The Plant Press

Three Botany staff members retire

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

Botany gathered in-person on December 15th to say thanks and farewell to three long standing members of our department. Together, Bernadette Gibbons, Stan Yankowski, and Liz Zimmer have more than 110 years in service to the Smithsonian Institution. Several former fellows and interns joined us in celebrating their impact.

At a Department of Botany retirement party on 15 December 2022, Bernadette Gibbons (left), Stan Yankowski (middle), and Liz Zimmer (right) each receiving a gift from Botany staff in appreciation and celebration of their service to the Smithsonian. (photos by Shruti Dube)

Bernadette Gibbons joined the department as a Secretary in October 1994. For 28 years she was a constant presence in the front office, carrying out an ever-evolving list of administrative functions. She showed incredible dedication in helping not only staff, but also contractors and visitors in navigating the museum and departmental systems. Gibbons further served as a copyeditor for The Plant Press since 2011.

Stan Yankowski joined the department in November 1972 as a Museum Specialist. He jumped right into plant anatomy and was long responsible for the oversight of the anatomy lab in the Department of Botany. He also managed our vast wood collection and was responsible for many aspects of departmental safety. Over the past 50 years, he trained and assisted a huge number of researchers with plant anatomy techniques and has left some big shoes to fill.

Liz Zimmer joined the Smithsonian in June 1990. She was recruited by the National Museum of Natural History to bridge the Department of Botany and the Laboratory of Molecular Systematics at the Museum Support Center, but she later transitioned to the museum. As one of the pioneers in DNA-based molecular phylogenetics, she played a critical role in bringing the department and the museum into the molecular era. She has been honored with the Dobzhansky Prize, conferred by Society for the Study of Evolution (1982), a Radcliffe Fellowship, conferred by Harvard University (2004–2005), an NSF Visiting Fellowship for Women (1993–1995), and a Smithsonian Scholarly Studies Award (2020). She has served as the Editor-in-Chief for the journal Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution since 2018. Her collaborative spirit has had an outsized impact on students, interns, fellows, and staff over the past 32 years.

Botany is grateful to Bernadette, Stan, and Liz for their service to the department, the museum, and the greater scientific community. They are a testament to the great things that can be accomplished in working together. We wish them all the best in retirement.

A special herbarium visit by the Dugand family

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

By Virginia Vélez Thaxton, horticulturist with the Smithsonian Gardens

As a Smithsonian Gardens employee who loves working with plants, visiting a herbarium is always a treat. In the fall I was lucky to be part of a very special visit to the United States National Herbarium, with some special guests from afar, which I coordinated with Gary Krupnick (National Museum of Natural History).

Gary Krupnick, Beatriz Dugand, David Visbal, and Orlando Visbal examining specimens collected by Armando Dugand. (photo by Virginia Vélez Thaxton)

The guest were representatives of three generations of descendants of Armando Dugand, a Colombian botanist, who collected almost 3,000 specimens from the late 1930s to the 1960s. The specimens are housed at the US National Herbarium and the guest also happen to be my relatives!

The short and emotional visit took place on the morning of October 13. During a visit to Washington DC, my cousin Beatriz Dugand, Armando’s granddaughter, her son Orlando Visbal, and her grandson David Visbal, got the opportunity to see in person some of the plants collected and described by their relative years ago.

The botanist Armando Dugand Gnecco (1906-1971) was an important scientist in his native Colombia during the 20th century. From 1940 to 1953, he was director of the Institute of Natural Sciences of the National University of Colombia, and in 1940 he co-founded the scientific journal Caldasia. He was a member of the American Society of Plant Taxonomists (ASPT) and the International Association for Plant Taxonomy (IAPT). He is author to many taxonomical names in the Colombian flora, with 242 names published according to IPNI (International Plant Names Index).

Progress in taxonomy and evolution of the licorice family

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

-Adapted from the Chinese Academy of Sciences

Plants in the genus Glycyrrhiza (Fabaceae) are an important biological resource and one of the bulk of traditional Chinese medicinal materials. Its medicinal functions have been known in many countries in Asia, Africa, and Europe since ancient times. The medicinal licorice species of this genus contain a variety of secondary metabolites, among them glycyrrhizic acid and liquiritin, which have the effects of eliminating phlegm and relieving cough. Glycyrrhiza and Glycyrrhizopsis make up the tribe Glycyrrhizeae. At present, the classification of this tribe is controversial, which affects its application to a certain extent.

