The Plant Press

Corpse flower creates a stench in the research greenhouse

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

A Titan arum (Amorphophallus titanium) flowered in the Botany Department Research Greenhouses on the afternoon of July 6, 2022, and lasted only 24 hours before the spathe began to shrivel. The flowering was unexpected as the corm was small – no bigger than a basketball – and produced a small inflorescence, only 82 cm tall (not including its stalk).

Titan arum (Amorphophallus titanium) flowering in the Botany Research Greenhouses on the morning of July 7, 2022. (photo by Ken Wurdack)

The Department of Botany has multiple Titan arum corms of varying sizes and had flowerings in 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2013, and 2021, the last of which during the Covid-19 pandemic prematurely collapsed and never fully opened. Some of these flowerings have been put on public display at the U.S. Botanic Garden.

The floral scent of rotten meat can be detected far away and has evolved to entice carrion beetles and flies in Indonesia where the species is native. The inflorescence initially has a female phase when it first opens, followed by a male phase with the anthers releasing copious pollen. Eventually, the plant will then die back and enter a resting phase as an underground corm, after which it will send up a large umbrella-like leaf.

The inflorescence of Titan arum (Amorphophallus titanium) on July 7, 2022. (photo by Ken Wurdack)

Lost South American wildflower named “extinctus” rediscovered (but still endangered) [Video]

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

-Adapted from the Field Museum.

Scientific names get chosen for lots of reasons-- they can honor an important person, or hint at what an organism looks like or where it’s from. For a tropical wildflower first described by Smithsonian Botanist Laurence Skog and his colleague Lars Kvist in 2000, the scientific name “extinctus” was a warning. The orange wildflower had been found 15 years earlier in an Ecuadorian forest that had since been largely destroyed; Skog and Kvist suspected that by the time they named the species, it was already extinct (Syst. Bot. Monogr. 59: 1-118; 2000; https://doi.org/10.2307/25027883). But in a new paper in PhytoKeys (https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.194.79638), researchers report the first confirmed sightings of Gasteranthus extinctus in 40 years.

The bright orange flowers of the Ecuadorian cloud forest herb Gasteranthus extinctus, a species once long believed to have gone extinct. (photo by Riley Fortier)

“Extinctus was given its striking name in light of the extensive deforestation in western Ecuador,” says Dawson White, a postdoctoral researcher at Chicago’s Field Museum and co-lead author of the paper. “But if you claim something's gone, then no one is really going to go out and look for it anymore. There are still a lot of important species that are still out there, even though overall, we're in this age of extinction.”

Botanical data for all: The U.S. National Herbarium is digitized! [Video]

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

By Sylvia Orli and Julia Beros.

The breadth of collections held at the U.S. National Herbarium (USNH) document the incredible biodiversity and botanical heritage on our planet and serve as the backbone of our work. In service to the public and as the foundation for research, these collections, as they exist now and grow, are at the core of our mission and purpose as an institution. Making these assets available, in physical and digital form, is a fundamental part of fulfilling our responsibility. The USNH is one of the world’s largest and most diverse botanical collections, accounting for nearly 5 million specimens, the digitization of which fulfills our goal to make specimen data and images discoverable and accessible to all.

Since 2015, the Department of Botany and the Smithsonian Digitization Program Office (DPO) have embarked on a joint project to digitize all pressed and packeted plant specimens, which comprise the great majority of our collections. Collaborating with the contracted digitization company Picturae, based in the Netherlands, we have employed a conveyor belt system and a high-throughput approach to realize this ambition. This approach to digitization provides high resolution images and transcriptions of label data for each specimen. These assets are ported to our data catalog and subsequently aggregated with global collections data from other herbaria. By these means, the digitization of the USNH has a huge impact on botanical research throughout the world—collecting and codifying data that can unexpectedly inform the work of researchers near and far.

Untangling the roots of plant genomes: Supporting a 'moonshot' for botany

From Plant Press, Vol. 25, No. 2, April 2022.

Adapted from the Botanical Research Institute of Texas

Research featured in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (119: e2115640118; http://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2115640118) highlights the progress of plant genomics and includes a roadmap for the enormous task of sequencing the genomes of plants worldwide.

The article, titled "Green plant genomes: What we know in an era of rapidly expanding opportunities," underscores the significance of this massive endeavor.

"Nearly half a million species of plants inhabit the Earth today and the secrets to understanding nearly everything about them is hidden in the sequences of their DNA (the plant genome)," said W. John Kress, senior author of the paper and Curator Emeritus at the Smithsonian. "Plants are the foundation of environments across the planet and deciphering their genomes will be a game changer for understanding nearly all aspects of our own lives, from improving foods and medicines to inspiring artists and enhancing ecosystem stability."

The article highlights the contributions of Global Genome Initiative for Gardens (aka GGI-Gardens), based at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden and Botanical Research Institute of Texas (FWBG|BRIT) and funded by the Smithsonian Institution. Co-author of the article, Morgan Gostel, is the director of GGI-Gardens and has managed the international partnership since it began in 2015. To date, GGI-Gardens has supported the collection and preservation of genomic tissue from more than 10,000 species of plants.

