A Major Palm Achievement pages 6-7 Montgomery Provides National Leadership page 3

Bahamian Buccaneers pages 4-5 Montgomery Botanical Center Established 1959 Board of Directors David Manz, Esq., President Charles P. Sacher, Esq., Vice President Karl Smiley, M.D., Vice President From the Walter D. Haynes, Esq., Sec./Treasurer Charles S. Sacher, Esq., Asst. Treasurer Executive Director Lt. Col. Justin M. Haynes Nicholas D. Kelly L. Patrick Kelly Peter A. Manz Stephen D. Pearson, Esq. Juanita Popenoe, Ph.D. Mark Smiley Dear Friends, Executive Director M. Patrick Griffith, Ph.D., M.B.A. t is an exciting time at Montgomery! Our work with palms and Icycads has shown wonderful progress and amazing outcome s. In Research Fellows this newsletter, we are only able to show you some of this nice work Angélica Cibrián Jaramillo, Ph.D. – selected news to show the breadth and depth of our reach into the John Dowe, Ph.D. botanical field. William Hahn, Ph.D. Damon P. Little, Ph.D. In terms of breadth, the facing page shows how widely our work Cristina Lopez-Gallego, Ph.D. can relate; Montgomery has a national role in the science of botanic Mónica Moraes R., Ph.D. garden conservation! Our work to examine the genetics of garden Fred Stauffer, Ph.D. collections is increasingly relevant, as shown by a new federal grant. Alberto S. Taylor B., Ph.D. I am thrilled that I will be able to report results from this grant to you Irene Terry, Ph.D. in future writings. The work takes us into beautiful and interesting Barry Tomlinson, Ph.D. habitats in search of palms that provide insight into critical questions – pages 4 and 5 show our recent work with the bahamas national To advance science, education & trust, investigating a cherished Caribbean palm species. conservation of tropical , emphasizing palms and cycads, Montgomery Botanical Center grows Depth is best exemplified by Dr. Larry Noblick’s recent living plants from around the world in achievement (see pages 6 & 7). This monumental work by the world population-based, documented, expert on queen palms includes virtually everything about their scientific collections in a 120-acre biogeography, history, and conservation. This work is not only deep in botanical garden exemplifying detail – Larry also traveled broadly to compose his life’s work. excellent landscape design. Montgomery is only able to go far and wide in the world and in Montgomery Botanical Center is a botany because of your generosity – in addition to page 3, see the tax-exempt, nonprofit institution great improvements and studies made possible by funders such as the established by Eleanor “Nell” Montgomery Jennings in memory of Kelly Foundation (page 8) and the stanley smith horticultural trust her husband, Colonel Robert H. (page 9). When you – our community – help us (pages 10 & 11), Montgomery, and his love of you join with these local and national benefactors to move botany palms and cycads. forward. I am deeply honored and grateful for your support.

Montgomery Botanical News I write this message to you en route to another distant location in is published twice a year by search of palms … I look forward to sharing it with you soon! Montgomery Botanical Center. 11901 Old Cutler Road Coral Gables, Florida 33156 Phone 305.667.3800 Fax 305.661.5984 [email protected] www.montgomerybotanical.org

Edited by Tracy Magellan Pictured: Dr. Gri th aeld in Curaçao; to be detailed in the Fall 2017 Newsletter. On the Cover: Dr. Larry Noblick with the twin palm ( cearensis) that he Printed on recycled paper discovered in in 1994.

