From Plant Press, Vol. 1, No. 4, July 1998.
The Fourth Congressional Open House was held in the exhibit halls of the National Museum of Natural History on May 20. Organized by the Senate of Scientists, it has become an annual favorite event for Congresspersons, their staff, special guests, and their families. Following a buffet in the Rotunda, the 800 Congressional visitors went on an “expedition” to 12 theme sites encompassing the museum’s research and outreach activities. Paula DePriest served as “field marshall,” and the Botany Department was represented at two expedition sites.
Alice Tangerini presented “Picturing Plants: From Field to Herbarium,” featuring illustrations done from living and dried plant material, with descriptions of working conditions in the field and the office. A camera lucida apparatus allowed the visitors to view and draw a greatly magnified Schiedea flower. Assisting Alice were Nora Gallagher and intern Mariah Steinwinter.
In the Marine Ecosystems Hall, Jim Norris, Katie Bucher, and Bob Sims displayed economically important seaweeds, provided a handout listing common food items (such as ice cream and chocolate milk) that use algal extracts, as well as an on-line connection to the Algae Web site at the Smithsonian, herbarium specimens, and a computer slide show. Mark Littler, Diane Littler, Barrett Brooks, and Gene Rosenberg displayed reef-building plants, the coralline algae, and massive specimens of these stony red algae which served to highlight their important ecological roles as a habitat for some reef animals and major builders in many reef systems.
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