Plant Science Bulletin
The Plant Science Bulletin (Print:
ISSN 0032-0919, Electronic: ISSN 1537-9752) is an informal communication
published four times a year, with information on upcoming meetings,
courses, field trips, news of colleagues, new books, and professional
opportunities. It provides a means of advertising items or materials
wanted. It also serves as a forum for circulating BSA committee
reports, for distributing innovative teaching approaches and methods,
and for discussing issues of concern to Society members such as
environmental policy and educational funding.
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ISSUES | ISSUE 54-2 as
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SUMMER 2008
Table of Contents
The Students Were Right All Along…Plants Really Are B.O.R.I.N.G.
Symposia in Plant Neurobiology: A New Venue for Discussion of Plant Behavior and Communication
News from the Society:
News rom the Office
Award Recipients
BSA Science Education News and Notes
Editor’s Choice
News from the Sections:
Emanual D. Rudolph Award - Historical Section
Announcements:
In Memoriam
» Jerry McClure (1933-2006)
» James Edward Canright (1920-2008)
Personalia
» Peter Raven Elected to National Geographic Board of Trustees
» Peter Raven wins BBVA Foundation Award for Conservation Biology
Positions Available
» Director, Boyce Thompson Southwestern Arboretum
» Teaching Postdoctoral Position, University of Oklahoma
» Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Ecological Genomics
Symposia, Conferences, Meetings
» New Phytologist Symposia for 2008
» Janet Meakin Poor Research Symposium Explores Climate Change
» IV Latin American and Caribbean Congress of Cacti and other Succulents
Award Opportunities
» Grants for Ornamental Horticulture
Other News
» Lenhardt Library Exhibit Tells Story of Priceless Rare Book
» Three Big Horticultural Honors For The Missouri Botanical Garden
» Charles Darwin's Work with Plants Will Be Brought to Life at The New York Botanical Garden
» New England Wild Flower Society’s Garden in the Woods
» Priming Scientists For Successful Media Interviews
» ‘Parasite Lost’: Botanists Discovers Unusual Plant Missing since 1985
BOOKS REVIEWED
BOOKS RECEIVED FOR REVEIW
BOTANY 2008
Are we part of the problem of declining student
interest in botany because we are making plants
BORING? One certainly can argue that traditional
instruction of traditional material does not help. The
two feature articles in this issue may provide some
ideas to help you infuse some excitement and
wonder into your botany courses. David Senchina
provides some tips that get right to the point of
raising student awareness of the relevance of botany
to their daily lives without necessarily making radical
changes to the rest of your course. I suspect,
however, that if you give them a try, you’ll want to
consider additional changes for the rest of your
course.
The second article was contributed as an
advertisement for a new Plant Society, the Society for
Plant Neurobiology. Their name is meant to be
evocative. It certainly caught my attention and I’m
sure the name, and the plant phenomena on which
it is based, will do the same for students – and
perhaps for you! Dynamic processes in plants --
perception, signaling, and responses -- are anything
but BORING!
With summer upon us, these articles should
stimulate your thinking for trying new things in your
courses next year. For more ideas be sure to join us
in Vancouver this summer. In addition to the
Educational Forum and the BSA and CBA/ABC
Teaching Sections, several symposia will address
concerns and prospects for botanical education. I
hope to see you there! - Editor
The Students Were Right All Along…Plants Really Are B.O.R.I.N.G.
David S. Senchina, Biology Department, Drake
University, 2507 University Ave. Des Moines, IA
50311-4516
Tel. 1-515-271-2956
Fax. 1-515-271-3702
dssenchina@drake.edu
I have been teaching Bio 001 General Biology for
Non-Majors at Drake University every semester
since Fall 2006. Over the semesters, during the
botany unit (in whatever form it takes) I have heard
again and again the same lament from students:
plants are boring. Sometimes students voice this
sentiment abjectly. Other times it is through
questions such as, “Why do we have to study
plants? Why can’t we spend more time on the
animals? They’re more important.” Students seem
to value the study of plants much less than the study
of other organisms. When I ask why in casual
conversation, I get responses such as “plants
don’t move or do anything” or “they’re not cool.”
What struck me about these responses is that they
were similar to what I’d encountered when I was a
TA for the majors’ general biology lab during my
graduate student years in the Botany Department
at Iowa State University. Biology majors or not,
students were not perceiving botany to be interesting
or relevant to them.
Nationally, we have witnessed a decline in interest
in the study of botany as evidenced through
enrollment declines in botany majors (both
graduate and undergraduate), as well as declines
in the number of post-secondary institutions offering
botany majors or botany courses (Uno 2007). Even
at the beginning of the twentieth century scientists
were noticing a waning of student interest in botany
(Bower 1925), with explanations ranging from “dryness” of topic material, too specialized of
material (i.e., of apparently no practical import), or
too much lecture (Hershey 1990; Tamir 1974).
Others have noted that botanists themselves have
treated non-majors botany education with apathy,
or even antagonism (Greenfield 1955), but also that
society’s general disdain for plants is reflected in
the lack of university and general scientific
community support of faculty who engage in botany
education initiatives (Hershey 1989). For some
allied fields such as medicine this is surprising,
given for how many centuries botany and medicine
have been intertwined (Norton 2006). Clearly this
is a multifaceted problem.
The purpose of this communication is to share with
readers one attempt I made to alleviate this problem
in my general biology for non-majors course using
a mnemonic memory technique coupled with a
lecture and activity sequence. Based on results of
a short, casual survey presented below, I believe
this approach was effective in increasing student
appreciation of plants in my own course. I am
humbly sharing this technique with other botany
and general biology educators not so much to
promote the specific learning sequence itself, but
rather to demonstrate that any simple gimmick
such as that given here can be a very quick yet
powerful way to increase student appreciation of
botany. Such devices require little preparation work
and can be easily implemented into pre-existing
curricula.
I will first briefly describe both the nature of the nonmajors
biology course I teach as well as the learning
sequence used and the curricular context. I will then
describe the construction of the short survey and its
results.
Bio 001 is a one-semester, three-credit general
biology course for non-majors at Drake University
with accompanying one-credit laboratory. Within a
given semester, students ranging from freshmen to graduate students enroll (though the majority is
freshmen and sophomores), with an average class
size of 30 students. High school students have
sometimes taken the course as an “advanced
biology” elective. Most students are secondary
education majors, although other education majors,
business majors, and non-biology science majors
(such as environmental science or biochemistry)
comprise significant portions of the class. Thus
there is great variability within the student body and
also a wide range of material needing to be covered
in a given semester. Considering these parameters,
the instructor can only spend a brief amount of time
on each of the core areas of biology in order to survey
the entire field in one semester, and emphasis is
placed on content that will help prepare students for
their future careers (such as teaching in a junior
high or high school classroom, or being a critical
consumer of biology-related information).
As detailed in the opening paragraph, students in
the course have historically perceived plants as
being of little relevance to them. To address this, I
developed a 5-day instructional sequence including
lecture, activity, and a mnemonic gimmick to assist
in memory. The efficacy of mnemonic devices (such
as acronyms) in assisting student memory and
understanding has been shown repeatedly by other
researchers (for just some examples: Fahey and de
los Santos, 2002; Rebok and Balcerak, 1989).
The mnemonic itself played off a quotation taken
directly from the students previously: plants are
“B.O.R.I.N.G.” Each of the letters in the acronym
“B.O.R.I.N.G.” stands for a short phrase summarizing
one way plants are important to human society: B =
botanicals (plant-based medicines), O = our lifestyle
(a miscellaneous category comprising aspects not
covered in other letters, such as relevance of
photosynthesis to human life and biofuels), R =
reactions (allergies and poisonous plants), I =
industry, N = nutrition/food, and G = gardening/
horticulture. These phrases were just “peg words” for more traditional botany content (such as anatomy
and physiology, ecological aspects, etc.) but all
within a human use/economic botany context to
better appeal to non-majors. Admittedly, this
acronym is arbitrary and just one of several that may
be imagined and, further, other educators may wish
to choose different words or assign the letters
differently depending on the nature of their specific
courses. I chose these particular topics due to the
nature of Bio 001. One instructional day was spent
on each of the 6 letters except for “I” and “G” which
were consolidated into 1 day due to schedule
restrictions. The order of presentation was “B”, “R”,
“N”, “I/G”, and “O”. Each class session included not
only lecture but also an engaged learning activity,
such as small group discussion or a hands-on
activity using manipulatives (all of which were
incorporated during the normal lecture period). The
mnemonic was presented only at the opening of
each class period, and letters used previously were
reviewed using student responses. I consistently
emphasized that students should not simply
memorize the 6 letters of the mnemonic as an end
goal, but instead use them as a vehicle to facilitate
memory of more specific aspects of plants’
importance to human society. Thus, although the
mnemonic was the “front man” of the learning
sequence, it was not the sole or overriding
component.
To gauge the effectiveness of this pedagogical
approach, I constructed a short survey which was
given to students before instruction on the first day
of the learning sequence, and after instruction on
the fifth and final day of the learning sequence. Both
the surveys and the learning sequence itself were
approved for use by the Drake Institutional Review
Board (ID# 2007-08029), the human ethics
committee for the University. Twenty-nine students
participated in the unit, with 27 students completing
the pre survey and 28 students completing the post
survey. All survey papers were anonymous and did
not ask any identifying information such as name,
age, gender, race, major, etc.
Items in the surveys were designed to address four
purposes. The primary purpose was to assess
changes in student attitudes or perceptions about
plants as a result of the learning sequence. Although
one question contained in both the pre and post
surveys did assess changes in content knowledge,
the surveys were not designed to be knowledge
surveys (i.e., their primary purpose was not to
assess changes in content knowledge or mastery).
The other two purposes were to assess student
experiences/knowledge of plants prior to instruction,
and to gauge student satisfaction with the learning
sequence itself. Based on these purposes, the pre
and post surveys differed somewhat in content. The
surveys were not designed to be all-encompassing nor were they designed to assess any element of
the learning sequence in isolation.
Surveys contained both quantitative and qualitative
questions and each survey was approximately one
typed page in length. Quantitative items presented
students with a statement and asked them to gauge
their response along a numerical continuum:
strongly agree (1), strongly disagree (7), neutral (4),
or somewhere between those reference points (2-
3 and 5-6). A majority of the quantitative items were
the same in both the pre and post surveys.
Quantitative items shared between the two surveys
were analyzed statistically using unpaired 1-tailed
Student t-tests (because all surveys were
anonymous) when appropriate. An a level of 0.05
was used to determine statistical significance.
Qualitative items presented students with an openresponse
phrase or question (each described
individually below) and asked for a written answer.
Because most qualitative items were restricted to
just one survey or the other, they were each
considered separately. One qualitative item shared
between both the pre and post surveys asked
students to enumerate ways plants are important to
human society.
Because the primary purpose of the surveys was to
assess changes in student attitudes or perceptions
about plants, it was important to first determine
what types of experiences students have had with
plants both inside and outside of the classroom. A
majority of the qualitative items on the pre survey
were constructed to assess this. Of the 27 students
who completed the pre survey, 17 (63%) reported
receiving some form of botany instruction in the
past, with 13 of the respondents indicating their last
experience was a “plant unit” in high school. Only
2 of the 27 students (7%) had grown up on a cropgrowing
farm whereas 1 student had been raised
on a ranch. Twenty-one students (78%) reported
tending or helping to tend a garden in the past
(students described a variety of vegetable, flower,
herb, and fruit gardening). Thirteen students (48%)
said they kept houseplants at home. Ten students
(37%) reported previous exposures to harmful
plants such as poison ivy (8/10), stinging nettle (2/
10), or other injurious plants (3/10). These
responses suggest that while individual class
members have had quite heterogeneous
experiences with plants, most have had some
exposure both inside of and outside of the classroom
prior to Bio 001.
The primary purpose of the survey was to assess
changes in student attitudes and perceptions about
plants as a result of the instructional sequence.
Table 1 presents the 12 quantitative survey items
shared between the pre and post assessments,
student scores at each time point, and significance of comparisons. There was a significant increase
in student agreement to the phrase “I find plants to
be interesting” from pre to post (item #1; p=0.026)
and also a significant decrease in student
agreement to the phrase “plants are boring” (item
#2; p=0.029). Significant increases in agreement
to the phrases “I use my knowledge of plants in my
everyday life,” “it is important for the everyday citizen
to have a broad knowledge of plants”, and “plants
are important to human society” were seen from pre
to post (all p<0.015). There was a decrease in
student agreement to the phrase “apart from a food
source, plants are not very important in my personal
life” from pre to post (p=0.001). No significant
differences were found in student responses to
other survey items.
Additional items were included on the post survey
to better discern how student attitudes to plants may
have changed as a result of the learning series. The
2 additional quantitative statements were: “I feel my
knowledge of plants has increased as a result of
this learning series” and “I feel my appreciation of
plants has increased as a result of this learning
series” (italics are used here only and not in the
actual survey). Students indicated a high level of
agreement to both the knowledge (n=6.2, SE=0.21)
and appreciation (n=6.1, SE=0.22) statements,
suggesting that students felt their understanding of
plants had increased in both respects. One
qualitative item found only on the post survey also assessed changes in student attitudes: “How (if at
all) has your opinion of plants changed as a result
of this learning series?” Of the 28 respondents, 24
(86%) indicated a positive impact of the learning
sequence on their opinions of plants, while the
remaining students indicated their opinion had not
changed (no students indicated a negative impact).
Within just the positive responses, the most common
change mentioned was greater “respect” or
“appreciation” for plants. One student wrote: “I used
to be extremely uninterested but now I think plants
are fascinating and useful.” Other responses
included increased knowledge or interest.
Disappointingly, despite these results, students
did not indicate a greater desire to learn more about
plants from pre to post (Table 1, item #4; p=0.189).
Although it was not the primary purpose of this study
to diagnose changes in content knowledge as a
result of the learning sequence, one qualitative item
shared between both pre and post surveys may
shed some light on this topic. The statement read:
“Please make a list of all the ways you believe plants
may be important to human society (if at all). Please
be specific wherever possible.” Five of the 28
students in the post survey simply wrote down the
acronym with no elaboration; their results were
excluded from further consideration because they
lacked the specificity as requested in the item
Table 1. Results from the 12 quantitative items designed to gauge changes in student attitudes about
plants. Each survey item was presented identically and in the same order in both the pre and post surveys.
For both the pre and post time points, means plus standard errors (SE) are given. The last column
presents the results of a 1-tailed Student t-test comparing pre and post data. Asterisks indicate statistical
significance using a=0.05.
directive and could not be directly compared to other
student responses. On average, the number of
specific ways listed by individual students increased
from pre to post (3.85 vs. 6.35, respectively; p<0.001).
However, the net diversity of responses across the
class did not change from pre to post (28 vs. 28).
Table 2 presents a frequency listing of the top 10
responses at both the pre and post time points;
other responses were not shown for the sake of
brevity. Several caveats should be considered
when examining Table 2. First, Table 2 is based on
only one survey item and therefore is not robust
enough to generate the caliber of conclusions as
seen from Table 1. Second, it does not list all
responses given. Third, the construction of Table
2 was difficult given the way students worded their
responses. As just one example, whether a student
response of “drug” meant medicine or illegal drug
was not always clear (I assumed the former unless
otherwise stated based on the emphasis given to
medicine during the lecture sequences and/or the
context of the response) and responses such as
“drug” and “medicine” were collated into the same
category. Other instructors may have elected to
keep them separate. Fourth, as stated earlier, 5
students were excluded from the results due to their
ambiguous responses. Given these factors, I did
not feel comparative statistics were appropriate.
Table 2 is valuable as a casual metric of where
students’ thoughts were concentrated at the 2 time
points, and also serves as a baseline indicator of
knowledge students had prior to the learning
sequence.
