed; this was Johann Lemgo. After becoming secretary to the the collections that he was amassing (see Jacob Dillenius a German from Darmstadt. Swedish Embassy in Russia in 1683 and OPS 21: 13-15). When looking through a list of collectors then Persia, Kaempfer travelled quite While working in England, Dillenius whose specimens form part of the herbaria extensively around Russia, Persia and India. produced three major publications; each has over the last four centuries, it became He joined the Dutch East India Company contemporary herbarium specimens apparent that there were many German and travelled in Japan during 1690-1692 as associated with them. He edited and explorers, plant hunters and naturalists their surgeon, starting from the trading post produced a third edition of John Ray’s whose specimens and books are found here; in Nagasaki. He wrote extensively of his Synopsis (1724) although not credited as in fact over one hundred. For much of the travels and collected many plants; his either editor or author. He described many period covered Germany included a series Amoenitatum exoticarum was published in new plants, facilitated by Sherard’s of regions, and therefore contributors may 1712. This was an illustrated work including herbarium and collected more British plants have been born in Prussia, Saxony or Japanese and Latin names, plus Japanese during a tour around England and Wales. Bavaria. The specimens arrived in Oxford characters, describing the plants, plus their The book was much-admired and acted as by different routes and come from all medicinal uses. In the Sherardian Herbarium the text-book on British botany for about 40 continents apart from Antarctica. Some of there are about thirty specimens with years until superseded by Hudson’s Flora the most significant characters are reference to the descriptions in Kaempfer’s Anglica (1762). mentioned below. book, that also give their Japanese names Sherard’s endowment of a Professorship (see OPS 5: 10-11). A specimen of Sium upon his death (in 1728) was on condition Jacob Bobart the Elder (1599-1680). Born ninsi L. has recently been rediscovered and that Dillenius was appointed for life. Before in Brunswick, he was a successful, self- this is labelled by Sherard as ‘d. Kaempfero’ Dillenius could take up this post, William’s taught gardener who had learnt English and and named as ‘Ninzin’. Collecting in Japan brother James requisitioned Dillenius to some Latin. He was also a very well-known at that time was a hazardous pursuit but describe and illustrate all the exotic plants auricula breeder. By 1648 he had stocked Kaempfer was sympathetic and diplomatic growing in his garden at Eltham in Kent. the Physic Garden with about 1600 plants, towards the Japanese people. A preserved This caused a delay of six years before and a catalogue of the plants growing specimen of Kaempferia galanga L., Dillenius could take up residence in Oxford therein entitled Catalogus Plantarum Horti ‘Wanhom’, corresponds to an entry in his but the result was the splendid ‘Hortus Medici Oxoniensis is attributed to him. He book; Linneaus named the genus in honour Elthamensis’ (1732). Dillenius was a good preserved dried plants in his Hortus Siccus, of Kaempfer. He is probably best known artist and even engraved the plates himself which includes many unusual flower forms, for being the first westerner to describe the and described several new genera. It was some cultivated varieties popular at the Ginkgo tree, and for the posthumously said to be ‘the most important book to be time, plus many wild plants. Instead of the published The History of Japan (1727) published in England in the eighteenth garden being stocked just with medicinal translated by J.G. Scheuchzer. century on the plants growing in a private plants, it soon evolved into a garden of garden’. In 1735 Dillenius was conferred plants with scientific interest. Bobart the Johann Jacob Dillenius (1684-1747). with a Doctorate by the University, and in Elder was a flamboyant character who was Originally named Dill, Dillenius was born in 1736 received a visit from the young noticed by others, e.g., Robert Plot, the first Darmstadt but soon moved to Giessen Swedish naturalist Carolus Linnaeus. After Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, and the where his father was Professor of Medicine an initial misunderstanding, and despite not English gardener and diarist, John Evelyn. at the University. Johann became a member speaking the same language, Dillenius and Bobart’s eldest son, also Jacob, was born in of the ‘Imperial Academia Naturae Linnaeus became friends, exchanged books Oxford and became the second Keeper of Curiosorum’ and developed an interest in and specimens and corresponded for the rest the Physic Garden in 1679 (see also OPS mosses, lichens, fungi and algae. He was of Dillenius’ life. 13: 10-11; 14-15 and the article in this one of the first people to classify The third and perhaps most scientifically volume on pages 10-11). cryptogams and to try and work out how important work published by Dillenius was they reproduced. He described 200 mosses, his illustrated Historia Muscorum (1741), Georg Marcgrave [Markgraf] (1610- 160 fungi and many new genera of plants in which described cryptogams. He sent a 1644). A naturalist and astronomer born in a Catalogue of plants in the Giessen area. copy to Linnaeus who cited it repeatedly in Liebstadt. He was a pioneer who The Englishman William Sherard was Species Plantarum (1753), as a consequence accomplished the first scientific investi- impressed with this work and asked many of Dillenius’s specimens and gation of Brazilian plants between 1638 and Dillenius to work with him in London on drawings are type material.

