The Plant Press

Art by Alice Tangerini: Heliconia donstonea W.J.Kress & Betancur

From Plant Press, Vol. 28, No. 2, April 2025.

Heliconia donstonea (Heliconiaceae) is a terrestrial herb with a restricted geographic range in the northwestern Andean montane forests. It is known from only four specimens collected from two populations—one population in Colombia and one in Ecuador. Heliconia donstonea was recently assessed as Endangered due to its narrow distribution, two unprotected populations, and no known individuals preserved in botanical gardens. This species is in a priority list of 45 species of Heliconia for protection, included in a new paper in Plants, People, Planet by W. John Kress, Tomáš Fér, Mónica M. Carlsen, and Gary A. Krupnick (2025). Alice Tangerini’s illustration of this species was drawn from unmounted pressed specimens collected by Kress and his team (including former research assistant, Cheryl Roesel) on an expedition to Nariño, Colombia in 1990. The drawing was completed in 1992 in pen and ink on drafting film. Dissections of the flower showed cutaway views inside the spathe and details of the ovary and pistil.

Departures

From Plant Press, Vol. 28, No. 2, April 2025.

At the close of 2024, we bid a fond farewell, though not entirely, to Leslie Brothers, a now retired member of the Botany Department. Her journey to the halls of the Department began at the University of Maryland, where she completed a B.S. in Zoology with a side interest in computer programming. Her broad interest in ecology, evolution, and the behavioral aspects of natural history eventually led her to explore various roles within the field.

Leslie Brothers documenting the greenhouse living plant collection in 2000. (image by Smithsonian Institution)

Brothers’ path to the Smithsonian began in an unexpected way. While working at a bike shop in Maryland, colleagues tipped her off about jobs at the National Museum of Natural History and in September 1985 she landed a temporary job in the Entomology Department. Computers were just beginning to be used in research and collection inventories, and she was introduced to a variety of early generations of software like SELGEM (a computer system for collection management) and WordPerfect. It was there she also learned about general museum practices, biological systematics (particularly typification), collection inventories, and becoming the WordPerfect guru for the older staff members. Her compatibility with computers became an asset later in her career.

New Faces

From Plant Press, Vol. 28, No. 2, April 2025.

Yeison Londoño-Echeverri, a MSc. student at the University of Antioquia in Medellín, Colombia, visited the U.S. National Herbarium on February 18 to March 20, 2025, as a José Cuatrecasas Travel Award recipient under the supervision of Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez. The main objective of his visit was to enhance his understanding of species limits in the plant family Rutaceae in Neotropics. He considered the visit to be one of the most important milestones in his master’s research project. He examined about 330 type specimens and conducted a rapid review of about 5,300 specimens of Neotropical Rutaceae. He documented and photographed relevant features for the taxonomy of the family, including indumentum types, degree of petals union, number of stamens and staminodes, types of fruits, and more. He also updated the identification of some specimens from Rutaceae and other plant families of his interest. He found specimens of some species potentially new to science and of two new genera currently under study by experts in the family. Academic discussions with Acevedo about the systematics of Sapindaceae, a strongly related family, highly enriched his interpretation of Rutaceae and ideas for further projects.

Ana Gabriela Martínez Becerril, a Mexican botanist, recently joined the Eric Schuettpelz lab as a Peter Buck Postdoctoral Fellow. She earned her Ph.D. with honors in 2023 from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in collaboration with the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT). In 2024, she was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship to conduct research in the Plant Anatomy and Evolution Laboratory at UNAM’s Institute of Biology under the supervision of Marcelo Pace, a former member of the NMNH community. Her research focuses on the diversity and evolution of ferns in the American tropics, with a special emphasis on Mexican species. Her work integrates traditional taxonomy, molecular systematics, herbarium curation, and fieldwork. Throughout her career, she has taken on various academic and professional roles, including laboratory and herbarium assistant, high school biology teacher, and instructor for courses on fern systematics and diversity. During her time at NMNH, she will investigate the anatomical traits of fern rhizomes associated with growth form transitions in the megadiverse genus Elaphoglossum. Using a phylogenetic approach and next-generation sequencing data, she aims to understand the evolutionary processes underlying these transitions.

