THE LINNEAN Wheat Taxonomy: the legacy of John Percival THE LINNEAN SOCIETY OF LONDON BURLINGTON HOUSE, PICCADILLY, LONDON WlJ OBF SPECIAL ISSUE No 3 2001 ACADEMIC PRESS LIMITED 32 Jam.estown Road London NWl 7BY Printed on acid free paper © 2001 The Linnean Society of London All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher. The designations of geographic entities in this book, and the presentation of the material, do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the publishers, the Linnean Society, the editors or any other participating organisations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of The Society, the editors, or other participating organisations. Printed in Great Britain. Wheat Taxonomy: the legacy of John Percival Conference Participants (most of whom are identified by number on the key to the group photograph above). I. M. Ambrose,; 2. J. Bingham, UK; 3. R. Blatter, Switzerland; 4. A. Bomer, Germany; 5. A. Brandolini Italy; 6. R. Brigden, UK; 7. A. H. Bunting, UK; 8. P. Caligari, UK; 9. E.M.L.P. Clauss, USA; 10. P.O. Clauss, USA; 11 . K. Clavel, France; 12. P. Davis, UK; 13. J. Dvohik, USA; 14. !. Faberova, Czech Republic; 15 . A. A. Filatenko, Russia; 16. N. P. Goncharov, Russia; 17. P. Greenwell, UK; 18. J. Gregory, USA; 19. K. Hammer, Germany; 20. J. G. Hawkes, UK; 21. H. G. Hewitt, UK; 22. G. Hillman, UK; 23. T. Hodgkin, ltaly; 24. S. Jury, UK; 25 . H. Knuepffer, Germany; 26. J. Letts, UK; 27. F. Miceli, Italy; 28. T. Miller, UK; 29. E. H. Milligan, UK; 30. J. Moore, UK; 31. L.A. Morrison, UK; 32. M. Nesbitt, UK; 33. S. Ohta, Japan; 34. A. Ormerod, UK; 35. J. Owen, UK; 36. J. Peacock, UK; 37. C. Qualset, USA; 38. R.K. Rai, The Netherlands; 39. S. Rajaram, Mexico; 40. S.M. Reader, UK; 41 . M. Redfeam, UK; 42. M. Reynolds, USA; 43. A. Schlumbaum, Switzerland; 44. V. Schubert, Germany; 45 . K.A. Siddiqui, Pakistan; 46. R. Simpson, UK; 47. M. Sinyavskya, Belarus; 48 . J.W. Snape, UK; 49. J. Valkoun, Syria; 50. G. Waines, USA; 51. N. Watanabe, Japan; 52. D. Wiseman, UK; 53. D. Wiseman (Mrs), UK; 54. A. Yamamoto, Japan. THE LINNEAN SPECIAL ISSUE No 3 Wheat Taxonomy: the legacy of John Percival edited by P. D. S. Caligari and P. E. Brandham An edited volume arising from papers presented at The Percival Symposium: Wheat- Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow A meeting to celebrate the life and work of John Percival Organised by: The School of Plant Sciences The University of Reading, UK in collaboration with The Linnean Society 12-13 July 1999 ACADEMIC PRESS THE LEGACY OF JOHN PERCIV AL Preface John Percival (1863-1949) was Professor of Agricultural Botany at the University of Reading from 1907 to 1932 and a driving force behind the creation of agricultural botany as a scientific discipline. His monumental treatment of wheat The Wheat Plant: A Monograph (1921) still serves as a standard reference, having been reprinted as recently as 1974. Percival was the consummate agricultural scientist - botanist, taxonomist, geneticist, germplasm collector, curator, breeder, agronomist, historian and teacher. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary ofPercival's death, the University's School of Plant Sciences hosted a meeting to celebrate his life and work. Reflecting the scope ofPercival's scientific views, invited speakers surveyed research progress during the last half-century in the archaeobotany, systematics, genetics and breeding of the wheat plant. The two-day event offered a unique opportunity for a multi-disciplinary gathering of experts who shared a common interest in wheat studies. Peter D. S. Caligari Peter E. Brandham Department ofAgricultural Botany Jodrell Laboratory The University ofReading Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Whiteknights, P.O. Box 221 Richmond Reading RG6 6AS, UK Surrey TW9 JDS, UK THE LEGACY OF JOHN PERCIVAL 7 Introduction John·Percival- acknowledging his legacy PETER D. S. CALIGARI Department of Agricultural Botany, School of Plant Sciences, The University of Reading, Whiteknights, P 0 Box 221, Reading, RG6 6AS, UK John Percival died in 1949, the year that I was born, but his legacy still remains a strong one, not only in philosophical but also in tangible terms. The Department of Agricultural Botany at The University of Reading, of which he was the first Professor in 1909, has flourished and is an active centre for as wide a range of aspects of agricultural botany as John Percival himself encompassed and encouraged. A collection of herbarium specimens (The Percival Collection) that he assembled still exists in different research centres and is actively used today. His internationally acclaimed book The Wheat Plant: A