The Plant Press

Staff Activities

From Plant Press, Vol. 22, No. 2, April 2019.

Emmanuel Kyei-Baffour and Maggy Benson (Education & Outreach) interview lichenologist Manuela Dal Forno during a broadcast of “Exploring the Amazing World of Lichens” on Smithsonian Science How. (photo by Jennifer Renteria, NMNH)

On 28 March, Manuela Dal Forno participated in two video broadcasts of “Exploring the Amazing World of Lichens” on Smithsonian Science How, a free, interactive, live video webcast that takes questions from students while introducing them to science concepts and practices through the lens of Smithsonian research and experts. In the video, archived at <https://naturalhistory.si.edu/education/distance-learning/exploring-amazing-world-lichens-manuela-dal-forno>, Dal Forno takes students on an exploration of the world of lichens, helping them to realize that lichens are living all around us—from forests to city streets. She explains what lichens are and how the lichen symbiosis works. Classes across the country had the opportunity to see Manuela’s student interns in action extracting DNA from lichens in one of the Smithsonian’s labs. Throughout the live broadcast, Dal Forno took questions from students via text chat. In addition to the archived video, companion worksheets and answers with the theme, “Exploring Lichens,” are available.

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Gary Krupnick engages with teens in a conversation about the importance of pollination and food security. (photo by Christian Lilakos, NMNH)

On 16 March, more than 130 local teens participated in the third annual Teen Earth Optimism event in Q?rius, the science education center at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. A collaboration with the Smithsonian Conservation Commons, the event focused on the ethics, nutrition, culture, and innovation of food. Experts from multiple Smithsonian units, teen leaders, and local non-profits participated. Teens engaged with scientists at several conservation stations that ranged in topics from composting and the history of food to bird-friendly coffee and the sustainable management of fisheries. Gary Krupnick spoke with teens about the role of pollination in food security and the steps individuals can take to support the health of pollinator populations. With a couple minor exceptions, all of the waste from the program was recycled or composted, resulting in a near-zero waste event!

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Visitors participate in drawing orchids at the Open Studio Botanical Art Event at the National Museum of American Art. (photo by Alice Tangerini)

On 15 March, Alice Tangerini participated in the Open Studio Botanical Art Event as part of the Orchid Show in the Kogod Courtyard at the National Museum of American Art (NMAA). Tangerini provided her drawings of orchid flowers, in pen and ink and then digitally colored, which previously were signage for the NMNH Orchid Show in 2007. Organizers made hundreds of copies of the drawings as handouts and provided art materials for the visitors. Over 200 visitors came to the Open Studio event between 1:00 and 5:00 pm, often filling all 16 tables arranged in the Courtyard. Smithsonian Gardens had staff on hand to provide information on the orchids. Tangerini and Jill Galloway, NMAA’s local art instructor, provided advice and instruction on drawing or coloring the orchids in pencil and watercolor.

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National Museum of Natural History participants honor International Women’s Day. (photo by Lucia RM Martino and James Di Loreto, Smithsonian Institution)

On 8 March, scientists, research associates, students, and contractors from the Department of Botany joined other women from the National Museum of Natural History to participate in a group photo honoring International Women’s Day. The photo gives tribute to all the past, present, and future generations of women in STEM.

Art by Alice Tangerini: Dryopteris macropholis Lorence & W.L.Wagner

From Plant Press, Vol. 22, No. 1, January 2019.

Asexuality, in the form of apomixis, may help ferns colonize islands more readily, but little is known about the incidence of asexuality across the group. Dryopteris macropholis is an endangered fern endemic to the Marquesas Islands. Recent analysis of spores from the type specimen revealed that it is an apomict (see article, "Asexuality as a detour, not a dead end"). Alice Tangerini began this illustration in Kauai at the National Tropical Botanical Gardens in September 2005. She was on a two-week assignment illustrating Marquesas Island ferns for Warren Wagner. Tangerini penciled the drawings at NTBG using collections from Wood 10489. She later inked them in 2009 for the publication.

Described 28 Years Post-Collection, New Grass Species Makes a Strong Case for Conservation

From Plant Press, Vol. 21, No. 3, July 2018.

