DAVIS BOTANICAL SOCIETY LASTHENIA LASTHENIA, the Newsletter of the Davis Botanical Society, is published in collaboration with the staff of the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory UPCOMING EVENTS! and Center for Plant Diversity. Editor: Kate Mawdsley Issue Contributors: E. Dean, E. Cho, K. Mawdsley, E. Sandoval, C. Burton, Sat. April 2 Arboretum/Conservatory Plant Sale M. Showers, D. McNair, A. Ayalon, K. Keatley Garvey, S. Matson Sat. April 23 Zim Zim Falls Field Trip Design: Susan Gloystein Layout: Ellen Dean Sat. April 23 Arboretum/Conservatory Plant Sale DBS OFFICERS, 2015-2016 Thu. May 5 Spring Meeting and Speaker, Hugh President: Andrew Latimer President-elect: Judy Jernstedt Safford, “Fear and Loathing in the Sierra Nevada, Membership Vice President: Tom Starbuck, Johanna Kwan, & Kate Confronting a Wicked Climate Change Problem” Mawdsley Secretary: Erin Wilkus Sat. July 16 Field Trip to Mount Conard, Lassen Treasurer: Robert Rhode National Park Past President: Brenda Grewell Members at Large: Cherilyn Burton, Craig Thomsen Student Member at Large: Allyson Ayalon Ex officio: Dan Potter, Ernesto Sandoval, Ellen Dean UC Davis Mail ID: BTNY BTNY ID: Mail Davis UC Davis, CA 95616 95616 CA Davis, University of California California of University One Shields Avenue Avenue Shields One Plant Sciences Mail Stop #7 Stop Mail Sciences Plant Center for Plant Diversity Diversity Plant for Center 8 No. 45 Winter 2016 LASTHENIA NEWSLETTER OF THE DAVIS BOTANICAL SOCIETY BIODIVERSITY DAY 2016 AT THE CONSERVATORY Biodiversity Museum Day, which took Each museum set its hours that place on February 13, 2016, was a great day; the Conservatory was open from success at the Botanical Conservatory, 10am-4pm and the Herbarium from Herbarium, and the nine other collec- 1pm-4pm. The 700 people who visited tions that participated. the Conservatory lingered, listened, and I regularly thank visitors for thoroughly enjoyed our diverse collec- breathing extra carbon dioxide onto tion. the Conservatory’s plants during their We couldn’t have made the visitor visits, and on Museum Day, our plants experience so memorable without the received a good amount! The sheer help of a number of people. During the numbers of visitors that come to cam- first part of the day, visitors had Doug pus on Picnic Day probably generate a Walker (Director of the College of Bio- higher amount of CO2, but if we were to logical Sciences greenhouses) and John Ernesto Sandoval demonstrating orchid measure the quality of the visitor expe- Stuart Berger (volunteer of all things pollination at Museum Day 2016. rience, I would argue that that this an- succulent) to serve as docents for the Photo: Eunah Cho nual collaboration of campus museums desert rooms. Barry Rice (carnivorous has greater value to our attendees. plant guru and volunteer extraordi- naire) captured the minds and imagina- tions of those who congregated around the carnivorous plants. Jonathon Hol- PLANNED GIFT BENEFITS THE HERBARIUM guin (Plant Biology major and Conser- This article is written by our editor vatory student employee) helped out in of Lasthenia, Kate Mawdsley, who various locations and explained the eth- has taken the initiative to include nobotanical importance of plants along the herbarium in her estate plan with generally sharing the wonders of (along with two other campus units). the biology of our botanical beauties. This process is known as planned Allyson Ayalon (graduate student in giving. We greatly appreciate Kate’s Plant Sciences and current Davis Botani- thoughtful support of the herbarium; cal Society board member) maintained she contributes in so many ways. her post at the Titan Arum plant which We thought that an article on her awed visitors with its significant single experience with planned giving would continued on page 2 be helpful to us and our readers. If you are interested in planned giving for the Herbarium or the Conservatory, please IN THIS ISSUE contact Ellen Dean (eadean@ucdavis. Kate Mawdsley collecting plants at edu) or Ernesto Sandoval (jesandoval@ Washoe Meadows State Park. Museum Day 2016 ...........................1 ucdavis.edu). Photo: E. Dean Lassen Field Trip .............................3 Team Chili Pepper ...........................4 I’m a perfectly reasonable target for a campus development officer (read: fund- raiser): I’m long retired after spending my entire professional career in the UC Newspaper Exhibit ..........................5 Davis library, and, honestly, the University paid and pensioned me pretty well. Viruses from Specimens ...................6 So I wasn’t surprised, last year, to be approached, very tactfully, by the new New Cone Poster .............................7 continued on page 7 1 MUSEUM DAY (CONT. FROM PAGE 1) the sticky nature of the relationship between plants and their pollinators. In addition to the longtime and loyal volunteers already singled out, I must thank the three volunteers from campus service sororities who helped direct visitors to and from our collection and handed out maps to the other collec- tions. The other collections had