From Plant Press, Vol. 28, No. 2, April 2025.
Yeison Londoño-Echeverri, a MSc. student at the University of Antioquia in Medellín, Colombia, visited the U.S. National Herbarium on February 18 to March 20, 2025, as a José Cuatrecasas Travel Award recipient under the supervision of Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez. The main objective of his visit was to enhance his understanding of species limits in the plant family Rutaceae in Neotropics. He considered the visit to be one of the most important milestones in his master’s research project. He examined about 330 type specimens and conducted a rapid review of about 5,300 specimens of Neotropical Rutaceae. He documented and photographed relevant features for the taxonomy of the family, including indumentum types, degree of petals union, number of stamens and staminodes, types of fruits, and more. He also updated the identification of some specimens from Rutaceae and other plant families of his interest. He found specimens of some species potentially new to science and of two new genera currently under study by experts in the family. Academic discussions with Acevedo about the systematics of Sapindaceae, a strongly related family, highly enriched his interpretation of Rutaceae and ideas for further projects.
Ana Gabriela Martínez Becerril, a Mexican botanist, recently joined the Eric Schuettpelz lab as a Peter Buck Postdoctoral Fellow. She earned her Ph.D. with honors in 2023 from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in collaboration with the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT). In 2024, she was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship to conduct research in the Plant Anatomy and Evolution Laboratory at UNAM’s Institute of Biology under the supervision of Marcelo Pace, a former member of the NMNH community. Her research focuses on the diversity and evolution of ferns in the American tropics, with a special emphasis on Mexican species. Her work integrates traditional taxonomy, molecular systematics, herbarium curation, and fieldwork. Throughout her career, she has taken on various academic and professional roles, including laboratory and herbarium assistant, high school biology teacher, and instructor for courses on fern systematics and diversity. During her time at NMNH, she will investigate the anatomical traits of fern rhizomes associated with growth form transitions in the megadiverse genus Elaphoglossum. Using a phylogenetic approach and next-generation sequencing data, she aims to understand the evolutionary processes underlying these transitions.
Atiles Reis, a Ph.D. student at the National Museum at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, visited the U.S. National Herbarium for four weeks, November 11 to December 6, 2024, as a José Cuatrecasas Travel Award recipient. Reis is currently working on the treatment of a large but poorly understood genus of ferns, Diplazium (Athyriaceae), which is closely related to the Lady Fern genus, Athyrium. Two lineages of neotropical Diplazium have recently been circumscribed as two sections: Diplazium sect. Diplazium and Diplazium sect. Trichoneura. Reis’ focus is to develop a monograph for the Diplazium sect. Diplazium, exploring morphological, geographical and molecular datasets, trying to explain the boundaries among the species and how this lineage evolved and occupied several different neotropical areas such as the Central America formations, the Caribbean islands, and the Andean, Amazonian, and Atlantic forests in South America. Reis estimates that more than 30 species can be placed in this group. He is also interested in the occurrence of trophopods (reduced leaves that act as primary or secondary starch reserves) in those plants. Although the last part involves a model cultivated in the Brazilian greenhouses, both studies were only possible by the expressive force of the herbaria. During his visit to the Smithsonian, he examined the Diplazium collection, which contains 5,000 specimens from species around the world, of which 2,700 records are from the Neotropics. Reis’ visit to the Smithsonian, under the supervision of Eric Schuettpelz, was valuable in expanding his knowledge of Diplazium.
Ana María Trujillo López, a MSc. student at University of Antioquia in Medellín, Colombia, visited the U.S. National Herbarium from February 18 to March 20, 2025. She is currently developing a taxonomic synopsis of Macrolobium (Fabaceae) in Colombia as part of her master’s dissertation. Her research aims to shed light on the morphological boundaries between species of Macrolobium, as well as between the genus and nearby genera. Her research will also contribute to the general knowledge of biological diversity in Colombia, it will improve the curation of herbaria, and it will allow advances in the knowledge and publication of new species found in Colombia and neighboring countries. During her visit to the herbarium, she examined nearly 70 type specimens and 1,600 specimens of the genus Macrolobium. She updated the identification of specimens that required new identifications. She reviewed the indetermined Fabaceae and contributed to the identification of some of them. Within these collections, she found nearly 10 new species belonging to Macrolobium that are in the process of being described.