Monograph which he first published in 1921, is still widely referenced. This stood alongside a range of books, papers and activity which formed the very basis of the subject of agricultural botany. Of course, as I am sure John Percival would have insisted, the subject and Department have moved on and developed considerably since his time. I will not detail the history of the Department but simply point out that, from his starting point, it is now one of the three constituent departments of the School of Plant Sciences at the University of Reading, a School which was rated as the top plant science group in the UK in the last Research Assessment Exercise, gaining the top 5* rating. One cannot help but wonder how he would have seen the current work, such as the opportunities that are being opened up by the new technologies in the areas of molecular biology and biotechnology. I am sure, however, that he would have used them to advantage. John Percival's influence continues in many ways, including our still finding physical evidence of his activities. In only the last few years the unpublished parts of what John Percival himself had entitledAegilops species: A Monograph (an outline of which is included at the end of this volume) were discovered, works that might have gone alongside his masterful The Wheat Plant: A Monograph. 1 The 50 h anniversary of his death seemed a very appropriate opportunity to commemorate his life and work. It is an opportunity to see where we are now and where we are going in the future. On this basis a distinguished group of speakers, who represent a wide range of interests that John Percival shared, agreed to present the papers published 8 WHEAT TAXONOMY: in this volume. I am very grateful to them all for agreeing to play such a vital role in this meeting and helping to fulfill this vision. The first important point was to set John Percival's work in the context ofhis life. Professor Hugh Bunting, with whom I share the privilege of having held the Chair of Agricultural Botany, of which John Percival was the founding Professor, generously agreed to the request that he speak about Percival the man. This constitutes the first paper with subsequent ones covering important aspects of John Percival 's work on wheat, a major but no means exclusive part of his academic contribution ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My unreserved thanks to all the contributors to this volume (and the Symposium) for their willingness to play such a vital part in helping to celebrate John Perciv.al' s life and work. I would also like to thank those who played such an active part in organising the meeting- indeed without the forward thinking ofLaura Morrison, Mark Nesbitt and Terry Miller this meeting might never have been conceived. They have continued to play their part and have been joined by Step hen Jury and GeoffHewitt who have played active roles. I would particularly wish to note Geoffs inputs in turning the ideas into reality. The co-operation and involvement of the Rural History Centre has been gratifying, as has the response from those in the University Archives. It is a pleasure to acknowledge the Linnean Society for its financial support of the meeting from which the following papers emanated, and for agreeing to publish the Proceedings as a Special issue of The Linnean. THE LEGACY OF JOHN PERCIV AL 9 John Percival- the man: his life and times A. H. BUNTING 27 The Mount, Caversham, Reading, Berks., RG4 7RU, UK Introduction · · · · · · · 10 The years of preparation · 10 The South-eastern Agricultural College, Wye, 1894-1902/3 13 Percival at Reading, 1902/3 to 1909 · · · · · 15 Percival after 1909 · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 16 Research in Agricultural Botany, 1907-1932 18 Percival's last years 23 Acknowledgements 26 References · · · · · 26 Keywords: Percival- Reading- Wye- botany- agricultural education- agricultural botany­ wheat - archaeobotany - domestication of plants Abstract JohnPercival was born in 1863 in Carperby, Wensleydale, North Yorkshire. He was the second natural son of Edward Chapman, a farmer's son, taxidermist and naturalist, and Elizabeth Percival. Though some of his descendants record that he was always sensitive to the circumstances of his birth, his parents were married in 1869, and a stable family background evidently did much to promote his remarkable later career. At the age of 14, after nine years in a local school, his father's Quaker associations may have facilitated his move to York, where he was apprenticed to the Quaker bookseller and printer William Sessions. With the help of the Quaker families Spence and Cotton, he entered Cambridge in 1884 at 21.