12 Oxford Plant Systematics OPS 22 June 2016 Ferdinand Deppe (1794-1861). Born in geographical regions. He named a new before moving to Burma, then India, where Berlin, Deppe began his working life as a genus Dregea (Apocynaceae) after him. he worked for the Indian Forest Service. He gardener but gave that up to travel to Drège had discovered many new species; at was responsible for part of reorganization at Mexico in 1824 to collect and study birds, least 100 have been named after him. the Forest Research Institute at Dehra Dun, insects and plants. Following Mexican he founded the journal Indian Forester independence in 1821, it was made easier Robert Hermann Schomburgk (1804- (1875) and a few years later became for Europeans to travel and collect natural 1865) was born in Freiburg. He was best Inspector-General of Forests in India. In history specimens there. Deppe sent the known for his work for the Royal 1885 he took up the post of Professor of material back to the Berlin Museum. A few Geographical Society of London exploring Forestry at the Royal Indian Engineering years later Deppe was joined by his friend and collecting plants in British Guyana. For College at Cooper’s Hill in England and Wilhelm Schiede and they tried to establish the fixing of a boundary for the British trained foresters there. The college at a business selling natural history specimens. Government between British Guiana and Cooper’s Hill closed in 1905 and moved to Unfortunately, although they collected many Venezuela, he was knighted in 1844. Oxford. Schlich moved with it and his specimens, their business was a financial Schombugk was the first person to discover previous experience put him in a position to failure and Deppe returned to Berlin but he the magnificent giant water lily Victoria establish a School of Forestry at Oxford was not given an academic position there. regia Lindl. (syn. of V. amazonica (Poepp.) University. He was able to set up Forestry An archive of letters from Deppe’s J.C.Sowerby) in 1837, thriving in the as a subject for a BA degree and persuaded expeditions is held by the Zoological shallow waters of the Amazon in British the University to establish the post of Museum, Berlin. His legacy is the large Guiana. The plant was greatly admired by Professor of Forestry with its own amount of material he collected that was Victorian gardeners who tried to grow it in Department (once known as the Imperial, new to science. There are many plant England. The very large leaves of the plant then Commonwealth, then Oxford, Forestry specimens that he collected in OXF. For are ribbed on the undersurface and the Institute). Later an M.Sc. degree was also example one of his new species, Tillandsia pattern of veining inspired Joseph Paxton’s introduced. Like von Mueller, for his multicaulis Steud. is a bromeliad related to design for The Crystal Palace built for the unceasing work, Schlich was elected a Spanish Moss. One plant named after him, Great Exhibition of 1851. Schomburgk also Fellow of the Royal Society and knighted in the so-called ‘lucky four-leaf clover’ Oxalis discovered many new species of orchids, 1909. The Department of Forestry merged deppei Lodd. (syn. of Oxalis tetraphylla one of which Schomburgkia, was named with the Department’s of Botany and Cav.), was not so lucky for Ferdinand after him. OXF holds about 450 specimens Agriculture in 1985 to become the present Deppe himself! collected by him from Guiana which were day Department of Plant Sciences, where acquired by Fielding. there is a lecture room named in his honour. Johann Franz Drège (1794-1881). Born in Many thousands of Indian specimens from Altona, Hamburg, Drège studied August Fendler (1813-1883) is another Schlich and ex Cooper’s Hill collections can horticulture in Göttingen before working in plant collector whose specimens are well be found in the herbaria. major botanic gardens, including Munich represented in OXF. He was born in East and Berlin. In 1826 he joined his brother Prussia and collected in New Mexico, References Carl in the Cape Region of South Africa, Tennessee, Panama and Venezuela, where they set up a business as professional overcoming many difficulties to be able to Clokie, H.M. (1964). An account of the natural history collectors. Carl collected travel. He was fortunate to meet Ernst herbaria of the Department of Botany in the zoological specimens, Franz specialized in Meyer, like Drège, who offered to buy University of Oxford. Oxford, Clarendon plants. For the next eight years, Franz specimens he collected from the Americas. Press. amassed about 200,000 specimens Between 1854 and 1855, Fendler collected reportedly comprising some 8,000 species. about 2,600 flowering plants from Tovar in Druce, G.C. & Vines, S.H. (1907). The Venezuela plus many ferns, a large Dillenian herbaria. An account of the proportion of which are new species and Dillenian collections in the herbarium of the Type of types. He tended to collect the most University of Oxford. Oxford, Clarendon Trichilia dregeana uncommon plants, hoping to obtain a higher Press. Sond. price for these specimens, although after collected many years he had to find other methods of Fielding, H.B. (1844). Handwritten notes “a by Drège earning a living. On one occasion he lost all brief account my herbarium”. MS Sherard (OXF) his equipment in a flood, and on another lost 397, fol 23. [Sherardian Library of Plant many possessions to a fire. Taxonomy]