similar success stories that day. Besides the Conservatory and Center for Plant Diversity Herbarium, the other par- ticipants were: the Arboretum and Public Garden, the Bohart Museum of Allyson Ayalon explaining the Titan Arum. Visitors learn about where Vanilla comes Photo: Eunah Cho from at Museum Day. Photo: Eunah Cho leaf. Allyson also expanded on the fine Entomology, the Museum of Wildlife features of its flowers, and when time and Fish Biology, the Anthropology allowed, she showed visitors the fruits Museum, the Paleontology Collection, of the firecracker plant. the Phaff Yeast Culture Collection, the I spent some time engaging visitors Nematode Collection, the Raptor Center, as they arrived and oriented them to the and the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven. entrance to our “emerald cathedral.” A big shout out is due to Tabatha Yang Since we had a profusion of Phalaenop- for coordinating the event and signage. sis flowers, I decided to demonstrate The event was supported by many de- the finer points of orchid pollination partments, colleges, and administrative by pointing out the presence of pollinia bodies on campus, including the Office and the often deceptive pollination cues of the Chancellor. All in all, I think we that are characteristic of this diverse had one of the most successful Saturdays group of plants. A pointy pen cap Ernesto using a pen cap to demonstrate ever at the UC Davis Botanical Conser- served as the perfect pollinator to show orchid pollination. Photo: Eunah Cho vatory. E. Sandoval MUSEUM DAY IN THE HERBARIUM Above: Director Dan Potter shows visitors flowers from the daisy family under the microscope. Right top: Student Preparator Diego Verduzco shows visitors how he The hands-on “make a plant specimen” table where mounts plant specimens. kids, young and old, played with glue and dried plants. Right bottom: Curator Ellen Dean Photo: Kathy Keatley Garvey shows visitors how to press plants. Photos: Kathy Keatley Garvey 2 RECENT GIFTS Herbarium Endowment Herbarium Gifts in Kind Davis Botanical Society Eric Conn Vera Gottlieb Student Grants Fund Beth Corbin (In memory of June Ellen Halteman Eric Conn McCaskill) Johanna Kwan Ann Johnson Joseph DiTomaso Katherine Mawdsley Marie Jasieniuk & Frank Roe Lewis Feldman Marcel Rejmanek Sue Nichol Thomas Rost Jack Major Student Grant Fund Robert Preston Anonymous Calvin Qualset Conservatory Operations Mary Hektner Mandy Tu Reynotta Hoberecht Ann Johnson Carol Witham Carole Ludlum San Francisco Succulent & Herbarium Operations Cactus Society Judy Jernstedt Stephen & Jill Rae Thank you for Lesley Randall Katherine Mawdsley your support! UPCOMING FIELD TRIP TO LASSEN NATIONAL PARK The Davis Botanical Society is of Mount Conard, which rises to 8,204 organizing a field trip to hike to the feet elevation. Mount Conard is open summit of Mount Conard in Lassen and windswept and supports plants that Volcanic National Park on July 16, are adapted to high elevations and xeric 2016. Lassen Volcanic National Park conditions, such as silky raillardella is located in northeastern California (Raillardella argentea), flat-stemmed at the southernmost end of the Cas- onion (Allium platycaule), and Drum- cade Range. The park is known for its mond’s anemone (Anemone drummondii geologic features and recent volcanic var. drummondii). The hike is approxi- activity, and also boasts a rich diver- mately 4.3 miles round trip, with 1,000 sity of plant and animal life. Mount feet of elevation gain, and we will likely Conard is a remnant of the 600,000 encounter patches of snow while hik- year-old composite volcano, Mount ing. Tehama, located in the southwest The hike will be lead by Dave and corner of the park. Mary Ann Showers, who worked for The hike will begin at the Kings many years as Ranger Naturalists at Las- Creek Picnic Area and will follow the sen Volcanic National Park. During the trail through the red and white fir summer season they led hikes through- Flat-stemmed onion. forest to the lush subalpine meadows out the park, including walks that Photo: Steve Matson at Crumbaugh Lake, where a variety focused on wildflowers and geologic of wildflower species can be observed features. They also presented evening blooming in midsummer. Some plants campfire programs at the park amphi- were established at the summit of we expect to see along this section theaters. Lassen Peak to assess seedling recruit- of the hike include early snowmelt Dave and Mary Ann wrote and il- ment and growth of selected alpine species such as fawn lily (Erythro- lustrated The Field Guide to the Plants of species. Dave studied the mosses of nium purpurascens), marsh marigold Lassen Volcanic National Park, available Lassen Volcanic National Park for his (Caltha leptosepala), and steer’s head for purchase at the park visitor centers. master’s thesis, and the park was one (Dicentra uniflora), and meadow spe- With Vern Oswald, a renowned bota- of several Cascade Range study loca- cies such as corn lily (Veratrum cali- nist, they co-authored the 1995 revision tions for Mary Ann’s master’s thesis, fornicum var.