The Plant Press

New species of Gesneriaceae named after Funk [Video]

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

- Adapted from Nature India.

Researchers from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, India have discovered a new species of plant in Mizoram belonging to Gesneriaceae.

A newly discovered violet is named Didymocarpus vickifunkiae after American botanist Vicki Funk. (photo by N.S. Prasanna)

The discovery, they say, is the fruit of extensive fieldwork across northeast India and rigorous sifting through plant specimens in herbariums across the world.

The new plant species sheds some light on the unique evolutionary trajectory of flora in the northeastern parts of India. Such findings, the researchers say, are important in designing conservation approaches to protect the fragile ecosystems of northeast India.

Named after the late botanist Vicki Ann Funk from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), the plant (Didymocarpus vickifunkiae) is an endangered species that currently grows in three districts of Mizoram. It grows on moss-covered trees and blooms light pink flowers during the monsoons.

Demissew receives 18th Cuatrecasas Medal [Video]

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

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.

Sebsebe Demissew accepts the 18th José Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany during the virtual 18th Smithsonian Botanical Symposium.

This year the 18^th José Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany was presented to Sebsebe Demissew.

Professor Demissew earned a B.Sc. in 1977 and a M.S. in 1980 from Addis Ababa University, and his Ph.D. in 1985 from Uppsala University for research on Maytenus, a genus of Celastraceae in tropical Africa and Arabia. His doctoral training was sponsored during the early stages of the Ethiopian Flora Project and he later (from 1996 to its successful completion in 2009) provided leadership of the project involving 91 scientists from 17 countries. This 8-volume work covering 6000 species of ferns and flowering plants with 12 percent endemism, is one of the few finished African floras.

It takes two: A synopsis of a symposium about symbiosis [Video]

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

By Gary A. Krupnick

The 18^th Smithsonian Botanical Symposium, co-hosted by the Smithsonian’s Department of Botany and the United States Botanic Garden, was held virtually over two days on May 13 and 14, 2021. The Symposium, “Plant symbiosis: The good, the bad, and the complicated,” was originally scheduled to take place in May 2020 at the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) in Washington, DC, but the coronavirus global pandemic pushed the symposium to 2021. The digital event this year successfully brought together six engaging speakers in a Zoom webinar setting to explore current research in the diversity of plant symbioses, examining the relationships plants have with insects, fungi, bacteria, and even other plants. Invited speakers included botanists, ecologists, microbiologists, and geneticists whose research unravels the complicated relationships that plants have with their collaborators and competitors in the natural world.

Rebecca Johnson delivers opening remarks and spoke about the museum’s strong relationship with the U.S. Botanic Garden and our shared mission to educate the public about plants.

Eric Schuettpelz, Chair of Botany at NMNH, welcomed the virtual audience to the symposium and Rebecca Johnson, Associate Director for Science and Chief Scientist at NMNH, provided opening remarks. Johnson spoke about our strong relationship with the U.S. Botanic Garden and talked about our shared mission to educate the public about plants and their importance to people and the environment. She celebrated the amazing progress that the Botany Department has made in fully digitizing the specimens in the U.S. National Herbarium and the benefits of those digitized specimens to the scientific community. Even though the museum’s doors have been closed, the research still goes on.

Kenneth Wurdack, NMNH Department of Botany, presented the annual José Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany to Sebsebe Demissew from Gullele Botanic Garden and Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. Demissew accepted the Cuatrecasas Medal from Africa. He expressed his gratitude and encouraged those viewing the symposium to initiate collaboration with Ethiopian botanists.

Sebsebe Demissew accepts the 18th José Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany remotely from Ethiopia, Africa.

Summer explorations: Descubre la historia natural [Video]

From Plant Press, Vol. 23, No. 4, October 2020.

Marcos Caraballo Ortiz teaches students how to draw different types of leaves during the five-day Spanish-language virtual program, ¡Descubre la historia natural!

