summer 2014 Harvesting Mango DNA The Science Behind the King of Fruit published by fairchild tropical botanic garden THE SHOP AT FAIRCHILD Mango salsa, $6.99 Member price, $6.29 home décor accessories | tropical gourmet foods gardening supplies | unique tropical gifts | apparel eco-friendly and fair trade products | books and much more fairchild tropical botanic garden Photo by Rey Longchamp/FTBG contents FEATURES THE CALL OF THE WILD: HOW PLANTS THE REBIRTH OF THE MANGO 31 17 PACKAGE SEEDS DEPARTMENTS FROM THE DIRECTOR 4 FROM THE CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER 5 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS 7 GET IN ON THE CONSERVATION 9 TROPICAL CUISINE 11 EXPLAINING 12 VIS-A-VIS VOLUNTEERS 15 WHAT’s BLOOMING 22 PLANT COLLECTIONS 29 EDIBLE GARDENING 45 WHAT’s in sTORE 51 GARDENING IN SOUTH FLORIDA 59 PLANT SOCIETIES 61 GIFTS AND DONORS 62 GARDEN VIEWS 65 FROM THE ARCHIVES 68 CONNECT WITH FAIRCHILD 70 LIVING WHERE OTHERS DARE 38 NOT: PLANTS OF THE DESERT from the director spectacularly productive mango season has arrived in South Florida. Once again, we are seeing and tasting the result of more than a century of mango research and exploration. Our collection at The Fairchild Farm, now totaling more than 600 living accessions, was gathered from all corners of the mango world. During this Ayear’s International Mango Festival, you can enjoy the flavors, colors and incredible stories from our collection. This year, we launched a new program to study the genetics of our mango collection, adding new dimension to our ongoing tropical fruit research. Visitors to the new Raymond Baddour DNA Laboratory in the Paul and Swanee DiMare Science Village now have the opportunity to see mango DNA research in action. To learn about mango DNA, we gather leaf samples from our living mango accessions at The Fairchild Farm and flash-freeze them in the lab with liquid nitrogen. In a cloud of steam, we grind the super-cooled leaf samples into a fine, green powder. We use our lab equipment to transform that powder into samples of pure DNA. As we stockpile hundreds of test tubes of mango DNA in our freezer, we are building a tremendous resource for studying the mango’s origin, diversity and potential breeding opportunities. Our team of staff, students and volunteers is studying the mango DNA samples in our rapidly expanding collection. This summer, a group of high school interns will help the project grow, bringing new samples from The Farm to the laboratory for analysis. In this issue, Noris Ledesma, Fairchild’s curator of tropical fruit, and Dr. Richard Campbell, our director of horticulture, explain the incredible value of our collection for genetic research and the future of mangos (“The Call of the Wild,” p. 31). Emily Warschefsky, a Ph.D. Student at Florida International University, describes some of our goals in building this research at Fairchild (“Message in a Bottleneck,” p. 34). All of the world’s major crop plants, including rice, wheat, tomatoes and many others, have been studied in detail through decades of DNA research. Results of that research have helped rescue those crops from pests and diseases, and have brought valuable new varieties to the market. We are only in the beginning stages of that kind of research on mangos, but we see a bright future ahead. Any advances we make in mango genetics can positively impact the livelihood of people throughout the tropics. Along with the mango, there are hundreds of other kinds of tropical plants waiting to be studied. Take a close look at our plants the next time you visit Fairchild, and you might catch a glimpse of the small metal tags we use to identify and keep track of more than 12,000 plants. The majority of those plants have never been the subject of detailed genetic research. Within our collection stand many new research opportunities just waiting to be tackled. In the years ahead, you will see increasing numbers of researchers and students clipping leaf samples from plants throughout the Garden and processing those samples in our labs. You can look forward to new discoveries as we unlock the secrets held within the genes of tropical plants. I hope you savor this mango season and dream of an even more flavorful future as science moves forward at Fairchild. Best regards, Carl Lewis, Ph.D. Director from the chief operating officer he temperature is warmer, the humidity higher and our umbrellas are in hand, because, after all, afternoon showers are expected—all clear signs that summer has arrived. TFairchild is a tropical garden. Its 83 acres exhibit some of the world’s most exotic tropical plants. Many of these plants thrive in the tropics, where temperatures average 80 degrees year-round with consistent high humidity. South Florida is technically in the subtropics, which means our average summertime temperature is in the upper 80s, but we experience dry, cooler months in the winter. Summertime in South Florida is as close