2 Montgomery Botanical News | Spring/Summer 2017

Mon gomery Provides NationalTo safeguard Leadershi our trees

ontgomery was awarded this project will ensure that botanic address critical needs of the museum Ma N L garden trees can benet future genera- eld and improve services for the G by the Institute of Museum and tions. Led by Montgomery, the project American public. It is thus a highly Library Services! brings together experts at other botanic competitive program with only 13 e project, Safeguarding our gardens, organizations and zoos: the awards made this year! Within the Collections, will develop clear protocols Arnold Arboretum of Harvard Uni- entire, nationwide museum eld – to protect plants, starting with Mont- versity, Botanic Gardens Conservation including art, science, history, and even gomery’s cherished palms and cycads. International, the Center for Plant zoos – Montgomery was the only e project will carefully select which Conservation, Chicago Botanic Garden, botanic garden thusly honored; another groups of palms to grow by explor- Chicago Zoological Society, Morton demonstration of how the MBC Team ing their DNA, and will help protect Arboretum, National Tropical Botani- innovates and advances the science of other trees, from oaks to magnolias, by cal Garden, and the USDA. e group plant collections. As this grant a rms, adapting proven conservation methods studies a carefully selected group of Montgomery is a N L. from zoos. is research continues a plant species, providing comparative successful line of study on the genetics case studies which can benet work at of botanic garden plant collections led most every garden. Patrick Gri th, Executive Director [email protected] by MBC. e National Leadership Grant is Called “one of the largest advances the largest and most prestigious grant in tree conservation since the 1970s,” awarded by the IMLS, designed to

Background: the work builds on and expands upon Montgomery’s innovative, IMLS-funded conservation research. Projects in 2012 and 2014 studied the Central American cycad, Zamia decumbens (pictured here), and the Caribbean cycad, Zamia lucayana. Museum experts sounded a nationwide call for expanding these studies beyond cycads – thus providing the motivation for this new project, which compares the conservation genetics of cycads and palms to other long-lived tree species.

For more information, and to download our GUIDES FOR LIVING COLLECTIONS, please see our Collections Genetics webpage:

http://www.montgomerybotanical.org/ Pages/Collection_Genetics.htm Patrick and Tracy assembled experts from around the nation at the Morton Arboretum in October to begin the project. Spring/Summer 2017 | Montgomery Botanical News 3 BhamianProvide Buccaneers a model for plants worldwide

Dr. Griffith with a robust specimen of Pseudophoenix sargentii, on Eleuthera. Buccaneer palms often occur in isolated, small populations (see page 5, lower left), and are faced with many threats! Feral livestock, horticultural harvest and unseasonal wildfires can harm these plants. This population of buccaneer palms in the Leon Levy Native Plant Preserve is exceptionally healthy and well protected.

Dr. Griffith collecting leaflets for DNA analysis. With DNA samples from over 100 of these mature palms, compared to nursery seedlings, this project (see page 3) can determine exactly how well current collecting protocols capture wild diversity.

4 Montgomery Botanical News | Spring/Summer 2017 he buccaneer palm, Cuba, Dominica, Mona Island, and Potential comparisons from TPseudophoenix sargentii, known Florida saw far fewer plants than in the this work will be informative: How from the Lesser Antilles to the Yucatan preserve, often imperiled. us, the many palms do we need to grow at – and even here in Florida – is among Eleuthera plants provide an ideal model Montgomery? Do groups of seeds the most prized of ornamental palms. for the genetics of these palms (see page collected in dierent years capture Its beauty, ease of transplant, and slow- 3). How many garden plants do we dierent genetic diversity? How do growing habit have prompted many to need to maintain and represent the wild these palms compare with palms in remove these palms from their native diversity of such a robust forest? Florida and elsewhere? soil. But on Eleuthera, large numbers of With this research goal in mind, I In pondering these questions, I am buccaneers thrive on a prominent hill, was delighted to work with experts at most glad to work with these Bahamian in a dense forest preserved for its unique the Leon Levy Preserve this winter. e botanists; bringing these palms biological diversity. preserve’s botanists and experts provided and these colleagues into our large ere, at e Leon Levy Native deep knowledge of the plants in their project raises the scope and scale from Plant Preserve, Pseudophoenix sargentii care, gracious hospitality, and access to  to . populations are dense and healthy. the invaluable scientic treasure they Patrick Gri th, Executive Director Montgomery’s recent work in Belize, steward. I am grateful. [email protected]

Our collections at the Loyd G. Kelly Conservation Nursery include buccaneer palm seedlings from Eleuthera, collected in 2012 by Dr. Brett Jestrow. These five-year-old plants show how slowly this species can grow. Comparing this group to the more recent seedlings can help develop good conservation protocols.