“The biggest challenge to jumpstarting an ambitious genome sequencing project like the Earth BioGenome Project is getting access to high-quality tissue from almost half a million species of plants on Earth,” Gostel said. “With our current technology and expectations for where sequencing technologies are headed in the future, high-quality plant tissue, either from well-preserved or fresh collections is critical.”

One in three tree species face extinction, study finds

From Plant Press, Vol. 24, No. 4, October 2021.

Thirty percent of the world's trees are threatened with extinction, according to the new State of the World's Trees report. The report, compiling work led by the Global Tree Assessment (GTA) and launched by Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), is one of the first assessments of the world's threatened trees and is the culmination of five years of research to identify major gaps in tree conservation efforts.

Examining the globe’s 60,000 tree species, it reveals that 30% (17,500) of tree species are currently at risk of extinction. That means there are twice the number of threatened tree species globally than threatened mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles combined. 

The report reveals that globally over 440 tree species are right on the brink of extinction, meaning they have fewer than 50 individuals remaining in the wild. These species are found all over the world, from the Mulanje cedar in Malawi, with only a few remaining individuals on one mountain, to a species of alani (Melicope balloui) found only in Hawai’i that has not recently been sighted in the wild.

The report finds hope for the future, however, as conservation efforts led by the botanical community worldwide are growing. Identifying which trees are at risk and ensuring these are protected is the most effective way to prevent extinction and restore endangered species. The report reveals that at least 64% of all tree species can be found in at least one protected area, and about 30% can be found in botanic gardens, seed banks, or other ex situ collections, but further action is needed.

Behind-the-scenes video takes you inside the Botany Digitization Conveyor project [video]

From Plant Press, Vol. 24, No. 4, October 2021.

A behind-the-scenes video of the Botany Digitization Conveyor project is now available on YouTube  where you can see the conveyor belt in action and hear about the workflows and processes that made the project such a success. After 6 years of digitizing the US National Herbarium, the digitization project is nearly complete. By January 2022, nearly 4 million catalog records of the herbarium’s botanical specimens will have been digitized, each with a high-resolution image. All flowering plants and ferns, lichens, bryophytes, and algae will be represented online (see the online collection portal). 

The behind-the-scenes video was featured during the “Biodiversity Digitization: A Decade of Success” (Biodiversity Digitization 2021 | iDigBio) virtual conference. Co-sponsored by the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), iDigBio, and GBiF, the two-day conference held on September 22 and 23 celebrated the collective successes of mobilization and efforts to digitize the world’s biodiversity data in the US and abroad. Participation by NMNH staff in the conference included six speakers and four virtual tours of the museum’s collections. Over 800 attendees pre-registered for this event.

The virtual conference provided both detailed looks at specific work being done in digitization, as well as a broad outlook on the meaning and significance of digitized collections. The themes for the two-day conference were innovations, community, grand challenges, what’s next, and looking to the future of digitization.

Other behind-the-scenes tours featured at the conference include those of the Entomology Collection, Molluscs Collection, and Cultural Objects. Each video is part of NMNH’s “Natural History for Scientists” YouTube channel.

A behind-the-scenes video of the Botany Digitization Conveyor project features Sylvia Orli and Victor Shields (Picturae) with an introduction by Eric Schuettpelz.

Native Pollinator Garden Recipe Cards are now available

From Plant Press, Vol. 24, No. 3, July 2021.

The National Museum of Natural History has teamed with the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC), a collaborative body of more than 170 partners, in making Native Pollinator Garden Recipe Cards. These regionally specific cards, available for download at <https://www.pollinator.org/gardencards>, were designed with easy-to-follow guidelines for creating home pollinator gardens that provide a diverse and colorful floral display throughout all growing seasons. The regional cards provide specific recommendations for native plant species to meet the unique environmental characteristics associated with each region and the pollinators that depend on native habitat. Look for these plants where native plants are sold – native plant nurseries and plant sales sponsored by native plant societies, nature centers, and conservation districts.

This Northeast Native Pollinator Garden Recipe Card is one of eight new 2-sided cards designed with easy-to-follow directions for creating home pollinator gardens that provide a diverse and colorful floral display throughout all growing seasons.

Birds, bats, bees, butterflies, beetles, and other animals that pollinate plants are responsible for bringing us one out of every three bites of food. They also sustain our ecosystems and produce natural resources by helping plants reproduce. This service is a precious resource that requires attention and is increasingly in jeopardy. Many populations of pollinating species are in decline and this decline is attributed most severely to a loss in feeding and nesting habitats. Adding natural habitat areas helps. Home gardens can attract and benefit pollinators.

