The Plant Press

Art by Alice Tangerini: Pterozonium Fée

From Plant Press Vol. 16 no. 4, October 2013

This plate of ferns was made by Alice Tangerini for David Lellinger in May 1989. The drawing was proposed for the Flora of the Guianas to illustrate three species in the genus Pterozonium (Pteridaceae): A) P. reniforme (Mart.) Fée based on the specimen Mass & Westra 4331 from Guyana; B) P. paraphysatum (A.C. Sm.) Lellinger based on the specimen Maguire 24500 from Surinam; and C) P. scopulinum Lellinger based on the specimen Maguire & Fanshawe 23430 from Guyana. Pterozonium has yet to be published for the Flora of the Guianas, and this plate has not been used in any other capacity.

Treasures from the Backlog

From Plant Press Vol. 16 no. 4, October 2013

By Meghann Toner

Old newspapers, such as this one from 1940, are being found by the mounting team as they work with the backlog of specimens.

Within our backlog of ­scientifically important specimens waiting to be mounted are an estimated 200,000 plant specimens collected as far back as the early 20^th century. Included among the specimens are treasures of hidden links to our past in the form of old newspapers. These newspaper pages are used to store our specimens until they are mounted. As our team of mounters continues to process these specimens they are finding front page spreads showing snapshots of major events in our world’s history. One of these is the front page of the Washington Post from March 20, 1940. The headlines recount stories about a British air raid at the beginning of World War II, mixed in with stories about a “new” DC sales tax. Another page from a 1939 Toronto Star Weekly is of interest to fans of the British royal family. It is a full spread image showing King George VI and his wife Queen Elizabeth on September 10^th of that year, seven days after his famous King’s Speech at the start of Britain’s involvement of World War II. Viewing newspaper pages that are over 70 years old show us a world before Twitter and Facebook. They are tangible connections to the botanists who placed their collections into these pages after reading the stories that were affecting their lives.

One more image after the jump...

Intern Makes Old Drawings Look New

From Plant Press Vol. 16 no. 4, October 2013

Helina Chin, an intern from the California State University at Monterey Bay, worked with Alice Tangerini and spent the summer scanning drawings from the herbarium and from Tangerini’s office. Chin’s internship was part of her final graduate semester as part of the Science Illustration Program. Chin came with a strong background in using Adobe Photoshop and in devising ways to manipulate scans to best advantage the artwork. Her first job was to scan 250 dinoflagellate drawings from negatives and photographic prints from the Botany Dinoflagellate Type Collection. Working closely with Maria Faust and Elaine Haug, Chin devised a system for scanning the negatives to optimize time and still bring out the subtle shades and patterns found in the dinoflagellates.

Summer Intern Helina Chin scanning drawings from the herbarium. ( Photo by Alice Tangerini)

Chin also scanned various bamboo illustrations from the 1940s and several cactus watercolors, some with serious stains from mold and foxing that had to be removed in Adobe Photoshop. Chin’s most challenging task was working with pencil drawings from the 1856 publication, “Explorations and Surveys of a Railroad Route from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean.” The exquisite graphite illustrations by Paulus Roetter, a St. Louis native and the artist of the expedition, were of cactus species (many of which were types) and had been filed in with cactus specimens in the herbarium. Many of the drawings suffered from abrasion, causing the graphite lines to be so pale as to be almost invisible when scanned. Chin worked with these difficult objects and brought them back to a previous unblemished life.

A Second Red Algae Gloiotrichus Species Discovered in the Caribbean

From Plant Press Vol. 16 no. 4, October 2013

A most unusual genus of red algae, Gloiotrichus (Liagoraceae, Rhodophyta),previously known only from Australia and later Hawaii, has been found for the first time in the Caribbean Sea. Katina Bucher, James Norris, and James Sears describe a second known species, Gloiotrichus vermiculatus, based on specimens collected from subtidal waters from Belize and the U.S. Virgin Islands  (Caribbean Journal of Science 47: 98-113; 2013). Gloiotrichus vermiculatus differs from the first species, G. fractalis, in female reproductive morphology and development. While Norris’ group has molecular analyses on the Belize species, the first species has never been re-collected in Australia. It is hopeful that someday they can test the new species relationship to type material.

A new species of red algae, Gloiotrichus vermiculatus, was recently discovered in the Caribbean Sea

Historical Expeditions Project Digitizes Data

From Plant Press Vol. 16 no. 4, October 2013

By Shruti Dube

In July 1868, Sereno Watson collected Thermopsis montana var. montana. in northern Nevada during the U.S. Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel

The United States National Herbarium is the primary plant specimen repository for many government sponsored expeditions. The United States Exploring Expedition, the Geological Survey of California, Stansbury’s Expedition, the Colorado Exploring Expedition (Ives Expedition), and the Western Union Telegraph Exploration Expedition are just a few of the historic expeditions found in the herbarium’s collection.

