When first described in 1999 from collections from southern Aramberri in southern Nuevo León, México, Paul Peterson suggested Muhlenbergia jaime-hintonii resided in M. subg. Trichochloa, perhaps related to M. pubigluma since both species share a dense white pubescence below the basal nodes, short-leafy rhizomes, reddish-gray spikelets, and faintly-3-veined lemmas. However, after producing a phylogeny based on DNA sequence markers in 2010, 2018, and 2021, M. jaime-hintonii was found on an isolated branch embedded within species residing in M. subg. Pseudosporobolus near other wide-ranging species from the Great Basin and Eastern North America.
Alice Tangerini inked the plate using the Gillott crowquills on drafting film. The illustration marked the initial scanning at high resolution for artwork in the department. The drawing was scanned at 1200 dpi which was twice the former scan resolution of 600 dpi. Tangerini spoke with Barney Lipscomb, SIDA’s editor, and requested the high resolution for the page. Lipscomb agreed to 1000 dpi which was all they could handle and the file was then reproduced in bitmap to keep the file size small. The resulting reproduction in SIDA (18: 686; 1999) looked very sharp and set the standard for all following illustrations.
Botany members and their families gather at the 2022 Botany Family Picnic on 15 October at Carderock Recreation Area in Potomac, Maryland. (photo by Lisa Welle Malone)
Following on the success of the 2021 Botany Family Picnic, the Department of Botany held the 2022 Botany Family Picnic on 15 October at Carderock Recreation Area in Potomac, Maryland. While restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic have largely been lifted, many members of the department continue to telework at least partially during the week. The picnic gave Botany members and their families a chance to gather and build morale. As was the case a year prior, it was wonderful to be able to catch up, meet extended family members, laugh, and share stories of our times isolated during this unique period of our lives. And unlike the previous year, we took the opportunity to get a group photo!
In September 2022, Sylvia Orli participated in the BioDigiCon, a recently rebranded iDigBio summit focusing on digitization and mobilization within the natural history collections. She gave a lightning talk, "A Fully Digitized Herbarium - Workflows to Keep Up 100%," with Ingrid Lin (Botany) and Nathan Anderson (Smithsonian Digitization Program Office) describing the US Herbarium efforts to maintain a fully digitized status for the herbarium's ever growing collection. In addition, in her detail capacity as Digitization Coordinator for NMNH, she participated in the workshop, "Digitization Coordination: Combining Project Management & Digitization Efforts to Benefit Collections, Big and Small," which explored the concept of a centralized digitization program in natural history institutions. The BioDigiCon occurs annually to bring together the global natural history collections communities to discuss digitization topics.
At a request from Jennifer Brundage (Smithsonian Affiliations), Alice Tangerini traveled to Northfield, Vermont on November 8-10, 2022, to present a lecture and display artwork at the Sullivan Museum. The Sullivan Museum at Norwich University is the only affiliate partner in the Northeast and had a current exhibition on one of their alumni, William Brenton Boggs. Boggs was on the North Pacific Exploring and Surveying Expedition and the U.S. National Herbarium has collections from that expedition. Tangerini’s talk, “Botanical Illustration, Then and Now,” included a history of illustration in publications mentioning the changes in media used and a synopsis of collecting specimens for herbaria, preparation of herbarium specimens, and illustration techniques. She included the story of the series of cactus illustrations made for the Whipple Pacific Railroad Survey of 1854 and how they were discovered in the herbarium. She emphasized the importance of keeping records of illustrations and how they add to our history in the sciences. The talk was well attended with an overflow in another room and recorded for later viewing. Tangerini brought full size copies of illustrations to the lecture and was able to have a small display of the Department of Botany’s Art Collection.
On December 1, 2022, Gary Krupnick gave an invited webinar, "A Natural History Approach to Protecting Pollinators" for the Let's Talk Gardens webinar series hosted by Smithsonian Gardens. Pollinators are critical to environmental health, our nation’s economy, and our food security. But many pollinators are in serious decline. Krupnick's presentation provided insight into the natural history of plant-pollinator interactions and how biologists, gardeners, and community scientists can help protect plants and their pollinators.
My name is Carl Johnson, and I am the new Horticulturist over here in the weird and wonderful Botany Research Greenhouses. I moved to the DC area from eastern Connecticut. I got my first years of horticultural experience at Logee’s, a rare and tropical plant nursery. It was there that I developed an appreciation for unique plant species and the nuances of taking care of them. I attended the University of Connecticut earning a bachelor’s degree in Plant Science and Ornamental Horticulture. I had several on-campus jobs and extension internships. I worked in the research and student plant collections as a plant care specialist. I also interned in the plant diagnostic lab where nurseries and homeowners could send in problem plant samples for diagnosis. When the pandemic began, I started making instructional videos for house plant enthusiasts that the UConn extension would share on their YouTube page. I am coming to the Smithsonian Institution from the U.S. Botanic Garden where I worked in the Plant Collections division where I worked primarily with their aroid collection. I live in Capitol Hill Southeast with my dog Sven, a ten-year-old English Setter. My hobbies include hiking and trying out new flavors of ice cream. I am very excited to be here at the Smithsonian and to contribute to this awesome Botany Department.
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