Department of Botany & the U.S. National Herbarium The Plant Press New Series - Vol. 13 - No. 3 July-September 2010 Botany Profile A Fresh Perspective on a Botanical Puzzle Box By Jimmy Triplett amboo. The very name evokes a temperate bamboos (Arundinaria in North the leading collections of bamboo in the wealth of imagery: a symbol of America and their allies in Asia, Africa, world, with over 37,000 specimens and Bgrace and beauty, a feast fit for and Madagascar, including Phyllostachys, thousands of photographic images, plus a panda, or perhaps a villainous weed, Pleioblastus, and Sasa), New World tropi- an archive of rare literature and field breaching property lines. Whatever the cal bamboos (including Chusquea and notes. The legacy of these botanists can association, everyone knows bamboo. Guadua), Old World tropical bamboos also be found in living collections at the And yet, what is a bamboo? From a (including Bambusa and Dendrocalamus), U.S. National Arboretum and in private botanical perspective, few such “well- and an unusual, morphological throw- collections of friends and colleagues. For known” plants have harbored so much back: the so-called herbaceous bamboos example, a peak into Mary Sangrey’s mystery: How many species are there? (including Olyra and Sucrea), represented office in the musuem reveals a healthy For that matter, how many genera? Why by some 110 primarily American species but rare bamboo, Pseudoxytenanthera do they wait so long to flower? And that lack the obvious bamboo features monadelpha of Sri Lanka, a gift from where are they from, anyway? (woody culms, complex branching, long Thomas Soderstrom. In the years since molecular evi- flowering cycles, etc.). Each of these As a postdoctoral fellow in the dence entered the botanists’ toolbox, major groups contains striking diversity Department of Botany, I have had the phenomenal progress has been made in and present unique challenges for taxono- opportunity to explore these resources our understanding of bamboos, includ- mists. while aspiring to make my own con- ing their relationship with other grasses, tribution to bamboo systematics. My their diversity, and their natural history. he National Museum of Natural research is guided by Paul Peterson, for We now know that bamboos are in the History has fostered a rich legacy his expertise in grass evolution, and Jun core of the grass family (Poaceae), sister Tin bamboo research, both field and Wen, whose expertise includes biogeog- to rice and bluegrass, and not primitive descriptive. The great agrostologist Mary raphy and the flora of Asia. My project cousins as once thought. Molecular data Agnes Chase (1869-1963) made substan- focuses on the Arundinaria clade of have also revealed overlooked species, tial contributions to our understanding of the temperate bamboos. I am attempt- including one in the Southeastern U.S. these giant grasses, collecting specimens ing to pinpoint the underlying cause of (hill cane, Arundinaria appalachiana) in Central and South America and describ- taxonomic confusion in this group while and a multitude of taxa in Central and ing the intricacies of bamboo flowers exploring its fascinating biogeographic South America, Asia, and Africa. Yet in relation to other grasses. The Botany history (including a disjunction between despite this progress, countless puzzles Department was also home to Floyd East Asia and North America). The remain, especially as we look closer at McClure (1897-1970), who turned his temperate bamboos encompass over 600 relationships among species. attention to bamboo diversity in the Amer- named species in approximately 32 gen- The true bamboos (Poaceae subfamily icas after a long career as a professor and era. However, their taxonomy is highly Bambusoideae) are estimated to encom- field botanist in Southeast China. More controversial; in many cases, a so-called pass upwards of 1,400 species in some recently, Smithsonian botanists Thomas species has moved in synonymy among 120 genera. Recent molecular studies Soderstrom (1936-1987) and Cleofé E. as many as five different genera. This suggest that four major lineages arose Calderón (1929-2007) made immense con- reflects the fact that features used to relatively early (in the mid-Oligocene, tributions to bamboo taxonomy, amassing define species and genera are neither ca. 30 mya), but apparently diversified a vast collection through field work and obvious nor indisputable. more recently (during the Miocene, ca. herbarium exchange. Consequently, the In the U.S., we have three endemic U.S. National Herbarium now has one of 15 mya). These lineages include the Continued on page 10 Travel Pedro Acevedo and Gary Krup- Malagasy plant specimens in the herbaria work on the Heliconias and hummingbirds nick traveled to San Juan, Puerto Rico in Antananarivo, and to conduct field work of Dominica. (4/6 – 4/12) to participate