Finally, two quantitative questions were included in
the post survey to gauge student reactions to the
learning series proper. The first item asked: “Did
you enjoy this learning series. If ‘yes’, why? If ‘no’,
why not?” Of the 28 respondents, 27 or 96% enjoyed
the learning series (1 student indicated “neutral”).
Reasons given included the nature of the information
presented, an increase in appreciation for plants, or
that the series was enjoyable/interesting. The
second item asked: “What could be done to improve
this learning series?” Of the 28 respondents, 7
(25%) did not respond, 12 (43%) said “nothing”, and
the remaining students gave a variety of responses.
Two students suggested spending more time on
the sequence and two students suggested
incorporating additional activities. All other
responses were limited to just one student and
included requesting more information on the
medical and nutrition aspects, spending more time
with actual plants, studying local plants, moving the
plant unit to earlier in the semester, and “I didn’t like
learning about the structures” (most likely referring
to the time spent on structure, function, and human
use of roots, stems, leaves, and flowers).
Perhaps the most positive impact of the learning
series was not manifest in the surveys themselves.
In between this learning series and the final, one
non-traditional student who is not my advisee
requested an office visit. When the student arrived,
they explained that they had been floundering for a
major and as a result of this learning series finally
found a topic they were interested in: ethnobotany.
Table 2. Top 10 qualitative responses to the survey item: “Please make a list of all the ways you believe
plants may be important to human society (if at all). Please be specific wherever possible.” This item was
included in both pre and post surveys. Responses are arranged alphabetically. Number of respondents
was 27 for pre and 23 for post. More than 10 items are listed in Table 2 because top responses differed
between the 2 time points.
The student sought help in selecting possible
courses that would assist them in studying
ethnobotany further. To the best of my knowledge,
the student is still on this trajectory.
The survey items employed here cannot formally
speak towards which particular aspect of the learning
sequence (i.e., lecture, activity, or mnemonic)
contributed towards which outcomes of the survey
because no survey items addressed this issue. In
fact, I specifically avoided mentioning the mnemonic
in the survey because I did not wish to bias the
results. The positioning of the surveys relative to the
learning sequence is also important to consider.
For example, in the post survey it is clear from
responses that students recalled information from
the latter portion of the learning sequence more
readily than information from the beginning. Further,
we cannot determine from these results how much
effort students put into the surveys; for example,
because the post survey occurred at the end of the
instructional period, students may have rushed through the survey and not fully demonstrated their
thinking. Alternatively, students may have
responded in ways they thought would please the
instructor and not according to their natural thoughts.
Taken together, these results suggest that this
particular initiative was effective in increasing student
appreciation of plants. It is likely that similar
initiatives launched in other classrooms would
yield comparable outcomes. I have shared my
experiences in this forum in the hopes that other
educators can take these anecdotes and adapt
them to their own classrooms for similar benefit. It
is imperative that college educators in both general
biology and botany classrooms exchange ideas,
not only to improve student learning, but also to
identify student trends (such as apathy towards
botany instruction) and techniques for facilitating
greater appreciation of plants. Identifying and
working towards remediating these trends now will
ensure that future generations of educators do not
neglect botany instruction in their own classrooms.
References
Bower, F. O. (1925). “English and German botany in the middle and towards the end of the last century.”
New Phytologist 24(3): 129-137.
Fahey, J. A. & G. de los Santos (2002). “Memory improvement and research related to the science of
memory.” Education: Winter 2002.
Greenfield, S. S. (1955). “The challenge to botanists.” Plant Science Bulletin 1(1): 1-4.
Hershey, D. R. (1989). “Plant scientists should promote plant science through education.” The Plant Cell
1(7): 655-656.
Hershey, D. R. (1990). “More than a name change needed.” Plant Science Bulletin 36(2): 1-2.
Norton, S. A. (2006). “Whither medical botany?” Canadian Medical Association Journal 174(13): 1877-
1878.
Rebok, G. W. & L. J. Balcerak (1989). “Memory self-efficacy and performance differences in young and
old adults: The effect of mnemonic training.” Developmental Psychology 25(5): 714-721.
Tamir, P. (1974). “Botany and zoology—a curriculum problem.” Journal of Research in Science Teaching
11(1): 5-16.
Uno, G. (2007). “The struggle for botany majors.” Plant Science Bulletin 53(3): 102-103.
The world’s oldest species of tree has surprised botanists by producing seeds in Britain.
The 2 million-year-old Wollemi Pine was thought to be extinct – and had been identified only
from fossils – when a crop of 100 trees was found in Australia in 1994. Now a Wollemi at
Tregothnan Gardens in Cornwall has become the first in the Northern Hemisphere to
produce cones, right. Officially closed for winter, the gardens will open this weekend for
visitors to see the tree. Jonathon Jones, the gardens’ director, who said the pine was an
“unbelievable sight”, hopes to raise seedlings.
From The Times, April 16, 2008 www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article3753771.ece
Symposia in Plant Neurobiology: A New Venue for Discussion of Plant Behavior and Communication
Plants perceive and respond to subtle changes in
their environments. They actively engage in complex
ecological interactions with one another and with
other organisms. Underpinning these activities is
a variety of chemical, electrical, and hydraulic
signaling and response pathways that are
becoming increasingly well documented by
science. Modern plant biology textbooks include
detailed information on these topics, stemming
from discoveries first described in the scientific
literature of the 19th century and even earlier. Yet,
there remains a general unawareness among
many people— including numerous biologists,
environmental scientists, science teachers,
journalists and those responsible for funding
education and research—that plants are capable
of active engagement with their surroundings.
The lack of focused awareness of integrated plant
responses to external and internal stimuli seems
puzzling considering the importance of similar
phenomena in animal biology. Why are we so
reluctant to attribute sensation, response and
communication to plants? Charles and Francis
Darwin had no difficulty referring to plant behavior
(1). And, while the seminal work by J.C. Bose on
plant behavior in the early 20th century may have
been discounted by subtle racism (2), Bose’s
conclusion that plants have a kind of nervous system,
and can integrate adaptive responses to their
environments through coupled electrical and
chemical signals, has re-emerged in the
contemporary plant science literature (3).
The Society for Plant Neurobiology was recently
established to provide a venue to discuss research
on plant signaling and behavior from the molecular
genetic and cellular to the population level. The
Society has held symposia annually for the past
three years in Florence, Italy (2005), Beijing, China
(2006), and Strbske Pleso, Slovakia (May 2007),
and will meet in Fukuoka, Japan in June 2008.
Approximately 400 scientists from around the world
have come to these meetings to present and discuss
their research on topics ranging from conceptual
issues relating to information theory in biology and
the history of plant biology thinking as applied to this
field, to empirical studies on mechanoperception,
inter- and intracellular electrical signaling,
membrane biology, transport, the role of
neurotransmitters in plants, responses to
environmental stimuli, plant movement, and
chemical ecology.
The symposia have been intellectually challenging
because they include a wide range of
methodological approaches to understanding how
plants work, addressing processes occurring on
scales that range from the molecular to the
ecological. They have also been unusually
stimulating, especially when we are presented
photos and videos of plants “doing things.” For
example, at the 2007 symposium, Mark Mescher (4)
presented almost sinister footage of the parasitic
dodder plant (Cuscuta pentagona) growing upward
in a rotating, searching motion, sniffing for its prey.
These plants use airborne chemicals emitted by
other plants to find their hosts and can even
distinguish between the odors of more and less
desirable host plants. This clear and straightforward
example of the coupling of plant sensing
and dynamic response is compelling even to nonbiologists.
Plant movements may be slow, but it is
difficult to imagine that many people, having seen
time-lapse footage of a parasitic dodder vine
searching for a host (www.psu.edu/ur/2006/parasiticplantphotos.htm), would object to use of
the term “behavior” in plants.
Use of the term “neurobiology” to describe aspects
of plant function evokes strong reactions, both
positive and negative, among plant scientists—
including many who have attended the symposia.
At the May 2007 Plant Neurobiology symposium, a
portion of the program was devoted to a spirited
discussion of the wisdom of using of this name for
the research field. Literalists object to use of the
prefix “neuro” to describe plants, as no one suggests
that plants contain nerves. Yet, applying a broader
sense of the prefix, the search for physiological
mechanisms of stimulus perception, information
processing, and physiological and behavioral
response is increasingly documenting examples
of neuro-like mechanisms in organisms ranging
from mammals to prokaryotes. The integration of
research in these areas across taxonomic
boundaries is undeniably desirable. A possible
objection to this broader interpretation is that it
conflicts the narrow use of the term neurobiology in
animal systems to refer specifically to the study of
the nervous system and cognition. While no
consensus was reached on these matters, it was
generally agreed that disagreement over the name
of the meeting or society should not detract from the
imperative of pursuing high-quality research in this
important emerging field.
While there is no doubt that plants process
information differently from animals, it is worth our
while to find out how they are doing it, so that we can
interact in a beneficial way with them as our
environment changes and challenges our
existence.
Reason for writing the article:
There remains a general unawareness among
many people— including numerous biologists,
environmental scientists, science teachers,
journalists and those responsible for funding
education and research—that plants are capable of
active engagement with their surroundings. This
seems puzzling considering the importance of
similar phenomena in animal biology. Why are we
so reluctant to attribute sensation, response and
communication to plants?
The newly established Society for Plant
Neurobiology provides a venue to discuss research
on plant signaling and behavior from the molecular
genetic and cellular to the population level. Recent
annual symposia held in Florence, Beijing, and
Strbske Pleso, Slovakia have been intellectually challenging. They have included a wide range of
methodological approaches to understanding how
plants work, addressing processes occurring on
scales that range from the molecular to the
ecological. They have also been unusually
stimulating, especially when we are presented
photos and videos of plants “doing things” e.g.
www.psu.edu/ur/2006/parasiticplantphotos.htm .
Use of the term “neurobiology” to describe aspects
of plant function evokes strong reactions, both
positive and negative, among plant scientists—
including many who have attended the symposia.
While there is no doubt that plants process
information differently from animals, it is worth our
while to find out how they are doing it, so that we can
interact in a beneficial way with them as our
environment changes and challenges our
existence.
References
1. Darwin, C. The Power of Movement in Plants. 1897. D. Appleton and Co. New York
2. Shepherd, V.A. 2005. From semi-conductors to the rhythms of sensitive plants: The research of J.C.
Bose. Cell and Molecular Biology 51: 607-619.
3. Brenner, E. et al. 2006. Plant neurobiology: an integrated view of plant signaling. Trends in Plant Sci.
11: 413-419.
4. Runyon, J. B., M. C. Mescher, and C. M. De Moraes. 2006. Volatile chemical cues guide host location
and selection by parasitic plants. Science, 313: 1964-1967.
Authors of this essay are:
Mark Staves, Biology Department, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI, USA stavesm@gvsu.edu
Mark Mescher, Department of Entomology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
mcmescher@psu.edu
Virginia Shepherd, Department of Biophysics, The University of NSW, Sydney, Australia
vas@phys.unsw.edu.au
Eric Brenner, New York Botanical Garden, New York, NY, USA ebrenner@nybg.org
Elizabeth Van Volkenburgh, Biology Department, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
lizvanv@u.washington.edu
World’s oldest tree found in Sweden
It may not look like much but scientists claim that this tree is the oldest in the world.
Discovered in the Dalarna province of Sweden, the trunk upon which this spruce has grown
is believed to date back nearly 10,000 years. “Spruce trees can multiply with root
penetrating branches, meaning they can produce exact copies, or clones,” says Leif
Kullman from Umee University. Scientists found four “generations” of spruce remains in
the form of cones, and wood produced from the highest grounds of Fulu mountain. The
age was tested by carbon dating in Florida.
From The Times, April 18, 2008
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article3767950.ece
News from the Society
News from the Office
Over the past year, the Botanical Society of America
has engaged in a number of activities designed to
move us into a new paradigm as a professional
organization. In part, we are responding to new IRS,
NSF and other federal, state and partner granting
agencies requirements and compliance standards
for non-profit organizations.
Three of the most significant endeavors have been
1) our first ever full audit; 2) the establishment and
meeting of a strategic planning group; and 3) a
review and revision of the Society bylaws, including
the development of policy and procedure
documents.
BSA Audit
Brown Smith Wallace, L.L.C. were hired to provide
an audit of the BSA systems and accounts for the
2007 financial year. They will undertake a follow-up
audits in 2008, 2009 and 2010.
Brown Smith Wallace, L.L.C. reported to the BSA
Executive Committee in March, and I’m pleased to
report a positive result. The Society is in a sound
financial position, and we have, or are putting in
place, all appropriate policies and procedures to
meet federal, state and other organizational
compliance requirements. The 2007 audit is
available on request (wdahl@botany.org), and it
will be on the agenda at the BSA Annual Business
Meeting on Tuesday, July 29, at the Botany 2008
Conference in Vancouver, BC.
Strategic Planning
Deep Thought II took place at the BSA offices in St.
Louis on March 30, 2008. You will hear more from
this group in the very near future as they appeal to
the membership for thoughts, ideas and comments
on the future directions of the Society. Please take
the time to respond.
The committee includes: BSA Members - Pam Soltis; Karl J. Niklas;
Christopher Haufler; Gregory Anderson; Janice
Coons; Theresa Culley; Kent Holsinger; Simon
Malcomber; Brent Mishler; Muriel Poston (unable to
attend); Mackenzie Taylor; Gordon E. Uno
BSA Staff - Robert Brandt; Heather Cacanindin; Bill
Dahl; Claire Hemingway; Richard Hund; Wanda
Lovan; Amy McPherson; Johanne Stogran
BSA Bylaws, Policies and Procedures
Over the past two years, the Executive Committee
has been exploring options for reviewing the overall
governance of the Society. This is in part due to our
evolution as a fully staffed organization and our
move to partner with outside funding agencies.
However, there are also major changes taking
place in our operating environment, in
communications options, increasing compliance
requirements and IRS regulations facing governing
bodies within non-profit organizations. It is fair to
say a great deal has changed for the BSA as an
organization since moving to a full-time staff in late
2002.
Directly following the meeting in Chicago, BSA
President Pam Soltis asked Scott Russell to chair
the BSA Bylaws Review Committee. Additional
committee members include Past Presidents Judy
Jernstedt, Ed Schneider and BSA Student
Representative Andrew Schwendemann. The
committee was charged with: 1) reviewing our
current bylaws and procedures; 2) envisioning for
future possibilities and inclusion of best practices;
and 3) ensuring legal compliance with federal and
state laws for the governance of non-profit
organizations. Anchor Management, a small
consultancy specializing in governance related
issues, was employed to facilitate the process.
It is important to note that all changes are designed
to move the BSA closer to a “best practices” model
for governance. The bylaws become the core
structural document for the Society. At this level,
changes should not occur often and a vote of the
membership is required to make any changes.
Items not deemed part of the core structural
document are moved to the supporting policies
and/or procedures documents. Here the officers
elected and charged with running the Society can
make changes to policies and procedures, notifying
the membership of any and all changes.
The recommended changes also include an update
on the current governance structure of the BSA. This
is suggested for several reasons, including a
consolidation of the fiduciary responsibility as well
as just plain common sense. At present, our
governing body is a 36-member Council that meets
once a year. The Council is charged as the managing
board of the Society and transacts the business of
the Society except as otherwise provided in the
bylaws. It is then stated that the Executive Committee
acts on all interim matters that arise between regular
annual meetings of the Society and in essence
replaces the Council. It is recommended that the
governance be consolidated within the elected
executives (the board of directors in most
organizations) and that this group expands slightly
to provide appropriate representation. It is
recommended that the body we call the Council
becomes an advisory group to the board.
