The Plant Press

Outside of the cabinet and into the garden: Vicki Funk’s extraordinary legacy in botanic gardens

From Plant Press, Vol. 27, No. 3, July 2024.

By Morgan Gostel

When most of us in the Natural History community think of botanical collections, our first thought is of herbaria and the critical role they play in documenting and preserving the rich diversity of plants and lichens on Earth. Indeed, herbaria play an increasingly important role in advancing botanical science and are arguably the single most important scientific resource available to confront and overcome the biodiversity crisis for plants and lichens. However, another resource plays a key role in advancing plant science, conservation, and education – the diverse collections stored in botanic gardens worldwide. The history of botanic gardens and herbaria is inextricably linked. Despite the parallel role of these institutions, their connections faded throughout the 20^th century. According to Index Herbariorum, there are currently 3,567 herbaria worldwide, and Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) estimates there are more than 3,000 botanic gardens and arboreta. Although the aim and scope of herbarium is often distinguished from botanic gardens, a significant historical component of these institutions is linked through their role in facilitating research, notably taxonomy and systematics (see Dosmann 2006). One individual who saw enormous potential for herbarium and botanic garden collections to grow together was Vicki Funk. Funk’s impact and legacy in phylogenetic theory, biogeography, and plant systematics and evolution – particularly in the daisy family, Compositae – are enormous and widely recognized. Perhaps less well-known, however, is the great collections-based legacy she left for botanic gardens.

Vick Funk (second from left) collecting with interns Sara Gabler, Asia Hill, and Kristen van Neste (left to right) at the U.S. Botanic Garden. (photo courtesy U.S. Botanic Garden)

Ten years ago, in 2014, Funk was motivated to explore the role that botanic gardens might play in advancing collections-based research, particularly in the genomic era. To Funk, the crux of this motivation was a fervent belief that botanic gardens are in a unique position to facilitate plant collections-based research, yet surprisingly the living collections that gardens maintain and the dedicated staff who grow them were increasingly disconnected from herbaria and the broader research community. According to Funk, botanic gardens held vast collections of diverse living plants that were underutilized for research. Throughout her career, Funk was an ardent advocate for the importance of scientific vouchers and the critical role of natural history collections as foundational institutions for biological science. Encouraging botanic gardens to rediscover their historical connections to herbaria and more actively collect scientific vouchers could lead to an untapped wellspring of botanical knowledge.

Peter F. Stevens receives the 21st Cuatrecasas Medal

From Plant Press, Vol. 27, No. 3, July 2024.

The José Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany is named in honor of Dr. José Cuatrecasas, a pioneering botanist and taxonomist, who spent nearly a half-century working at the National Museum of Natural History. Cuatrecasas had a distinguished career devoted to systematic botany and plant exploration in tropical South America, especially in the Andes, and this award serves to keep vibrant his accomplishments and memory. The Department of Botany and the U.S. National Herbarium present this award at the Smithsonian Botanical Symposium to a botanist and scholar of international stature who has contributed significantly to advancing the field of tropical botany. The award consists of a bronze medal bearing an image of José Cuatrecasas on the front with the recipient’s name and date of presentation on the back.

This year the 21^st José Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany was presented to Peter F. Stevens, an accomplished scientist, botanist, and author.

Peter F. Stevens (right) accepts the 21st José Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany presented to him by Laurence Dorr. (photo by Ken Wurdack)

Stevens most recently held joint appointments as a Professor of Biology, University of Missouri-St. Louis and Research Curator, Missouri Botanical Garden. After receiving a B.S. from Oxford University, he went to Edinburgh where he received a Ph.D. in 1971. His dissertation was simply titled Taxonomic studies in Ericaceae, but it was deceptively influential in influencing subsequent research on that family.

His first professional post was as a Forest Botanist in Papua New Guinea. There he collected plants mostly in the highlands, gained further experience with tropical Ericaceae, and developed interests in other primarily tropical families such as the Clusiaceae. His three years in New Guinea were influential in fostering his interests in plant families, identification, and tropical botany in general.

