The Plant Press

Art by Alice Tangerini: Tibouchina fraterna N.E. Br.

From Plant Press, Vol. 25, No. 3, July 2022.

Found on tepuis, the table form mountains of the Guayana Shield, Tibouchina fraterna (Melastomataceae) is an exceptional plant from an exceptional place—the theme of the 19^th Smithsonian Botanical Symposium, which was held at the National Museum of Natural History on May 13, 2022. Native to Guyana and south Venezuela, T. fraterna has been found on Mount Auyán, Mount Duida, and Mount Roraima. Tibouchina fraternal was one of a series of melastome drawings Alice Tangerini drew for John Wurdack in 1987, published in the Flora of the Guianas treatment of the Melastomataceae. The narrow page format encouraged Tangerini to illustrate many of the floral characters overlapping parts of the habit with leaf surface details placed underneath the habit. This format style continued until software allowed for scanning and layout digitally. A remark by a reviewer on one of the melastome drawing copies was, “A beautiful illustration! It would be nice to have additional species illustrated like this”.

Honors & Awards

From Plant Press, Vol. 25, No. 3, July 2022.

Jun Wen is a recipient of the 2022 Research Grants Program of the Associate Director for Science and Chief Scientist (ADCS) at the National Museum of Natural History. A total of 16 highly competitive proposals representing the seven science departments at the museum were received and ranked by a peer review committee representative of NMNH science. Of the seven scientists to receive grants, Wen was awarded for her proposal, “Investigating the evolutionary history of temperate disjunctions across North America: a case study on grapes and hickories in the Mexican highlands.”

Carya ovata as seen in the John Fairey Garden, Texas. (photo by Jun Wen)

Wen and Research Associate Greg Stull will investigate a geographic connection involving plant populations disjunct between the southeast United States and the highlands of Mexico and Central America. Many plant species include populations disjunct between these geographic regions, suggesting a dynamic history of migration across North and Central America during the past ~5 million years. Many of these understudied disjunct populations might also represent distinct species. Using two angiosperm groups (grapes and hickories) as a case study, Wen and Stull will reconstruct the history of plant migrations between these regions and search for cryptic diversity in the Mexican highlands, setting the stage for a broader study of this potentially fundamental biogeographic pattern.

New Faces

From Plant Press, Vol. 25, No. 3, July 2022.

Kasia Ahern has joined the Botany Department at the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) on detail as a Collections Program Technician (CPT). She graduated from the George Washington University with a Master of Arts in Museum Studies, specializing in collections management. While in graduate school, she worked as a collections management intern for the Summer Institute in Museum Anthropology (SIMA) within the Department of Anthropology at NMNH. After graduating in 2015, she worked as a contractor in the Division of Fishes at NMNH. Her primary duties as a contractor were cataloging, rehousing, inventorying, and digitizing film and prints using flatbed scanners as well as importing the images and associated metadata into the musuem’s electronic database system, EMu. She remained a contractor within the Divisions of Fishes and Amphibians & Reptiles until she became a CPT in 2019. While most of her time as a CPT has been spent cataloging and inventorying specimens in the Division of Birds, she briefly worked on rehousing the bryophyte collection within Botany. She began her detail in February 2022.

 

Savannah Mapes, a graduate student in dinoflagellate research, visited the Botany Department on 21-23 June 2022, to work on Dr. Maria Faust’s legacy material. Mapes is a fourth year PhD student at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. She is studying the dynamics of harmful algal blooming (HAB) species in the lower Chesapeake Bay collecting data for the development of enhanced monitoring and mitigation strategies. She is also working on characterizing a local toxin-producing and bioluminescent HAB species, Alexandrium monilatum, describing its life cycle and using molecular techniques to investigate differences between strains. Mapes originally contacted Rose Gulledge for mentorship on a fellowship grant in December 2020. She then planned a visit to Botany and MSC to peruse Faust’s research material and other work-related documents, reprints, and library. Once finally here (she had to wait 1.5 years due to Covid restrictions), she found a treasure trove of HAB and dinoflagellate material from identification guides, teaching notes (complete with sketches), posters, photographs, SEM images, slides, and field notes. Faust’s taxonomic reviews, monographs and learning guides are essential reading for the HAB student; they are heavily used in the classroom as well as in the lab. Mapes’ future plans include continuing her career in scientific research on phytoplankton and creating a summer program for early career marine biology students to learn about the importance of phytoplankton and the marine environment through hands-on, field- and lab-based learning experiences.

Wings of Life: Pollinator Week 2022 [Video]

From Plant Press, Vol. 25, No. 3, July 2022.

The week of 20-26 June 2022 was designated as Pollinator Week to mark a necessary step toward addressing the urgent issue of declining pollinator and plant populations. Pollinator Week events included plantings, seminars, and celebrations aimed at lifting up pollinators and the important conservation work being done on their behalf across the world. As a member of the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC), the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) hosted a series of events to mark Pollinator Week.

On June 21, NMNH hosted a virtual discussion, “Reimagining Greenspace for Pollinators,” featuring NMNH conservation biologist Gary Krupnick, Thorne Rankin and Sally Shea (DC Natives), and Sara Via (University of Maryland Extension). During the program, participants learned how to reimagine backyards and urban spaces as working pollinator gardens that support biodiversity. The webinar has been archived and is available for viewing at https://naturalhistory.si.edu/education/after-hours/webinar-reimagining-greenspace-pollinators.

Mister G and Mrs G perform songs about pollinators and other animals during a Pollinator Celebration in Q?rius on June 23.

On June 23, NMNH partnered with the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to host a Pollinator Celebration. During the morning event, museum visitors celebrated pollinators and learned about how we are all connected to pollinators and plants. The celebration included interactive activities and a concert with Latin Grammy Award-winning musician MISTER G. Several learning stations at the event, including one hosted by Gary Krupnick, had giveaways for the visitors, such as flyers, booklets, bookmarks, and posters. The event was held in Q?rius, The Coralyn W. Whitney Science Education Center of NMNH.

As in year’s past, an educational pollinator poster was designed and distributed by the Pollinator Partnership and their partners (including federal agencies, non-profits, and for-profits), to promote Pollinator Week. The 2022 poster, “Wings of Life: Pollinating Butterflies and Moths,” is a celebration of fanciful, jewel-winged pollinators and the essential role they play in pollination, culture, and ecosystem services throughout North America. Butterflies and moths are found in almost every terrestrial ecosystem from deserts to tropical rainforests, and thousands of flowering plants have evolved to rely specifically on their pollination services. The beautiful artwork was drawn by Natalya Zahn, a Vermont-based illustrator and designer deeply inspired by science and nature. Krupnick served as a scientific advisor in the development of the poster.