Botany Profile

Continued on page 9

New Series - Vol. 8 - No. 4New Series - Vol. 8 - No. 4New Series - Vol. 8 - No. 4New Series - Vol. 8 - No. 4New Series - Vol. 8 - No. 4 October-December 2005October-December 2005October-December 2005October-December 2005October-December 2005

The Plant PressThe Plant PressThe Plant PressThe Plant PressThe Plant Press

Department of Botany & the U.S. National Herbarium

Asian Botanist Digs GinsengBy Gary A. Krupnick

In August, Jun Wen, formerly at theField Museum of Natural History,joined the Department as an Associ-

ate Curator, the first new curator theDepartment has hired in 13 years. Since1985, Wen has been conducting mono-graphic, phylogenetic, biogeographic,and ethnobotanical studies on Asian andNew World disjunct plants. Her researchemploys herbarium, field, and laboratoryapproaches as well as various modernanalytical methods to understand thetaxonomy, patterns, and processes ofdiversification of disjunct plant groups.

Wen is a broadly trained botanist andevolutionary biologist, working onvarious genera in a large number of plantfamilies. She has made extensive botan-ical collections (over 8,000 collectionnumbers) and also helped build (throughgifts and exchanges) new collections ofover 8,000 specimens for the FieldMuseum Herbarium in the past threeyears, primarily from China, Vietnam,and India. She is also interested indeveloping more projects on biodiver-sity inventory and conservation studies.Wen has traveled extensively throughoutthe world, conducting field studies andcollections in the Canada, Chile, China,Costa Rica, India, Japan, Korea, Malay-sia, Mexico, the Philippines, Thailand,United States, and Vietnam.

Born in the Chinese province ofHubei, Wen received a B.S. in Forestryfrom Central China Agricultural Univer-sity at Wuhan in 1984, and a Ph.D. inPlant Biology from the Ohio StateUniversity in 1991. After completing atwo-year postdoctoral position at the

Arnold Arboretum at Harvard University,she moved to the Smithsonian Institutionin 1994 as a postdoctoral fellow in theDepartment of Botany and the Laboratoryof Molecular Systematics. In 1995, shejoined the staff of the Department ofBiology at Colorado State University asAssistant Professor and Curator of theHerbarium. In 2000, she moved toChicago where she began her work asAssociate Curator at the Field Museum.

Wen also serves as an Adjunct Profes-sor at the Institute of Botany, the ChineseAcademy of Sciences in Beijing, China,and an adjunct faculty member at theUniversity of Chicago and the Universityof Illinois, Chicago. In 2002 she wasawarded Honorary Member of the IndianAssociation of Angiosperm Taxonomy,India. Wen has over 82 publications to hername, in addition to translating fromEnglish into Chinese a Rapid BiologicalInventory of the southern Gaoligongshanin Yunnan, China with Chinese colleagues.

Wen’s research interests can beplaced into six broad catego-ries. The first is the mono-

graphic, phylogenetic, biogeographic, andethnobotanic study of flowering plants.Her focus has been on the ginseng family(Araliaceae) and the grape family(Vitaceae). Her work on Araliaceae wasinitiated in 1985 during her dissertationresearch at Ohio State University,emphasizing the systematics and biogeog-raphy of Aralia L. After completing herdoctoral studies, she expanded her workon Araliaceae. She has made excellentprogress toward understanding thephylogeny of the family in the last few

years at various levels, through indepen-dent as well as collaborative work in herlab and Greg Plunkett’s lab at theVirginia Commonwealth University, incollaboration with Pete Lowry (Mis-souri Botanical Garden) and AnthonyMitchell (Massey University, NewZealand). She recently published twofamily-wide molecular phylogenies ofAraliaceae. She is now expanding theeffort for a three-marker phylogeny,with a focus on the biogeography of thefamily.

Wen plans to continue her studies inAraliaceae. She is going to treat Den-dropanax, Oreopanax, and Aralia forthe Flora Neotropica project. Dendro-panax consists of approximately 75species with about 25 in tropical Asiaand 50 species in the Neotropics. Thisgenus thus shows a very unusual bio-geographic disjunction. Oreopanax isendemic to the Neotropical region. TheTaiwanese Sinopanax, however, wasrecently shown to be sister to Oreopa-nax. In addition, fossils of Oreopanaxwere reported from North America. Thegenera are two of the least knowngenera in Araliaceae, and modernstudies of these groups are very muchneeded. Through basic taxonomic work,the two groups can be employed toexamine the biogeographic diversifica-tion patterns in the Neotropics, theCaribbean region, and tropical and sub-tropical Asia.