After Drège returned to Hamburg, and while Ferdinand Jakob Heinrich von Mueller George, A.S. (2009). Australian botanist’s running a successful commercial nursery, he (1825-1896) from Rostock went to Australia companion. Four Gables Press, Kardinya, offered sets of his Cape specimens for sale. in 1847 and became Government Botanist in Western Australia. Henry Borron Fielding acquired a full set of Adelaide in 1853. Four years later he these specimens for his herbarium (Fielding, became the Director of the Melbourne Gunn, M. & Codd, L.E. (1981). Botanical 1844), which was later bequeathed to the Botanic Garden and founded the National exploration of Southern Africa. Cape Town, University in 1851. It was fortunate the Herbarium of Victoria. Many of his A.A. Balkema. specimens were distributed, as part of Australian specimens from South Australia, Drège’s collection was destroyed in the Western Australia, Victoria, New South Stresemann, E. (1954). Ferdinand Deppe's ‘Great Fire’ in Hamburg in 1842, and the set Wales and Queensland are to be found in travels in Mexico, 1824-1829. The Condor which had been acquired by Ernst Meyer OXF. For his extensive work on the 56: 86-92. and moved to the Berlin Herbarium in 1915, Australian flora, and with George Bentham was also largely destroyed during World on Flora Australiensis, he was elected a Burley, J., Mills, R.A; Plumptre, R.A., War II. Drège’s specimens were of Fellow of the Royal Society and knighted in Savill, P.S., Wood, P.J., Wright, H.L. excellent quality as he had kept very good 1879. (2009). A history of Forestry at Oxford locality and environmental notes. Meyer University. British Scholar 1: 236-261. working with Drège’s material, and a map William Schlich (1840-1925) was an drawn by Drège, was able to classify the eminent forester, born in Flonheim, who Serena Marner vegetation of the Cape into broad phyto- gained a doctorate from Giessen University Herbarium Manager

Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford 13 News from the Herbaria August with 225 delegates attending. exhibition of prints of Rosemary’s paintings Several groups of visitors from the at the Linnaean Society in London. This conference came to see the Flora Graeca was for a special display celebrating Fielding-Druce (OXF) and materials during this period; they were Rosemary’s 50 years as a professional Daubeny (FHO) interested in looking at the material from a botanical artist. During 2015 we received a record number botanical/biological perspective. During the of visitors. Many more group visits were Oxford Alumni reunion weekend in Loan material made than in previous years, covering a September, fifteen alumni visited the Much activity took place in this area of wide range of themes. The materials herbaria. Two local natural history groups curatorial work. A total of 2,575 specimens displayed catered for each group’s interests were given tours of the collections – these were returned from loan to other herbaria and showed the modern relevance of were the Abingdon Natural History Group comprising 43 different transactions. This collections. Furthermore, significant and the Ashmolean Natural History Society included 1,145 specimens of Acanthaceae, progress was made in returning specimens of Oxfordshire. On other occasions a small mostly Strobilanthes, from 28 loans or part which had been loaned to the plant diversity group of secondary school teachers were loans, which had been studied by John research team. The numbers of sheets introduced to the herbaria, and a group Wood and Robert Scotland’s research returned were more than three times those attending a workshop organized by Dr students. 1,423 sheets of Cardamine were received as loans for research! David Boshier (Department of Plant returned after completion of studies by Sciences) was shown the collections. Elizabeth Cooke. 695 specimens of OXF Visitors Ferdinand Bauer’s drawings, watercolours and FHO material were received back from 19 group visits were made which included and the herbarium materials of John loan in the same period. 705 specimens 204 people. In addition 48 individual visits Sibthorp, associated with the publication of were also received as incoming loan were made making a total of 252 visitors for the Flora Graeca, were again the reason for material for John Wood and Pablo Muñoz the year. Many of the groups consisted of a visit by a group of art students introduced Rodríguez to study, and some for Rosemary staff and students working or studying at the by Dr Sarah Simblet. The students were Wise to draw. Most of the incoming loans University. The Department of Continuing taking part in a week-long international consisted of specimens of Ipomoea for the Education ran a course in Ecological Survey summer school focused on botanical Foundation Monograph project, but one Techniques and 15 students from this course drawing, being taught by Sarah, from the loan of Acanthaceae was received for John came for a session focusing on macrophytes. Ruskin School of Fine Art. Dr Richard Wood to identify. 