There will be a discussion meeting at the Botany
2008 Conference in Vancouver as we move towards
a vote on the suggested changes some time later in the year. Please come and discuss the
recommended changes with the BSA Executive
Committee and the Bylaws Review Committee. We
will also be posting a discussion board on the BSA
website. We look forward to your comments and
participation as we move forward.
The documents involved can be found online at:
Current Bylaws - www.botany.org/ governance/bylaws.php
Recommended changes - www.botany.org/ governance/AMbylaws.php, supported by the
DRAFT BSA Policies - www.botany.org/ governance/AMpolicy.php.
BSA Award Recipients
It is award season at the Botanical Society of
America. We are pleased to provide you with this
year’s recipients, to date, including Student Travel
awards and the Young Botanists awards. Thank
you to all of the award judges! We appreciate the
time and effort that goes into these important wards.
And thank you to the advisors for supporting all of
the various award programs.
Vernon I. Cheadle Student Travel Awards
(BSA in
association with the Developmental and Structural
Section) This award was named in honor of the
memory and work of Dr. Vernon I. Cheadle.
James Cohen - Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
- Advisor, Dr. Jerrold Davis - Botany 2008 presentation: "The
World of Walled Marriages: Comparative Floral Development in Lithospermum."
Nathan Jud - Ohio University, Athens, OH -
Advisor, Dr. Gar W. Rothwell - Botany 2008 presentation: "Anatomy
of an Upper Cretaceous bennettitalean stem."
Natalia Pabon Mora - New York Botanical Garden,
Bronx, NY - Advisor, Dr. Amy Litt - Botany 2008 presentation:
"Functional
evolution of the AP1/FUL gene lineage in non-core eudicot plants."
Renate Wuersig - Purdue University, West Lafayette.
IN - Advisor, Dr. Michael Zanis - Botany 2008 presentation: "The
Natural History of C-class Genes: Independent Duplication Events
in Diverse Angiosperm Lineages."
2008 YOUNG BOTANIST Award Recipients
The purpose of these awards are to offer individual recognition
to outstanding graduating seniors in the plant sciences and to
encourage their participation in the Botanical Society of America.
The 2008 "Certificate of Special Achievement"
award recipients are:
Jared Barnes, University of Tennessee, Martin, TN - Advisor,
Dr. Darrell L. Ray
Jennifer Bufford, Willamette University, Salem, OR - Advisor,
Dr. Susan R. Kephart
Bethany Butler, Miami University, Oxford, OH - Advisor,
Dr. Nancy L. Smith-Huerta
Nate Ellis, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO - Advisor,
Dr. J. Chris Pires
Britnie Foutch, Indiana University, South Bend, IN - Advisor,
Dr. Deborah Marr
Alyssa Hartson, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI -
Advisor, Dr. Sara Hoot
Nguyet Hoang, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK - Advisor,
Dr. Scott Russell
Brittiney Hofmann, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology,
Terre Haute, IN - Advisor, Dr. Ella L. Ingram
Hayley Kilroy, Miami University, Oxford, OH - Advisor, Dr.
David L. Gorchov
Laura Lagomarsino, University of California, Berkeley, CA
- Advisor, Dr. Chelsea D. Specht
Hannah Marx, University of Washington, Seattle, WA - Advisor,
Dr. Richard Olmstead
Shauna McDonald, Humboldt State University, Humboldt, CA
- Advisor, Dr. Alexandru M.F. Tomescu
Lachezar Nikolov, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA - Advisor,
Dr. N. Michele Holbrook
BreAnne Nott, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, IL
- Advisor, Dr. Scott Meiners
Ana Piedrahita, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL -
Advisor, Drs. Pamela & Douglas Soltis
Nikki Pisula, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, IL
- Advisor, Dr. Scott J. Meiners
Amber Pouncey, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL -
Advisor, Drs. Pamela & Douglas Soltis
Jenna Rosenwasser, Connecticut College, New London, CT -
Advisor, Dr. T. Page Owen, Jr.
Jen Rushford, SUNY Plattsburgh, Plattsburgh, NY - Advisor,
Dr. Christopher T. Martine
Lauren Schwartz, Willamette University, Salem, OR - Advisor,
Dr. Susan R. Kephart
Logan Senack, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT - Advisor,
Dr. Kent E. Holsinger
Erin Shanle, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL
- Advisor, Dr. Barbara Crandall-Stotler
Patricia Soria, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL -
Advisor, Drs. Pamela & Douglas Soltis
Nick Stanich, Ohio University, Athens, OH - Advisor, Dr. Gar W. Rothwell
Laura Weingartner, Miami University, Oxford, OH - Advisor,
Dr. Michael A. Vincent
Anthony Westby, Emporia State University, Emporia, KS -
Advisor, Dr.
Kirsten Wright, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, WA -
Advisor, Dr. Andreas Madlung
Conant “Botanical Images” Student Travel Awards
This award provides acknowledgement
and travel support to BSA meetings for outstanding
student work in the area of creating botanical digital
images.
John Schenk, Washington State University, Pullman, WA
- Advisor, Dr. Larry Hufford - First
Place - $500 Botany 2008 Student Travel Award
Matthew Valente, University of Tennessee, TN - Advisor, Dr. Joseph Williams - Second
Place - $250 Botany 2007 Student Travel Award
Mauricio Diazgranados, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO - Advisor, Dr. Janet C. Barber - Third Place - $100 Botany 2007 Student Travel Award
Developmental & Structural Section Student Travel Awards
Julien Bachelier, Institute of Systematic Botany,
Zurich, Switzerland - Dr. Peter K. Endress - Botany 2008 presentation:
"Floral
structure of Kirkia wilmsii: implications for the systematic
relationship of Kirkiaceae and the Anacardiaceae-Burseraceae clade
(Sapindales)."
Songhita Das, University of Texas, Austin,
TX - Advisor, Dr. Mona Mehdy - Botany 2008 presentation: "Understanding
the Mechanisms and Functions of French Bean PvPRP1 Gene Down-regulation
During the Defense Response in Transgenic Arabidopsis."
Chunmiao Feng, North Carolina State University,
Raleigh, NC - Advisors, Drs. Jenny Xiang and Robert G. Franks
- Botany 2008 presentation: "Comparative
developmental study of inflorescence in Cornus."
Alana Oldham, Humboldt State University, Humboldt,
CA - Advisor, Dr. Stephen Sillett - Botany 2008 presentation:
"Associated
Variation in Sequoia sempervirens (Coast Redwood) Leaf
Anatomy: Potential Impacts on Whole-Tree Carbon Balance."
Nicholas Stanich, Ohio University, Athens,
OH - Advisor, Dr. Gar W. Rothwell - Botany 2008 presentation:
"Early
Cretaceous Equisetum fossils confirm that the modern
evolutionary radiation was well underway 136 million years ago."
Ecology Section Student Travel Awards
Katie Becklin, University of Missouri, Columbia,
MO - Advisor, Dr. Candace Galen - Botany 2008 presentation: "The
good, the bad, and the costly: Effects of shading and drought
on the costs and benefits of mycorrhizae."
Jocelyn Campbell, University of British Columbia,
Vancouver, BC - Advisor, Dr. Cindy Prescott - Botany 2008 presentation:
"Expanding
the realized niche for cyanolichens in wet-temperate forests of
interior British Columbia."
Andrew Simpson, California State University,
Chico, CA - Advisor, Dr. Kristina A. Schierenbeck - Botany 2008
presentation: "Multiple
causal factors influence propagule size gradients in Arctostaphylos
(Ericaceae)."
Meghan Skaer, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA - Advisor, Dr. Hall Cushman - Botany 2008 presentation:
"Evaluating the Effects of Cattle Grazing on a Coastal Prairie in Central California."
Genetics Section Student Travel Awards
Aaron Duffy, Utah State University, Logan,
UT - Advisor, Dr. Paul G. Wolf - Botany 2008 presentation: "Conservation
of selection on matK in ferns following an ancient loss
of the trnK intron by genome inversion."
Mycological Section Student Travel Awards
Katie Becklin, University of Missouri, Columbia,
MO - Advisor, Dr. Candace Galen - Botany 2008 presentation: "The
good, the bad, and the costly: Effects of shading and drought
on the costs and benefits of mycorrhizae."
BSA Science Education News and Notes
BSA Science Education News and Notes is a quarterly update about
the BSA's education efforts and the broader education scene. We
invite you to submit news items or ideas for future features.
Contact: Claire Hemingway, BSA Education Director, at chemingway@botany.org or Marshall Sundberg, PSB Editor, at psb@botany.org.
PlantingScience — BSA-led student research and science mentoring program
What a remarkable year for PlantingScience — Funding, national recognition, and a doubling in participation!
Hearty thanks to the many BSA scientists who gave your time to coach 368 student research teams through the process of scientific discovery. Your efforts helped to take plant investigations to 1,223 students in 48 classrooms. To date, PlantingScience has reached 2,486 students from 25 states across the nation.
Over 120 scientists are now volunteering as mentors: http://www.plantingscience.org/index.php?module=pagesetter&tid=5&filter=sipscientist:eq:1&tpl=scientists
We invite you to join, or share the opportunity with your colleagues or graduate students. Graduate students and post-doctoral fellows have a special invitation:
Call for 2008-2009 Master Plant Science Team members
Who? Graduate students and post-doctoral fellows.
What? A team of 20 compensated mentors who commit to mentoring 3-4 student research teams via the web and participate in training conversations.
When? Fall 2008 & spring 2009 sessions. Each session lasts ~2-4 weeks.
Where? Online at http://www.plantingscience.org/
Why? To inspire appreciation for plant science in young learners and enrich your professional life.
Benefits are described on the application form available at http://www.botany.org/outreach/MPST_appl08.pdf
Keep in touch with BSA-led education initiatives over the summer by visiting:
PlantingScience http://www.plantingscience.org/
Plant IT Careers, Cases and Collaborations http://www.myplantit.org/
Botany without Borders and Science for Everyone
If you’re looking for education, outreach, and training (EOT) activities at Botany 2008, you’ll find a rich array of workshops, sessions, social events, and special presentations throughout the week. Just a few are highlighted below.
Sunday: 14 free educational and scientific workshops
Monday: PlantingScience Mixer / All-society conversation: EOT that would you like to see at annual meetings
Tuesday: Past-President’s Symposium: Understanding the Crisis in Science Literacy / Women in Science Luncheon
Wednesday: Carl Wieman, Nobel Prize Winner in Physics: Science Education in the 21st Century: Using the tools of science to teach science.
Be sure to visit the education and outreach booth in the Exhibit Hall to:
· Get your PlantingScience T-shirt.
- Try out new features on the PlantingScience website and give us your feedback.
· Listen to podcasts that students make during the July Plant IT program.
- Make a podcast of your own!
· Pick up information and hints on preparing NSF Broader Impacts statements.
Spotlight on BSA Member Contributions to Science Education
Engaging in outreach is nothing new to Melanie DeVore, Georgia Power Endowed Professor in Environmental Science at Georgia College and State University. She writes a newspaper column on environmental issues for the Milledgeville Union Recorder, leads a Study Abroad program in the Bahamas in which student projects are presented at an annual Natural History of the Bahamas Symposium and coordinates a public lecture series, among other activities beyond her active research and publication on paleobotany. Melanie also recently became involved in Georgia College’s Early College Program, which seeks to empower high school students for academic success. Melanie and a high school teacher in the GC Early College Program will partner over the coming years to blend high school and college experiences for underrepresented students. Next year they will begin to integrate PlantingScience mentored inquiry experiences into the program. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with them and support their efforts.
http://info.gcsu.edu/tip/archives/2005/EarlyCollegeprograminitia.html
EOT integral to the iPlant Collaborative
The iPlant Collaborative has been established to catalyze discussions to identify Grand Challenge questions in plant biology that require computational approaches. It serves the entire community of plant science disciplines and has a strong education, outreach, and training component. Susan Singer, chair of the EOT Advisory Committee, moderated the EOT panel discussion at the April Kick-Off Conference held at Cold Spring Harbor. Archived web casts from the Conference and information about EOT opportunities are available at: http://www.iplantcollaborative.org/home.
Editor’s Choice
Crossgrove, Kirsten and Kristen L. Curran. 2008.
Using clickers in nonmajors- and majors-level
biology courses: Student opinion, learning, and
long-term retention of course material. CBE-Life
Sciences Education 7:146-154. http://www.lifescied.org/cgi/reprint/7/1/146
-Not surprisingly, students were positive about
using clickers in both classes, but the unexpected
results are that student learning and student
retention varied significantly. In general, positive
results were more pronounced in the non-majors
introductory class as opposed to the genetics class
for majors.
Matlack, Glenn R. and Ryan W. McEwan. 2008.
Forest in my neighborhood: An exercise using
aerial photos to engage students in forest ecology
and land use history. The American Biology Teacher 70 (3):13-17.
News from the Sections
Emanual D. Rudolph Award - Historical Section
In 2006 the Historical Section of the Botanical Society
of America established the Emanuel D. Rudolph
Award for the best student paper on a historical
subject in botany to be awarded at the annual
meeting (PSB 52(4): 127). Please encourage your
undergraduate and graduate students to consider
presenting a paper, poster or symposium on a
historical subject in botany to be eligible for this
honor.
In Memoriam
Jerry McClure (1933-2006)
Jerry Weldon McClure, 72, professor emeritus of botany at Miami University,
Oxford Ohio, died Tuesday, April 25, 2006 in Oxford, Ohio. He joined the Miami
University faculty in 1964, attaining full professorship in 1973 and retired
in 2001.
Chair of the Physiological Section, Botanical Society of America 1969-72, editorial
board 72-74 and long term supportive member of the Botanical Society, Jerry
will be missed by the members for his informative conversations on phytochemicals.
McClure was President (also treasurer) of the Phytochemical Society of America.
Jerry was born May 3, 1933 in Floydada, Texas and took pride in having gone
from a depression-era cotton farm and one-room school to becoming an internationally
recognized scientist. At Wayland Baptist College he was offered a music scholarship
in voice, however, he transferred to Texas Tech University, where he earned
a degree in agronomy in 1954. Jerry served in the U.S. Air Force in 1955 to
1959 then he returned to Texas Tech , where he received an M.S. in agriculture.
In 1964, Jerry received his Ph.D. in botany from the University of Texas, Austin.
Throughout his career, he received numerous National Science Foundation and
U. S. Department of Agriculture grants to fund his research. He received the
Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Senior U. S. Scientist Award from the West
German government, in 1974-75, and simultaneously received a Fulbright Foundation
Honorary Research Fellowship award. He was a visiting professor at Ruhr-Universitat,
Bochum, Germany, giving more than 30 invited lectures in the U.K., Belgium,
Netherlands, Poland, USSR and East Germany. In 1982 he was named Distinguished
Visiting Scientist, Texas Tech University; in 1983, he received the Heinrich-Hertz
research award in Dusseldorf, West Germany, and the Gordon Research Conferences
organizing award. In 1987, he was an invited visiting scholar, University of
Nairobi, Kenya, and at the same time, worked with the Richard Leakey group and
National Museums of Kenya. Before returning to Miami University in the fall
of 1987, he presented invited lectures in Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Asmara,
Eritrea; and in Peoples Republic of China in Nanking and Guilin.
His public service included being a member of the Council for International
Exchange of Scholars, Life Sciences; screening committee for Fulbright Awards;
screening committee of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowships Foundation, He
and his wife, Frances were Danforth Faculty Associates; presidents of the McGuffey
Laboratory School PTO and Community Service Program for Foreign Students (COSEP).
His grasp of the scientific literature related to secondary natural products
in plants was remarkable particularly as it related to plant phenolics. Not
only could he cite virtually all recent publications in natural products, Jerry
often provided personal anecdotes about the authors.