Leaving New Guinea, Stevens moved half-way around the globe to accept an appointment as an Assistant Curator at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, which had a long-standing interest in Asian (and Malesian) botany. Eventually, he became a tenured professor at the university. While at Harvard he also had teaching responsibilities and served as principal advisor to a number of graduate students interested in tropical plant systematics. He also began publishing on aspects of systematic philosophy, especially examining the conflicts between morphological character states and phylogenetic hypotheses.

Moving half-way across the continent to St. Louis in the late 1990s, Stevens continued his research and teaching but also was one of the principal architects in constructing the Angiosperm Phylogeny Website, which continues to be a remarkable and valuable tool for anyone interested in up-to-date information on the 400 plus families of flowering plants. Without doubt, Stevens has contributed in innumerable ways to advancing the field of tropical botany.

Department of Botany travel award recipients announced

From Plant Press, Vol. 27, No. 2, April 2024.

Named awards are presented annually to support the study of collections in the United States National Herbarium. This year, a total of eight awards were made. Each of the 2024 awardees will visit for approximately one month over the course of the next year.

Harold E. Robinson & Vicki A. Funk Award

Danielle Remor
Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana (Brazil)
Systematic studies in the Stilpnopappus alliance (Asteraceae: Vernonieae)

Fabiula Moreno Arantes
Uberlândia Federal University (Brazil)
Systematics and floral evolution of Wunderlichioideae, an endemic subfamily of South America

José Cuatrecasas Award

Ana Gabriela Martínez Becerril
National Autonomous University of Mexico
Unraveling the systematics of a tropical fern clade in the megadiverse genus Elaphoglossum (Dryopteridaceae)

Andrés Fonseca Cortés
Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana (Brazil)
Systematics of Macropsychanthus (Leguminosae): phylogeny, biogeography and taxonomic revision

Atiles Reis Junior
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
Systematics of the neotropical Diplazium cristatum complex

Rosa María Villanueva Espinoza
South China Botanical Garden
Taxonomy and phylogeny of the genus Justicia (Acanthaceae: Justicieae: Justiciinae) in Peru

Yeison Londoño Echeverri
University of Antioquia (Colombia)
Taxonomic synopsis of the family Rutaceae Juss. (Sapindales) in Colombia: diversity, endemism, new species, and conservation status

Lyman B. & Ruth C. Smith Award

María Fernanda Valencia Escalante
Universidad Nacional de Colombia
Systematics of the "Sodiroa" group within Guzmania Ruiz & Pav. (Bromeliaceae: Tillandsioideae)

Travel award recipients visit Smithsonian

From Plant Press, Vol. 27, No. 1, January 2024.

Igor Azevedo is a 2020 José Cuatrecasas Fellow studying the taxonomy of Trichantherinae (Acanthaceae).

Igor Azevedo, a post-doctoral researcher from Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso, Cuiabá, Brazil, is studying the taxonomy of Acanthaceae. He has been working on this family since the beginning of his undergraduate career, and now his research focuses on revising the taxonomy, phylogeny, and biogeography of members of Trichantherinae, a Neotropical subtribe with six genera and about 80 species distributed from the Amazon to Mexico. The U.S. National Herbarium houses a great number of collections of this group including more than half of its type specimens. Consulting the collection was essential to finish the first part of his taxonomic revision of the genus Sanchezia. During an October 2023 visit to the herbarium as a 2020 José Cuatrecasas Fellow, he was able to confirm at least 10 new species, which are now being prepared for publication. The correct identification of the collections of Trichantherinae species is also highly important for the next steps of his project, especially the biogeography, in which he will evaluate both the geographic distribution of the species and their evolution associated with the paleohistory of their habitats.

Liris Barbosa is a 2023 José Cuatrecasas Fellow studying the taxonomy of Bidens (Coreopsideae, Asteraceae).