Seeds from this 2017 fieldwork are now germinating at Montgomery.

This trunk of a mature buccaneer palm growing at Montgomery came from seed collected in the Bahamas in 2002. After 15 years, these palms are producing seed of their own.

An Update on Florida’s Acknowledgements Buccaneer Palms I thank Falon Cartwright and Ethan Freid of the Leon Levy Native Tracy Magellan’s study Plant Preserve, for guidance and of this species in Florida expertise. Permission for this eld- was highlighted in our work was generously provided by Spring 2015 newsletter. the Bahamas National Trust, the Tracy has just published Bahamas Environment Science her ndings in the latest and Technology Commission, the issue of P (Vol. 61, Bahamas Ministry of Agriculture pages 41-44). Only 3 adult and the USDA. is project informs buccaneer palms survive in IMLS National Leadership Grant # Florida – demonstrating MG-30-16-0085-16. Funding was how vital these genetic generously donated by Charles and studies are for conserving Dorothy Sacher. Finally, I am grate- this species. ful to my wife Tonya, who provided tireless eld assistance.

Spring/Summer 2017 | Montgomery Botanical News 5 Early on in his botanical career, Dr. Larry Noblick noted that the has an standard technique for collecting intriguing 5 spiral row palms meant cutting down the arrangement of the bases entire plant! Out of concern on the trunk. Larry collected for these palms, Larry instead these palms in Brazil in 1992 taught himself to climb, adapting and 1994. a traditional Brazilian harvesting device known as a peia. Many Syagrus species Larry discovered were studied this way. This photo shows Larry perfecting his technique in 1992, on a Syagrus orinocensis, in Venezuela.

Syagrus vermicularis was described by Larry in 2004, but he actually discovered this palm ten years earlier! It took a decade until Larry could fully describe Syagrus amara has one of the the flowers from largest fruits of any Syagrus. Their living collections at size and color can readily identify Montgomery. The the species. It is also noteworthy terminal as the only Syagrus native to the branches are unique Caribbean Islands – Dominica, in being devoid of Monserrat, Martinique, St. Lucia, flowers and “coiled and Guadeloupe. and twisted like spaghetti” – hence the name.

6 Montgomery Botanical News | Spring/Summer 2017 The Syagrus S ory A Major Accomplishment by Montgomery’s Palm Expert

r. Larry R. Noblick has just Larry also personally described 22 It is well Dpublished a long awaited new Syagrus species, one of which was illustrated with revision of the Syagrus. e most described in the current work. e drawings and full Phytotaxa recent revision was published by Dr. 2017 revision includes 65 species and 2 color plates to make 294(1):1-262. Glassman in 1987, 3 decades ago! subspecies – nearly 70 taxa! identication easier. Larry’s new revision is 262 pages and describes all the known accepted WHAT SETS THIS WORK APART? It contains an identication key to taxa within the genus. Larry rst all 67 taxa. collected Syagrus in Bahia, Brazil in e descriptions are strictly August of 1980, while a Peace Corps formatted to make them parallel to each Original type collections are listed Volunteer. 37 years later, he has more other, making it easier to compare one along with other names associated with than doubled the number of known species to another. the genus. taxa. Glassman’s revision recognized 29 species of Syagrus. Since that revision It contains distribution maps of all Herbaria where you can nd  genera (Arecastrum, Arikuryroba, 67 taxa and 12 of the hybrids. representative specimens are listed. Barbosa, Chrysallidosperma, , Microcoelum, and Rhytococos) were Many new discoveries have been is revision is open access and freely lumped into Syagrus greatly increasing added doubling the number of taxa. available online! the number of species.

