From Plant Press, Vol. 8, No. 1 from January 2005.
Botany curator Robert Faden and his wife, Smithsonian Behind the Scenes Volunteer Audrey Faden, were given an Award of Merit by the North American Rock Garden Society (NARGS) for service to the local Potomac Valley Chapter of NARGS, which is based in the Washington, DC area. Bob Faden was chairman of the chapter for four years and chaired the 2002 Eastern Winter Study Weekend, which the local chapter organized on behalf of NARGS. Audrey Faden has been involved in the chapter in many capacities, including organizing the plant propagation and sales during the 2002 meeting. She has volunteered in the Botany Research Greenhouse for more than 24 years where she helps maintain the Commelinaceae collections.
W. John Kress and colleagues Jiang Yun Gao and Qing-Jun Li, both at Xishaungbanna Tropical Botanical Garden in Yunnan, China, have received a two-year $25,000 grant from the Chinese Natural Science Foundation for their project “Research on the Effects of Floral Longevity on Male and Female Fitness and its Evolutionary Implications in Hedychium (Zingiberaceae).” Members of Hedychium display many different floral characteristics from other genera in the Zingiberaceae, such as conspicuous longer floral longevity, asymmetrical flower and unique structure of sexual flowering organs. These unique floral characteristics indicate that Hedychium plants have a rather unique pollination mechanism and breeding system. The project is designed to conduct research on floral biology, pollination ecology and mating system of four Hedychium species and varieties, which show different floral longevity and are all distributed in South Yunnan, China. The research also includes a series of manipulation experiments to compare the effects of floral longevity on male and female fitness.
Comments