Maria Liris Barbosa de Silva, a Brazilian PhD student in Botany at Programa de Pós-Graduação em Botânica, da Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana (PPGBOT-UEFS) is a 2023 José Cuatrecasas Fellow. Her thesis aims to produce a molecular phylogeny of the genus Bidens (Coreopsideae, Asteraceae) focusing on the pantropical clade and conduct a taxonomic study of Brazilian species within the genus. During her visit to the United States National Herbarium, she was able to analyze the morphology of specimens of Bidens from Africa, Central and South America, as well as the Pacific Islands, including type materials of Bidens species that occur in these areas. She acquired 19 samples of 14 species for DNA extraction, improving her sampling of the pantropical species. Her morphological analysis and the new DNA samples acquired will contribute to the overall understanding of the taxonomic and evolutionary relationships within the genus.

Florencia Dosil, the 2023 Robinson & Funk Fellow, is working on a systematic revision, phylogeny, and biogeography of the Neotropical species of Adenostemma (Eupatorieae, Asteraceae). She is a doctoral student from Museo de La Plata, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina, and she visited the herbarium from October to November.

New issue of International Journal of Plant Sciences honors Vicki Funk

From Plant Press, Vol. 26, No. 3, July 2023.

The cover image of the International Journal of Plant Sciences (volume 184, number 5; 2023) features Vicki A. Funk in a photo dated 2008 and seen through a mosaic composed of images of capitula representing all major groups of Compositae.

A special issue of the International Journal of Plant Sciences just published (volume 184, number 5; 2023) honors Dr. Vicki Ann Funk (November 26, 1947–October 22, 2019), who passed away after a battle with an aggressive cancer. Vicki Funk was an inspirational evolutionary biologist and a champion for collections-based systematics and biogeography. She had broad influence on the way we perform our collections-based systematics today, especially with the development of phylogenetic systematics in botany in the early 1980s and throughout her career. Funk was one of the most active, enthusiastic, and passionate professional botanists of our time. She combined these qualities with a quick mind and glowing wit, with new ideas or opinions that she was eager to share with anyone who would listen, and be willing to enter an engaging dialogue.

During her distinguished career, Funk achieved preeminence in the fields of phylogenetic methods, systematics, biogeography, and biodiversity conservation. She devoted a significant part of her career to mentoring the next generation of botanists and working with groups to tackle larger areas of research, especially Compositae systematics, phylogenetics, and biogeography.

The special issue organized by Jennifer Mandel, Erika Moore-Pollard, Mauricio Bonifacino, Jun Wen, and Warren Wagner consists of eight papers on Compositae (Asteraceae) systematics by various colleagues, two more on collections for botanical systematics, and concludes with a tribute to her career and contributions by Wagner and Wen.

A diplomatic solution: Demissew receives physical Cuatrecasas Medal

From Plant Press, Vol. 26, No. 3, July 2023.

Sebsebe Demissew. (photo by

In May 2021, Professor Sebsebe Demissew was awarded the Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History (NMNH). He was recognized for his life's work in conserving and recording the very diverse Ethiopian flora with its many endemic species, and for his leadership of the Ethiopian Flora Project and the National Herbarium. Normally the engraved medal is presented in person to the recipient at the beginning of the annual Smithsonian Botanical Symposium, which NMNH hosts in concert with the U.S. Botanic Garden (USBG). The pandemic, however, forced NMNH and USBG to hold a virtual symposium and travel from Ethiopia to Washington was not feasible. Fortunately, Demissew joined the symposium remotely via Zoom and he spoke briefly after it was announced that he was the medal recipient.

Safely conveying the physical medal to Demissew, however, stymied the award committee until they described their dilemma to Carolyn Glassman, the U.S. Department of State’s liaison to the Smithsonian Institution. Glassman contacted the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa and they agreed to allow the medal to be sent via diplomatic pouch. Embassy staff then went above and beyond the committee’s expectations by organizing an early afternoon reception on the botanical garden-like Embassy grounds where Ambassador Tracey Ann Jacobson presented the medal to Demissew. A little magic with cell phone technology and Microsoft Teams allowed some members of the committee in Washington to observe the ceremony and they happily conveyed once again to Demissew their appreciation for his contributions to tropical botany. The committee was also very pleased that Ambassador Jacobson and the U.S. Embassy recognized the importance of his research for Ethiopia and the world.