Flower and fruit morphologies of three varieties of Glycyrrhiza glabra. Flowers (upper left) and fruits (upper right) of Glycyrrhiza glabra var. glabra; fruits of G. glabra var. uralensis lower left); and fruits of G. glabra var. inflata (lower right). (image from J. Syst. Evol. doi: 10.1111/jse.12902)

In a newly published study, researchers extracted low-copy nuclear genes from genome shallow sequencing data, built trees together with chloroplast genome and ribosomal DNA, and combined morphological and specimen image recognition technologies for classification and phylogenetic research. The study found that the genus Meristotropis endemic to Central Asia should be merged into the genus Glycyrrhiza, so the genus contains 13 species; while its sister group Glycyrrhizopsis is endemic to the West Anatolian Plateau and only contains two species.

Pollinators take spotlight at the NAPPC 2022 Conference [Video]

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

The 22^nd Annual International Conference of the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC) was held at the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) on 18-20 October 2022. NAPPC's mission is to encourage the health of resident and migratory pollinating animals and the plants they service in North America. Co-hosted by Pollinator Partnership, the meeting brought together NAPPC partners in-person and virtually from throughout North America and beyond.

The NAPPC Conference included keynote speakers, member updates, research reports, and task force breakout sessions. Task Forces are cross-discipline, short-term, project-oriented groupings designed to accomplish specific tasks. Since 1997, the 170+ members of NAPPC have made advancements for pollinators, people, and the planet.

Thoughts, impressions, and observations at the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity Conference of the Parties (COP15), Montreal, 6-19 December 2022

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

By W. John Kress

The Fifteenth Conference of the Parties (COP) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Montreal was held on 6-19 December 2022. I spent the first week physically in Montreal as an Observer at COP representing both the Earth BioGenome Project and the DSI Scientific Network, and the second week monitoring the conference virtually. Below are my notes and impression of the proceedings.

Report on first week

The contact group on digital sequence information (DSI). The group meet during the first week of COP15 in Montreal, Canada. (photo by W. John Kress)

These first days have been packed with plenaries, regional meetings, contact groups, friends of the co-chairs, summits, side events, focus groups, presentations, informal discussions, and outside protests. With over 1,800 participants representing 193 countries, the venue is bursting. It is clear that one thing is on everyone’s mind: biodiversity. The four goals of the CBD are the conservation of biodiversity, the sustainable use of biodiversity, the equitable access and benefit sharing of biodiversity (especially genetic resources and digital sequence information), and the identification of adequate financial resources for implementation. Swirling around these four core goals are issues of climate change, protected areas, the global public good, capacity building, indigenous peoples and local communities, genetic resources, digital sequence information, business and finance, and on and on. Of course, everyone has an opinion and a position on each issue.

This first week is about information sharing, staking out positions, and building allies. Those of us who are “Observers” are primarily trying to provide the necessary information for the national delegates to make informed decisions when the hardcore negotiations take place next week. All options seem to be on the table right now with regards to many of the 20+ targets under consideration.

An expression of protest at the 15th Conference of the Parties in Montreal, Canada. (photo by W. John Kress)

I am here in Montreal representing “Academia and Research” as an Observer for the Earth BioGenome Project (EBP), an international initiative aimed at generating genomic information for all species currently on Earth, about 1.8 million species. Most of my time is being spent in discussions on figuring out the best means to access genetic resources around the world, generate digital sequence information (DSI) from those samples, share the genomic data in an open and free system, and ensure that benefits (both monetary and non-monetary) flow back to the regions where those genetic resources originated. It is not clear at this point what the solution will be. From the scientific perspective, open access and multilateral regulation with free public data sharing is by far the best course of action. But many viewpoints prevail.

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

The Plant Press newsletter transitions to online-only publication

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

By Gary Krupnick, Editor

Since 1998, The Plant Press has been the official quarterly newsletter of the U.S. National Herbarium and the Botany Department of the National Museum of Natural History. Since its inception, the newsletter has been printed and delivered free of charge to a broad international subscription base. In 2013, a companion website was launched, making full issues of The Plant Press available as PDFs online, with articles from each issue also individually blogged throughout the quarter.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, production of printed issues stopped, with online publication of the newsletter being the only viable option. After many months of thoughtful discussion following our return to the museum, the editor of The Plant Press and the Chair of the Department of Botany came to the decision to fully transition to an online-only newsletter. Printing will not resume. The January 2020 issue (Vol 23, No. 1) was the last printed issue.

Eliminating print distribution has several benefits including a reduced cost for the Smithsonian, an expedited timeline for readers to access each issue, and a lessened environmental impact saving trees and reducing waste and energy costs. Going forward, every issue will be available as a PDF for download, allowing users to print their own copy should they desire to read a hard copy of the newsletter.

The PDF newsletter still has the same sections as the print version: News, Articles, New Faces, Staff Activities, Travel, Visitors, Honor & Awards, Publications, and Botanical Illustrations. Articles appearing in the PDF newsletter and the blogged articles are identical for the most part, with some online blogged articles having more imagery and hyperlinks.