As a teacher he encouraged industriousness, initiative, and originality from
his generations of students who remember him as a mentor, advocate, and friend.
-Anitra Thorhaug and Graeme Berlin
James Edward Canright (1920 - 2008)
James Edward Canright passed away on April 9,
2008 at the Hospice of the Valley, Tempe, Arizona.
At 88 years of age, Jim suffered from several ailments
that eventually became too much for him to manage.
Many AASP members, and other professionals will
remember Jim as a direct, no-nonsense person,
who spoke his thoughts clearly and with conviction.
He was, it seemed, a part of the palynological scene
forever. I can still recall my early days in palynology,
hearing of Jim’s impact on our science.
Jim Canright was born in Delaware, Ohio on March
1, 1920. He earned an A.B. degree from Miami
University of Ohio in 1942. Working with I.W. Bailey,
Jim attended Harvard University and completed his
MA (1947) and Ph.D. (1949) in biology. Jim’s work
on evolution of the stamen in primitive angiosperms
is still reproduced today in botany textbooks. He
served as Lieutenant in the US Coast Guard Reserve
in 1942-1946 in the Southwest Pacific area. Jim
married Margaret Barnthouse in 1943, and together
they raised four children, James Douglass,
Lawrence, Susan and Eloise.
From 1949 through most of 1964 Jim served as Instructor and Professor of Botany at Indiana
University, Bloomington, Indiana. It was here at IU
that Jim began the collection of Paleozoic plant
fossils, primarily from the mid-west USA, but also
from several parts of the world. His collections of
this material have formed the basis for several
Masters theses and Doctoral dissertations. I
became familiar with the Canright paleobotanical
collections when they were eventually transferred to
the Florida Museum of Natural History, Gainesville,
where in 1996 through 2002, I was Collection
Manager for Paleobotany and began a detailed
cataloguing and database entry of the Canright
collection. These collections include both a core
assemblage of representative fossil plants that
were originally acquired primarily for teaching, as
well as several subcollections, including fossil coal
samples, fossil and extant pollen samples, and an
extant wood and other plant anatomical structure
collection. Some of this work was published in the
well-illustrated “Fossil Plants of Indiana” published
by the Indiana Department of Conservation,
Geological Survey, in 1959.
In 1964 Jim and his lovely wife Peggy moved to
Tempe, Arizona, where Jim assumed the position
of Professor and Chairman of Botany and
Microbiology at the Arizona State University. He
served in this capacity from 1964 through 1972,
eventually settling comfortably into the role as
Professor of Botany until his retirement in 1985.
ASU awarded Jim the position of Emeritus Professor
upon his retirement, a position he respected and
enjoyed.
In 1971, Jim was an invited Visiting Professor of
Botany at the National Taiwan University in Taipei,
Taiwan. Additionally Jim was recognized by his
colleagues through his association in many
professional organizations. He joined AASP in
1968, and held the office of President for the 1979-
1980 term, member of the 1973 Nominating
Committee, and Chairman of the 11th annual
meeting in Phoenix, AZ. He served as President of
the International Federation of Palynological
Societies (IFPS) from 1992-1996. Jim was Editor of
Palynos, the Newsletter for the IFPS, from 1977
(from its conception) through 1992. Jim Canright
holds the distinction of being the only person to
attend all nine of the IPCs, up to the 10th IPC in China.
Perhaps a little known bit of trivia concerns the
emblem/logo currently used for the IFPS. The
stylized Acacia pollen grain with the letters IFPS
was developed by Jim and designed by his son
James Douglass in 1984 (see: Palynos vol. 7, no.
2, pgs. 1-2).
Travel played an important part on Jim’s life, and it
seems, looking at his Curriculum Vitae, that he
managed to live in six different countries and travel
to at least 45 countries. Part of this travel was
through the courtesy of Uncle Sam, as Jim served
as Communications Officer with the US 7th Fleet
(1943-1945) in the Southwest Pacific arena. While
in Malaysia he learned the basics of the Malayan
language. He lectured in Nepal and India.
Jim was also recognized by his peers through
awards and presentations. Jim was a Fellow of the
Indiana Academy of Science and the American
Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
He served on the Governing Board for the American
Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS), and received
the Outstanding Paleobotanist Award from the
Botanical Society of America. In 1960 he received a
John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship. Jim’s career
has been profiled in American Men and Women in
Science, and Who’s Who in America.
Professor Canright served as Chair or Principal
Advisor for many students working toward their
graduate degrees, both at Indiana University and
Arizona State University. Several of his students will
be immediately recognized by AASP readers, and include Robert Romans, Joseph M. Wood, Gottfried
Guennel, Donald Engelhardt, William Dickison,
Robert A. Stewart, Jerome Ward, John D. Shane,
Michael Zavada and Michael Farabee.
I really only truly got to know and appreciate Jim
Canright through our association involving the IFPS.
When I was Secretary-Treasurer of the IFPS, I
worked closely with Jim on several matters. We
attended all the scheduled meetings and a few ad
hoc meetings together in order to firmly establish
the “process and procedures” necessary to build a
strong international association. The record shows
that thanks to Jim’s commitment as Editor and
eventually President of the IFPS, that organization
today stands on a firm, well thought out constitution
and working bylaws. We as a group of scientists, as
palynologists and paleobotanists, owe a great deal
to Jim Canright for his dedication and foresight in
the early years of organizing our plans for the future.
Today we are enjoying the effort of Jim and his
colleagues through AASP and the IFPS.
Peggy Canright tells me that they have cremated
Jim’s remains, and for now his ashes will be placed
in his study, among his years of documents and
memorabilia (he discarded nothing!). Eventually,
following Jim’s wishes, the ashes will be strewn at
sea. Jim loved the Pacific Ocean, and he will remain
there forever. Although I was never a formal student
of Jim’s, I learned much from him. We shared many
professional and personal times. Jim was truly a
dear friend….I will miss him.
And Michael Farabee remembers………..
I first met Professor Canright when I was a student
in his Plant Morphology class. Taking his class
without the pre-requisite Plant Anatomy, I was
captivated by the methodical presentation of plants
in an evolutionary context, interspersed with stories
and anecdotes that made a dull subject (so my
friends told me) come alive. I returned to graduate
school; luckily Paleobotany and Palynology were
offered during the spring of 1980, so I signed up. To
my surprise Jim remembered me and when he
learned I was a graduate student, he quickly became
my advisor, signed me up for Palynology, supported
me in gaining regular graduate admission, and
eventually I became his teaching assistant. To get
me out of the lab, Jim invited me to play racquetball.
Despite giving several decades to me, Jim never
lost.
During one of those games he spoke of the academic
life, encouraging me to think beyond the Master’s
and go for a Ph.D. This push from the nest (Jim told
me that three degrees from ASU would not be a
good thing, and that I needed to experience new
settings and labs) led me to doctoral work with John Skvarla and L.R. Wilson at the University of
Oklahoma, and then to a post-doc with Tom and
Edith Taylor at The Ohio State University. Through it
all Jim remained a friendly correspondent as my
career progressed. From Jim I learned to steer my
course by my own bearing, ignoring the currents
and opinions that would way-lay me. I learned the
value of passion and caring about the science of
botany and palynology, to be organized and set
rules that would allow others to follow in my wake.
As the founding science faculty member at Estrella
Mountain Community College I have held to these
ideas.
Michael Zavada recalls as well…..
In 1971, I was in my second baseball season at the
best baseball program in the country— Arizona
State University. I managed to squeeze in some
education between the long, physically demanding
practices. It had been my high school dream to be
tutored by the blunt and no nonsense, three-time
national champion Coach Bobby Winkles who was
to show me the way to professional sports and
success. It was the same year that I met the blunt
and no nonsense Jim Canright. Jim’s obvious
intelligence and experience, coupled with his lucid
way of delivering his intended message, always
caused you to pause and to reflect. Jim demanded
hard work, a disciplined mind, stick-to-itiveness,
intelligence and nothing less than excellence. Jim
was the Bobby Winkles of Botany. There was never
any doubt that Jim had my well being and
development as a thinking person at the core of his
demands and advice. Despite the lavish resources
and the national reputation of the ASU baseball
program, it was Jim who changed my life. He taught
me the meaning of quality of life. He put me on a path
that provided an outstanding living, adventure, travel,
a greater appreciation of the wonder of the natural
world, and the challenge of the academic life. I had
the pleasure of knowing Jim for thirty-seven years
and my appreciation for the significance that he
played in my life at a crucial time and my affection for
him have grown over the years. It was just about a
week before Jim passed away that I received a
newspaper clipping from him about Clint Myers, a
successful women’s softball coach at ASU who
was my teammate and formidable competition as
a catcher at ASU. Jim asked me if I had regrets about
taking the career path that I have, rather than exploring
the possibilities in professional sports. Jim, I have
no regret, and I thank you for being an honest, fair
and caring educator and friend. I will miss you.
-David M. Jarzen, with contributions from Michael
Zavada and Michael Farabee
Personalia
Peter Raven Elected to National Geographic Board of Trustees
Botanist and conservationist Dr. Peter H. Raven,
president of the Missouri Botanical Garden, has
been appointed to the National Geographic Society
board of trustees, along with investment banker
Tracy Wolstencroft of Greenwich, Conn., a partner
at Goldman Sachs. They join 19 other trustees who
are leaders in science, education, law, business,
finance, government and public service.
The 120-year-old Society, whose mission is to
inspire people to care about the planet, is one of the
world’s largest nonprofit scientific and educational
organizations. It reaches more than 300 million
people each month through six magazines, National
Geographic Channel, television documentaries,
radio, music, films, books, DVDs, maps, school
publishing programs, interactive media and
expeditions. It has funded nearly 9,000 scientific
research projects and supports an education
program combating geographic illiteracy.
“National Geographic is fortunate to have the
additional counsel and experience of Peter Raven
and Tracy Wolstencroft, who have impressive
records of leadership and service in the conservation
and finance fields and to National Geographic,”
said John Fahey, Society president and CEO.
Raven is one of the world’s leading botanists and
advocates of conservation and biodiversity. Under
his 36-year leadership, the Missouri Botanical
Garden has become a world-class center for
botanical research, education and horticultural
display. Raven is also chairman of the National
Geographic Society’s Committee for Research and
Exploration, which awards grants for field-based
scientific research around the world.
Described by Time magazine as a “Hero for the
Planet,” Raven champions research around the
globe to preserve endangered plants and animals
and is an advocate for building a sustainable
environment. He has received numerous prizes
and awards in recognition of his work in science
and conservation, including the National Medal of
Science, the highest award for scientific
accomplishment in the United States; the
International Prize for Biology from the government
of Japan; Environmental Prize of the Institute de la
Vie; Volvo Environment Prize; the Tyler Prize for
Environmental Achievement; the Sasakawa Prize;
and the International Cosmos Prize, Osaka.
He served for 12 years as home secretary of the
National Academy of Sciences, to which he was elected in 1977. He is also a member of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the
American Philosophical Society.
Raven is co-editor of Flora of China, a joint Chinese-
American international project that is producing a
50-volume account of the roughly 31,000 species of
plants in China. He has written numerous books
and publications and is senior author of Biology of
Plants, the internationally best-selling textbook in
botany, now in its seventh edition, and Environment,
a leading textbook on the environment, now in its
sixth edition.
Raven received his Ph.D. from the University of
California, Los Angeles, in 1960, after completing
undergraduate work at the University of California,
Berkeley. He holds honorary degrees from a number
of universities around the world.
Peter Raven wins BBVA Foundation Award for Conservation Biology
Peter H. Raven, president of the Missouri Botanical Garden, will receive the
Award for Scientific Research in Ecology and Conservation Biology, a 500,000
euro prize, from the BBVA Foundation Awards for Biodiversity Conservation. Raven
is a co-recipient with Harold Mooney, professor of Environmental Biology at
Stanford University.
The BBVA Foundation Awards - whose global prize money of over one million euros
is the highest of its kind internationally - recognize and support the work
of the scientific community, organizations and professionals devoted to biodiversity
conservation. The awards exemplify the foundation's commitment to sustainable
development and improved quality of life. They will be presented in Madrid.
The BBVA Foundation's international jury grants the Award for Scientific Research
in Ecology and Conservation Biology to scientists in any country who have significantly
advanced the boundaries of knowledge in this field. Raven and Mooney were recognized
for "their outstanding contributions to understanding the evolutionary
and co-evolutionary processes that shape the adaptations of plants, the communities
they form, and the diversity and biogeography of those communities, and how
plants contribute to ecosystem function. Both lead the world in their understanding
of, and raising concerns about, the loss of plant diversity through habitat
destruction and invasive species, and in seeking ways to prevent biodiversity
loss."
The contributions of these two eminent scientists have been vital to the shift
in perspective that has taken place in conservation biology research, away from
a species-centered approach to one based on ecosystems and the services they
provide to humanity.
The jury also singled out their joint contribution to improving knowledge and
awareness regarding loss of biodiversity due to habitat destruction and the
action of invasive species, along with their invaluable work in the search for
strategies to halt this loss.
Raven is an eminent plant scientist and evolutionary biologist. The Missouri
Botanical Garden is one of the world's leading centers for botanical research
and training. Raven is the author of key contributions to the biological sciences
field; among them the co-evolution concept which he formulated on the basis
of his studies into butterflies and the plants they feed on. He has authored
over 450 articles in scientific journals and is editor or co-editor of 18 books,
some of which have become basic textbooks in plant biology and environmental
science. He has been cited in scientific papers on more than 5,000 occasions.
Positions Available
Director, Boyce Thompson Southwestern Arboretum
The Boyce Thompson Arboretum (near Superior,
AZ) is looking for a new director. The person needs
to have at least a Master’s degree, have an
appreciation of plants (especially desert plants),
but especially have skills in public communication/
education and some management experience
(current $1.6 million budget). Experience in fund
raising is also very useful. You can find the position description at
www.uacareertrack.com; search by the job number
— 40572
Position Title: Director, Boyce Thompson
Southwestern Arboretum,
Job Number: 40572,
Department: 0104-Arboretum Affairs
The position can carry a faculty appointment in the
U of AZ, and will be appointed via the Agriculture
Experiment Station of U.of A.
Teaching Postdoctoral Position, University of Oklahoma
The Department of Botany and Microbiology at the
University of Oklahoma announces a teaching
postdoctoral position beginning August 2008. A
Ph.D. in biology is required (exceptional ABD
candidates will be considered). This position is for
one year with the option for renewal of an additional
year based on job performance.
Responsibilities include teaching an Introductory
Botany course (taught using the inquiry method of
instruction), another botany course depending on
background (such as plant ecology or economic
botany), and supervising teaching assistants for
introductory level courses. The successful
candidate should be highly computer literate and
able to help maintain laboratory computers, probe
wear, and class web-based material.
The successful candidate will have the opportunity
to learn and hone inquiry skills and should be
interested in the scholarship of teaching and learning
biology. He/she will have the opportunity to work on
several federally funded projects involving precollege
and college science classrooms. The 9-
month salary is approximately $25,000 (plus
benefits), with an option of teaching in summer
school and intersession courses for additional
funding (up to $9,000 more).
Interested candidates should send a cover letter,
curriculum vitae (with teaching philosophy), a brief
description of skills, a list of possible courses that
could be taught, and two letters of reference to Dr.
Gordon Uno, Department of Botany and
Microbiology, George Lynn Cross Hall, 770 Van
Vleet Oval, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK
73019-0245. Direct inquiries to: guno@ou.edu.
Review for this position begins in May and will
continue until the position is filled. Information on
the University of Oklahoma and the Department of
Botany and Microbiology is available at www.ou.edu/ and www.ou.edu/cas/botany-micro/, respectively. A profile of Norman, OK is on
the web at www.city-data.com/city/Norman-Oklahoma.html .