In early August, scientists from the Departments of Botany, Vertebrate Zoology, and Mineral Sciences joined staff from across the museum to participate in ¡Descubre la historia natural!, the last of a three-week-long online Summer Explorations series hosted by the National Museum of Natural History’s Office of Education, Outreach, and Visitor Experience. The Spanish-language program attracted audiences from across North and South America, as well as participants from Europe. The five-day program was led by educators Odalys Lugo-Morales and Juan Pablo Hurtado Padilla. It featured Efrain Tejada (Museum Educator) and Chris Mooney (Insect Zoo) giving an introduction to the museum, Vanessa Gonzalez (Genomics Scientist) on genomics, Hurtado Padilla (Microscopy Educator) on electron microscopy, Adela Roa-Varon (Ichthyologist) discussing what makes a fish a fish, Marcos Caraballo Ortiz (Botanist) exploring the structure of fruits and seeds, and Gabriela Farfan (Mineralogist) on the art and science of creating gems. 

Pages from a student’s personal natural history field book created during the five-day Spanish-language virtual program, ¡Descubre la historia natural!

The program was recommended for students in grades 3-7, but was open to all ages. Science skills were taught through live webinars, recorded videos, and hands-on activities and projects. During the week, participants were encouraged to create their own personal natural history field books and they were invited to share their entries at the end of the program. All lessons have been archived and are available on the program’s website at <https://naturalhistory.si.edu/education/natural-history-summer-explorations/descubre-la-historia-natural> and submissions from the participants can be seen at <https://spark.adobe.com/page/WeEqVWMAgvz1F/>.

Video after the jump...

SPNHC and ICOM NATHIST go virtual [VIDEO]

From Plant Press, Vol. 23, No. 3, July 2020.

by C.L. Kelloff, M. Toner, and L. Palmer

The COVID-19 pandemic has made us rethink how we do business. Many of us are working at home and balancing family needs with work projects. Activities such as concerts, conferences, and all events where people congregate are cancelled or postponed. The joint meeting with the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) and International Committee for Museums and Collections of Natural History of the International Council of Museums (ICOM NATHIST) was scheduled to be held in Edinburgh, Scotland in 2020. Instead of cancelling, a group of committed SPNHC members including Liath Appleton, Andrew Bentley, Emily Braker, Mariana Di Giacomo, Phaedra Fang, Elspeth Haston, Shelley James, Talia Karim, Amanda Lawrence, Paul Mayer, Cindy Opitz, Rebecca Newberry, Deborah Paul, Christel Schollaardt, Barbara Thiers, Debra Trock, Dorit Wolenitz, and Breda Zimkus created a meeting that took place in the digital world. Special thanks to all.

SPNHC and ICOM NATHIST hosted the virtual meeting on 8-12 June 2020 using the Zoom video conferencing platform. The conference was free to members and offered online events to foster conversations across the joint worldwide communities, included a plenary session, symposia, presentations as well as 5-minute specimen spotlights. Total attendance was just under 2,000 participants. Business and committee meetings for the two societies were held via Zoom, allowing members to attend and participate from across the world. Zoom allows for participates to chat with one another during the conference and this allowed for lively real time discussions. With two time-blocks established for the sessions to ensure that the meeting was as globally inclusive as possible, it was deemed a success with the average number of attendees per session well over 200.

Video after the jump...

Earth Optimism Digital Summit gives hope [Video]

From Plant Press, Vol. 23, No. 3, July 2020.

The Earth Optimism Summit, hosted by the Smithsonian Institution, was originally scheduled to take place in Washington, DC, with concurrent sister events around the world, on April 22-26, 2020, to coincide with the 50^th anniversary of Earth Day. In response to the coronavirus global pandemic, the Summit was moved to a digital event on those days, and it successfully showcased stories of both small and large-scale actions, framing the conversation and demonstrating that success is possible.

