The Plant Press

Smithsonian Botanical Symposium to be held on April 19-20, 2013

Presented by the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History Department of Botany in collaboration with the United States Botanic Garden with support from the Cuatrecasas Family Foundation:

Avoiding Extinction: Contemporary Approaches to Conservation Science

The Florida endemic Asimina rugelii B.L. Rob. was listed as Endangered in 1986 under the name Deeringothamnus rugelii (B.L. Rob.) Small. Illustration from Small, Addisonia 15: pl. 489. 1930.

Conservation science seeks to provide a rational framework for the protection of species and their habitats. At the inception of the discipline, scientists recognized that environmental problems, including land use change and pollution effects, were significant challenges to sustaining biodiversity. Scientists now acknowledge that, while these problems remain, other issues such as invasive species, interspecific hybridization, and climate change impose additional threats to species survival. Furthermore, paleoecologists have used the fossil record to contextualize the current loss of biodiversity based on knowledge of past extinctions and paleoclimates, and now models of predicted future climates are helping to anticipate new challenges.

Forty years ago, the U.S. Endangered Species Act was signed into law. This landmark piece of legislation was designed to protect plant and animal species from extinction based on our knowledge of conservation science at the time. The Act has led to many success stories, primarily due to the growing sophistication of the conservation science it spurred, but will not be sufficient on its own to address new conservation goals. With new landmark conservation legislation unlikely in the near future, how will scientists continue to move forward in their quest to preserve biodiversity?
 
The 11^th Smithsonian Botanical Symposium, hosted by the Department of Botany and the United States Botanic Garden, will highlight past efforts and new threats to conservation goals, as well as new approaches underway that promise to safeguard biodiversity both here in the U.S. and around the world. The invited speakers will cover a wide range of endangered organisms, with a special focus on plants, to illustrate the challenges of modern-day conservation science in a rapidly changing world.

Registration and poster abstract submission will begin February 1, 2013.

http://botany.si.edu/sbs/

Art by Alice Tangerini: Curcuma arracanensis W.J.Kress & V.Gowda

From Plant Press Vol. 15 no. 4

 

Curcuma arracanensis W.J.Kress & V.Gowda

This illustration of Curcuma arracanensis (Zingiberaceae) was drawn from living plants in the Botany Research Greenhouse when the plants were in flower at the end of August 2006. Tangerini initially drew the plant habit and then flowers and dissections in a couple of days working in the Greenhouse but returned in September to draw the tuberous rhizome to complete all of the figures needed for the publication (Gowda et al., 2012. PhytoKeys 13: 5-14.). Leslie Brothers supplied close up photographs to supplement the sketches since the final ink drawing was done in Tangerini’s office. Having the live plant was necessary to show details of the flowers and their spatial positions which are usually lost in pressed material. The leaf and inflorescence attitude of the live plant habit enabled Tangerini to give a natural look to the drawing.

 

Florida “Senator” Arrives at U.S. National Herbarium

From Plant Press Vol. 15 no. 4

By Nancy Khan 

Nancy Khan displaying a specimen of The Senator, a 3,500 year-old bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) from Florida. (Photo by Elaine Haug)

While it is not unusual for the Department of Botany to come into possession of interesting or botanically significant specimens, it is rare for them to arrive with a notable history and nearly iconic status. At first glance the nondescript, charred piece of wood which arrived at the herbarium in late Spring seems insignificant, but the 4-inch by 8-inch sample is from a Taxodium distichum (bald cypress), estimated to be about 3,500 years-old, that once ranked as the fifth oldest living tree in the world and overall state champion in Florida.

The tree received its name, The Senator, and notoriety as a Central Florida landmark when Senator Moses O. Overstreet donated 6 acres, including the ancient tree, to Seminole County in 1927 for a public park thereby protecting the giant tree and the surrounding remnant of cypress forest. As a child I recall visiting the park with my family and I was upset to see that the tree made national headlines as it burned to the ground on January 16, 2012. Initial reports speculated that perhaps the tree had been ignited by a lightning strike, but within a few months it was determined to be arson and an arrest was made.

Bright African Fruit has the Natural World’s Most Intense Color

From Plant Press Vol. 15 no. 4

Pollia condensata, native to Africa, uses structural coloration instead of pigments to produce the most intense color ever studied in biological tissue.

The metallic blue color on the fruit wall in Pollia condensata (Commelinaceae) has been found to be more intense than any other biological material, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. The structure of the wall of the fruit in Pollia, a pantropical genus of Commelinaceae, has always been of interest to Robert Faden, one of the authors of the study, because the indehiscent fruits, although showy and often metallic blue on the surface, like Christmas tree ornaments, entirely lack flesh but instead are fully packed with dry seeds. Faden has always thought it likely that these fruits mimic truly fleshy berries and drupes and are dispersed when they are eaten in error by birds. It has also been suggested that some birds and mammals decorate their nests with such baubles, but that has yet to be demonstrated in Pollia.

