From Plant Press, Vol. 22, No. 3, July 2019.
By Gary A. Krupnick
Smithsonian’s Department of Botany and the United States Botanic Garden convened the 2019 Smithsonian Botanical Symposium, “What Darwin Couldn't Know: Modern Perspectives on Crop Plant Origins,” at the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) in Washington, D.C., on May 17, 2019. The unusual title for the symposium is acquired from the writings of Charles Darwin. In his 1868 book, The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication, Darwin’s dim view of progress in understanding domestication in the vegetable kingdom is evident when he wrote, “Botanists have generally neglected cultivated varieties, as beneath their notice.”
In today’s age, there is a resurgence of research focused on the plants most essential to human life. With seven engaging speakers, the 17th Smithsonian Botanical Symposium highlighted contemporary research into the domestication of crops and their wild relatives as well as ornamental plants. Invited speakers included archaeobotanists, botanists, geneticists, and paleoethnobotanists utilizing molecular and genomic tools unknown to Darwin.
Kirk Johnson, the Sant Director of NMNH, and Eric Schuettpelz, the Acting Chair of Botany at NMNH, both provided opening remarks and welcomed the audience to the Smithsonian Institution. Kenneth Wurdack, Department of Botany at NMNH, presented the annual José Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany to Sandra D. Knapp from the Natural History Museum in London. Unfortunately, Knapp was unable to attend in person. Ian Owens, Deputy Director of NMNH, accepted the Cuatrecasas Medal on her behalf. Owens read prepared remarks written by Knapp in which she shared that Cuatrecasas was one of her botanical heroes. She noted, “His influence and inspiration reach far, and will for generations to come.” While she was sorry to have missed the ceremony, she requested that we live tweet the event (#SBS19).
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