To access the newsletter online, please visit The Plant Press at https://nmnh.typepad.com/the_plant_press/. Downloadable PDFs of every issue are available under the “Printed Issues” tab at the top of the screen.

To receive quarterly PDF issues by email, please subscribe to The Plant Press listserv by sending a message to listserv@si-listserv.si.edu containing only the following in the body of the text: “SUBSCRIBE PLANTPRESS-NEWS Firstname Lastname” (replace “Firstname Lastname” with your name). Leave the subject line blank.

To have individual blog articles delivered directly to your inbox, you can now set up a subscription service for notifications. On the website, in the box in the upper right, enter your email and click “subscribe”. The new email service is powered by follow.it, which has replaced feedburner, a former service shut down by Google in 2021. Follow.it is provided free of charge and subscribers can set email delivery settings at a frequency of their choosing.

Amigos de las Gramíneas en México

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

By Paul M. Peterson and Konstantin Romaschenko

Paul Peterson, Research Botanist and Curator, has been collaborating with botanists in México for more than 37 years on taxonomic, biogeographic, and evolutionary studies of the grasses. This past fall, from 15 October to 16 November 2022, Peterson and Konstantin (Kostya) Romaschenko, Research Associate, traveled to Central México to collect specimens for numerous ongoing projects principally involving Dr. Yolanda Herrera Arrieta at Instituto Politécnico Nacional, CIIDIR Unidad Durango-COFAA in Durango and Dr. Jesus Valdés Reyna at the Universidad Autónoma Agraria Antonio Narro in Saltillo.

Muhlenbergia subg. Trichochloa near La Vuelta, Querétaro, México. (photo by Kostya Romaschenko)

The flora of México is extremely diverse, and the country ranks fourth in the world with more than 30,000 different species of flowering plants, compared to only 18,000 in the USA and 12,000 in all of Europe. The Poaceae or Gramineae are also diverse in México with more than 1,300 species. Peterson has traveled and collected more than 13,500 numbers in México on 28 expeditions, beginning in 1983 and 1984 with Robert F. Thorne and Carol Annable to the Sierra Juarez and Sierra de San Pedro Mártir in Baja California, and then throughout México in 1985 and 1986 to gather material of the annual species of Muhlenbergia in the tribe Cynodonteae for his PhD studies. If you want to work on grasses Muhlenbergia is a good choice because it is the most speciose genus in México with 130 species. The National Museum of Natural History’s previous Curator of grasses, Thomas Soderstrom worked on the tall perennial species of Muhlenbergia (subg. Trichochloa) for his PhD studies.

Art by Alice Tangerini: Vitis rotundifolia Michaux

From Plant Press, Vol. 25, No. 4, October 2022.

Vitis rotundifolia, or muscadine, is a grape species from the southern USA commonly used as fruits or for cooking and making jelly, juice, and wine. It is a close relative of Vitis popenoei from Mexico and adjacent regions. Alice Tangerini used a variety of herbarium specimens for her drawing, taking advantage of many specimens collected by Jun Wen. Images of the living plant and fruit were numerous on the web and were used to convey a more natural appearance of Vitis in the drawing. The illustration appears in The Flora of North America: North of Mexico (Vol. 12 Magnioliophyta: Vitaceae to Garryaceae). Tangerini was challenged to reduce the drawing to a small size to fit the FNA format. The illustration was also selected for the t-shirt design by the FNA group for Botany 2016.

Summer internships

From Plant Press, Vol. 25, No. 4, October 2022.

This summer, Sundre Winslow, an intern participating in the Natural History Research Experiences (NHRE), worked on a research project, “Tropical to Temperate Transitions in the Genus Prunus” with Richard Hodel, Jun Wen, and Elizabeth Zimmer. Winslow presented her findings at an NHRE symposium in the museum on August 4.

From June 20 to August 12, Alice Tangerini supervised summer intern to botany, Abigail (Abbey) Paradis. Paradis organized, labeled, and made folders for the hundreds of Cuatrecasas illustrations in the Botanical Art Collection, scanned 40 drawings to fulfill a request from a researcher, scanned 25 other new drawings for the Botanical Art Collection and helped scan and organize Poaceae drawings dating from the 1970s and 1980s. Using Adobe software, Paradis was able to optimize the resolution and improve images of the scans. She used Photoshop to improve digital photos for publications. She also illustrated a living specimen collected by Jason Grant from the SI Botanical Research Greenhouses that had been photographed by Leslie Brothers and vouchered but not yet identified. Her drawing, along with images of the specimens, proved it to be Commelina tuberosa from Ecuador, and has now been added to the Botanical Art Collection.