Larry climbing a specimen of S. amara in Dominica (2012). Montgomery has living collections of this species from all five islands where it occurs. This major study took Larry Larry collected through “the Lesser Antilles, French in Bahia, Brazil Guiana, Venezuela, (1986). Larry often Brazil, Argentina, used a forester’s Paraguay, Uruguay, “tree bicycle” Peru, and Bolivia” before trading it for over the course of the peia, owing to nearly 40 years. its simplicity and lighter field weight.

Syagrus emasensis is one of several “stemless” palms that Larry discovered in Brazil in 2014. This species is especially diminutive: compare the plant to Larry’s fingers, at lower left.

Spring/Summer 2017 | Montgomery Botanical News 7

KellyMoving Btanical science forward Research at Montgomery Fellows utting people and plants together! e Kelly Botanical Research Fellows Program advances science by bringing botanists Phere to study our extensive plant collections (see the bottom of this page). Eighteen distinguished plant scholars and early-career scientists have brought their considerable     to Montgomery in the last decade, making 38 research visits to MBC from Europe, South America, Australia, and the United States. Here are just three of our most recent Research Fellowships:

Dr. Fred Stau er, from the Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la ville de Genève (Switzerland), went transatlantic in January, to study Montgomery’s extensive Hyphaene palm collection. Fred pre- pared specimens, took measurements, placed our palms under the microscope, and oered a wonderful public lecture about his exciting eld projects in West Africa. Hyphaene are distinguished by their equal branching; so Fred also took the opportunity to carefully dissect a newly branching stem on a live plant – something di cult to perform in the eld.

Dr. Irene Terry, from the University of Utah, studied our cycad collection in March. Irene is an expert in pollination biology, and is looking carefully at the pollination of Cycas micronesica. Irene and her col- leagues recently established that wind can move cycad pollen in Guam – does this mean that insects are no longer required? Our plants are helping her examine this question. Irene also presented a terric lecture at our 2017 Members Meeting, highlighting how our plants are advancing her research.

Mario Coiro, a Ph.D. Student from the Institut für Systematische und Evolutionäre Botanik in Zurich (Switzerland), also crossed the ocean in October to survey and examine our cycad collections. Mario’s cycad studies began with living scientic collections at the Orto Botanico Napoli, in his native Naples, Italy. He is comparing living cycads to the fossil record to reconstruct the evolutionary history of these amazing plants. His public lecture proved that cycad history is “more lively than most fossils!” Mario’s work here has already led to a new discovery – see page 9!

Montgomery is deeply grateful to the Kelly Foundation for supporting this important research. Sharing the work of these scientists through public lectures was made possible with the support of the City of Coral Gables and the Kelly Foundation.

“The projects above depend on well- curated living collections. Our annual inventory ensures accurate and up-to- date records of the plants growing at Montgomery, providing a reliable resource to researchers studying diverse plants and new questions.” Joanna Tucker Lima, Collections Manager [email protected]

MontgoMery Botanical center 2016 collection inventory Palms Cycads Other Palms Cycads Other

Total Taxa 427 254 585 Total Plants 10,290 8,376 2,690 in ground 390 229 571 in ground 6,442 5,239 2,642 in nursery 105 88 34 in nursery 3,848 3,137 48

Total Accessions 2,308 1,950 2,201 in ground 2,045 1,744 2,171 21,356 Plants ! in nursery 308 394 35

Jessica Sparks, Joanna Tucker Lima, and Michelle Barros from the MBC Collections Department conducting the annual inventory.

8 Montgomery Botanical News | Spring/Summer 2017 Research Notes & Publications

major research update is on pages 6 and 7! Our cherished plants have Aprovided many other great outcomes lately: Palm Seed Germination Vickie Murphy led a rigorous study of soil options for germinating rare palms. A collaborative project between Montgomery, Jardin Botanico Rafael Moscoso (Dominican Republic), and Fairchild, this paper was featured on the cover of HT  in December! See image at right.