as we get to true tropical weather. As a result, the tropical plants in the Garden are at their most spectacular during these summer months. They respond to the higher temperatures and humid conditions by seemingly bursting with verdant euphoria. Summer also means mangos. Hearing “thump” when the first ripe mango of the season hits the ground is the tropical world’s version of Groundhog Day: an unmistakable indication that summer is here again. Fairchild celebrates the mango harvest with the annual International Mango Festival (July 12–13), and this year’s event will once again bring mango mania to South Florida. No other fruit arouses as much passion as the mango; the variety of flavors and cultural resonances make it a truly global treasure. Our tropical fruit team is working diligently to capture this global crop’s cultural, horticultural, agricultural and scientific information. The Mango Festival is the culmination of the full spectrum of critically important work related to the king of tropical fruit. Summer also means family trips, vacations and weekend adventures. Be sure to make time to visit Fairchild this summer. There are many activities designed to keep you cool during your visit, like walking tours of the Rainforest and The Edible Garden, delicious smoothies of fresh fruit from The Fairchild Farm, tram tours and, of course, the Wings of the Tropics exhibit and adjacent Glasshouse Café, which is a perfect place to cool off and enjoy a great meal while watching the dance of the butterflies. I hope you enjoy the wonderful articles in this issue. Our staff spends a great deal of time carefully crafting stories that illustrate both the botanical world at large and the Garden’s important work. For instance, we present a great article about the oft-overlooked beauty and utility of seeds, a fascinating look into consumption and conservation of edible orchids in China, a beautiful travel and photo log of plants from the Mojave Desert, a delicious recipe for mango ceviche that is perfect for all of those mangos you’re harvesting from your trees, a step-by-step guide to growing the sacred lotus and so much more. So this summer, come on over and enjoy mangos, the beauty of tropical plants in full splendor and the endless possibilities of fun and learning that are offered only here at Fairchild. Warmest regards, Nannette M. Zapata Chief Operating Officer and Editor in Chief SUMMER 2014 5 advertisement contributors POND PROBLEMS? WE ARE YOUR ANSWER! NoRIS LEDESMA is the curator of tropical fruit WE DO IT RIGHT for Fairchild. She is a plant collector and tropical fruit THE FIRST TIME! specialist focused on mangos, and has spent the last decade in 305-251-POND(7663) tropical Asia, Africa and North and South America searching www.PondDoctors.NET for new fruit and lecturing on Licensed/Insured their care and production. She is currently working on her Ph.D. in Mangifera species and their contribution to the people of Borneo. RICHARD J. CAMPBELL, Ph.D., is Fairchild’s director of horticulture and senior curator of tropical fruit. A South Florida native, he trained in the physiology of fruit crops for his master’s and doctorate degrees, and has dedicated over 20 years at Fairchild to the conservation of tropical fruit Delivery and Installation Available genetic resources and horticultural outreach. He aspires to train the next generation of tropical horticulturists in South Florida. Richard Lyons’’ Nursery inc.inc. Rare & Unusual Tropical Trees & Plants GEORGIA TASKER Flowering •• FruitFruit •• NativeNative •• PalmPalm •• BambooBamboo •• HeliconiaHeliconia was the garden writer for The Hummingbird •• BonsaiBonsai && ButterButterflyfly Miami Herald for more than 30 years, and now writes and blogs PROUD MEMBER OF for Fairchild. She has received the Garden’s highest honor, the Barbour Medal, and a lifetime www.RichardLyonsNursery.comwww.RichardLyonsNursery.com achievement award from the [email protected]@RichardLyonsNursery.com Tropical Audubon Society. She @lycheeman1@lycheeman1 onon TwitterTwitter is also an avid photographer, Nursery:Nursery: 2020020200 S.W.S.W. 134134 Ave.,Ave., MiamiMiami gardener and traveler. She Phone:Phone: 305-251-6293305-251-6293 •• fax:fax: 305-324-1054305-324-1054 graduated cum laude from Mail:Mail: 12301230 N.W.N.W. 7th7th StSt •• Miami,Miami, FLFL 3312533125 Hanover College in Hanover, Indiana. ON THE COVER The sun sets on a EMILY WARSCHEFSKY mango grove. is a Ph.D. student in the joint graduate program at Fairchild and Florida International University. Under the supervision of Dr. Eric von Wettberg, and in collaboration with Fairchild’s tropical fruit program, she is researching the evolution and domestication of the mango. She received her B.A. in biology from Reed College (Portland, Oregon) in 2009. schedule of events The official publication of Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden editorial staff editor in chief chief operating officer Nannette M.