-Adapted from Pensoft Publishers

Originally collected 28 years ago in Ecuador, new species Poa laegaardiana has been just described, only to find out its prospects for surviving in its type location seem bleak nowadays. The study was published in the open access journal PhytoKeys.

When roaming in the Cordillera de los Andes of Ecuador, near the village of Facundo Vela, little did Smithsonian scientist and author, Paul Peterson, know that a small grass specimen will not only turn out to be an intriguing new species, but will also make a big statement on the importance of conservation.

Almost three decades after its original collection the new species P. laegaardiana has finally emerged from its herbarium collection, but the story took an unexpected twist.

It took the authors a single Google Earth search to find out that what used to be the natural habitat of the newly found densely tufted bunchgrass, is now occupied predominantly by small farms.

Google Earth image comparison between the area of collection in 2011 and today. With the area having been plowed, chances of the grass still existing there are small, however it may still be found along the margins of the fields. (Photo credit: Left @2018DigitalGlobe; Right @2018Google @2018CNES/Airbus)

Heavy agricultural use of the terrain poses a good possibility for P. laegaardiana to have already been extirpated from this location. With the species currently known only from this area, chances are that this newly described species might in fact turn out to be already extinct.

“Further studies are needed to search the area and browse collections for specimens from different locations,” explains Peterson. “But, in fact, it may well be that with our study we are documenting a possible extinction of a species happening in the space of just 30 years. The story of P. laegaardiana serves to show how human-induced habitat loss can indeed be a major threat to the survival of life on Earth.”

The new species was named after renowned Danish botanist Simon Laegaard, who has made extensive collections in South America, Greenland, Ecuador, and Bolivia (accompanied by the authors) contributing to the documentation of the flora to make informed conservation and management plans.

Celebrating the Summer Solstice with Pollinators

From Plant Press, Vol. 21, No. 3, July 2018.

The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) celebrated National Pollinator Week 2018 in June in an effort to raise awareness of the decline of important pollinator populations. On June 23, the Smithsonian Institution hosted Solstice Saturday, a Smithsonian-wide celebration kicking off the summer season. Nearly every Smithsonian museum in the Washington area, the Smithsonian National Zoo, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Maryland, and Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum and the National Museum of the American Indian Heye Center in New York City, extended their hours until midnight, some with special themed and joint programming. NMNH had over 1,000 visitors to its bilingual Pollinator Family Night programs. Over three hours, visitors engaged in a wide variety of activities in Q?rius and Qjr, as well as visiting the Butterfly Pavilion and Insect Zoo.

Barbara Stauffer (Office of Education and Outreach) introduces Kimberly Winter and Gary Krupnick for a question and answer session after a screening of “Pollinators Under Pressure” at a June 2018 Pollinator Family Night event at the National Museum of Natural History. (photo by Laura Cox, Tree Media)

During the Pollinator Family Night event, the film “Pollinators Under Pressure” was featured in the Q?rius Auditorium. The film is about the plight of pollinators around the world and the actions we can all take to ensure their survival and that of humans and ecosystems everywhere. Gary Krupnick (NMNH Department of Botany) and Kimberly Winter (U.S. Forest Service) participated in a questions and answer session with the audience after each of the three showings. The Tree Media film, narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, is available on the website http://www.pollinatorsunderpressure.org and on YouTube (see video below).

Art by Alice Tangerini: Hymenoxys ambigens (S.F. Blake) Bierner var. neomexicana W.L. Wagner

From Plant Press, Vol. 21, No. 2, April 2018.

Reported from southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico, Hymenoxys ambigens is comprised of three local varieties. Variety neomexicana is known from the rocky slopes of the Animas and Peloncillo Mountains of New Mexico, and is ranked as imperiled (T2, NatureServe status). In the cover story in this issue of The Plant Press, Robert Edwards finds that soil pH is a strong environmental variable that is uniquely correlated with diversity in the tribe Heliantheae. Tangerini illustrated this variety for Warren Wagner in his treatment of the species in Brittonia (51: 79-86; 1999).

Art by Alice Tangerini: Dryopteris macropholis Lorence & W.L. Wagner

From Plant Press, Vol. 21, No. 1, January 2018.