Mangrove Book Barry Tomlinson, MBC’s Senior Research Fellow, published an updated book on the botany of mangrove species, featuring extensive examples from MBC’s living collections.

New Fossil Cycad Genus Mario Coiro (see page 8), compared MBC’s cycad “living fossils” to ancient Patagonian foliage, and determined that a new genus, Eobowenia, is needed! e work helps clarify the puzzling relationships between ancient South American and Australian cycads. e work appears in the latest issue of BMC E  B . Modern Irria ion or  Leadng Collec ion Colonel Montgomery’s original irrigation system served us well for over 80 years – but who could have known in the 1930s that we would be responsible for over 14,000 plants in the ground! (See opposite page.) In recent Montgomery thanks the decades we have brought Stanley Smith Horticultural forward the irrigation with Trust for their generous funding some limited automation, and of this important upgrade – updated components, but it helping the team and helping still required a great deal of sta the environment! time to run and monitor – and coordinating between dierent areas across the 120 acres required constant negotiation between palm, cycad, tree, and turf people! Montgomery is now on a very sophisticated irrigation system! e recent update allows automatic cycling of zones, and senses rainfall levels to adjust schedules based on current weather – saving a tremendous amount of water and labor. In the event of a break or error, the system noties us by cellphone, any Spring/Summer 2017 | Montgomery Botanical News 9 time of day or night! MONTGOMERY BOTANICAL CENTER Gratefully Acknowledges Your 2016 Support

NATIONAL LEADERSHIP GRANT IN SUPPORT OF EXPEDITIONS IN HONOR OF CHRISTABEL VARTANIAN Safeguarding our plant collectionS Cheryl Soloman Penny Stamps Institute for Museum & Library Services Jean & Gene Stark Nancy Lanni Elvis Cruz GRANT FOR NURSERY AND SEEDBANK IN MEMORY OF LEE BALTIN GENERATORS IN SUPPORT OF A LABELING SYSTEM Sylvia Baltin National Science Foundation - CSBR AND CONTAINERS FOR THE NURSERY Charles P. Sacher IN MEMORY OF KLARA HAURI GIFTS TO THE Claudia Hauri LANDSCAPE DESIGN FUND IN SUPPORT OF GUAM REFORESTATION Walter Haynes University of Guam IN MEMORY OF BOB & MAYNA Stephen & Laurie Anderson HUTCHINSON IN SUPPORT OF PALMS Richard Ebsary FELLOWSHIP IN CONSERVATION Elvis Cruz Maria Soosai HORTICULTURE The Batchelor Foundation, Inc. IN SUPPORT OF CYCADS IN MEMORY OF NELL & AL JENNINGS William Cahill Marian Brusberg FOR PLANT EXPLORATION Mark Mason Lin Lougheed Charles Ross IN MEMORY OF JIM JUDE Sallye Jude CYCAD CONSERVATION IN COLOMBIA IN SUPPORT OF THE NURSERY Tim Gregory Lane Park IN MEMORY OF LOYD KELLY Greg Holzman F. Lynn Leverett Marian Brusberg Chip Jones Patricia Hicks Margaret & Serge Martin IN MEMORY OF DOROTHY SACHER CYCAD RESEARCH IN MEXICO James Humble & Patricia Ireland Tim Gregory IN SUPPORT OF A CAMERA George Sparkman IN MEMORY OF SAMUEL JOSEPH IN SUPPORT OF APGA 2016 Billy K. Yeh SCHNALL BHS Insurance F. Lynn Leverett Florida International University IN SUPPORT OF CURATION & Lane Park United States Department of Agriculture COLLECTIONS Tom S. Kenan III Michael Dosmann IN MEMORY OF CHRISTIAN JACKSON SMILEY KELLY BOTANICAL FELLOWS PROGRAM IN SUPPORT OF INTERNS Karl & Charlotte Smiley Kelly Foundation, Inc. Karen Lawrence IN MEMORY OF NIXON SMILEY GRANT FOR IRRIGATION IMPROVEMENT IN SUPPORT OF THE Laura Bryant Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust MARTIN-RAMI FUND Ana Carolina Miles GENERAL OPERATING GRANT GRANT FOR CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT Jayne & Leonard Abess Foundation City of Coral Gables IN SUPPORT OF LIGHTING UPGRADES Central Florida Palm & Cycad Society Stephen D. Pearson Historic Preservation Asso. of Coral Gables GRANT FOR NURSERY UPGRADES Tropical Flowering Tree Society Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust IN HONOR OF PATRICK GRIFFITH Miami Beach Garden Club/Miami Beach Ben Kuehne & Lynn Kislak Botanical Garden GRANT FOR PLANT RECYCLING CENTER Friends of Wellesley College Bot. Garden Vaughn-Jordan Foundation IN HONOR OF WALTER HAYNES South Florida Palm Society Terry Beaty Palm Society of South Texas IN SUPPORT OF THE MBC SEEDBANK Redland Nursery, Inc. PROGRAM & UPGRADES TO IN HONOR OF LARRY NOBLICK National Society of the Colonial Dames of BOTANICALAUCTIONS.COM Stephen D. Pearson America John & Carolyn DeMott Terry & Linda Priest National Foliage Foundation IN-KIND DONATIONS IN HONOR OF CHARLES P. SACHER Apex Network Services, Inc. 2016 CYCAD HORTICULTURE Ben Kuehne & Lynn Kislak Banyan Tree Service CONFERENCE TRAVEL Martha Ann Haas David S. Bennett Jones Landscaping Nursery/Chip Jones Pamela Poulos DEX Imaging Charles L. Ross Evergreen Sprinkler Systems, Inc. IN HONOR OF CHRIS & CHRIS TYSON Robin’s Tree Service Natalie and David Lashmit ESRI John Scholl’s Eagle Scout Project Parks Tree Service Montgomery apologizes for any omissions or errors in accuracy