The Native Pollinator Garden Recipe Card series has been designed for the Northeast, Northwest, Intermountain West, Great Plains, Midwest, Southwest, Texas, and Alaska with additional cards coming soon for N. California, S. California, and the Southeast. The recipe cards were a collaborative effort developed by the NAPPC Selecting Plants for Pollinators Task Force of which Gary Krupnick (NMNH) is a member. NAPPC's mission is to encourage the health of resident and migratory pollinating animals in North America. NAPPC raises public awareness about pollinators’ importance to agriculture, ecosystem health, and food supplies, promotes restoration of pollinator habitat, and supports scientific, economic, and policy research. As a founding participant, NMNH has been a collaborative partner of NAPPC since its inception in 1999.

Specimen spotlight

From Plant Press, Vol. 24, No. 3, July 2021.

Murraya paniculata collected by T.K. Ping in Guangdong, China on 28 July 1925.

M-U-R-R-A-Y-A. That's how you spell, Murraya, a genus of flowering plants in Rutaceae, the citrus family. It is also the winning word that earned 14-year-old Zaila Avante-garde the Scripps National Spelling Bee championship in July 2021. She is the first Black-American to win the 96-year-old event, and she hails from Harvey, Louisiana.

Murraya plant species are native to Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands. Orange jasmine (Murraya paniculata) attracts bees with its small, fragrant flowers and attracts small frugivorous birds with its oval, orange-red berries. The U.S. National Herbarium houses 70 pressed specimens of M. paniculata, including one collected in southeast China in 1925, coincidentally the same year as the first Scripps National Spelling Bee.

The Department of Botany extends its congratulations to Zaila on her botanically inspired win!

Small, fragrant flowers of orange jasmine (Murraya paniculata) are attractive to bee pollinators. (photo by Andrés Montesinos)

By the numbers

From Plant Press, Vol. 24, No. 2, April 2021.

The staff of the Department of Botany continues to make a strong push to make the U.S. National Herbarium’s collection of over 5 million specimens available online. The Botany Specimen Catalog is available at https://collections.nmnh.si.edu/search/botany/?ti=2. As the current pandemic continues, Botany staff sequestered in their homes continue to accomplish the goals of a fully accessible catalog of specimens. Below are some notable numbers and figures from the digitization project:

___________

4.14 million

The number of catalog records online

___________

3.6 million

The number of catalog images

___________

577,000 and 635,000

The number of catalog records and images, respectively, added in 2020

___________

95%

The percentage of all pressed sheets that have a catalog record

___________

325,000

The number of cryptogam (lichens and bryophytes) catalog records coming online soon

___________

Top 5

The country with the most collections is the United States, followed by Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, and Peru

János Xántus, a 19th century collector

From Plant Press, Vol. 24, No. 1, January 2021.

By Julia Beros.

“There are thousands and thousands of ways to dig out a little plant, even if one has to resort to digging with his own nails,” such is the acumen of János Xántus, rather John Xantus, or perhaps Louis Vesey, or potentially and more accurately, J. Xántus de Vesey. A man enrobed by myth and lore Xántus was a famed Hungarian lawyer, then Lieutenant and then exile, but foremost a self-taught collector of plants and animals who contributed to the foundations of the Smithsonian Institution and the namesake to many novel species. Depending on where you look for information he is described as a zoologist, or an ornithologist, a naturalist, but never defined as a botanist. In a recent publication in Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. Hung. (111: 145-177; 2019) by Daniel Pifkó of the Hungarian Natural History Museum’s Botany Department, researchers endured a massive undertaking of finding and accurately cataloging Xántus’ early plant collections from the 1850s in North America, which were sent largely unidentified and with jumbled data, ultimately delivering clarity and placing his collections in context with its greater and mythic history.

Holotype of Mimosa xanti (Fabaceae) collected in Cape San Lucas, Mexico by János Xántus between August 1859 and January 1860.

Born in Hungary in 1825, Xántus finished his secondary schooling and promptly pursued a legal career. In 1848, the Hungarian Revolution spurred war and Xántus at age 23, equipped with cartographic skills, became a chief lieutenant. He was captured and sent to Austria to be enlisted in the army there, but was soon freed and while fleeing was arrested again in Prague, where he somehow escaped and absconded to the United States. Arriving with seven dollars, Xántus made a career of odd jobs, visiting different cities and leaving “after picking conflicts” with locals, and then enlisted in the U.S. army where his unlikely career in science began. Enlisting under the name “Louis Vesey” his first station was at Fort Riley in Kansas where he met William Alexander Hammond, military physician and neurologist who made a hobby of collecting biological specimens for naturalist friend Spencer Fullerton Baird (Smithsonian Curator who served as Assistant Secretary and then as the Smithsonian Institution’s 2^nd Secretary from 1878-87). The serendipity of this first assignment for Xántus gave him not only opportunity and motivation to collect biological specimens but training and mentorship from one of the world’s leading naturalists of the time as well. As one of Baird’s goals was to make the natural history collections more robust he was happy to enlist more collectors (keeping a vast list of contacts around the continent to solicit for collecting and sending material) and continue building the nation’s collections of a practically unstudied flora, essentially from scratch.