(The University of Oklahoma is an equal opportunity,
affirmative-action employer.)
Post Doctoral Research Fellowship in Ecological Genomics
A post doctoral research fellowship opportunity is
available through the Ecological Genomics Institute
at Kansas State University (K-State). Our
interdisciplinary Institute seeks to understand
responses of organisms to their natural
environment by combining functional genomic and
ecological/evolutionary approaches. The
postdoctoral fellow will have access to excellent
university resources including the Konza Prairie
Biological Station, a core Long-Term Ecological
Research (LTER) site (www.climate.com/konza.ksu.edu/), the K-State Gene Expression
Facility (www.k-state.edu/gene-exp/), and
infrastructure of the Division of Biology and
Departments of Entomology, Agronomy, and Plant
Pathology. For additional information about the
Ecological Genomics Institute, please visit the
Ecogen Website!
Candidates must have excellent oral and written
communication skills, demonstrate evidence of
past research achievement, and have completed
requirements for a Ph.D. by the start date. This fulltime
position provides a competitive salary and
benefits. The anticipated start date is summer
2008.
Full applications must include:
1. A cover letter detailing your qualifications and
proposed start date.
2. A research proposal (three page maximum,
not including references). *Proposals utilizing
genetic and/or genomic approaches to examine
ecologically relevant traits or interactions will receive
highest priority.
3. A current curriculum vitae.
4. Two letters of recommendation from referees
who are familiar with the applicant’s research. Major advisor or member of supervisory committee
preferred.
Completed applications can be e-mailed to Doris
Merrill, dmerrill@ksu.edu. Applications can also be sent by regular mail to:
Ecological Genomics Institute
Kansas State University
Division of Biology, Ackert Hall
Manhattan, KS 66506-4901
Symposia, Conferences, Meetings
New Phytologist Symposia for 2008
19th New Phytologist Symposium - www.newphytologist.org/symposia.htm
Physiological sculpture of plants: new visions and capabilities for
crop developmentTimberline Lodge, Mount Hood, Oregon, USA
17-20 September 2008
20th New Phytologist Symposium
Arsenic: unravelling its metabolism and speciation in plants
Douglas Hotel, Aberdeen, Scotland
26-27 June 2008
21st New Phytologist Symposium
The ecology of ectomycorrhizal fungi
Centre for Functional Ecology and Evolution, CNRS, Montpellier, France
10-12 December 2008
For more information on any of the above symposia please email
mailto:newphytsymp@lancaster.ac.uk
or visit
http://dmmsclick.wiley.com/click.asp?p=4818415&m=10067&u=134928
Janet Meakin Poor Research Symposium Explores Climate Change
Chicago Botanic Garden, Wednesday, May 7
The Joseph Regenstein Jr. School of the Chicago Botanic Garden and the Center for Humans and Nature
present the Janet Meakin Poor Research Symposium. This symposium addresses the implications of
global warming beyond the temperature of the air. Nationally recognized experts discuss changes in the
foundation of the ocean¹s food web, the persistence of plants and animals on land, and the spread of
human disease. These alterations raise profound moral and ethical questions; the human role within
nature and our responsibilities to nature are under consideration and study as seldom before.
Speakers include:
* Robert Corell, global change director of The Heinz Center
* Brendan Mackey, professor of environmental science at The Australian National University
* Henry Henderson, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council
* Martin Fowler of Elon University
Hours are from 8:45 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday, May 7. Early registration is $79. After April 11, cost is
$119. Chicago Botanic Garden members pay $79. Registration deadline is May 1. Registration includes,
morning coffee, lunch, parking and all symposium handouts. To register for the symposium or to request
a brochure call (847) 835-8261, or visit the
Garden¹s Web site at www.chicagobotanic.org/symposia.
The Center for Humans and Nature is sponsoring a limited number of scholarships available to students.
Free Pre-Symposium Lecture
A free climate change lecture will be offered on May 6 before the symposium. Beth Viola will present “An
Inconvenient Truth” from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, May 6 at the Notebaert Nature Museum. Viola is senior
policy advisor with Holland & Knight in Washington, D.C. and former environmental advisor to Al Gore. For
information and to register, call
(773) 755-5191 ext. 1.
IV Latin American and Caribbean Congress of Cacti and other Succulents
The Latin American and Caribbean Society of Cacti
and other Succulentsand the International
Organization for the Study of Succulents will carry
out a joint meeting together with the 59° Brazilian
Botany Congress in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte,
Brazil, from August 4 - 8, 2008. This will be a unique
opportunity to bring together experts on succulents
from all over the world to present recent findings in
the study of these plants, and more important, to
encourage botanical investigations on Cactaceae
and other families containing succulent species in
Latin America and the Caribbean region. Featured
keynote speakers include David Hunt, Roberto
Kiesling, Teresa Terrazas-Salgado, Beat Ernst
Leuenberger, Héctor Hernández Macías, Detlev
Metzing, Alejandro Casa, Nigel Taylor and Daniela
Zappi, among 25 invited talks. For more information,
including registration and the process for submitting
contributing papers or posters, please access
http://www.59cnbot.com.br/.
Award Opportunities
Grants for Ornamental Horticulture
The Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust invites
applications for grants up to $20,000 for support of
education and research in ornamental horticulture.
Not-for-profit botanical gardens, arboreta, and other
tax-exempt organizations are eligible. The deadline
for applications is August 15, 2008.
For current guidelines, contact Thomas F. Daniel,
Grants Director, SSHT at
tdaniel@calacademy.org.
Other News
Lenhardt Library Exhibit Tells Story of Priceless Rare Book
The exhibit “Temple of Flora” opens in the Lenhardt
Library on Friday, May 23 and continues through
Sunday, August 17. A recent acquisition, Temple of
Flora, along with other works by Robert John
Thornton, will be on display. A free library talk, “Dr.
Thornton’s Folly,” will be given on Saturday, June 21
at 2 p.m. Partial funding for the exhibit was provided
by the Burnstein family.
Temple of Flora, or, Garden of the Botanist, Poet,
Painter and Philosopher: Being, Picturesque
Botanical Plates of the New Illustration of the Sexual
System of Linnaeus includes thirty-one botanical
and allegorical illustrations and is considered “the
single most famous of all florilegia.” Published in
London in parts between 1799 and 1807 and later
bound into a single volume, it represents both the
fulfillment of a dream and the cause of the financial
ruin for England¹s Dr. Robert John Thornton (1768-
1837). It was the third and final section in Thornton’s
New illustration of the sexual system of Carolus von
Linnaeus, which honored Carl Linnaeus, the “father
of botany,” who established the system of
nomenclature for all living things. Its brightly-colored
plates are highly valued by print dealers, making an
intact copy exceedingly rare.
Thornton (1768-1837) was a London physician
with a passion for botany and Linnaeus. This work
made Thornton both famous and nearly destitute.
He hired the major painters of the day to create the
initial oils and watercolors (though he painted the
Roses plate himself). From these, London¹s bestknown
engravers hand-colored mezzotints and
aquatints for the final plates. Less than successful
in its time, Temple of Flora is now prized for its
beautifully created, highly romantic illustrations.
Other books by Thornton in the exhibit include A
Grammar of Botany; Containing an Explanation of
the System of Linnaeus, and the Terms of Botany,
with Botanical Exercises for the Use of Schools and
Students; A New Family Herbal: or Popular Account
of the Natures and Properties of the Various Plants
Used in Medicine, Diet and the Arts; Elements of
Botany; and The British Flora, or, Genera and
Species of British Plants: Arranged After the
Reformed Sexual System; and Illustrated by
Numerous Tables, and Dissections.
The Lenhardt Library is the primary research tool
for students of the Joseph Regenstein, Jr. School
of the Chicago Botanic Garden. Visitors are
encouraged to research their latest gardening
project, thumb through inspiring garden journals
and magazines, or see a sampling of the Garden¹s
unique rare book collection in display cases.
For more information and to search the library
collections, visit www.chicagobotanic.org/library/.
Three Big Horticultural Honors for the Missouri Botanical Garden
The Missouri Botanical Garden has added one statewide and two national recognitions
to its growing list of awards for horticultural excellence. Three trees have
been declared State Champions by the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC).
The oak collection has been certified as a North American Plant Collections
Consortium (NAPCC) Collection by the American Public Gardens Association (APGA).
The extensive daffodil collection has been named the first American Daffodil
Society (ADS) Display Garden.
"These recognitions demonstrate the wonderful treasure that the Missouri
Botanical Garden and its plants are to the metro St. Louis region," said
Jim Cocos, vice president of horticulture. "Our valued State Champion trees
reflect the fact that our institution has been here for almost 150 years. The
national recognition of our oak and daffodil collections reflects the strength
and breadth of our plant collections, which are prized for their diversity and
quality."
The Champion Tree program recognizes the largest tree of each species living
in Missouri. Size is calculated using a formula developed by American Forests
and the MDC that takes into account a tree's height, crown spread and trunk
circumference. The Garden now holds the record for the biggest white basswood
(Tilia heterophylla), western soapberry (Sapindus drummondii), and possumhaw
(Ilex decidua) in the state. All are native Missouri species.
The deciduous white basswood is often used for landscaping and known for its
sweet, bee-attracting flowers. Towering above the Museum Building, the Garden's
tree is 103 feet tall with an 81-foot spread. The 52-foot tall western soapberry,
near the Lehmann Rose Garden, has glossy green leaves which turn a showy yellow-gold
in autumn. Its name comes from the chemicals in its fruits, which lather like
soap in water but can also be toxic. The possumhaw is a much smaller deciduous
shrub which displays colorful orange-red berries throughout winter. The average
possumhaw is just seven to 15 feet tall with a five- to 12-foot spread. The
champion possumhaw, located across from the Museum Building, is 18 feet tall
with a 33-foot crown spread.
The Garden has also been honored by the APGA as a partner in the first multi-site
Quercus (oak) collection to achieve official NAPCC Member Status.
"Your organization stands among a prestigious group of gardens and arboreta
that have committed themselves to the conservation and care of specific plant
collections curated at the highest professional level," said Pamela Allenstein,
NAPCC coordinator.
The Garden joins 14 other institutions nationwide that will collaborate to
strengthen their unified collection and preserve plant diversity. They will
make tree data and germplasm (plant genetic material) available to each other
for evaluation, selection, breeding and various other research purposes. The
Garden's collection includes 385 individual oak trees representing 48 different
taxa, or categories.
The American Daffodil Society has awarded the Missouri Botanical Garden's Narcissus
(daffodil) collection as the first sanctioned ADS Display Garden. Certified
collections must include not only a large number but also a wide variety of
daffodils for public display and education; meet various criteria for plant
signage and garden maintenance; and undergo bi-annual reviews by the ADS.
The Narcissus collection located in the Samuels and Heckman Bulb Gardens showcases
nearly 650 unique varieties, representing 12 of the 13 horticultural divisions.
The collection includes a number of historic varieties and a selection of daffodils
hybridized in Missouri. Visitors can learn about the plants on display through
interpretive signage and detailed labeling specialized for the collection. Blooming
season runs from late February through April, with peak bloom usually in early
April.
The 79-acre Missouri Botanical Garden is open from 9 a.m. to
5 p.m. daily at 4344 Shaw Blvd. in south St. Louis. Admission
is $8 adults (St. Louis City and County residents, $4 adults,
$2 seniors). Children 12 and under are free. Special rates apply
for some events and amenities. Visit www.mobot.org
for details or call the recorded line at (314) 577-9400.
Charles Darwin’s Work with Plants Will Be Brought to Life
at The New York Botanical Garden
Darwin’s Garden: An Evolutionary Adventure
April 25–June 15, 2008
Exhibition Highlights Darwin’s Little-Known Fascination
with Plants
The untold story of Charles Darwin’s lifelong fascination and work with
plants, including how flowers have evolved their extreme beauty and how plants
are sensitive creatures responding to the least beam of sunlight and the pull
of gravity, will be presented in an exhibition entitled Darwin’s Garden:
An Evolutionary Adventure at The New York Botanical Garden this spring.
Darwin’s Garden will include exhibitions of living plants and historical
documents in three Botanical Garden venues: the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory,
LuEsther T. Mertz Library gallery, and Everett Children’s Adventure Garden,
plus an “evolutionary tour” of living plants demonstrating key points
on the evolutionary tree of life. It will paint a portrait of Darwin as a naturalist
and plantsman and show how Darwin’s botanical experiments and discoveries
helped shape his contributions to the understanding of life in general.
Darwin historian David Kohn, Ph.D., comments, “Only in his work as a
botanist can we truly see all the dimensions of Darwin as a scientist—that
is as a successful collector, as a powerful theorist, as an insightful observer,
and as a rigorous and almost prophetic experimenter.” Professor Kohn is
curating the exhibition in the Mertz Library and advising on the other components
of Darwin’s Garden.
There will be several events and programs associated with Darwin’s Garden,
most notably a symposium with leading Darwin scholars in early May.
Darwin’s Own Garden Re-created
The exhibition in the Haupt Conservatory will focus on Darwin’s work
with living plants, evoking Darwin’s own gardens, greenhouse, and experimental
beds where he conducted botanical research. It will tell the story of how careful
observation of the plants in his gardens and greenhouse inspired Darwin’s
groundbreaking thinking about natural selection and evolution. The exhibition
will re-create Darwin’s gardens at Down House, his home in England, and
the surrounding orchards and meadows where the naturalist made many further
scientific observations. Primroses, insectivorous plants, orchids, and climbing
plants, subjects of Darwin’s research and writings, will be featured in
the exhibition. Other plants will illustrate the role plants played in the evolution
of Darwin’s ideas and will bring to life the kitchen garden at Down House
as well as the famous “sandwalk” where Darwin made careful observation
of nature and plants, the basis for much of his break-through thinking.
Displays of plants will evoke Darwin’s experimental studies and his investigations
into pollination and the power of movement in plants.
Darwin’s Garden in the Haupt Conservatory will run April 25–June
15, 2008.
Darwin’s Botany in His Own Words
The exhibition in the Mertz Library’s William D. Rondina and Giovanni
Foroni LoFaro Gallery will include original historical documents exploring Darwin’s
deep personal relationship with plants, beginning in childhood. It will interweave
information about Darwin as a person with the story of his rich botanical ideas,
featuring Darwin’s own writings and collections. Illustrated books, manuscripts,
and other historical documents will offer insight into his thinking and demonstrate
the importance of botany throughout his life. Most of the materials come from
Darwin’s own manuscripts in Cambridge University Library and from the
Mertz Library’s extensive collection of 19th-century botanical works.
Additional materials will be on loan from the University Herbarium at Cambridge,
the Royal Horticultural Society’s Lindley Library in London, and the Archives
at the Harvard Botany Libraries.
The exhibition will start with Darwin’s botanical heritage, his family
history, and upbringing and proceed through his exposure to 18th- and early
19th-century botany in his undergraduate education at Edinburgh and Cambridge.
It will also illustrate the significant role of plants on his historic, five-year
journey around the world on the HMS Beagle. He spent much of his time collecting
plants along with fossil bones and bird skins. Darwin’s collections of
“all plants in flower” from the Galápagos Islands, for example,
became the basis for the first flora of that archipelago and provided his strongest
evidence for evolution. His field notes on the vegetation of Brazil and Tierra
del Fuego reflect his developing thinking on natural processes.
The exhibition will also chronicle Darwin’s professional friendships
and intellectual exchange with leading botanists of the era, including Joseph
Dalton Hooker, Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and Asa Gray at Harvard
University, and show how these contributed to the creation of The Origin of
Species. It will also highlight his elegant and profound investigations into
plant sexuality (the role of flowers, including pollination and co-evolution
of plants and their pollinators) and sensitivity (how plants respond to touch,
light, gravity, and chemical substances).