Ambassador Tracey Ann Jacobson presents the José Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany to Sebsebe Demissew. (image courtesy of the U.S. Embassy Addis Ababa)

Social media posts by the U.S. Embassy Addis Ababa appeared on Twitter and Facebook:

Congrats Dr. Sebsebe Demissew! We were pleased to honor Dr. Sebsebe with the @NMNH’s José Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany for his life’s work in conserving & recording Ethiopian flora & for important contributions to global understanding of plant biodiversity. pic.twitter.com/elOxDZVyEf

— U.S. Embassy Addis (@USEmbassyAddis) April 20, 2023

Rafaela Campostrini Forzza receives the 20th Cuatrecasas Medal [Video]

From Plant Press, Vol. 26, No. 3, July 2023.

The José Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany is named in honor of Dr. José Cuatrecasas, a pioneering botanist and taxonomist, who spent nearly a half-century working at the National Museum of Natural History. Cuatrecasas had a distinguished career devoted to systematic botany and plant exploration in tropical South America, especially in the Andes, and this award serves to keep vibrant his accomplishments and memory. The Department of Botany and the U.S. National Herbarium present this award at the Smithsonian Botanical Symposium to a botanist and scholar of international stature who has contributed significantly to advancing the field of tropical botany. The award consists of a bronze medal bearing an image of José Cuatrecasas on the front with the recipient’s name and date of presentation on the back.

This year the 20^th José Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany was presented to Rafaela Campostrini Forzza, an accomplished scientist, science administrator, and educator.

Rafaela Campostrini Forzza accepts the 20th José Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany.

Tangerini and Yankowski each recognized for 50 years of career service

From Plant Press, Vol. 26, No. 2, April 2023.

On February 15, 2023, the National Museum of Natural History held a staff recognition ceremony where the museum honored museum staff for their career service and presented peer recognition awards. Career service awards were given to Alice Tangerini and Stanley Yankowski for their 50 years of service, MaryAnn Apicelli for her 30 years of service, and Ingrid Lin and Meghann Toner for their 10 years of service.

At the ceremony, Laurence Dorr gave remarks about Tangerini before Sant Director Kirk Johnson awarded her with her 50-year pin. Dorr shared Tangerini’s story about how she got started at the museum and her accomplishments to date. In part:

In 1972, after graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Virginia Commonwealth University, Alice was hired as a full-time Smithsonian employee. She is the first and to date only botanical illustrator employed by the Institution in its long history. Since her debut with Lyman Smith, she has illustrated over 1200 species of plants for numerous curators and research associates, and her illustrations have appeared in countless scientific periodicals, floras, textbooks, and other book publications. Unlike other disciplines in the museum where color is critical, botanical illustrations are typically B&W line art, which Alice has mastered. She has worked with pen and ink, graphite, and—recently—digital color to produce illustrations. Her attention to detail is unparalleled and sometimes she discovers characters that the scientist utilizing her talents failed to see. Thus, the eponymous bromeliad or pineapple relative Navia aliciae came to be named in her honor after she observed characters overlooked by the authors of the species who were consequently obliged to revise their manuscript. […]

For many of us who work in botany Alice’s artistic talents have made our scientific publications more attractive (and impressive). For all of us who work in botany, this super friendly, knowledgeable, great baker, who takes on all sorts of projects, even though she’s overloaded with work, has made the herbarium a more pleasant and congenial place to work. We hope to see her smile here for years to come.

Alice Tangerini receives her 50-year pin from Sant Director Kirk Johnson. (photo by Phillip R. Lee, Smithsonian Institution)

Similarly, Eric Schuettpelz gave remarks about Yankowski before Johnson awarded him with his 50-year pin. In part:

In 1972, Stanley Yankowski graduated from the State University of New York at Oswego, with a degree in Biology. He had taken a graduate course in plant anatomy and corresponded with Richard Eyde, a curator in Botany, who invited him to visit the National Museum of Natural History to explore opportunities. Later that year, Stan moved to Washington, having accepted a position in the Plant Anatomy Lab, where he would be able to use his newly acquired laboratory skills. Over the next 50 years, Stan worked closely with several curators in botany. But arguably his biggest impact was through his work with interns and fellows. Stan was a master in the anatomy lab and a patient teacher. He was especially skilled at sectioning and staining challenging samples—skills he passed on to generations of students. […]

For decades, Stan was also responsible for the management of our vast wood collection, corresponding with researchers and preparing sections for study. His talents in imaging wood diversity are currently on display in the Objects of Wonder exhibit [in the museum].