32 students from the Oxford University Mulholland was also present and he Doctoral Training Centre (DTC), discussed the Bodleian Bauer Research New accessions and mounting project and some of the techniques currently undergoing a four-year D.Phil. in Systems Material collected from Japan in 2014 by a being used to rediscover the pigments used Biology, were introduced to the botanical team from the Oxford Botanic Garden and in Bauer’s lost colour chart for the Flora collections as part of a two-week course on Harcourt Arboretum, in conjunction with Graeca (see OPS 21:11-12). A group of 'Data Management, Analysis and Statistics the University of Tokyo, is in process of five physicists/artists also came for a tour of for Bioscience'. The aim was to introduce being mounted and accessed. Specimens of the herbaria/library when Flora Graeca botanical/ natural history collections as a very rare endemic species of Japanese materials were displayed. Rosemary Wise, sources of data for research and to show birch, Betula chichibuensis H.Hara, was botanical artist, showed some of her work examples of outputs from work on the collected, as well as seeds. This received and publications, plus botanical art by the material. Another 18 doctoral students on some publicity as its seeds were Oxford Botanic Garden Florilegium Group. another course from the Centre, plus a successfully germinated, thus hopefully One of the individual visitors who made further 18 students from the Doctoral ensuring the ultimate survival of the species. several visits to draw from specimens was Training Programme (DTP), were also 76 miscellaneous specimens sent from TNS Emily Freeman studying at the Ruskin introduced to herbaria and collections. (National Museum of Nature and Science, School of Fine Art. A four-day visit was Ten researchers from the Oxford Long- Amakubo, Tsukuba, Japan) labelled “The made by Dr Virginia van der Lande, from Term Ecology Lab and eight staff from the 21st Century Flora of Japan exsiccata” were Nottingham University, to research Oxford University Natural History Museum also received. Specimens of Psychotria, herbarium material collected by George were given tours of the herbaria. Three Keetia & Chazaliella collected in Ghana Anderson FLS. All the above visits were separate visits by Botanic Garden staff were and Liberia by William Hawthorne and enjoyable and memorable. made who were also introduced to the colleagues were accessed before being sent botanical archive held by the Sherardian out on loan for critical examination. 32 Library. The three sessions focused on Loans for exhibitions miscellaneous British species of Cyperaceae different centuries highlighting the work of Three loans from OXF were lent for and Juncaceae collected by H.J. Killick Jacob Bobart on the early planting of the exhibitions. Nine miscellaneous specimens were incorporated. British material garden, the work of John Sibthorp on the from the Sibthorpian Herbarium were sent consisting of several hundred lichen, moss Flora Graeca and Charles Daubeny’s and to the Pera Museum, Istanbul, Turkey. The and liverwort specimens collected by H.J.M. William Baxter’s modifications to the museum put on an exhibition entitled “Life Bowen were transferred from Oxfordshire Garden in the 1830s/1840s. On another is Short, Art is Long. The Art of Healing in County Council’s Museum’s Resource occasion members of the Oxford Byzantium” which ran from 10 February to Centre to OXF. Conservation Consortium visited. They 26 April 2015. We were very pleased to Mounting for FHO included miscellaneous were shown how specimens are work with the Bodleian Library specimens collected by Professor J.K. collected/preserved and used for research. Conservation Department in affecting this Morton from Sierra Leone and duplicates The group was especially interested in a loan. One specimen of Indigofera tinctoria collected by M.Y. Chew, C.M. Pannell and seventeenth-century ‘book herbarium’ and L. from the Sherardian Herbarium was lent colleagues in Malaysia. Mounting for OXF Robert Morison material, including his to the Bodleian Library for display in the included plants collected by Dr D. Damrel illustrated work Historia Plantarum exhibition “Armenia – masterpieces of an from Clemson University Herbarium in Universalis Oxoniensis Pars Secunda enduring culture’ running from October South Carolina and Ipomoea specimens (1680) and the copper plates associated with 2015 to February 2016 at the Weston collected in Brazil by Dr de Queiroz and the illustrations in this work. Library. One sheet of Medusagyne John R.I. Wood. The Systematics Association three-day oppositifolia Baker collected by Rosemary Biennial Conference was held in Oxford in Wise in the Seychelles accompanied an Serena Marner Herbarium Manager

14 Oxford Plant Systematics OPS 22 June 2016 Herbarium apprenticeship