In the past five years, Wen has beencollecting specimens of the Vitaceaeduring her field expeditions on other

Page 2

Chair of BotanyW. John Kress(kressj@si.edu)

EDITORIAL STAFF

EditorGary Krupnick(krupnick@si.edu)

News ContactsMaryAnn Apicelli, Robert Faden, EllenFarr, George Russell, Alice Tangerini, andElizabeth Zimmer

The Plant Press is a quarterly publication providedfree of charge. If you would like to be added to themailing list, please contact Gary Krupnick at:Department of Botany, Smithsonian Institution, POBox 37012, NMNH MRC-166, Washington, DC20013-7012, or by E-mail: krupnick@si.edu.

Web site: http://www.nmnh.si.edu/botany

The Plant PressThe Plant PressThe Plant PressThe Plant PressThe Plant Press

New Series - Vol. 8 - No. 4New Series - Vol. 8 - No. 4New Series - Vol. 8 - No. 4New Series - Vol. 8 - No. 4New Series - Vol. 8 - No. 4

Pedro Acevedo traveled to Madagas-car (9/17 – 10/8) to collect Sapindaceaematerial; and to Paris, France (10/8 – 10/15) to study the collections at the Mu-seum of Natural History in Paris.

John L. Clark traveled to Vienna,Austria (7/17 – 7/24) to present a key-note address at the 17th InternationalBotanical Congress.

Laurence Dorr traveled to Vienna,Austria (7/10 – 7/26) to attend the 17th

International Botanical Congress and theNomenclature Section of the Congress,and to visit the herbarium in Geneva,Switzerland; to Venezuela (8/7 – 8/21) tocollect specimens in the Andes Moun-tains and to visit herbaria in Caracas,Maracay, and Guanare; and to St. Louis,Missouri (9/20 – 9/23) to study Venezu-elan plants at the Missouri BotanicalGarden herbarium and library.

Robert Faden traveled to Dublin,Ireland (7/11 – 7/15) to present a talk atthe 13th Flora of Thailand Meeting atTrinity College Dublin and to conductCommelinaceae research in the her-barium.

Ellen Farr traveled to Hilo, Hawaii(7/26 – 8/7) to attend the combinedmeeting of the Mycological Societies ofAmerica and Japan.

Maria Faust traveled to Bocas delToro, Panama (7/31 – 8/13) to attend the

TravelTravelTravelTravelTravel

third Marine Taxonomic Workshop.Vicki Funk traveled to Vienna, Austria

(7/12 – 7/24) to present a keynoteaddress at the 17th International BotanicalCongress and to attend the NomenclatureSection of the Congress; to Austin, Texas(8/13 – 8/17) to attend the Botany 2005meeting where she began her term asPresident-Elect of ASPT; and to Chiapasand Jalisco, Mexico (9/19 – 10/4) tocollect species from the Compositaetribe Liabeae.

W. John Kress traveled to Cornwall,UK (9/8 – 9/18) to present a keynote talkat Eden Project’s “The RainforestGathering” conference and to the RoyalBotanic Garden Edinburgh in Scotland, toparticipate in a ginger taxonomy work-shop.

Gary Krupnick and Vinita Gowdatraveled to Uberlândia, Brazil (7/23 – 7/30) to attend the annual meeting of theAssociation for Tropical Biology andConservation.

Gregory McKee traveled to AddisAbaba, Ethiopia (8/20 – 9/22) to collectferns for the final volume of the flora ofEthiopia and Eritrea.

Dan H. Nicolson traveled to Vienna,Austria (7/10 – 7/29) to attend the 17th

International Botanical Congress, chairthe Nomenclature Section of the Con-gress, work on TL-2 at the library of theBotanical Institute, and go on a botanicalfield trip in the Czech Republic.

Paul Peterson traveled to Vienna,Austria (7/12 – 7/22) to present a talk atthe 17th International Botanical Congressand to attend the Nomenclature Sectionof the Congress; and to northern México(8/29 – 9/30) to collect grasses andpresent an invited lecture at the 2nd Botan-ical Symposium of Northern México inDurango.

