The Plant Press

The Diaries of Floyd Alonzo McClure - Field Book Project

The Diaries of Floyd Alonzo McClure - Field Book Project / From Plant Press Vol. 16 no. 2

 

By Emily Hunter, Field Book Project

Floyd Alonzo McClure conducting field work, possibly in China, circa 1919-1950. SIA Acc. T90028. Box 7 Folder 15. No negative number.

We get to know some interesting characters by reading field notes. Floyd Alonzo McClure (1897-1970) was one of these characters that I had the pleasure of learning about while cataloging SIA collection T90028.

McClure was a bamboo guy. (We really get familiar with these collectors, don’t we?) To put it another way, he studied Bambusoideae, a large group of genera in the grass family (Poaceae), for the majority of his career. His major work was the publication “The Bamboos, a Fresh Perspective,” which was published in 1966. McClure’s connection to the Smithsonian began in 1940s, when he joined the National Museum of Natural History as an Honorary Research Associate. But let’s start a little earlier.

China

McClure was born in 1897 in Shelby County, Ohio. He attended Ohio State University where he earned a BS in Agriculture in 1919. That year, McClure took a position in China teaching Economic Botany at Canton Christian College (later Lingnan University), a move that would define much of his life and career and lead him to spend 24 years in that country.

Keeping an Eye Open for Plant Exudates and Amber

From Plant Press Vol. 16 no. 2

Jorge Santiago-Blay, Department of Paleobiology

Left panel: Resins from Pinus coulteri D. Don (Pinaceae,). Central panel: Latexes from Euphorbia tirrucali L. (Euphorbiaceae). Right panel: Gums from Prunus sp. (Rosaceae). Images by Roy (Chip) Clark.

Several collaborators, including Joseph B. Lambert (Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois), and I have been steadily pursuing the study of plant exudates (e.g. resins, gums, kinos) and ambers (fossilized plant resins) worldwide for several decades. Through their chemistry as well as biological inclusions, in the case of amber, these materials help us understand our past. For example, amber materials we have studied from Chiapas, Mexico, contain inclusions, such as the base of a barnacle and carbonates strongly suggesting a tropical coastal environment million of years ago.

If the exudate happens to be a resin, the nuclear magnetic resonance NMR spectroscopy profile can help us determine the botanical provenance, such as the plant family and sometimes the genus. For instance, using the carbon-13 isotope, the resinous exudates of conifers can be placed into their correct family (e.g. Pinaceae, Cupressaceae, etc.). Additionally, the same resinous exudates of pines and their allies can be further correctly identified to genera if proton NMR is performed.

Some key discoveries resulting from those efforts have included the establishment of a typology of ambers of the world as well as a classification of modern plant exudates of the world. Although exudates have distinct physical properties, looks can be deceiving. An exudate collected from Pinus coulteri D. Don (Pinaceae) is a resin and it is the most commonly collected exudate in conifers. Milky exudates, often called latexes, are also resins, as in the materials oozed by Euphorbia tirrucali L. (Euphorbiaceae). Exudates from cherry trees, like those that ornate our nation’s capital, are gums, as in the case of Prunus sp. (Rosaceae).

Exudates are ubiquitous in the plant world. If any reader sees materials that look like plant exudates, I will appreciate a sample (100 mg or the approximate volume of an eraser on a pencil) or knowing about who to contact to collect such materials.

Notes from the Plant Mounting Room

From Plant Press Vol. 16 no. 2

By Melinda Peters

Kermadecia sp. (US 3653808 )

The plant mounting room at Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History is buzzing with productivity. It has been a pleasure getting to know the dedicated volunteers, contractors, and staff plant mounters who help prepare the specimens for our research programs. These are treasures of the US collection. We are working on current exchange material for curators while also incorporating specimens from the backlog. The plant mounters have unique backgrounds and are a delightful group to work with. I am also happy to report that two new volunteers, Joan Carpenter and Traute Bushley, have joined the mounting crew, are learning the protocol, and are contributing to this wonderful group. For the first three months of 2013, we have mounted 3,362 specimens for the collection.

I am working on incorporating “learning moments” for the volunteers who are interested in botany and encourage curators and visitors to stop by the mounting room to share any plant knowledge or stories. Many of these volunteers have been coming to work on this project for years and it just shows that they enjoy contributing to our nation’s collection and find it a rewarding experience.

Learn about three noteworthy newly mounted acquisitions below the fold...

The Botany-Horticulture Library Transformed

From Plant Press Vol. 16 no. 2

By Robin Everly

When the August 2011 earthquake damaged the shelving in the Botany-Horticulture library at Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC, the last thing on anyone’s mind was reorganizing the entire 100,000 book and journal collection, plus modernizing the reading room space. However, a year and a half later, this is exactly what has happened.

During meetings with the Department of Botany, Smithsonian Gardens, and Smithsonian Libraries, all parties decided this was an opportunity to consolidate and merge several collections. Several meetings were held in the fall of 2011 to discuss how to go about making this project a reality. Once the 18,000 books and journals, originally displaced by the earthquake, were brought back to the library in early January 2012, plans were already underway to prepare for two other major shifts of the collection. The first shift, occurred over three days in June, and involved incorporating 2,000 books on ferns and lichens and part of E. Yale Dawson’s donation of phycology books with the main collection.