The Earth Optimism Digital Summit launched with a film night on Earth Day, April 22, and then continued April 23 and 24. A live broadcast with formal programming online on Facebook Live, Twitter, YouTube and on the Earth Optimism website attracted viewers from around the world, and the digital summit was rebroadcasted through that weekend. More than 100 global leaders shared successful conservation and sustainability strategies being deployed worldwide, and discussed how to scale and mainstream these strategies to achieve transformative change.

Video after the jump...

Children are learning how to press plants at home [Video]

From Plant Press, Vol. 23, No. 3, July 2020.

During the current COVID-19 pandemic, teachers and parents have been looking for creative ways for their children to connect with nature and learn about science. Museum Specialist Erika Gardner and members of the Office of Education & Outreach at the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) have recently produced a set of videos, articles, and webinars to teach, inspire, and guide children and adults on the joy and creative process of pressing plants. These activities allow individuals to connect with, learn about, and document the plants growing in their own yards.

The team made a video on how to build your own plant press, which was uploaded to NMNH’s Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube accounts. Smithsonian Voices also published an article, “How to Press Plants from Your Backyard,” which was uploaded to the Smithsonian Magazine webpage. The step-by-step instructions include a list of materials and the processes of assembling a press, drying the plants, and removing the pressed plants. The activity is designed for both younger and older children, and adults can get in on the fun as well.

Several families sent photos of their homemade plant presses to the museum’s Department of Education & Outreach.

Once the plants are dried and pressed, creative activities come into play. In a June 13 video webinar for families, Gardner showed families how to use pressed plants for art projects like greeting cards and bookmarks, and she shared best practices for keeping one’s own pressed plant collections.

Video after the jump...

Vicki Ann Funk, influential Smithsonian botanist, dies at 71

From Plant Press, Vol. 23, No. 1, January 2020.

By friends and colleagues, Department of Botany

Vicki Funk was a Senior Research Botanist and Curator at the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany. She was a world expert on the taxonomy and biogeography of the sunflower family, Compositae, which is the largest family of flowering plants with more than 27,000 species. During her distinguished career, Vicki achieved preeminence in the fields of plant systematics, phylogenetic methods, biogeography, and biodiversity conservation. Vicki’s global research, innovative ideas, and passion for mentoring have had a strong influence on the direction of botanical research and the career development of many colleagues, students and collaborators, both nationally and internationally. Following treatment for an aggressive cancer, Vicki died at her home in Arlington, Virginia on 22 October 2019.

Vicki Funk collecting plants on Volcano Tacna, Chile in 2014. (photo by Mauricio Diazgranados)

Throughout her career, Vicki sustained an outstanding level of productivity, authoring more than 320 peer-reviewed publications and serving as an editor/author of nine collaborative books. The spectacular book Systematics, Evolution, and Biogeography of the Compositae (2009) will be a long-lasting testament to her legacy and impact on the field of plant biology. This nearly 1,000-page collaboration brought together essentially all of the world’s experts and, in an award-winning standardized format, elaborated the evolution and classification of each genus across the entire family. The book is the most authoritative reference for the largest family of plants.

Vicki not only published extensively on the Compositae, but also was responsible for organizing major collaborative projects that generated a range of ground-breaking studies on the systematics and evolution of this large, diverse, ecologically important and taxonomically difficult family. As early as 1980, she was instrumental in pioneering the use and development of modern phylogenetic methods (cladistics) in systematic botany and indeed across biology overall. As well, she recurrently participated in or organized research symposia which generated three seminal works (Funk and Brooks 1981, Advances in cladistics: Proceedings of the first meeting of the Willi Hennig Society; Platnick and Funk 1983, Advances in cladistics: Proceedings of the second meeting of the Willi Hennig Society; Wagner and Funk 1995, Hawaiian Biogeography: Evolution on a hot spot Archipelago). These volumes hastened an avalanche of new analyses on phylogenetics, biogeography and study of island evolution.

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.

---

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!

---

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.

---

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.

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).