in a workshop in the Andringitra Mountains; to Ithaca, Diane and Mark Littler traveled to of endangered Puerto Rican plants at the New York (5/25 – 5/28) to participate in a Ft. Pierce, Florida (6/12 –7/30) to attend a Botanical Garden of the University of Ph.D. defense at Cornell University, pres- conference, present an invitational lecture, Puerto Rico. ent a lecture on Madagascar, and collabo- and perform field research on Cyanophyta Walter Adey traveled to Steuben, rate on a research project; and to Fairfax at the Smithsonian Marine Station, Ft. Maine (6/12 – 9/12) to do field work in City, Virginia (6/8) to participate in a M.S. Pierce. the Gulf of Maine to the Labrador Sea, defense at George Mason University. Rusty Russell traveled to San Fran- to make coralline collections for use in Robin Everly, traveled to Seattle, cisco, California (4/22 – 4/24) to speak establishing seawater temperatures and Washington (5/18 – 5/22) to attend the to the Board of Advisors for Earthwatch seawater proxies. 42nd Annual Meeting of the Council on Institute; to Riverside County, California Emanuela Appetiti and Alain Tou- Botanical and Horticultural Libraries (4/24 – 5/2) for continuing fieldwork in waide traveled to Rome, Italy (4/5 – 4/6) (CBHL). the San Jacinto Mountains; to Redlands, to conduct research in the libraries of Vicki Funk traveled to Chicago, California (5/3 – 5/4) to conduct a one-day Rome and Naples; to Venice, Italy (4/6 – Illinois (4/14) for an Encyclopedia of Life workshop at the Environmental Sciences 4/16) to attend a conference and conduct (EOL) synthesis group meeting to discuss Research Institute (ESRI) on developing research at the Marciana Library; to Sicily, incorporating the Compositae Virtual Key educational initiatives using historic speci- Italy (4/22 – 5/9) to deliver talks and teach project; to Wildwood, New Jersey (5/2 – men data; and to Boston, Massachusetts classes at the Universities of Messina; and 5/3) and Hampton, New Jersey (5/3 – 5/4) (5/15 – 5/21) to attend a Earthwatch meet- to Athens, Greece (6/24 – 6/29) to attend a for plant collecting in the southern New ing and training. series of scientific events and meetings . Jersey area; and to Las Vegas, Nevada Laurence Skog traveled to Storrs, Laurence Dorr traveled to Madagas- (5/18 – 5/26) to attend the iPlant 2010 Connecticut (5/3) to see the new collec- car (4/9 – 5/3) to present a paper at the Conference. tions facility and examine specimens XIXth Congress of AETFAT (“Association Linda Hollenberg traveled to Ottawa, of Gesneriaceae in the herbarium of the for the Taxonomic Study of the Flora of Canada (5/30 – 6/6) to attend the joint University of Connecticut. Tropical Africa”) in Antananarivo, to study conference of the Society for the Preserva- Alice Tangerini traveled to New York tion of Natural History Collections and City and Brooklyn, New York (5/6 – 5/9) The Plant Press the Canadian Botanical Association, and to attend the opening of the American co-chaired a special interest group discus- Society of Botanical Artists exhibit, New Series - Vol. 13 - No. 3 sion on collection management issues in “Losing Paradise: Endangered Plants botany. Here and Around the World,” at the New Chair of Botany W. John Kress traveled to Miami, York Botanical Garden; and to meet with Warren L. Wagner Florida (4/8 – 4/10) as an invited keynote Paul Harwood at the Brooklyn Botanical ([email protected]) speaker at the University of Miami; to Gardens. Omaha, Nebraska (5/5 – 5/6) to participate Alain Touwaide and Emanuela EDITORIAL STAFF in a workshop on “Gingers and Gorilla Appetiti traveled to Italy (4/5 – 5/9) Editor Health” at the Henry Doorly Zoo; and to to attend the annual conference of the Gary Krupnick Dominica (5/24 – 6/5) to continue field Continued on page 5 ([email protected]) News Contacts Visitors MaryAnn Apicelli, Robert Faden, Shirley Maina, Rusty Russell, Alice Tangerini, Mike Martin, Johns Hopkins University; Jianying Xiang, Kunming Institute of and Elizabeth Zimmer Ambrosia (Compositae) (1/1/09-6/30/11). Botany, China; Dryopteris (Dryopteri- daceae) (1/1-12/31). The Plant Press is a quarterly publication pro- Qing Liu, South China Botanic Garden, vided free of charge. To receive notification of when new pdf issues are posted to the web, please Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guang- Saroopa Samaradivakara, Genetech subscribe to the listserve by sending a message zhou; Chloridoideae (Poaceae) (7/4/09- Research Insitute, Colombo, Sri Lanka; to [email protected] containing only the following in the body of the text: SUBSCRIBE 7/4/10). Plant DNA barcoding (3/1-4/30). PLANTPRESS-NEWS Firstname Lastname. Replace “Firstname Lastname” with your name. Weidong Zhu, Kunming Institute of Frank Farruggia, Univeristy of Utah; If you would like to be added to the hard-copy Botany, China; Astilbe (Saxifragaceae) Solanum (Solanaceae) (3/30-4/2).