As I approach the end of my second year as an Apprentice, I have taken time to reflect on my apprenticeship. I am still learning new things every day and am constantly developing my skills and responsibilities in addition to my knowledge of the collections. In the collections, I have been working on conservation tasks such as data-basing specimens from Morocco, making repairs to herbarium specimens and returning over a thousand loan specimens to various organisations across the world. I also have been helping with the new Herbaria website; I am very much enjoying my apprenticeship. At the end of last year, I was elected as an Apprentice Ambassador, which allowed me to become more involved with the wider University, attending career fairs to promote apprenticeships across schools and hosts such as the Mini Plant in Cowley, Oxford. The University now has 64 apprentices, with Mick Southern’s map of the ‘distribution of certain plants’ in Wytham hopes to reach 150 by April 2017. Not only (© University of Oxford, held by Conservator of Wytham Woods) do I feel a part of the Herbaria, but I also feel a part of the wider University. I have achieved my level 2 NVQ in possibly through some effect of the rapid pattern of its occurrence: as you move away Cultural Heritage and am now working decay of the leaves in mid-summer from the places where it forms solid sheets towards a level 3 Diploma in Cultural inhibiting the growth of other herbs. the patches get smaller and more dispersed. Heritage, which I hope to achieve by the end In Wytham Woods, near Oxford, its They appear to be where one or two plants of this year. stronghold is in the ancient woodland on the have established and then start to spread. north side of the hill where in places it In a survey of woods across Great Britain James Ritchie forms dense carpets dominating site and comparing plots first surveyed in 1971 with Herbarium Apprentice smell for a couple of months and then resurveys in 2001 ramsons had increased its disappearing almost completely, but this cover and occurrence. European studies also may be a relatively new state of affairs, at suggest it may be increasing. As well as its odds with the idea that it is a poor colonist. ability to tolerate shade, it has an Ellenberg In the 1950s Mick Southern, who worked light score of 4 (= plants of shade, rarely in A smell in the air in the Bureau of Animal Population under full light), it is also likely to be favoured by Charles Elton, drew up a map showing ‘The increased nitrogen deposition (Ellenberg distribution of certain plants’. There is no nutrient score 7 = more often found in text to go with this map, but eight of the places rich in nitrogen). Its main nine species are rare or uncommon in a vulnerability is disturbance: for example by Wytham context so it would be logical for heavy trampling. them to be mapped in this way : Lathraea This could certainly explain the sort of squamaria L., Listera ovata (L.) R.Br. (now pattern seen at Wytham. Generally there is Neottia ovata (L.) Bluff & Fingerh.), strong conservation concern about the Neottia nidus-avis (L.) Rich., Lithospermum spread of non-native species. At Wytham officinale L., Aguilegia vulgaris L., small balsam Impatiens parvifolia Bedd. has Valeriana dioica L., Hypericum humifusum become established on some of the rides L. and Paris quadrifolia L.. This last is the (probably brought in on researchers’ boots) most widespread of the group and in spring while Nectaroscordum siculum (Ucria) 2015 I spent a morning confirming that Lindl., the Sicilian Honey Garlic, has turned Allium ursinum L. on the north side of the hill in many of the patches marked on the north up in a few places (escaped from a garden in Wytham Woods (May 2015) slope are still there. The odd one out in the the middle of the wood) and attempts have species list is Allium ursinum L. This is been made to remove these. There are not many plants in Britain that shown as present only in one place in However what if the invasive species is a you can smell long before you see them, but Marley Wood and not at all on the north native woodland plant like Allium ursinum, wild garlic or ramsons, Allium ursinum L., slope where Paris was recorded. It seems perhaps being spread as seed with soil on is one. It is found in abundance in damp, inconceivable that Southern would have the feet of deer? Might we at some point nutrient-rich soils, almost always in missed it there if it had been present. think this also should be controlled? We woodland. Indeed like some other vernal In the 164 permanent plots set up by have not reached that point yet and plants it has been suggested as an ancient Colyear Dawkins in Wytham Woods it was meanwhile it is worth noting that the great woodland indicator in some parts of the not recorded at all in 1974 or 1991, but in woodland ecologist Oliver Rackham country, which might imply that it does not two plots in 1999 and in five in 2012. These commented that the leaves went well with spread very well. The seeds generally fall are too few records to be certain this is an peanut butter sandwiches. close to the parent plant so one plant increasing trend but it is consistent with the becomes a small clump, then a bigger clump idea that the species has spread in recent Keith Kirby and eventually a whole swathe of green and decades. This is also suggested by the Woodland Ecologist white. Once established it holds its own

Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford 15 The rediscovery of References long-lost Acanthaceae Wood, J.R.I. (1994). Notes relating to the Flora of Bhutan XXIX Acanthaceae with from the Himalayan special reference to Strobilanthes. region Edinburgh Journal of Botany 51: 175-273.