Fern diversity is high on the Marquesas Islands in the southern Pacific. On a recent trip to two islands, Ua Pou and Hiva Oa, researchers from the Smithsonian Institution, National Tropical Botanical Garden, and French Polynesia encountered 82 of the 99 indigenous pteridophyte species (see cover article). Among them was Dryopteris macropholis, an endangered species restricted to the mountains of Ua Pou and Hiva Oa, as well as Nuku Hiva, Ua Huka, and Tahuata (also in the Marquesas). Alice Tangerini illustrated this species from the type specimen and field photographs for a 2011 publication (PhytoKeys 4: 5-51) in which 11 new fern species were described from the Marquesas Islands. This plate was illustrated primarily in pen and ink, but additional stippling was added and parts were rearranged in Adobe Photoshop. The frond and stipe (too large to fit in with the details) appeared on a separate plate.

Hidden Inca Treasure: Remarkable New Tree Discovered in the Andes

From Plant Press, Vol. 21, No. 1, January 2018.

-Adapted from Wake Forest News

Hidden in plain sight – that’s how researchers describe their discovery of a new genus of large forest tree commonly found, yet previously scientifically unknown, in the tropical Andes.

Botanist Kenneth Wurdack from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and Wake Forest University graduate student William Farfan-Rios detailed their findings in a study just released in the journal PhytoKeys.

Habit, with paired branching and staminate inflorescences, of Incadendron. (photo courtesy of Jason Houston)

Named Incadendron esseri (literally “Esser’s tree of the Inca”), the tree is a new genus and species commonly found along an ancient Inca path in Peru, the Trocha Unión. Its association with the land of the Inca empire inspired its scientific name.

So how could a canopy tree stretching up to 100 feet tall and spanning nearly two feet in diameter go undetected until now?

New Exhibit has Focus on Seeds

From Plant Press, Vol. 21, No. 1, January 2018.

By Gary Krupnick

In November 2017, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. opened a new Garden Lounge—a public space to rest and recharge among live plants. This light-filled area displays a variety of plants and interpretative text focused on plant dispersal through seeds and spores. A special section of the lounge for young visitors features seating made from tree stumps and kid-friendly text and graphics. The Garden Lounge is a collaboration between the Office of Exhibits, the Department of Botany, and Smithsonian Gardens.

The Garden Lounge at the National Museum of Natural History serves as a welcoming interior garden rest and recharge area for visitors featuring live plants and a relaxing atmosphere with botany content as a frame.

All our lives are intricately connected to plants. The Garden Lounge invites visitors to explore these connections and learn why and how plants “move” or disperse to survive and thrive. The evolution of seed-bearing plants is highlighted, and the parts of a seed are defined. Seed dispersal by wind, water, force, and animal (including humans) is described.

As visitors walk into the hallway on the second floor of the museum, they can see into a light-filled, airy space featuring two large cycads in planters in front of windows, and a central large dragon tree with multiple staghorn ferns growing on its branches. Orchids, bromeliads, ferns, and mosses are displayed in planters below the windows.

A text panel depicts the U.S. National Seed Strategy for Rehabilitation and Restoration as a case study that illustrates the positive aspects of dispersing native seeds to restore and rehabilitate lands damaged by hurricanes, fires, and floods. Mounted on the text display panel are eight vials of native seeds showcasing a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors.

The exhibit was made possible by the work of the exhibit core team: Gary Krupnick, Eric Schuettpelz, and Kenneth Wurdack from the Department of Botany, Samantha Barry from the Office of Education and Outreach, and Lauren Kibbe, Mike Lawrence, Laura Donnelly-Smith, and Ally Silberkleit from the Office of Exhibits. Alex Thompson and Melanie Pyle of Smithsonian Gardens selected and will nurture the plants. Additional expertise was provided by Junko Chinen, Stoy Popovich, Jonathan Zastrow, Sherod Mangum, David Hsu, Natalie Rey, Kevin Moyers, and Elizabeth Musteen.

A Successful Expedition Signifies the Palau Orchid Conservation Initiative is Officially Underway

From Plant Press, Vol. 21, No. 1, January 2018.