A year ago the Department of Botany at the National Museum of Natural History started a project called the Global Plants Initiative-Historical Expeditions which aimed to create digital data and images of historic specimens. The Department focused on botanical specimens collected before 1900 in the United States and Canada west of Mississippi, including Alaska. These fragile specimens need special care in handling.

As we approach the end of this project, we digitized more than 21,000 specimens (imaged and databased). These specimens have been entered into the online catalog program EMu (with approximately 1,000 more waiting to be digitized) and will eventually appear in the JSTOR Global Plants website.

Here is an account of some of the expeditions and illustrations of sample plants collected on the expeditions:

Adey’s Summer Cruise Adds Specimens to the Coralline Algae Collection

From Plant Press Vol. 16 no. 4, October 2013

To better understand the longevity ecology of the coralline algae, Clathromorphum compactum, a prime Arctic/Subarctic climate archive species, Walter H. Adey spent 10 weeks during the 2013 summer on a cruise of the R/V Alca i in northern Labrador, Canada. The cruise was funded largely through a Canadian Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) grant to himself and his two colleagues, Jochen Halfar at the University of Toronto and Patrick Gagnon at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Halfar and Gagnon did not participate in the cruise at sea, but each provided a graduate student/diver, both of which were also carrying out their personal doctoral research as part of the cruise.

The vessel crew totaled seven: Adey serving as vessel captain and chief scientist on the cruise, a chief engineer, an administrative officer, a cook and three Ph.D. student/SCUBA divers—Thew Suskiewicz of Laval University, David Belanger of Memorial University, and Michael Fox of Scripps Institute of Oceanography. Suskiewicz carried out experimental analyses of sea urchin feeding rates on kelp and Belanger analyzed infauna within the coralline rhodoliths Lithothamnion glaciale and Lithothamnion tophiforme.

Approximately 80 SCUBA dives to depths of up to 30 meters were carried out, two thirds with two divers and one third with three divers. During most of the work season, bottom working temperatures ranged from -1.5ᵒ C to +2ᵒ C, limiting dives to about 50 minutes.

New Genus, Lesia, Named in Honor of Laurence Skog

From Plant Press Vol. 16 no. 4, October 2013

Isotype of Alloplectus savannarum

A new gesneriad genus, Lesia J.L. Clark & J.F. Sm., has been named in honor of emeritus research botanist Laurence E. Skog. The genus was created to accommodate the odd South American (primarily Guianan) species Alloplectus savannarum C.V. Morton, which molecular phylogenies had shown did not belong to that or any other genus. The genus has a single species, Lesia savannarum (C.V. Morton) J.L. Clark & J.F. Sm. The authors of the published paper, James F. Smith (Boise State University) and John L. Clark (University of Alabama), write, “The new genus honors Laurence E. Skog (by using his initials L.E.S.), who has made numerous, invaluable contributions to our understanding of Neotropical Gesneriaceae” (Systematic Botany 38(2): 451-463; 2013).

Departmental Titan Arum Blooms

From Plant Press Vol. 16 no. 4, October 2013

While more common than they used to be, a flowering Amorphophallus titanum (titan arum) is still a treat. In early August one of these large aroids decided to put on its irregular, smelly show for the first time since 2007. Inconveniently, it bloomed during the weekend, and the Botany Greenhouses, located in Suitland, Maryland, is only opened to staff. Still, a short open house accommodating about 35 visitors took place.

This particular specimen was given to the Smithsonian Institution’s Botany Greenhouse in 2003 by now-retired Aroid curator Dan Nicolson. Dan attended the open house with his wife Alice Nicolson and son David.

Before modern transportation and easy shipping of plant materials between conservatories and collectors, the titan arum was very rare outside its Sumatran rain forest. Now much more common in cultivation, its irregular flowering times, large inflorescence and foul odor still create a fascinating burst of fecundity. Amorphophallus titanum has the largest known unbranched inflorescence in the plant kingdom, and this time the Botany Department’s plant grew to a respectable 52 inches tall. Though its width and odor peaked in the middle of the night, SI Photographic Services was kind enough to photograph the event Saturday through Monday morning, where the overnight maximum can be seen in a stop motion video.

Unseen by visitors, the spadix itself warms up above ambient temperature to help dissipate the odor of rotting flesh, bringing in hopeful carrion beetles (in Sumatra) and flies (in our area). The Smithsonian Office of Facilities Engineering and Operations supplied the infrared images to show the warming spadix.

Because an individual plant requires a substantial amount of energy to produce such a large inflorescence, it can be many years before the Botany Department has another one of these fleeting events in the research greenhouses. Seeing titan arum bloom is highly recommended, here or elsewhere.

See the infrared image and the stop motion video after the jump...