Atiles Reis, a Ph.D. student at the National Museum at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, visited the U.S. National Herbarium for four weeks, November 11 to December 6, 2024, as a José Cuatrecasas Travel Award recipient. Reis is currently working on the treatment of a large but poorly understood genus of ferns, Diplazium (Athyriaceae), which is closely related to the Lady Fern genus, Athyrium. Two lineages of neotropical Diplazium have recently been circumscribed as two sections: Diplazium sect. Diplazium and Diplazium sect. Trichoneura. Reis’ focus is to develop a monograph for the Diplazium sect. Diplazium, exploring morphological, geographical and molecular datasets, trying to explain the boundaries among the species and how this lineage evolved and occupied several different neotropical areas such as the Central America formations, the Caribbean islands, and the Andean, Amazonian, and Atlantic forests in South America. Reis estimates that more than 30 species can be placed in this group. He is also interested in the occurrence of trophopods (reduced leaves that act as primary or secondary starch reserves) in those plants. Although the last part involves a model cultivated in the Brazilian greenhouses, both studies were only possible by the expressive force of the herbaria. During his visit to the Smithsonian, he examined the Diplazium collection, which contains 5,000 specimens from species around the world, of which 2,700 records are from the Neotropics. Reis’ visit to the Smithsonian, under the supervision of Eric Schuettpelz, was valuable in expanding his knowledge of Diplazium.

Ana María Trujillo López, a MSc. student at University of Antioquia in Medellín, Colombia, visited the U.S. National Herbarium from February 18 to March 20, 2025. She is currently developing a taxonomic synopsis of Macrolobium (Fabaceae) in Colombia as part of her master’s dissertation. Her research aims to shed light on the morphological boundaries between species of Macrolobium, as well as between the genus and nearby genera. Her research will also contribute to the general knowledge of biological diversity in Colombia, it will improve the curation of herbaria, and it will allow advances in the knowledge and publication of new species found in Colombia and neighboring countries. During her visit to the herbarium, she examined nearly 70 type specimens and 1,600 specimens of the genus Macrolobium. She updated the identification of specimens that required new identifications. She reviewed the indetermined Fabaceae and contributed to the identification of some of them. Within these collections, she found nearly 10 new species belonging to Macrolobium that are in the process of being described.

“Grass Bunch” visits US

From Plant Press, Vol. 28, No. 2, April 2025.

In 1930, J.B.S. Norton wrote Maryland Grasses, a monograph of the University of Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station, which clearly prioritized grasses of economic importance. According to Norton, the “chief interest” of the Panic Grasses is “furnishing puzzles for botanists.”

Almost a century later, some things have changed – most of the Panic Grasses have been reclassified as Dichanthelium – but the puzzles remain the same. A group of members from the Virginia Native Plant Society (VNPS) visited the Smithsonian’s Department of Botany twice this winter, on January 30 and March 6, to try to solve a few of these puzzles.

“The Grass Bunch”, members from the Virginia Native Plant Society (VNPS), visiting the United States National Herbarium, on January 30, 2025. (photo by Rob Soreng)

The VNPS Grass Bunch is a group dedicated to identifying and documenting the native grasses, sedges, and rushes of Northern Virginia. Over the winter, the group worked with the herbarium of Huntley Meadows Park in Fairfax County, Virginia, to identify a backlog of pressed plant specimens. This resulted in a number of identification challenges.

To work on those confusing species, Grass Bunch members Margaret Chatham, Alan Ford, David Gorsline, Karla Jamir, Jenny Meyer, and Cheryl Roesel (former staff member of the Botany Department) visited the US National Herbarium to examine the Dichanthelium specimens in its collection—in particular, the extensively curated and annotated collection from the old DC Herbarium, including many specimens collected by Agnes Chase.

The group focused on distinguishing D. sphaerocarpon from D. polyanthes and worked on distinguishing the three variants of D. acuminatum using specimens collected in the greater D.C. region. They also reviewed specimens of D. columbianum, which was once considered a variety of acuminatum.

They were assisted by Rod Simmons, Smithsonian Research Associate and longtime mentor to the Grass Bunch, and Department of Botany grass experts Robert Soreng and Paul Peterson.

“The Grass Bunch”, members from the Virginia Native Plant Society (VNPS), examining Dichanthelium specimens at the United States National Herbarium, on January 30, 2025. (photo by Rob Soreng)