Darwin’s Garden in the Mertz Library will be open April 25–July
20, 2008.
Children’s Adventures with Darwin
In the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden, an interactive exhibition
including plants important to the development of the concept of evolution will
invite hands-on exploration. Carnivorous plants will also be on display. Darwin
the man will be brought to life through a re-creation of his research laboratory,
an assortment of his working tools, a child-friendly timeline of the highlights
of Darwin’s life, and a replica of the Beagle, together with a map of
the ship’s five-year voyage to South America and around the world.
The exhibition and programs in the Children’s Adventure Garden will be
open April 25–June 29, 2008.
Scientific Symposium
The New York Botanical Garden, in collaboration with the American Museum of
Natural History, will also host a symposium on two evenings during the exhibition.
Entitled Darwin: 21st-Century Perspectives, the symposium will feature presentations
by scientists, historians, philosophers, and environmentalists—the current
thinking by some of the world’s leading Darwin experts. Because Darwin’s
theories continue to be a significant force in the world today, the symposium
will offer an extraordinary opportunity to hear top scholars and commentators
discuss Darwin’s far-reaching impact.
The two-part symposium, moderated by prominent naturalist and author Edward
O. Wilson, Ph.D., will be open to the public. It begins the evening of Tuesday,
May 6, at the Botanical Garden; the second session, the evening of Thursday,
May 8, will be at the American Museum of Natural History.
Symposium Admission: $10 each/$16 for both sessions
Free to Members of AMNH and NYBG; registration required
Please call 800.322.6924 for information and to purchase tickets
Evolutionary Tour, Workshops, and More
From April 25 to June 15, an Evolutionary Tour will take visitors on a scavenger
hunt through the tree of life among living plants in the Garden’s collections.
In the Haupt Conservatory and surrounding outdoor plantings, this approximately
40-minute walking tour will highlight significant plants in the evolutionary
tree of life. It will be accompanied by signage and commentary accessible via
visitors’ cell phones.
A separate audiotour will also be available to guide visitors through their
visit of Darwin’s Garden in the Haupt Conservatory and Mertz Library.
Weekend programs will feature drop-in lectures, workshops, and guided tours.
In addition, performances will feature music and poetry from Darwin’s
era, much of it heavily influenced by nature.
About Darwin and Plants
Botany played a pivotal role in each phase of the life of Charles Robert Darwin
(February 12, 1809–April 19, 1882). As an undergraduate he collected specimens
for his botany professor’s herbarium while geologizing in Wales. Voyaging
aboard the HMS Beagle he wrote in his journal that his mind was “a chaos
of delight” as he reveled in the luxuriance of tropical forests. Preparing
to write The Origin of Species, he treated his primroses with guano to produce
mutants. He tested by botanical experiments many of the critical arguments crucial
to the development of this seminal work. For decades afterward, he turned his
home and the surrounding countryside into a botanical field station and took
great pleasure in his experimental gardening.
In the spring of 1860, a year after The Origin of Species was published, Darwin
began plant experiments at Down House that resulted in six books that forever
recast the field of botany and provided solid evidence for Darwin’s theories
of evolutionary adaptation. The books are Fertilisation of Orchids (1862), Climbing
Plants (1865), Insectivorous Plants (1875), Forms of Flowers (1877), The Effects
of Cross and Self Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom (1876), and The Power
of Movement in Plants (1880).
Darwin’s work with plants provided credible and enduring evidence in
support of his theory of evolution through natural selection. His studies on
the fertilization of orchids, insectivorous plants, climbing plants, and the
movements of plants were each a precise example of how evolution could solve
the traditional mysteries of natural history. He laid the foundation of modern
botany as an evolutionary discipline, which continues even today.
Darwin’s studies of living plants also led to a succession of brilliant
revelations. Through careful observation of insect pollination, for example,
he concluded that the two different but stable forms of the wild cowslip, Primula
veris, discourage self-fertilization of the plant and guarantee cross-fertilization.
He revealed that flowering plants attained their form and cross-fertilizing
function to sustain genetic variability. Darwin also became an expert on virtually
every British species of orchid. He discovered and demonstrated that the key
to orchid pollination was the touch of an insect’s proboscis, which releases
spring-loaded pollen. From this breakthrough Darwin structured a convincing
argument for adaptation by natural selection.
Through scientific explorations of botanical sex and sensitivity, Darwin projected
a dynamic conception of nature that would substantially enrich both scientific
and humanistic pursuits. And he contended that plants—no less than animals—are
sensitive creatures in possession of behaviors that permit them to respond to
their environment, including elements such as sunlight, touch, and gravity.
Plants clamber over neighbors, track the movement of the sun, capture and digest
insects, and respond to the “touch from a child’s hair.” Darwin
delighted in discovering these adaptations.
Exhibition Leadership
The New York Botanical Garden is proud to have historian David Kohn, Ph.D.,
a renowned Darwin expert and Professor Emeritus at Drew University, as curator
of Darwin’s Garden: An Evolutionary Adventure. John Parker, Ph.D., Professor
of Plant Cytogenetics and Director of the Cambridge University Botanic Garden,
is Advisor to The New York Botanical Garden on the project. In addition, an
Advisory Committee of distinguished Darwin scholars will contribute a wide range
of intellectual perspectives. Senior New York Botanical Garden staff, including
Vice President for Horticulture and Living Collections Todd Forrest, Mertz Library
Director Susan Fraser, Vice President for Education Jeff Downing, and Vice President
for Laboratory Research Dennis Wm. Stevenson, Ph.D., round out the leadership
of this comprehensive exhibition.
After the exhibition at The New York Botanical Garden, portions of Darwin’s
Garden: An Evolutionary Adventure will be displayed at the Huntington
Botanical Garden in Pasadena, California.
New England Wild Flower Society’s Garden in the Woods
STANDING ATTRACTION: New England Wild Flower
Society’s Garden in the Woods open April 15-
October 31, 2008 featuring 1,500 native plant
species and cultivars, including 200 rare and
endangered species. Select from 550 native plant
species at the sales nursery. July 12-October 31:
garden-wide exhibit, David Rogers’ BIG BUGS,
included with admission, with 13 giant sculptures
and Web-of-Life
Extravaganza events: April 15-
September 1: Open daily 9-7. September 2-October
31: Open daily 9-5. Free parking. Tours weekdays
at 10 a.m. and weekends at 2 p.m. included with
admission, no reservations required. Admission
$8 for adults; $6 for seniors and students with ID;
$4 for children 3-18. Free for members and children
under 3. Purchases/memberships support the
plant conservation programs of New England Wild
Flower Society, 180 Hemenway Road,
Framingham, MA. 508-877-7630. www.newenglandWILD.org
Resources of the Southern Fields and Forests,
Medical, Economical, and Agricultural.
Being also a Medical Botany of the Confederate
States;
with Practical Information on the Useful
Properties of
the Trees, Plants, and Shrubs:
Electronic Edition.
Porcher, Francis Peyre, 1825-1895 http://docsouth.unc.edu/imls/porcher/porcher.html
PRIMING SCIENTISTS FOR SUCCESSFUL MEDIA INTERVIEWS
New AIBS book provides tools and tips for effective science communication
WASHINGTON, DC. Evolution, climate change, stem cell research-Scientists are
frequently called upon to provide expert information on hot button issues that
pervade the daily news headlines, yet most find themselves woefully unprepared
for the bright lights of the television studio or leading questions from a newspaper
journalist. A new publication from the American Institute of Biological Sciences
(AIBS), Communicating Science: A Primer for Working with the Media, by Holly
Menninger and Robert Gropp, will prepare scientists for successful and effective
media interviews.
Recognizing that many scientists are reluctant to engage in media outreach,
the Primer outlines compelling reasons for scientists to interact with the media
and describes key differences between journalism and science that may not be
apparent to practicing scientists. Step-by-step, Menninger and Gropp walk scientists
through the entire interview process-from appropriate questions to ask when
a reporter calls to practical advice for looking and sounding one's best on-air
or on-camera.
The information and advice in the Primer is presented in eight easy-to-read
chapters that provide vital information for scientists new to media outreach,
as well as a quick refresher for seasoned experts-an ideal text for a graduate
course on science communication or a professional development course for students
and faculty. The Primer's authors speak from their own experiences as PhD scientists
in the biological sciences with years of experience in media outreach.
The concise, user-friendly volume has several unique features that set it apart
from other media guides for scientists. The Primer includes first-person interviews
with nearly a dozen scientists who have successfully navigated print, radio,
and television interviews. The scientists-including the "Island Snake Lady,"
Kristin Stanford, recently featured on the Discovery Channel show, Dirty Jobs-share
advice and experiences on a number of topics, including safely speaking on behalf
of an organization, avoiding trouble when discussing socially or politically
controversial topics, and reflections on first interviews.
The Primer also provides worksheets to assist readers with interview preparation:
building a message framework with talking points and transition phrases, developing
analogies, and using illustrative props or images. It includes pages for readers
to organize contact information of journalists with whom they have worked directly
and those who have reported on stories related to their own research to keep
as potential contacts for future story pitches.
Communicating Science: A Primer for Working with the Media is available now
at www.aibs.org/bookstore/.
The table of contents and cover image are also available at www.aibs.org/bookstore/.
‘Parasite Lost’: Botanists Discovers Unusual Plant Missing since 1985
Intensive field research and herbarium study leads
the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis to
describe as many as 100 plant species a year that
are new to science. The discovery of an entirely new
genus is significantly rarer. Dr. George Yatskievych,
scientist and curator in the Garden’s Science and
Conservation Division, has successfully recovered
and is studying such an undescribed genus: an
unusual parasitic flowering plant that has lost its
chlorophyll and depends entirely on its host tree for
nutrients and water. Only one specimen of this
“parasite lost” existed prior to Yatskievych’s
research, found over 20 years ago and not seen
since.
In 1985, Dr. Wayt Thomas of the New York Botanical
Garden had a chance encounter with a single
specimen while collecting other plants in the Mexican
state of Guerrero. The odd, orange-brown, fleshystemmed
plant had a pinecone-shaped dense
cluster of flowers. The late Dr. Larry Heckard of the
University of California, a leading North American
expert on parasitic plants, examined the specimen
but was unable to identify even its plant family.
Parasitic plants are extremely hard to study as
pressed specimens, as they become brown and
distorted during the drying process. Thus, the plant
remained unidentified for more than 20 years, before
eventually making its way through the scientific
community to the Missouri Botanical Garden.
As a Garden botanist, Yatskievych has performed
taxonomic research on families of parasitic plants
for the Flora of Missouri Project and the Flora of
North America. Among these, the unknown
specimen appeared closest in floral features to
others in the family Orobanchaceae.
Orobanchaceae are all parasitic on the roots of host
plants. Although some of the genera are green and
appear “normal” until their root connections are
revealed, others have completely lost their ability to
photosynthesize and appear as fungus-like, nongreen
plants with succulent stems and small, scalelike
leaves.
“The Orobanchaceae that I have worked with are
almost otherworldly in appearance,” said
Yatskievych. “I’ve always been interested in plants
that don’t fit the preconceived notion of what plants
should be. The specimen collected by Dr. Thomas
was so unusual that I had to see for myself what it
looked like alive.”
During June of 2006, Yatskievych traveled to the
Sierra Madre del Sur of western Mexico, northwest of Acapulco, to return to the general area of the
original collection. He and local researchers spent
several days conducting intensive field searches
before successfully rediscovering the plant,
becoming the first botanists to see the species in
more than two decades. They fully documented the
plant for future scientific study through photographs
and collection samples. Yatskievych’s second visit
to the area in 2007 added further information on the
ecology of the new genus and the identity of its host
species (Hedyosmum mexicanum, a species in
the Chloranthaceae family of flowering plants). It
also confirmed that the undescribed parasitic plant
is rare and imperiled in nature.
“The region where the plant grows is changing
rapidly, as the abundant forests gradually are being
logged for timber and the slopes burned to become
pastures and crop fields,” observed Yatskievych. “In
another decade or two, we might never have
succeeded in relocating this undescribed genus in
the field.”
The “parasite lost” was not the only species found
on the journey. The group also documented a
number of other plant and animal species during
the trip, including an unknown caterpillar that
researchers in Mexico hope to study further.
Results of Yatskievych’s research on the
undescribed genus of the Orobanchaceae family
are currently being compiled for publication in a
scientific journal later this year, at which time the
plant will be officially identified by its new name.
“In its use I would beg the teacher to bear in mind
that the book [The Essentials of Botany] is intended
to be merely the guide, and that a simple conning
and recitation of its paes will give but a poor return
indeed. Every effort should be made to have the
pupil see things for himself. To aid him in this,
numerous ‘practical studies’ are introduced after
the principal topics, and it is urged upon teacher and
pupil that as much use be made of them as possible.
Indeed, it would be an excellent plan to use the
‘studies’ alone as a guide in a course of practical
work.”
Charles E. Bessey
Ames, Iowa, July 8, 1884
Books Reviewed
Developmental and Structural
Electron Microscopy, Methods and Protocols, Second Edition. Kuo, John (ed) - Tobias Baskin
Plant Cell Separation and Adhesion: Annual Plant Reviews, Volume 25. Roberts, Jeremy A. and Zinnia Gonzalez-Carranza (eds) - Marshall D. Sundberg
Ecological
The Ecology and Evolution of Ant-Plant Interactions. Rico-Greay, Victor and Paulo S. Oliveira. - Aaron
M. Ellison
Economic Botany
Plants of Longevity - The Medicinal Flora of Vilcabamba. Plantas de Longevidad - La flora Curcandera de Vilcabamba and
Plants of the Four Winds - The Magic and Medicinal Flora of Peru. Plantas de los Cuatro Vientos - Flora Mágica y Medicinal del Perú. Bussmann, Rainer W. and Douglas Sharon. - James G. Graham
Historical
Knowledge, Truth and Service: The New York Botanical Garden. 1891 to 1980. Dunkak, Harry M. - Joanne Shapre
Systematics
Cacti of Texas, a field guide: with emphasis on the Trans-Pecos species. Powell, A. Michael, James
F. Weedin, and Shirley A. Powell. - Root Gorelick
Electron Microscopy, Methods and Protocols, Second Edition.
Edited by John Kuo. Volume 369 in Methods in Molecular Biology.
Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. 608 pp. ISBN 13:978-1-58829-573-6
Who needs this book? Searching Amazon.com for "electron
microscopy methods" returns 2,100 hits. If you are a person
who suddenly decides to do a spot of ultrastructure, you won't
turn to this book. Instead you would turn to your friendly neighborhood
core facility for electron microscopy to be trained, possibly
tormented, in the fine art of whatever subgenera is needed. On
the other hand, if you are the director of said core facility
and a customer, I mean a colleague, comes to you saying "Help,
I need to look at xylem by cryoplaning" then you could pull
Electron Microscopy Methods and Protocols off the shelf and turn
to the chapter on cryoplaning and get a good start on figuring
out what it was all about. Like all of the chapters, you would
read an overview of the method but also find step by step instructions,
complete with lists of materials and reagents, where to buy them,
drawings and pictures of apparatus, representative images, and
even references for further information. You would be well on
your way to helping your client cryoplane or urging him or her
to go away.
Cryoplaning is a versatile but unusual method and is included
quite possibly in no other book on electron microscopy methods.
This reason alone may be enough to spur the insatiable collector
to buy the book. But as that chapter is ten pages out of the book's
607, what about the other chapters? The first 150 or so pages
(seven chapters) cover fairly well trodden ground, namely conventional
specimen preparation (i.e, fixation and embedding, including with
microwaves), ultramicrotomy, and staining (both positive and negative).