10 Montgomery Botanical News | Spring/Summer 2017 Unrestricted Financial Contributions

Abess, Leonard & Jayne Dowlen, Lon & Dale Kaftan, Igor Sanchez, Norm Adt, James Doyle, Margaret A. Kelly, Nick & Barbara Schmid, Adriano AHB Foundation Ebbert, Marlin Kelly, L. Patrick & Luisa Schokman, Larry & Colleen Anonymous Eberli, Gregor Kenan, Thomas S. III. Schwartz, Jeffrey Ballance, Georgette Ebsary, Richard Krupp, Jane Shaw’s Home Maintenance & Bass, Anne Elban, Wolfgang Kuhne, Benedict Landscape Inc./Judy Shaw Batlle, Juan Empire Comfort Systems/Brian La Rocca, Linda Shubin, John & Suzannah Batule, Gloria Bauer Laughren, Leslie & Terry Simpson, Bickley Bergman, Phil & Mitzi Fastuca, Matt Lipsig, Ethan & Joanne Slesnick, Donald & Jeannett Besse, Libby Frankel, Linda Lougheed, Lin Smiley, Karl & Charlotte Bestock, Joan & Willa Goodman, Linda Lynch, Susan Smiley, Mark & Elizabeth Blaekford, Ken Graves, Kenneth & Nancy Manz, Jean & Peter A. Soto, David & Eugenia Blowers, Charles Gravios, Jane Marika, Michael Spackman, Thomas & Donna Bornmann, John & Dorothy Griffith, Tonya & Patrick Martin, David Sprague, Eileen Bowker, Kathleen & George Gutierrez, Mariela Meerow, Alan Stoik, Rosita Boy Scouts of America Hale, Dustin & Pamela Miller, Robert Sutherland, Tracy Troop 457 Hamann, Gregg & Deborah Murphy, William P. Jr. & Beverly Svensson, Fredrik Brook, Mollie A. Hanlon, Vincent & Constance Nelson, Don Oscar Shubin, John & Susannah Brusberg, Marian Hanson, Mark Graham Nolan, Molly Siviter, Chris Bryant, Laura Harris, Mike Nutt, Randy & Carol Horvitz Stone, Jill Buckley, Robert Haynes, Marion Olwell, Brian Sweeny, Raquel Byron, Dave Haynes, Walter Ostertag, Michael Tabak, Jeremy Cahill, William & Frances Hemmes, Don Patch of Heaven Gardens/Bruce Talbott, Linda Apriletti Capitman, A. & M. Doyle Hernandez, Emily A. Chesney Turnbull-Burnstein Family Caribbean Palm Nursery/Mike Hibbard, Joe Pearson, Stephen D. Charitable Fund Harris Holton Nursery/Dale Holton Pesin, Isaac Tyson, Christiane & Christopher Clemens, William B. Jr. Hood, Gregory Petrine, Louise Witter, Joan Cohan, Christopher Howard, Karen & Robert Powell, Mike & Shirley Yeh, Billy & Lydia Curtis, Alan Jacobson, Kay Priegues, Lazaro Davis, Elizabeth & Joseph Johnson, Paula Reyes, Armando Delevoryas, Ted Johnson, Beverley & Stanfield Roemer, Robert & Irene Terry DeMott, John & Carolyn Jones Landscaping Nursery Rosen, Gerald Dowdy, Thomas Jones, Chip Sacher, Charles S. & Ana