Harold R. Robinson traveled toVienna, Austria (7/17 – 7/24) to present atalk at the 17th International BotanicalCongress.

Laurence Skog traveled to Vienna,Austria (7/10 – 7/20) to attend the 17th

International Botanical Congress and theNomenclature Section of the Congressand to visit the herbaria at the NaturalHistory Museum, Vienna and the Univer-sity of Vienna.

Robert Soreng traveled to Vienna,Austria (7/12 – 7/24) to present a key-

note address at the 17th InternationalBotanical Congress and to attend theNomenclature Section of the Congress.

Alice Tangerini traveled to BarHarbor, Maine (8/7 – 8/13) to present aworkshop at the annual meeting of theGuild of Natural Science Illustrators; andto Kauai, Hawaii (9/12 – 9/24) to prepareillustrations for the Flora of the Mar-quesas Islands.

Alain Touwaide and EmanuelaAppetiti, traveled to Istanbul, Turkey (8/20 – 8/27) to attend the 4th InternationalCongress of Ethnobotany at IstanbulYeditepe University; to Patras, Greece (9/10 – 9/15) to attend the 3rd Congress ofthe International Society for the Historyof Medicine (ISHM); and to Rome, Italy(9/17 – 10/14) to conduct research at theNational Library.

Warren Wagner traveled to Vienna,Austria (7/12 – 7/24) to present akeynote address at the 17th InternationalBotanical Congress and to attend theNomenclature Section of the Congress;and to Kauai, Hawaii (9/12 – 10/2) toconduct research at the National TropicalBotanical Garden.

Anna Weitzman traveled to London,England (7/9 – 7/21; 9/19 – 9/26) to dis-cuss the digitization of works of taxo-nomic literature at the Natural HistoryMuseum (NHM); to Vienna, Austria (7/21– 7/24) to present a talk at the 17th Inter-national Botanical Congress; and to St.Petersburg, Russia (9/10 – 9/18) topresent an invited lecture to the Taxonom-ic Databases Working Group (TDWG).

Jun Wen traveled to Vienna, Austria(7/17 – 7/24) to present a talk at the 17th

International Botanical Congress; to Aus-tin, Texas (8/13 – 8/17) to present a talkat the Botany 2005 meeting; to Chicago,Illinois (8/24 – 9/1) to finish collectionsdatabase at the Field Museum; to NewHaven, Connecticut (9/5 – 9/6) to serveon the graduate committee for StephenSmith at Yale University; and to St. Louis,Missouri (9/8 – 9/14) to examine collec-tions of African Vitaceae and plan herfield work in Tanzania with colleague RoyGereau at the Missouri Botanical Garden.

Kenneth J. Wurdack traveled toVienna, Austria (7/12 – 7/29) to present akeynote address at the 17th InternationalBotanical Congress and to visit herbaria atKew and Leiden.

Page 3

ChairChairChairChairChair

WithWithWithWithWith

AAAAA

ViewViewViewViewView

W.W.W.W.W.JohnJohnJohnJohnJohn

KressKressKressKressKress

The Rain Forest Gathering: Has Tropical Forest ConservationSucceeded?

In early September, over 200 participants convenedat the Eden Project in Cornwall, United Kingdom,for a discussion on the present status and future

prospects of rain forest conservation. Cosponsored bythe Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation(headquartered at the Smithsonian’s National Museumof Natural History), the conference, entitled TheRainforest Gathering, brought together people withexceedingly diverse backgrounds and perspectives,including botanists, zoologist, foresters, ecologists,ethnobotanists, climatologists, meteorologists,chemists, horticulturists, anthropologists, economists,investment bankers, representatives of the privatesector, industry and government, musicians, TV pro-ducers, administrators, students, and teachers. This listis not complete and many participants could be easilycategorized into more than one group. The RainforestGathering constituted one of the most diverse bodiesof thinkers about rain forest biology, utilization, andconservation that I have ever encountered. The EdenProject was the perfect venue for this discussion andis to be highly commended, especially Don Murray,for conceiving of and carrying out this conference.