These are competent articles, but have little new and few citations
after the year 2000. The ultramicrotomy article (by Herbert Hagler)
fully describes that author's iconoclastic method for glass-knife
making and anyone who uses a lot of these, particularly for fine
work, might be game to try it. The next 14 chapters (the bulk
of the book) aim at more specialized applications. Several of
them include cryotechniques, with thorough chapters on high-pressure
freezing, cryoultramicrotomy, and immunostaining; other chapters
deal with quantitative immunostaining, tomography, crystal¬lography,
and even in situ hybridization (i.e. detecting nucleic acids based
on hybridization). The final 150 pages (seven chapters) are devoted
to scanning electron microscopy; PSL readers might be surprised
to hear that four of them deal specifically with plants. Included
here is a chapter by Brendan Griffin on variable pressure and
environmental methods that is particularly up to date and well
illustrated. Few electron microscopy labs will need to do all
of these protocols and few labs will be without books covering
some of them; but anyone lacking books on electron microscopy
would find this volume a reasonable addition.
The publisher makes a few odd choices. This is emphatically
a protocols book but because it is short and thick, you can't
keep it open without a third hand or lead brick, hence working
from it at the bench is all but impossible. Some of the articles
lend themselves naturally to the protocol format (i.e. a numbered
list of steps) but consider ultramicrotomy: this is a process,
not an assay, and the articles on it feel shoehorned into the
protocol boot. In some articles, there are single notes covering
two pages, and many articles contain dozens of notes, grouped
together before the references in each chapter. The book has micrographs
of the results of protocols properly executed but of almost no
failures; nevertheless, failures illuminate and it can helpful
to know what to avoid as well as what to seek. Finally, I am a
great fan of "the book" but I wonder whether the goal
of publishing methods would be better served by an internet-based
approach? Suppose each chapter were available for download at
a cost of $5.00 each? This number is roughly the price of the
book divided by the number of chapters. Arguably, if the book
weren't printed, the costs would be less and so perhaps each article
could sell for a dollar or two? Our gut reaction is to demand
anything on the www be free but yet be willing to shell out 150
dollars for a book in which we will use a couple of protocols.
With that in mind, why object to paying less than ten percent
of of the whole book's cost for the articles you want, downloaded
from the web?
Electron microscopy is a mix of high-wattage engineering and
low-tech inventiveness. It is fascinating to see the ingenuity
biologists have lavished on their samples, all for the sake of
seeing the unseen. This ingenuity permeates Electron Microscopy
Methods and Protocols, a book whose perusal will reward anyone
interested in putting some of this cleverness to work for them
or who wishes to compare their own practices to the devious devices
of the community of electron microscopists.
- Tobias Baskin, Biology Department, University
of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, 01003
Plant Cell Separation and Adhesion: Annual Plant
Reviews, Volume 25. Roberts, Jeremy A. and
Zinnia Gonzalez-Carranza (eds.). 2007. ISBN 1-
4051-3892-0. (Cloth US$199.99) 210 pp. Blackwell
Publishing Ltd., 2121 State Avenue, Ames, Iowa
50014-8300.
While there is a considerable literature on the
process of abscission and fruit detachment,
particularly from a horticultural perspective, this is
the first volume to examine the basic processes of
both cell separation and cell adhesion from a
molecular developmental perspective. The editors
have enlisted two dozen authorities, from around
the world, to collaborate on the nine chapters
represented in this volume.
In the brief introductory chapter, the editors provide
an abstract of what will be found in the succeeding
chapters. In a single provocative sentence they
refer to the potential role of the cuticle in regulating
cell adhesion processes. Unfortunately there was
no elaboration in subsequent chapters. It is quickly
apparent that most of the focus is on cell separation.
Not surprisingly, organ abscission, dehiscence
and fruit ripening are three of the nine chapters
covered in the book. These are certainly the first
topics that come to mind when thinking about the
role of cell separation in plants and they are the
areas with the most extensive literature. The authors
of these chapters summarize recent advances in
our basic understanding of the physiological
processes involved and their commercial
applications. In the chapter on organ abscission,
a general model is proposed which appears to be
conserved across species, applicable to various
organs and processes. The first stage, patterning/
differentiation, involves formation of an anatomically
distinctive abscission zone. The second stage,
activation, involves signaling and the activation of
biosynthetic pathways. Stage three involves actual
separation and the final stage involves scar
formation. Most of the chapter details a variety of
genes, from different plant models, involved with
the first two stages. The chapter on dehiscence
concentrates on regulation of cell wall dissolution
associated with stage three of the previous chapter
using Arabidopsis as the primary model. The
chapter on fruit ripening concentrates on fleshy
fruits, primarily the regulation of ripening in tomato.
It is a good summary of our current understanding
of the physiology of a process critically important to
the food processing industry.
Though not so well known, interesting examples of
cell separation associated with normal root growth
are documented in their own small chapter. Most
of the work focuses on border cell separation in the
root cap involving enzymatic solubilization of cell walls. The second model, branch root emergence,
involves many of the same enzymes produced by
root cap cells but which now act on the cortical cells
through which the branch root grows.
Only one chapter, on plant reproduction, focuses on
cell adhesion processes and this was limited
primarily to pollen/stigma interactions and pollen
tube growth, particularly the latter. This is a complex
pathway involving signaling molecules and
production of adhesion molecules both by the
carpellary tissue and the growing pollen tube and
the authors do a good job of summarizing current
understanding. I was disappointed, however, that
no mention was made of other fusion processes
involved with floral development such as postgenital
fusion of carpels.
The chapter on vascular cell differentiation seemed
out-of-place. Even the authors in their conclusion
admit that the processes of vascular differentiation,
particularly of tracheary elements, only “associate
or implicate cell separation-related events.”
I found the two chapters bookending the text to be
most interesting. Chapter 2, “Cell wall structure,
biosynthesis and assembly,” provided a good
review of the molecular construction of plant cell
walls and included many references to current
molecular studies. While providing a useful
foundation for all of the following chapters, it was
critical for interpreting the final chapter, “The role of
polymer cross-linking in intercellular adhesion.”
The latter was written from an interesting perspective
-- that of the role of cell adhesion in food quality and
preparation. I was particularly intrigued by the
details of the spatial patterning of cross links in the
cell wall. I had always assumed that primary walls
(except of collenchyma) and middle lamella were
more-or-less homogeneous. In fact, cross linkages
form a “rip-stop” pattern, particularly in areas of
tricellular junctions that provide mechanical strength
while permitting formation of new intercellular
spaces.
This book fits well within the series of annual plant
reviews written for researchers and graduate
students in plant biology. While few individuals will
want to purchase a personal copy, it belongs in the
collection of every research library and the libraries
of colleges with a faculty member researching
problems involving plant cell-cell interactions.
- Marshall D. Sundberg, Department of Biological
Sciences, Emporia State University.
The Ecology and Evolution of Ant-Plant Interactions.
Rico-Gray, Victor and Paulo S. Oliveira. 2007. ISBN 9780226713472
(cloth US$70.00); ISBN 9780226713489 (paper US$28.00), xiii +
331 pp. University of Chicago Press, 1427 East 60th Street, Chicago,
Illinois 60637, USA
Plants are the autotrophic basis of life on Earth, and ants –
in terms of abundance and biomass – are, in E.O. Wilson’s
words, “the little things that run the world”. Thus
it should come as no surprise that the rich variety of interactions
between ants and plants continues to captivate botanists and entomologists,
ecologists and evolutionary biologists, and keen observers of
natural history. For nearly fifty years, ecological and evolutionary
approaches to the study and analysis of ant-plant interactions
have been framed by Janzen’s classic study of the mutualism
between ants and acacias (Janzen 1966) and the subsequent elaboration
of a general theory of coevolution by John Thompson (1982, 1994).
In their new book, The Ecology and Evolution of Ant-Plant Interactions,
Victor Rico-Gray and Paulo Oliviera provide a comprehensive and
readable overview of the hundreds of studies of ant-plant interactions
conducted since Janzen (1966) and illustrate clearly how well
Thompson’s framework for understanding coevolution has supported
the field.
After a quick introduction to the evolutionary history of ants
and plants, and a brief review of the fossil record of ants, Rico-Gray
and Oliviera focus their monograph on the two best-studied types
of interactions between ants and plants: antagonistic interactions
and mutualistic interactions. In particular, they work within
the conceptual framework in which mutualism evolvies from antagonistic
interactions, and that places both within the context of relationships
between consumers and their resources (Holland et al. 2005). This
context serves Rico-Gray and Oliviera well, as they move seamlessly
from a consideration of clear antagonistic interactions (leaf-cutting
and seed harvesting by ants), through mutualisms as extensions
of antagonism (ants as primary and secondary seed dispersers),
to pure mutualisms in which plants feed and house ants that in
return feed the plants and defend them from herbivores. In between,
are the conditional mutualisms, both direct and indirect.
The directly conditional mutualisms are characterized by the
broad range of associations found among ants and their host plants,
including acacias, Cecropia, Piper, and Macaranga, to name only
a few. Some of these ant-plant interactions are very elaborate,
and include species-specific domatia and food bodies provided
by the plant, which in return is strongly defended by the ants.
Others are more general, and revolve around extrafloral nectaries
or limited provisioning of food resources. Given the spatial scattering
of many ant-plants, the heterogeneous spatial arrangement of ant
nests and their foraging strategies, and the opportunistic and
facultative nature of most associations between ants and plants,
Rico-Gray and Oliviera conclude that species-specific coevolution
between particular ants and particular plant species is likely
to be the exception rather than the rule. This conclusion is supported
by the preponderance of evidence presented in their book.
The indirect mutualisms are perhaps more interesting to community
ecologists such as myself who are interested in complex webs of
interacting species. These interactions involve plants, phloem-feeding
herbivores (primarily hemipterans) or other honeydew-secreting
insects (butterfly larvae and some gallmaking wasps), and the
ants that tend these herbivores. Here the conditional nature of
the net interaction between ants and plants is most evident. Ants
that tend hemipterans (for example) increase the latter’s
abundance and survival rate, and since hemipterans can reduce
plant growth and survival, there is the potential for insect-tending
ants to indirectly and negatively affect the host plant. But,
if the ants also provide protection to the plants, and if that
benefit outweighs the negative impact of the herbivores, then
the net result will be and indirect positive effect of ants on
plants. A further twist is added by plants that bear extrafloral
nectaries. In some cases, such nectaries may benefit herbivores
by attracting ants to tend them whereas in others extrafloral
nectaries are thought to have evolved as a defense against ant-herbivore
mutualisms.
The existence of ant-plant mutualisms has suggested some strategies
for biological control. Rico-Gray and Oliveira highlight work
done by Perfecto (1991) on using ants to control pests in small-scale
maize-based agroecosystems in Nicaragua, and by Vandermeer et
al. (2002) in coffee plantations in Mexico. While these two examples
are compelling, neither biological control nor chemical control
of pests should be used indiscriminately.
Much remains to be learned about interactions between ants and
plants, and in their concluding overview of the field, Rico-Gray
and Oliveira highlight a broad range of open questions and research
topics. These include additional focus on spatial and temporal
variability (moving beyond studies of single species in single
populations for short times); better assessment of alternative
defense strategies by plants (are the ants really necessary?);
stronger quantification of indirect costs and benefits in ant
– ant-tended-herbivore – plant systems; more attention
to direct feeding of plants by ants; detailed consideration of
the other arthropods in the system and elaboration of networks
of interactions; and better use of phylogenetic information. This
book should successfully generate many undergraduate projects,
masters’ theses, and doctoral dissertation topics, and should
be on the shelf of any botanist, entomologist, ecology, or evolutionary
biologist interested in interactions between the organisms that
have built the world and those that run it.
Literature Cited
Holland, J. N., J. H. Ness, A. Boyle, and J. Bronstein. 2005.
Mutualisms as consumer resource interactions. Pp. 17-35 in P.
Barbosa and I. Castellanos, editors. Ecology of predator-prey
interactions. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
Janzen, D. H. 1966. Coevolution of mutualism between ants and
acacias in Central America. Evolution 20: 249-275.
Perfecto, I. 1991. Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) as natural control
agents of pests in irrigated maize in Nicaragua. Journal of
Economic Entomology 84: 65-70.
Thompson, J. N. 1982. Interaction and coevolution. John
Wiley & Sons, New York, New York.
Thompson, J. N. 1994. The coevolutionary process. University
of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois.
Vandermeer, J., I, Perfecto, G. Ibarra Nuñez, S. Philpott,
and A. García Ballinas. 2002. Ants (Azteca sp.) as potential
biological control agents in shade coffee production in Chiapas,
Mexico. Agroforestry Systems 56: 271-276.
- Aaron M. Ellison, Harvard University,
Harvard Forest, 324 North Main Street, Petersham, Massachusetts
01366 USA (aellison @ fas.harvard.edu)
Plants of Longevity - The Medicinal Flora of Vilcabamba.
Plantas de Longevidad - La flora Curcandera de Vilcabamba.
Bussmann, Rainer W. and Douglas Sharon. 2007. ISBN 0-9789962-2-4
(Paper US$ 14.95) 253 pp. Graficart, srl, Jiron San Martin 375,
Trujillo, Peru.
Plants of the Four Winds - The Magic and Medicinal Flora
of Peru. Plantas de los Cuatro Vientos - Flora Mágica y
Medicinal del Perú. Bussmann, Rainer W. and Douglas
Sharon. 2007. ISBN 0-9789962-3-2 (Paper US$29.95) 596 pp. Graficart,
srl, Jiron San Martin 375, Trujillo, Peru.
These two books present the culmination of a number of years'
worth of ethnobotanical research among herb vendors and traditional
healers (curanderos) in Northwest Peru (Departments of Piura,
Lambayeque, La Libertad, Cajamarca, and San Martin) and among
curanderos and midwives of Southern Ecuador (Loja Province). Presented
in a straightforward, bilingual (Spanish and English) format,
both volumes are generously illustrated with black-and-white photographs
and/or herbarium scans of nearly all of the plants they discuss,
along with details of the preparation and uses of the medicinal
flora of their respective regions. Introductory overviews of the
historical and current status of traditional medicine in these
regions as well as a list of the most commonly-encountered medical
conditions, including illnesses of supernatural origin, round
out these volumes.
Plants of the Four Winds presents data on almost 500 plant species
used in Northern Peru, and Plants of Longevity contains data for
almost 200 plant species from Loja Province, Ecuador. Native species
make up the majority of the plants presented in both volumes,
although naturalized plants represent around 20% of the total.
The regions covered in these two volumes are geographically contiguous,
but the species that are presented differ substantially; even
where there is species overlap, medicinal use can be significantly
different. All of the plants under discussion have been vouchered
in herbaria in their respective countries. Nomenclature of the
Ecuadorean material follows that of the Catalog of the Vascular
Plants of Ecuador, while nomenclature of the Peruvian material
follows that of the Catalog of the Flowering Plants and Gymnosperms
of Peru.
Ordered alphabetically by Family, Genus and species, vernacular
names are presented for each species, along with plant part used,
route of administration, preparation, medicinal use(s) and voucher
numbers for each collection. These volumes take a decidedly plant-based
approach to organization in the classical "cookbook"
style of documentary ethnobotany. The inclusion of a disclaimer
of liability by the authors for injury caused by use of the plants
found in these books underscores this point.
Although the introductory sections of both volumes touch briefly
on historical and social aspects of local and regional medicinal
plant use, the broader significance of this rich and poorly-studied
component of the Andean flora is only obliquely referred to. The
value of this research, and these books, in this context are extremely
high.
Unfortunately, referring to these works will be made somewhat
difficult by the cryptic style of the of publication date.
– James G. Graham, Adjunct Professor of
Pharmacognosy, University of Illinois at Chicago and Research
Associate, Department of Botany, The Field Museum, Chicago Illinois
Knowledge, Truth and Service: the New York
Botanical Garden, 1891 to 1980. Harry M. Dunkak.