New Faces

From Plant Press Vol. 15 no. 4

Julissa Rojas-Sandoval

Julissa Rojas-Sandoval started as a postdoctoral fellow in August 2012 and is currently working with Pedro Acevedo. Rojas-Sandoval got her undergraduate and master’s degrees in Biology at the University of Costa Rica, where she studied the reproductive phenology and the breeding system of the tropical tree Ceiba pentandra. In 2010, Rojas-Sandoval completed her Ph.D. in Ecology at The University of Puerto Rico, where she studied the population dynamics of the endangered Caribbean cactus Harrisia portoricensis. She recently completed a post-doctoral fellow at the Center for Applied Tropical Ecology and Conservation (CATEC), where she studied the vegetation community dynamics of Caribbean semiarid systems following experimental removals of exotic grasses. Her fellowship project at the Smithsonian focuses on the identification and evaluation of invasive plant species affecting plant communities in the West Indies. Rojas-Sandoval has conducted field work in Costa Rica, Mexico, and West Indies. 

Chair With A View - A Tribute to Two Directors

From Plant Press Vol. 15 no. 4

By Warren L. Wagner

“Focus on the future and think big” was perhaps the most fundamentally enduring piece of advice given to all museum staff by Dr. Cristián Samper as he wrapped up his nine year tenure as Director of the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) this past July. While these visionary words can certainly serve as a principle for our own departmental level planning initiatives they also reveal the essential nature of Cristián’s gracious influence and generous support within the Department of Botany over the past decade. Under his dedicated and enthusiastic leadership the department recruited two highly productive research scientists, hired two collections support staff, and laid the foundation to re-build the department and position it for long-term stability through a strategic hiring initiative. Through the years matching funds from the Director’s office allowed the department to leverage the Cuatrecasas Fellowship awards by extending additional research grants to deserving students and visiting researchers. Moreover, he unreservedly supported the continuation of the Biological Diversity of the Guiana Shield Program and actively participated in the international conference on the Evolution of Life on Pacific Islands and Reefs held in Hawaii in 2011. We remain very grateful to Cristián for his friendship, exceptional leadership, and scientific expertise in tropical botany.

 Looking ahead, we eagerly await the arrival of Dr. Kirk Johnson on October 19^th as the next Director of NMNH. In his previous capacity at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Kirk provided administrative and scientific oversight at multiple levels. Although Kirk is likely more well-known for his geologic and vertebrate paleontologic research he holds graduate degrees in paleobotany and actively studies the fossil plants of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains. We look forward to working with Kirk in the years ahead to advance a broad spectrum of departmental research and collections initiatives. Among the activities of his first week at NMNH will be a tour of the department. Please join me in welcoming him to the museum and the Department of Botany. 

Planted Evidence Found in Research Greenhouse

From Plant Press Vol. 15 no. 4

By Gary A. Krupnick

Larsenianthus wardianus W.J. Kress, Thet Htun & Bordelon, one of four new species in this genus of gingers (Zingiberaceae) from Asia. (Photo by Leslie Brothers)

Walking along a trail in an evergreen forest in the foothills of the Himalayas in north central Myanmar in 2002, Botany Curator John Kress came across a plant that appeared to be a species of Hitchenia (Zingiberaceae). The plant had no flowers, so he collected a living specimen and brought it back to Washington, DC, for further study. Placed in the hands of the Botany Research Greenhouse manager, Mike Bordelon, it took two years and plenty of care for the plant to flower. During a hot summer day, while hand-watering and soil-checking, Bordelon found at the base of the plant an inflorescence with open flowers. While examining the flowers, Kress decided that this was not Hitchenia, but something new to science instead. What was collected from Myanmar and growing in the greenhouse was a new genus, Larsenianthus. The genus was named after Kai Larsen, a Danish botanist and expert on the flora of Thailand and Zingiberaceae. The species was named L. wardianus, in honor of the famous British plant collector Francis Kingdon-Ward who explored Upper Burma in the first half of the 20^th century.

It is not uncommon for plants to be collected in the field and brought back to the Research Greenhouses to watch them grow. What is uncommon is for a new genus or a new species to be discovered after the collected plant flowers. Currently growing in the greenhouses, for example, are an additional eight different flowering plants of Curcuma (Zingiberaceae) from Southeast Asia that may turn out to be species new to science after further research is completed. Additional Curcuma plants in the greenhouse collection have yet to flower—are they known species or are they new species awaiting description?

Welcome to The Plant Press

The Plant Press is the quarterly newsletter from the Department of Botany and the U.S. National Herbarium. The purpose of The Plant Press is to provide information about the activities of Botany. Printed issues include articles about staff research and travel, visitors, new publications, and plant conservation highlights, many of which will be highlighted on this website. In-depth insight in the world of botany is provided by the Chair of Botany. A profile of a staff member or unit is covered in most issues, and the printed issues conclude with a piece of artwork from Botany's resident artist Alice Tangerini.