The Plant Press

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

From Plant Press, Vol. 26, No. 3, July 2023.

The Neotropical flora was the theme of the 20^th Smithsonian Botanical Symposium, which was held on May 19, 2023. One species among the flora is Heliconia terciopela, which is endemic to a small region of lowland wet forest on the Pacific coast of Colombia. The name “terciopela” is Spanish for “velvet,” which refers to the smooth, short, uniform pubescence that covers the inflorescence. It also signifies the primary forest habitats where this species of Heliconia and the highly poisonous snake Botrops asper, locally known as “terciopelo” or fer-de-lance, are both found. Alice Tangerini drew this illustration in 1992 using unmounted dried specimens including leaves and an inflorescence. She reconstructed it into its more natural appearance with the help of slides of the living plant. Dissections were made with the Wild M5 microscope and reduced to fit the page format. The finished drawing was in pen and ink on Cronaflex drafting film without any digital recomposition. A partial detail of stamens was cut from the final inked image as it did not reveal any necessary information. The illustration was included along with four other drawings of Heliconia in the 1993 issue of Caldasia.

Staff Activities

From Plant Press, Vol. 26, No. 3, July 2023.

Savannah Mapes, Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) graduate student and NMNH-Department of Botany summer intern, shared research on phytoplankton at an Expert Is In session in the Ocean Hall, NMNH on Friday, June 16. She talked about the important role phytoplankton play in our everyday lives and showcased the ecological and financial impact of harmful algal blooms. Though microscopic, they play an enormous role in sustaining life on Earth. There was a lot of interest from school aged children to adults. The microscopes with live algal cultures were a hit as well as Mapes’ bioluminescent phytoplankton costume!

As part of her graduate research, Mapes studies the life cycle of Alexandrium monilatum, a bioluminescent species of dinoflagellate that produces toxic blooms in the lower Chesapeake Bay. She hopes to uncover clues in the life stages to determine why this species creates harmful blooms.

Botany intern, Savannah Mapes, shares research on phytoplankton at an Expert Is In session in the Ocean Hall, NMNH

On May 24, Sylvia Orli gave the presentation “Digitizing the US Herbarium” virtually in the DigiTIPS 2023 meeting series. Digitizing to International Imaging Performance Standards (DigiTIPS) is a series of seminars organized by the Society for Imaging Sciences and Technology (IS&T). Orli’s talk was part of the Innovations and Special Projects session which highlighted organizations and practitioners using innovative or specialized methods for digitization, as well as those working with unique or unusual collections, or under special circumstances.

Laurence Skog and Judith Skog (Research Associate) continue to spend most Wednesdays volunteering in the herbarium at George Mason University (GMUF) as they have since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.

New Faces

From Plant Press, Vol. 26, No. 3, July 2023.

Nicolli Cabello

Nicolli Cabello joined the ForestGEO team in April 2023. She is an intern of David Kenfack doing data management and monitoring for the List of Threatened Species of Plants in the Korup’s plot in Cameroon, Africa. Over the next 6 months, she will complete the same conservation status monitoring for all the species in ForestGEO’s Africa plots. Cabello is a Brazilian forest engineer interested in tropical forests, the Amazon, Lecythidaceae, and biogeography. These foci set her up to work on the recensus of a 100 ha plot in Central Amazon between 2018 and 2019, where she helped to identify, measure, tag, and georeference more than 15,000 Lecythidaceae trees. Once she completes her internship, Cabello plans to apply for a PhD program and continue studying the same botanical family.

Bella Valli

Isabella (Bella) Valli joined the ForestGEO team in May 2023 as an Administrative and Programs Assistant. She received her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science, with Minors in Animal Behavior and French Studies, from Indiana University in 2022. Before coming to ForestGEO, Bella worked with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service of the Chesapeake Bay performing fieldwork geared towards the preservation of marshland and its threatened and endangered species (avian species in particular) and authoring refuge proposals. In her new role, Valli is able to use her scientific background to support the science that ForestGEO does by ensuring administrative tasks run smoothly and enhancing community outreach.

New issue of International Journal of Plant Sciences honors Vicki Funk

From Plant Press, Vol. 26, No. 3, July 2023.

The cover image of the International Journal of Plant Sciences (volume 184, number 5; 2023) features Vicki A. Funk in a photo dated 2008 and seen through a mosaic composed of images of capitula representing all major groups of Compositae.

A special issue of the International Journal of Plant Sciences just published (volume 184, number 5; 2023) honors Dr. Vicki Ann Funk (November 26, 1947–October 22, 2019), who passed away after a battle with an aggressive cancer. Vicki Funk was an inspirational evolutionary biologist and a champion for collections-based systematics and biogeography. She had broad influence on the way we perform our collections-based systematics today, especially with the development of phylogenetic systematics in botany in the early 1980s and throughout her career. Funk was one of the most active, enthusiastic, and passionate professional botanists of our time. She combined these qualities with a quick mind and glowing wit, with new ideas or opinions that she was eager to share with anyone who would listen, and be willing to enter an engaging dialogue.

During her distinguished career, Funk achieved preeminence in the fields of phylogenetic methods, systematics, biogeography, and biodiversity conservation. She devoted a significant part of her career to mentoring the next generation of botanists and working with groups to tackle larger areas of research, especially Compositae systematics, phylogenetics, and biogeography.

The special issue organized by Jennifer Mandel, Erika Moore-Pollard, Mauricio Bonifacino, Jun Wen, and Warren Wagner consists of eight papers on Compositae (Asteraceae) systematics by various colleagues, two more on collections for botanical systematics, and concludes with a tribute to her career and contributions by Wagner and Wen.