The Smithsonian Department of Botany offers congratulations and expressions of gratitude to Tangerini, Yankowski, and all other staff members for their years of service.

Stanley Yankowski receives his 50-year pin from Sant Director Kirk Johnson. (photo by Phillip R. Lee, Smithsonian Institution)

U.S. National Herbarium appears on the shortlist for Apollo’s Digital Innovation of the Year award

From Plant Press, Vol. 26, No. 1, January 2023.

The United States National Herbarium made a surprise appearance on Apollo magazine’s shortlist for their annual awards. In the "Digital Innovation of the Year" category, the herbarium was recognized for completing its seven-year project to digitize its plant collections and making the comprehensive digital data catalogue of images of specimens and transcribed labels fully accessible to the public. Working with the Smithsonian Digitization Program Office, the herbarium digitized and transcribed more than 3.8 million specimens.

The United States National Herbarium recently completed a seven-year project to digitize and transcribe more than 3.8 million botanical specimens, landing the achievement on Apollo magazine’s shortlist for "Digital Innovation of the Year" award. (photo by Ingrid Lin)

Founded in 1925, Apollo is one of the world’s oldest and most highly respected international magazines on the visual arts. The magazine has been recognizing major achievements in the arts for over 30 years, bestowing honors in the following categories: personality of the year, acquisition of the year, exhibition of the year, book of the year, museum opening of the year, digital innovation of the year, and artist of the year.

Sylvia Orli, the herbarium's digitization lead, commented, “We were quite tickled to be nominated for this award. We understand the value of the herbarium specimens to botanists around the world, but we did not realize that the art world was also paying attention to our efforts.”

Apollo announced its shortlists for each category on November 25, 2022, with the U.S. National Herbarium joining ArtCentrica, Ars Publicata, Art UK Sculpture, Artwrld, and Factum Foundation on the shortlist for "Digital Innovation of the Year." While Art UK Sculpture was the eventual winner at an Apollo Awards ceremony on December 6, the U.S. National Herbarium was honored to receive such recognition.

It's #BragFriday. So here we go: Apollo, the international art magazine, released its shortlist today for their annual awards and in the "Digital Innovation" category we're proud to say our Botany Department made the cut. 👏https://t.co/uxZyleI5l4 pic.twitter.com/WquhzZvfAs

— Smithsonian NMNH (@NMNH) November 25, 2022

Honors & Awards

From Plant Press, Vol. 25, No. 3, July 2022.

Jun Wen is a recipient of the 2022 Research Grants Program of the Associate Director for Science and Chief Scientist (ADCS) at the National Museum of Natural History. A total of 16 highly competitive proposals representing the seven science departments at the museum were received and ranked by a peer review committee representative of NMNH science. Of the seven scientists to receive grants, Wen was awarded for her proposal, “Investigating the evolutionary history of temperate disjunctions across North America: a case study on grapes and hickories in the Mexican highlands.”

Carya ovata as seen in the John Fairey Garden, Texas. (photo by Jun Wen)

Wen and Research Associate Greg Stull will investigate a geographic connection involving plant populations disjunct between the southeast United States and the highlands of Mexico and Central America. Many plant species include populations disjunct between these geographic regions, suggesting a dynamic history of migration across North and Central America during the past ~5 million years. Many of these understudied disjunct populations might also represent distinct species. Using two angiosperm groups (grapes and hickories) as a case study, Wen and Stull will reconstruct the history of plant migrations between these regions and search for cryptic diversity in the Mexican highlands, setting the stage for a broader study of this potentially fundamental biogeographic pattern.