By Benjamin J. Crain

The Palau Orchid Conservation Initiative is a collaborative program that focuses on the biology, ecology, conservation, and restoration of orchids and their associated fungi. The program was launched by the North American Orchid Conservation Center (NAOCC), a coalition of organizations established by the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC), the National Museum of Natural History’s Department of Botany and the U.S. Botanic Garden, along with the U.S. Forest Service’s Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry and researchers from Illinois College and the University of Hawaii. The program aims to improve our understanding of orchid communities, their biology, and distribution across Palau while acquiring detailed information on their co-occurrence with specific tree species, vegetation types, soil types, and habitats. The program also aims to explore the diversity of mycorrhizal fungi associated with orchids in Palau to determine how these symbiotic partners influence the diversity, distribution, and abundance of orchid species there.

Taki Falls in Ngrardmau State, Babeldaob, Palau. Several terrestrial and epiphytic orchids were documented at this site. The trail leading to the waterfall is steep and passes through several distinct habitats that support a variety of orchid species. (photo by Benjamin J. Crain)

As a post-doctoral ecologist with NAOCC, I embarked on a two-month collecting expedition in September to document orchid and mycorrhizal diversity in Palau. Through the Palau Orchid Conservation Initiative, the research team aims to improve understanding of biodiversity while helping to sustain it amidst the growing threat of environmental change.

The Republic of Palau is an archipelago of tropical islands in the Pacific and a significant component of the Polynesia-Micronesia global biodiversity hotspot. Palauan islands are generally of two types. Babeldaob, the largest island of Palau is of volcanic origin and somewhat mountainous. The remaining islands, including the famed Rock Islands that are designated as a World Heritage Site, are composed of raised limestone with karst topography, although some persist as low coral atolls. The unique position of these islands between the Philippines and New Guinea results in a flora that is influenced by each of these regions.

Collecting tissue samples and preparing specimens for pressing, drying, and mounting with reserve staff at the Ngardok Nature Reserve ranger station. (photo by Benjamin J. Crain)

Substantial orchid diversity in Palau has been documented during past expeditions of researchers including Noriaki Fukuyama, Ray Fosberg, Agnes Rinehart, and Joan Canfield. The sizable collection of orchid specimens from Palau housed at the U.S. National Herbarium as well as records from the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, New York Botanical Garden, Oakes Ames Orchid Herbarium, and Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle proved critical in compiling a checklist of close to 100 orchid species collected on the islands. Despite the known diversity of orchids in Palau, a number of areas have yet to be surveyed and most areas that have been surveyed have not been visited in many years.

Plants and Pollinator Health are Focus of NAPPC 2017 Conference

From Plant Press, Vol. 21, No. 1, January 2018.

On October 18 and 19, the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC) held its 17^th annual conference, hosted at the American Farm Bureau Federation in Washington, D.C. The meeting highlighted past accomplishments of NAPPC while the collaborative efforts of many people from all over North America worked tirelessly to work in conjunction to promote the health of all pollinators and their native plants.

This year’s conference included diverse presentations from experts at the forefront of pollinator issues. Topics ranged from the Endangered Species Act and the listing of Bombus affinis, to the importance of state apiarists, improvements in Canadian agriculture, pesticide issues, and the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge.

NAPPC convened nine task forces that established yearlong objectives on specific pollinator issues. One task force is working to implement roadside habitat incentives including educational outreach and recognition of best practices. The Monarch task force will focus on engaging broad stakeholders to promote the health of monarch butterfly populations. Gary Krupnick (Smithsonian’s Department of Botany) co-chaired a task force that focused on selecting plants for pollinators, defining plant material needs in context by looking at pollinator plants and determining best management practices.

An optional field trip to the National Museum of Natural History preceded the conference on October 17. Organized by Krupnick, the field trip included behind-the-scene tours of a number of museum research departments and its collections, including the Departments of Entomology (bees and butterflies), Vertebrate Zoology (birds), Botany, Anthropology, and Mineral Sciences. In addition, a guided tour of Smithsonian Gardens’ Pollinator Garden gave insight into the best practices in establishing a garden that showcases natural plant/pollinator partnerships.