Thank You to Our 2016 Volunteers Aoun, Meylin English, Ed Lynch, Kimberly Tello, Andrea Abreu, Brian English, Janet Martin, Margaret Thornton, Cecilia APGA Conference Volunteers Drulard, Maria Nava, Daniel Turner, Gary Araneda, Andrea Griffis, Judy Nghiem-Phu, Lan Tyson, Chris Aronson, Larry Gulliver Goes Green Park, Lane UM Gandhi Day of Service Benitez, Daniela Gutierrez-Brown, Mabel Peralta, April Nair UM HOPE Borg, Lisa Harshaw, Andrew Ramey, Angela UM Hurricanes Help the Brook, Mollie Hawshaw, Delores Restrepo, Laura Hometown Brown, Zarron Hernandez, Emily Quintana, Cecilia Campos, Ashley Herrera, Arsenio Sandoval, Nicolle Chanthasone, Mitchel Hicks, Trish Scholl, John Pierre- Codinach, Anthony Htet, Lin Eagle Scout Project Would you like to volunteer? Cold, Marsha Jacobson, Kay Selim, Marah de Long, Sonya Jaramillo, Camilla Shurman, Bryn To help Montgomery contact Denslow, Nora Jordan, Vivian Simeone, Kevin Tracy Magellan. DuMond, Debb Kay, Judy Simpson, Bickley (305)667-3800 ext. 114 Edbrooke, Charlie - Kelly, Bradley Smiley, Karl Dr. Eagle Scout Project Leverett, Lynn Stuart, David [email protected]

Spring/Summer 2017 | Montgomery Botanical News 11 MONTGOMERY BOTANICAL CENTER NON-PROFIT ORG. 11901 Old Cutler Road U.S. POSTAGE Coral Gables, FL 33156-4242 PAID MIAMI FL PERMIT NO. 1302

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SyagruS during robert and nell’S time, 1938

Col. Robert Montgomery had a great affinity for Syagrus, which can be seen in the 1938 photographs below. The left photo highlights the prolific infructescense of the queen palm, .

In the landscape photos below, you can see the prominent position of the same queen palm in the landscape. This lovely Syagrus can be seen in the center of the image between Nell’s House and the Arthur Montgomery Guesthouse.

This palm was likely brought into the collection in 1932. At the time it went by the scientific name,Cocos plumosa, which is now a synomyn of its accepted name, Syagrus romanzoffiana. For a complete reference on the genus, please see Larry Noblick’s new Syagrus revision, which can be found online and is described briefly on pages 6 and 7.