During the course of studies on Himalayan Wood, J.R.I., Scotland, R.W. (2003). The Acanthaceae at Edinburgh in 1993 and in 2-lipped species of Strobilanthes Oxford since 2001 I have regularly come (Acanthaceae). Kew Bulletin 58: 83-129. across new species, which have been published in many different papers, Wood, J.R.I., Bennet, J.R., Scotland, R.W. particularly Wood (1994), Wood et al. (2003). Notes on Strobilanthes: the (2003), Wood & Scotland (2003, 2009). Sympagis group. Kew Bulletin 58: 131-173. Most of these new species were based on herbarium collections made about a century Wood, J.R.I., Scotland, R.W. (2009). New ago by Charles Baron Clarke and Frank and little-known species of Strobilanthes Kingdon Ward. (Acanthaceae) from India and South East In the last five years this has all changed. I Asia. Kew Bulletin 64: 3-47. have been regularly sent photographs of plants by botanists working in Bhutan, India John R.I. Wood and Nepal which provide evidence that Research Associate nearly all these species still survive, Eranthemum erythrochilum J.R.I.Wood although in what quantity I have no idea. At (© Gopal Krishna) a personal level it is very satisfying to see another characteristic of this species. images of the living plants in full colour These four species are only some examples when all I had seen before were old dried of the striking recent trend in the specimens of a uniform brown colour. rediscovery of long-overlooked species Examples of four species I have been shown from north east India. This is a very recently are illustrated here, with thanks to welcome development indicating a revival the photographers who sent them to me and of botanical exploration in the region, the who have given permission to use their possibilities of photography for document- images. ing rare species and, in particular, the Perhaps the most spectacular is survival of rare species in their native Eranthemum erythrochilum J.R.I.Wood, last habitat. Much remains to be studied. We collected in 1912, described in 1994 and still have no idea about the frequency, refound by Gopal Krishna in the original flowering patterns or conservation status of locality of Buxa in West Bengal. This is a any of these plants but it is hoped that the spectacular subshrub with red flowers next decade will show significant advances distinguished from related species by its in our knowledge in these areas too. very long corolla tube and strongly exserted stamens. It appears to be endemic to Buxa Duar. Images of two species of Strobilanthes were sent to me from Nagaland by Santanu Dey in 2015. One of these, S. simplex J.R.I.Wood, described in Above: Strobilanthes simplex 1994 was last collected by Kingdon Ward in J.R.I.Wood 1949. The photograph clearly shows the subterminal flower heads, persistent bracts, Left: Strobilanthes decipiens pilose calyx and glabrous corolla with J.R.I.Wood included stamens, which characterise this (Both © Santanu Dey) species. I am pleased to say that very recently I have also seen specimens of this species from nearby in Myanmar. The other species sent from Nagaland is S. decipiens J.R.I.Wood, described in 2003 and last collected by the American naturalist Walter Koelz in 1950. This is a white-flowered species with imbricate flowers and exserted stamens. The fourth species illustrated here, Strobilanthes saccata J.R.I.Wood, was described in 1994 but last collected in 1974, Right: Strobilanthes saccata fifty years before it was rediscovered in J.R.I.Wood central Nepal by Bhaskar Adhikari. The (© Bhaskar Adhikari) image shows the anisophyllous leaves characteristic of many species of Strobilanthes as well as the saccate corolla and spicate inflorescence, very different from other species occurring in Nepal. What is does not show is the unusual spiny pollen;

16 Oxford Plant Systematics OPS 22 June 2016