The conference was divided into seven themes thatencompassed tropical forest ecosystem processes andservices, forest regeneration, the utilization, valuation,and exploitation of tropical forests, climate change intropical environments, the rain forest pharmacy, andtropical forest indigenous peoples and communities.The habitats described spanned the globe from Africato Asia to the Americas, although a heavy emphasiswas placed on the Amazon. Throughout the three days Iheard many facts, opinions, old ideas, new ideas, andpassionate pleas and expressions of concern for thefuture of tropical forests and the people who live inthem. Some were hopeful of success; others wherenot.

A recurring question that was raised again and againduring the presentations and discussion was: “Have wemade any progress in the last several decades in savingrain forest species, in halting the degradation of trop-ical ecosystems, in accumulating sufficient knowledgeof rain forest biology to sustainably manage forests,and in protecting the lands and rights of indigenouspeople living in the tropics?” The surprising and some-what sobering answer for the most part was “no.” Withthe significant expansion of non-government organiza-tions (NGOs) devoted to rain forest conservation, withthe near universal ratification of a major internationaltreaty on biodiversity (the Convention on BiologicalDiversity), and with a magnitude increase in interna-tional funding for conservation activities, why are somany people in the field pessimistic of success? Howcan their answer be “no”?

A number of possible explanations for our lack of

progress can be cited. For one thing, the more welearn about the function of tropical forests, bothpristine and degraded, the more complex the systemappears to be. What we first thought could easily beunderstood and conserved with enough passion bysimply “saving the rain forest” is proving to be anexceeding complex web of biology, social sciences,politics, and economics. More strikingly the earlyemphasis on conserving species and ecosystems hasbeen expanded to highlight the local people whoinhabit these biomes. Moreover, since the earnestefforts to conserve tropical forests started in the1970s the multiplicity of issues facing the globalcommunity has greatly increased and diversified.Major concerns now focus on the dominance ofworldwide capitalism and globalization, the increaseof global terrorism and the war in the Middle East, therise of human rights abuses in many countries, thealarm over the introduction of genetically modifiedorganisms into the agricultural landscape, the obviousmanifestations of global climate change, and themultiple recent natural disasters. At the same timeworld population and material consumption, whichexacerbate the environmental dilemma, continue toexpand at an increasing rate. All of these problems arenow competing for the world’s attention and arediverting us from critical conservation problems,such as tropical forest degradation.

Within the community of conservation activistsand organizations, we can also see major changessince the early 1980s. Especially evident is the greatincrease in the number of activists devoted toenvironmental issues, including individuals, NGOs,governmental bureaus, and multilateral agencies. Thecompetition for resources to support all of theseefforts has grown tremendously with a correspondingincrease in bureaucracy and even corruption at manylevels.

From the three days of discussion at TheRainforest Gathering, it became clear to me that theinternational community concerned with tropicalconservation may be entering a significant phase ofdissention, disarray, and disagreement about how weare to proceed with our conservation agenda. Theanthropologists criticized the NGOs for ignoring therights of indigenous people in advocating the protec-tion of tropical habitats; the NGOs attacked thebureaucracy of the multilateral agencies who controlmost of the big funding for environmentalprojects; the multilaterals ignored the adviceof the scientists and biologists as being naïvein their unrealistic recommendations onsolving conservation problems; and the

Continued on page 9

Page 4

StaffStaffStaffStaffStaffResearch &Research &Research &Research &Research & Activities Activities Activities Activities Activities

On 28 September, Michael Bordelonpresented a lecture and slide presentationon “Tropical Ginger Cultivation in theWashington, DC, Area” to the BeltsvilleGarden Club in Beltsville, Maryland.

Robert Faden attended the 13th Flora ofThailand Meeting at Trinity CollegeDublin, Dublin, Ireland, 11th – 15th July2005. He delivered the paper, “Progresson the Commelinaceae for the Flora ofThailand,” which was co-authored byThaweesak Thitimetharoch and PranomChantaranothai. He was also co-author,along with Thaweesak Thitimetharoch,Pranom Chantaranothai and Achra Tham-mathaworn, of the presentation, “Leafanatomical studies of the family Comme-linaceae in Thailand,” that was deliveredby Thaweesak, and of the poster, “A newtype of silica cell in the genus Dictyo-spermum Wight (Commelinaceae),”along with Thaweesak Thitimetharoch andAchra Thammathaworn, that was alsopresented by Thaweesak.