2007. ISBN –13: 0-7618-3849-1. 122. University
Press of America, Lanham Maryland.
This small volume is not only a history of the
establishment and growth of the New York Botanical
Garden; it also provides an interesting perspective
on the parallel history of the New York City area and
the nation throughout the 90 years that are described,
thoroughly footnoted and indexed by historian Harry
Dunkak. A corporation to manage a botanical
garden was established by New York State law in
1891 and was mandated to share management
duties with the New York City park system and
Columbia University. The 250-acre site of
spectacular woodland chosen for the new botanical
garden was formerly the estate of the Lorillard
tobacco heirs and had been incorporated into the
much larger Bronx River parklands just north of
Manhattan.
The impetus for the establishment of a botanical
garden at this time came from renowned botanists
Nathaniel Lord Britton and Elizabeth Gertrude Knight
Britton who had visited botanical gardens throughout
Europe. They came home determined that a
botanical garden on a par with the Royal Botanical
Gardens at Kew was not only possible but necessary
if New York and the nation were to become
scientifically respected throughout the world. The
emphasis from the start was on science, research
and education was well as providing park land for the increasing numbers of people living in the area
in more and more crowded conditions.
As with any botanical garden, funding challenges
provide a common thread for the story from the
beginning when funds from private sources had to
be raised before the city would provide the money
to build the buildings and conservatory. Fortunately,
the late nineteenth century was a time of great
philanthropy and the garden buildings and grounds
were well established before World War I, the
Depression, World War II and inflation began to take
their toll on staffing and maintenance.
It is incredible to read how many herbarium
specimens poured in during the early years, both
through exchange and through expeditions by
garden staff, with many rooms filled for years with
unmounted specimens until time could be found for
processing. Even more amazing is the huge and
ornate 1-acre conservatory that is the symbol of the
New York Botanical Garden. From the beginning it
had been engineered with twelve climate-controlled
biomes for display of plants from all over the world.
The original building stood for about seventy years
before deterioration finally forced its demolition and
meticulous re-building through the incredible
generosity of Enid Haupt in the 1970s.
In addition to a chronological presentation of the
history of the administration, building and grounds,
Dunkak focuses on three major themes: the library
(and herbarium), research, and education. Intriguing
research such as the invention of puffed rice, faster
growing rubber trees, and monitoring of pollution
along the Bronx River, emphasize how much a part
of the times the garden was, not only in its waxing
and waning funding sources, but also the subjects
of interest to the large scientific staff over the years.
This is a book about the history of the founding and
administration of the New York Botanical Garden,
not a botany book. The only plant names in the index
are Tsuga canadensis and Gingko biloba. As such
it should be of interest to anyone who has ever
worked at or visited a botanical garden and
wondered how it came to be. For me this book was
especially interesting as I grew up in the vicinity of
the Bronx River. I also eventually took botany classes
out in the Bronx after an office work day in Manhattan
and there developed the confidence to pursue my
botanical studies professionally. To me it was and
still is a miracle that the staff, facilities and grounds
of such a beautiful and world-renowned institution
are so available to the non-botanical public. As
Dunkak’s book demonstrates, it was planned to be
that way from the very beginning.
- Joanne Sharpe, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens,
Boothbay Maine
Cacti of Texas, a field guide: with emphasis on the
Trans-Pecos species. A. Michael Powell, James F. Weedin,
and Shirley A. Powell. 400 pages, 314 color photos, 124 maps,
ISBN?978-0-89672-611-6, $24.95 paper.
Powell & Weedin converted their extraordinary 2004 treatise
Cacti of the Trans-Pecos and Adjacent Areas into an equally superb
abridged version, a.k.a. field guide. See my review of their 2004
treatise in PSB 51(3): 110-112, which largely also applies to
their 2008 field guide. In fact, due to some new photos, one additional
co-author (Shirley Powell), and an especially seamless integration
of figures with text, the field guide is better than expected.
For each cactus taxon from Trans-Pecos Texas, the area between
the Rio Grande and Rio Pecos, the authors not only include a relatively
jargon-free description of the plant (so good that the glossary
seems superfluous), habitat, and etymology, but also decent-sized
photos of flowers and fruits, as well as a distribution map. All
other cactus taxa in Texas are briefly described, including taxa
native to the remainder of the state and introduced species. For
any botanist traveling through west Texas, especially Big Bend,
this is an invaluable field guide written by the true experts.
This volume is in a slightly larger format (6 x 9 inches, 15.25
x 22.75 cm) than many people would like to carry into the field.
This could have been improved by moving the figure captions out
of the margins, decreasing the spacing between lines of text,
and shrinking the distribution maps.
Use of ploidy levels in the keys provides a difficult character
for use in the field, unless you carry a microscope with you.
On the other hand, while ploidy levels in the key of Echinocereus
seem unnecessary, ploidy may provide the best or only way of keying
out the confounding prickly pears, i.e. genus Opuntia s.s.
Cacti of Texas, a field guide is fairly error-free. I only spotted
a few production errors, such as incorrect page reference to Coryphantha
minima in the keys. Many combinations in this field guide supposedly
will be published in a forthcoming chapter by Zimmerman et al.
Unfortunately, one of Zimmerman’s co-authors passed away
over a decade ago, so these combinations may not be forthcoming
any time soon. However, all in all, these are minor foibles in
a beautiful field guide.
- Root Gorelich, Carleton University,
Ottawa, Canada
Books Received for Review
If you would like to review a book or books for PSB, contact
the Editor, stating the book of interest and the date by which
it would be reviewed (15 January, 15 April, 15 July or 15 October).
E-mail psb@botany.org, call,
or write as soon as you notice the book of interest in this list
because they go quickly! - Editor
1) |
Carolus Clusius: Towards a Cultural History of a
Renaissance Naturalist. Egmond, Florike, Paul Hoftijzer
and Robert Visser (eds). 2008. ISBN 90-6984-506-7 (Cloth US$75.00)
296 pp. The University of Chicago Press, 1427 East 60th Street,
Chicago, IL 60637-2954. |
OUT FOR
REVIEW |
2) |
The Curious World of Carnivorous Plants: A comprehensive
Guide to Their Biology and Cultivation. Barthlott,
Wilhelm, Stefan Porembski, Rüdiger Seine, and Inge Theisen.
2007. ISBN 978-0-88192-792-4 (Cloth US$39.95) 224 pp. Timber
Press, 133 S.W. Second Avenue, Suite 450, Portland, OR 97204-3527. |
OUT FOR
REVIEW |
3) |
Edible Medicines: An Ethnopharmacology of Food.
Etkin, Nina L. 2008. ISBN 978-0-8165-2748-9 (Paper US$24.95)
320 pp. The University of Arizona Press. 355 S. Euclid Avenue,
Suite 103, Tucson, AZ 85719. |
OUT FOR
REVIEW |
4) |
Field Guide to the Wild Orchids of Texas.
Brown, Paul Martin. 2008. ISBN 978-0-8130-3159-0 (Flex US$29.95.)
316 pp. |
OUT FOR
REVIEW |
5) |
Field guide to Wisconsin Sedges: An Introduction
to the Genus Carex (Cyperaceae). Hipp, Andrew
L. 2008. ISBN 978-0-299-22594-0 (Paper US$27.95) 280 pp. The
University of Wisconsin Press, 1930 Monroe Street, 3rd Floor,
Madison, Wisconsin 53711-2059. |
OUT FOR
REVIEW |
6) |
Fluorescing World of Plant Secreting Cells.
Roshchina, Victoria V. 2008. ISBN 978-1-57808-5156. (Cloth
US$88.00) 338 pp, Science Publishers, P.O. Box 699. Enfield,
New Hampshire 03748. |
OUT FOR
REVIEW |
7) |
Fruits and Plains: The Horticultural Transformation
of America. Pauly, Philip J. 2008. ISBN 978-0-674-02663-6
(Cloth US$39.95) 336 pp. Harvard University Press, 79 Garden
Street, Cambridge, MA 02138. |
OUT FOR
REVIEW |
8) |
Fungal Pathogenesis in Plant and Crops: Molecular
Biology and Host Defense Mechanisms, 2nd ed. Vidhyasekaran,
P. 2008. (Cloth US$169.95) 509 pp. CRC Press, Taylor &
Francis Group, 6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300, Boca
Raton, FL 33487-2742. |
Reviewer
Requested |
9) |
The Garden Primer, 2nd ed. Damrosch, Barbara.
2008. ISBN 978-0-7611-2275-3 (Paper, US$18.95) 832 pp. Workman
Press, 225 Varick Street, New York, New York 10014. |
OUT FOR
REVIEW |
10) |
Gardens and Cultural Change: A Pan American Perspective.
Conan, Michel and Jeffrey Quilter (eds) 2008. ISBN 978-0-88402-330-2
(Paper US$25.00) 110 pp. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and
Collection, distributed by Harvard University Press, 79.Garden
Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138. |
OUT FOR
REVIEW |
11) |
Genetic Glass Ceilings: Transgenics for Crop Biodiversity.
Gressel, Jonathan. 2008. ISBN 978-0-8018-8719-2 (Cloth US$65.00)
461 pp. The Johns Hopkins University Press. 2715 N. Charles
Street, Baltimore, MD 21218. |
Reviewer
Requested |
12) |
The Great Cacti: Ethonobotany and Biogeography.
Yetman, David. 2008. ISBN 978-0-8165-2431-0 (Cloth US$59.95)
320 pp. The University of Arizona Press, 355 S. Euclid Avenue,
Suite 103 Tucson, AZ 85719. |
OUT FOR
REVIEW |
13) |
An Introduction to Plant Breeding. Brown,
Jack and Peter Caligari. 2008. ISBN 978-1-4051-3344-9 (Paper
US$80.00) 209 pp. Blackwell Publishing, 2121 State Avenue,
Ames, Iowa 50014-8300. |
Reviewer
Requested |
14) |
Middle East Garden Traditions: Unity and Diversity.
Conan, Michel (ed.) ISBN 978-0-88402-329-6 (Paper US$40.00)
363 pp. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, distributed
by Harvard University Press, 79.Garden Street, Cambridge,
Massachusetts 02138. |
OUT FOR
REVIEW |
15) |
Musa Cliffortiana: Clifford’s Banana Plant.
Linnaeus, Carl (translated by Stephen Freer). 2007. ISBN 978-3-906166-63-6
(Cloth US$124.00) 264 pp. A.R. G. Gantner Verlag K.G. Distributed
by Koeltz Scientific Books, P.O. Box 1360, D-61453 Koenigstein,
Germany. |
OUT FOR
REVIEW |
16) |
Nature’s Palette: The Science of Plant Color.
Lee, David. 2007. ISBN 0-226-47052-0. (Cloth US$35.00) 409pp.
The University of Chicago Press, 1427 East 60th Street, Chicago,
IL 60637-2954. |
OUT FOR
REVIEW |
17) |
Orchid Biology Reviews and Perspectives, IX.
Cameron, Kenneth M., Joseph Arditti, and Tiiu Kull (eds.).
2007. ISBN 0-89327-475-5. (Cloth US$85.00) 562pp. The New
York Botanical Garden Press, 200th Street and Kazimiroff Boulevard,
Bronx, New York, 10458-5126. |
OUT FOR
REVIEW |
18) |
Plant Bioinformatics: Methods and Protocols.
Edwards, David (ed.) 2007. ISBN 978-1-588-29-653-5 (Cloth
US$139.00) 552 pp. The Humana Press, Inc., 999 Riverview Drive,
Suite 208, Totowa, New Jersey 07512. |
Reviewer
Requested |
19) |
The Seaweeds of Florida. Dawes, Clinton
J. and Arthur C. Mathieson. 2007. ISBN 978-0-8130-3148-4.
(Cloth US$100.00) 591pp University Press of Florida, 15 Northwest
15th Street. Gainesville, FL 32611-2079. |
OUT FOR
REVIEW |
20) |
Timber Press Pocket Guide to Palms. Riffle,
Robert Lee. 2008. ISBN 978-0-88192-776-4 (Flex US$19.95) 244
pp. Timber Press, Inc. 133 S.W. Second Avenue, Suite 450.
Portland, OR 97204-3527. |
OUT FOR
REVIEW |
21) |
Duke*s Handbook of Medicinal Plants of the Bible.
Duke, James A. with Peggy-Ann K. Duke and Judith L. duCellier.
2008. ISBN 978-0-8493-8202-4 (Cloth US$89.95) 528 pp. CRC
Press/Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. 6000 Broken Sound Parkway,
NW, Suite 300, Boca Raton, FL 33487. |
OUT FOR
REVIEW |
22) |
Seed to Elegance: Kentia Palms of Norfolk Island,
South Pacific. Williams, Kevin. 2007. ISBN 978-0-9775121-1-9
(Paper US$24.95) 72 pp. Studio Monarch, Norfolk Island, 2899
South Pacific. |
Reviewer
Requested |
23) |
Gods and Goddesses in the Garden. Bernhardt,
Peter. 2008. ISBN 978-0-8135-4266-9 (Cloth US$24.95) 240 pp.
Rutgers University Press, 100 Joyce Kilmer Avenue, Piscataway,
NJ 08854-8099.
|
OUT FOR
REVIEW |
24) |
Trees, Truffles, and Beasts: How Forests Function.
Maser, Chris, Andrew W. Claridge, and James M. Trappe. 2008.
ISBN 978-0-8135-4226-3 (Paper US$26.95) 288 pp. Rutgers University
Press, 100 Joyce Kilmer Avenue, Piscataway, NJ 08854-8099.
|
OUT FOR
REVIEW |
25) |
Flora of the Northeast: A Manual of the Vascular
Flora of New England and Adjacent New York. 2nd ed.
Magee, Dennis W. and Harry E. Ahles. 2007. ISBN 978-1-55849-577-7
(Cloth US$95.00) 1264 pp. University of Massachusetts Press,
East Experiment Station, 671 North Pleasant St., Amherst,
MA 01003.
|
OUT FOR
REVIEW |
26) |
Cacti of Texas: A Field Guide. Powell,
A. Michael, James F. Weedlin, and Shirley A. Powell. 2008.
ISBN 0-89672-611-8 (Paper US$24.95) 400 pp. Texas Tech University
Press, Box 41037, Lubbock, TX 79409-1037.
|
OUT FOR
REVIEW |
27) |
Ecology. Cain, Michael L., William D. Bowman, and Sally D. Hacker.
2008. ISBN 0-87893-083-3 (Cloth US$107.95) 621 pp. Sinauer
Associates, Inc. P.O. Box 407, Sunderland, MA 01375-0407.
|
OUT FOR
REVIEW |
28) |
Ending the Mendel-Fisher Controversy. Franklin,
Allan, A.W. F. Edwards, Daniel J. Fairbanks, Daniel L. Hartl,
and Teddy Seidenfeld. 2008. ISBN 978-0-8229-5986-1 (Paper
US$27.95) 330 pp. University of Pittsburgh Press, Eureka Building,
Fifth Floor, 3400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15260.
|
Reviewer
Requested |
29) |
Woody Plants of the Southeastern U.S.: A Field Botany
Course on CD. Kirchoff, Bruce. 2008. ISBN 13:978-1-930723-62-7.
(CD US$27.00) Missouri Botanical Garden Press, P.O. Box 299,
St. Louis, Missouri 63166-0299.
|
OUT FOR
REVIEW |
30) |
The Ladyslipper and I: The Autobiography of G. Ledyard
Stebbins. Stebbins, G. Ledyard. 2007. ISBN 978-1-930723-65-8
(Cloth US$$35.00) 173 pp. Missouri Botanical Garden Press,
P.O. Box 299, St. Louis, Missouri 63166-0299.
|
OUT FOR
REVIEW |
|