The Plant Press

Demissew receives 18th Cuatrecasas Medal [Video]

From Plant Press, Vol. 24, No. 3, July 2021.

The José Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany is named in honor of Dr. José Cuatrecasas, a pioneering botanist and taxonomist, who spent nearly a half-century working at the National Museum of Natural History. Cuatrecasas had a distinguished career devoted to systematic botany and plant exploration in tropical South America, especially in the Andes, and this award serves to keep vibrant his accomplishments and memory. The Department of Botany and the U.S. National Herbarium present this award at the Smithsonian Botanical Symposium to a botanist and scholar of international stature who has contributed significantly to advancing the field of tropical botany. The award consists of a bronze medal bearing an image of José Cuatrecasas on the front with the recipient’s name and date of presentation on the back.

Sebsebe Demissew accepts the 18th José Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany during the virtual 18th Smithsonian Botanical Symposium.

This year the 18^th José Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany was presented to Sebsebe Demissew.

Professor Demissew earned a B.Sc. in 1977 and a M.S. in 1980 from Addis Ababa University, and his Ph.D. in 1985 from Uppsala University for research on Maytenus, a genus of Celastraceae in tropical Africa and Arabia. His doctoral training was sponsored during the early stages of the Ethiopian Flora Project and he later (from 1996 to its successful completion in 2009) provided leadership of the project involving 91 scientists from 17 countries. This 8-volume work covering 6000 species of ferns and flowering plants with 12 percent endemism, is one of the few finished African floras.

It takes two: A synopsis of a symposium about symbiosis [Video]

From Plant Press, Vol. 24, No. 3, July 2021.

By Gary A. Krupnick

The 18^th Smithsonian Botanical Symposium, co-hosted by the Smithsonian’s Department of Botany and the United States Botanic Garden, was held virtually over two days on May 13 and 14, 2021. The Symposium, “Plant symbiosis: The good, the bad, and the complicated,” was originally scheduled to take place in May 2020 at the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) in Washington, DC, but the coronavirus global pandemic pushed the symposium to 2021. The digital event this year successfully brought together six engaging speakers in a Zoom webinar setting to explore current research in the diversity of plant symbioses, examining the relationships plants have with insects, fungi, bacteria, and even other plants. Invited speakers included botanists, ecologists, microbiologists, and geneticists whose research unravels the complicated relationships that plants have with their collaborators and competitors in the natural world.

Rebecca Johnson delivers opening remarks and spoke about the museum’s strong relationship with the U.S. Botanic Garden and our shared mission to educate the public about plants.

Eric Schuettpelz, Chair of Botany at NMNH, welcomed the virtual audience to the symposium and Rebecca Johnson, Associate Director for Science and Chief Scientist at NMNH, provided opening remarks. Johnson spoke about our strong relationship with the U.S. Botanic Garden and talked about our shared mission to educate the public about plants and their importance to people and the environment. She celebrated the amazing progress that the Botany Department has made in fully digitizing the specimens in the U.S. National Herbarium and the benefits of those digitized specimens to the scientific community. Even though the museum’s doors have been closed, the research still goes on.

Kenneth Wurdack, NMNH Department of Botany, presented the annual José Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany to Sebsebe Demissew from Gullele Botanic Garden and Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. Demissew accepted the Cuatrecasas Medal from Africa. He expressed his gratitude and encouraged those viewing the symposium to initiate collaboration with Ethiopian botanists.

Sebsebe Demissew accepts the 18th José Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany remotely from Ethiopia, Africa.

Art by Alice Tangerini: Pogostemon guamensis Lorence & W.L.Wagner

From Plant Press, Vol. 24, No. 2, April 2021.

Illustrating this new species of Pogostemon required some intricate back and forth with the authors Warren Wagner and Dave Lorence as well as careful dissection of the few pressed specimens sent from Kaua`i. Alice Tangerini found images on the web of patchouli (Pogostemon cablin) which helped to reconstruct positions of the leaves and flowers of the new species. Interpretation of tiny hairs on the flower and calyx were crucial and aided by closeup images of Lorence’s initial dissection of the flowers. The final inking was done in Tangerini’s home, then scanned and labeled and figures manipulated in Photoshop back in her office at the National Museum of Natural History. This drawing was the first one completed after the museum restricted access to staff in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic but set the process in place for all following illustrations done since then.

Awards & Honors

From Plant Press, Vol. 24, No. 2, April 2021.

The National Museum of Natural History presented the 2020 Peer Recognition Awards on January 28, 2021. Award recipients are individuals and teams who have given their time and talent to the museum above and beyond what their jobs call for, and to those who have done something that makes a difference in the outside community, for the museum, or for the larger Smithsonian community. The Peer Recognition Award Committee is composed of 10 Museum staff members representing a cross-section of the entire museum community.

Twelve awards were presented during the online Zoom ceremony, hosted by Kirk Johnson (Sant Director of the National Museum of Natural History) and Bob Corrigan (Office of the Deputy Director). Two members of the Department of Botany were proud recipients of 2020 Peer Recognition Awards.

___________

The Treasurer and Secretary Team Award

Gary Krupnick (Department of Botany) and Briana Pobiner (Department of Anthropology) accept the Treasurer and Secretary Team Award at the virtual 2020 Peer Recognition Award ceremony.

Serving as the treasurer of the Senate of Scientists (SOS) for the last six years and secretary for the last seven, Gary Krupnick (Department of Botany) and Briana Pobiner (Department of Anthropology), respectively, have gone above and beyond even their volunteer SOS duties in the last year. The Senate’s activities—from business meetings to lightning talks and dinner forums—run as smoothly as they do because of the dedication and efficiency of these two colleagues. Keeping vital channels of communication flowing, handling countless details, and transitioning to online activities are only some of the challenges that they have made look easy. The Senate and the museum community has benefited greatly from their leadership and dedication.

___________

The Digitization Hero Award

Sue Lutz accepts the Digitization Hero Award at the virtual 2020 Peer Recognition Award ceremony.

Since the museum’s closure in March 2020, Sue Lutz (Department of Botany) has had the enormous responsibility of completing most necessary Botany Collection work that must be done in the building. In addition to ensuring the safety of the collections and keeping up with tasks normally assigned to everyone, she volunteered to continue prepping specimen folders for the mass digitization conveyor belt project. The project had been up and running since July but was slowly running out of prepared material to image. Because of her efforts the project will be able to continue on schedule to the delight of botanists and researchers around the globe.