Faden spent half a day working onCommelinaceae in the herbarium of theDepartment of Botany, Trinity CollegeDublin (TCD). Founded in 1834, the her-barium is not very large, e.g. there weretwo pigeonholes of Commelinaceae, butit contains numerous important collec-tions. These include an almost completeset of the early collections of A.F.G. Kerrfrom Thailand that were cited in Craib’s“List of Siamese plants…” (Kew Bull.1912: 397-435. 1912), among whichwere isotypes of the two new speciesdescribed in Aneilema. The Kerr collec-tions were all duplicates from Kew.Pleasant surprises were collections ofDrège and Ecklon & Zeyher from SouthAfrica, including two types; six Thwaitesor “C. P.” (= Ceylon Plants) collectionsfrom Sri Lanka, including at least onetype; and at least five Schomburgk collec-tions from “British Guiana,” includingtwo types. There were also numerous oldspecimens from India, especially fromthe herbaria of Hooker & Thompson andWallich; due to a lack of literature andtime, they were not explored for types.

Vicki Funk served on the AmericanAssociation for the Advancement ofScience (AAAS) Science JournalismAwards committee on 31 August. Theaward honors individual journalists whohave made important contributions incommunicating science to the public.

From 19 September until 4 October,Funk traveled to Mexico for the first timein about 25 years. She worked through theherbarium at the Universidad NacionalAutónoma de México (MEXU) in MexicoCity. She was hosted by Alfonso Delgadoand Fernando Chang. Funk collectedmembers of the Compositae tribe Liabeaeand focused on two areas of the country,Jalisco and Chiapas-Oaxaca. Jalisco andthe Oaxaca valley were dry; the rainscame late and were brief. Chiapas andtropical Oaxaca had a more normalseason. In the late 1970s, Funk spent ninemonths over four years traveling inMexico collecting material for herdissertation treatment of Montanoa.

On 26 July, W. John Kress was to presentthe Plenary Address, “Evolution andEcology of Plant-Pollinator Interactionsin the Tropics,” at the annual meeting ofthe Association for Tropical Biology andConservation in Uberlândia, Brazil.Unfortunately, Kress became ill; GaryKrupnick presented Kress’ talk in hisplace.

The Stafleu Medal of the InternationalAssociation for Plant Taxonomy wasawarded to Dan H. Nicolson and the lateF. Raymond Fosberg for the publicationof “The Forsters and the Botany of theSecond Cook Expedition.” The StafleuMedal recognizes excellence in publica-

Dan H. Nicolson (right) receives the Stafleu Medal from Pieter Baas during the17th International Botanical Congress in Vienna, Austria. Photo by Alice C.Nicolson.

Awards &Awards &Awards &Awards &Awards &GrantsGrantsGrantsGrantsGrants

Several museum scientists are featured ina new illustrated children’s book. WrittenAmanda Lumry and Laura Hurwitz withillustrations by Sarah McIntyre, the book“Adventures of Riley... Dolphins inDanger” features in cartoon form VicSpringer, Dave Smith, W. John Kress,Warren Wagner, and Carole Baldwin inauthoritative sidebars.

Page 5

DeparturesDeparturesDeparturesDeparturesDepartures

Paula DePriest has moved from theDepartment to take a position as DeputyDirector of the Smithsonian Center forMaterials Research and Education at theMuseum Support Center (MSC) inSuitland, Maryland. DePriest had mademany contributions to lichen research andcollections activities in the Departmentas well as during her term as SpecialAdvisor to the Under Secretary forScience over the last two years.

Chhimi Dolma, National BiodiversityCentre, Ministry of Agriculture, NationalHerbarium, Thimphu, Bhutan; BiologicalDiversity of the Guiana Shield Project (5/29-7/29).

Andrew Henderson, New York BotanicalGarden; Indo-Chinese Arecaceae (6/27-7/15).

John Nicholas, Independent researcher;volunteer interview (7/7).

Doreen Bolnick, Independent re-searcher; herbarium studies (7/8-7/11).

Fernanda Calio, Rutgers University;Gentianaceae and Loganiaceae (7/13-7/14).

Cynthia Frasier, Rutgers University;Gentianaceae and Loganiaceae (7/13-7/14).

Luis Hernandez, Universidad Autónomade Querétaro, Mexico; Nolina (Nolina-ceae) (7/18).

Javier Francisco-Ortega, Florida Inter-national University; library research (7/20-7/21).

Ning Xu, The Biodiversity Group (TBG),China; Yunnanese specimens (7/22-9/13).

H. David Clarke, University of NorthCarolina, Asheville; Guyanese plantcollections (7/29-8/3; 9/1-9/6).

Tracey Parker, Independent researcher;Central American specimens (8/1-8/5).

Carola Antezana, NatureServe and theUniversity of San Simon of Cochabamba,Bolivia; Bolivian and Peruvian Acantha-ceae (8/9-8/26).

James Cohen, Cornell University; Litho-spermum (Boraginaceae) (8/9).

Fernando Zuloaga, Instituto de Botáni-ca, Argentina, Darwinion; Puerto RicanPaniceae (8/10-8/24).

Ana Maria Molina, Jardín Botánico“Arturo E. Ragonese,” Argentina; Agrostis(Poaceae) (8/16-8/30).

Zulma Rugolo de Agrasar, Instituto deBotánica Darwinion, Argentina; Agrostis(Poaceae) (8/16-8/30).

Natalia Alvarez, USDA-ARS, University

VisitorsVisitorsVisitorsVisitorsVisitorstions dealing with historical bibliographi-cal or nomenclatural aspects of plantsystematics. The Medal was presented toNicolson on 15 July, during the 17th

International Botanical Congress inVienna, Austria.

W. John Kress, with colleagues fromColumbia University and the Universityof Maryland, entered the third year of agrant from the National Science Foun-dation’s Information Technology Re-search (ITR) program for “An ElectronicField Guide: Plant Exploration andDiscovery in the 21st Century.”

Rusty Russell received a CollectionsCare Grant from the Associate Directorfor Research and Collections (ADRC) atthe National Museum of Natural Historyto conduct an assessment of the physicalstate of the U.S. National Herbarium TypeCollection. Work will include specimenrepairs, adding new covers and micro-chamber folders where necessary,isolating severe conservation problems,and reconciling the specimens with boththe Type Register data base and the onlineimages.

Jun Wen received a grant from the JohnD. and Catherine T. MacArthur Founda-tion, “Building Capacity for BiodiversityResearch, Conservation, and Education inEastern Himalaya” (PI, Jun Wen with twoco-PIs: Greg Mueller and Rick Ree); anda grant from the National Science Foun-dation, Systematic Biology section,“Revisionary Syntheses in Systematics(REVSYS): Phylogenetic, Biogeographicand Revisionary Taxonomic Studies inPrunus (Rosaceae)” (co-PI with DanPotter and Joey Shaw).

of Wisconsin; Solanum sect. Petota(Solanaceae) (8/17-8/18).

Mercedes Ames, USDA-ARS, Universityof Wisconsin; Solanum sect. Petota(Solanaceae) (8/17-8/18).

Patrick McMillan, Clemson University;Rhynchospora (Cyperaceae) (8/18-8/19).

Keith Bradley, Institute for RegionalConservation; southern Floridian rareplants (8/22-8/23).

Claudia Isabel Rodriguez-Flores, Her-bario Nacional Colombiano, UniversidadNacional de Colombiano, Colombia;South American Gesneriaceae (8/22-9/22).

Sheri Church, George Washington Uni-versity; Helianthus (8/24).

Kelsey Glennon, George WashingtonUniversity; Helianthus (8/24).

Kathryn Mauz, University of Arizona;Arizonian historical collections (8/24-8/26).

Gerry Moore, Brooklyn Botanic Garden;Rhynchospora sect. Paniculatae (8/29-9/2).

Susan Grose, University of Washington;Central and South American Tabebuia(Bignoniaceae) (9/6-9/30).

Naohiro Naruhashi, Toyama University,Japan; Asian Rubus (Rosaceae) and Fri-tillaria (Liliaceae) (9/6-9/9).

Alejandro Quintanar-Sánchez, RealJardín Botánico-CSIC , Madrid, Spain;Koeleria (Poaceae) (9/6-11/24).

Carolina Calvino, University of Illinois;Eryngium (Apiaceae) (9/13-9/15).

James Miller, Missouri Botanical Gar-den; Flora Mesoamericana Boraginaceae(9/19-9/22).

Akiko Soejima, Osaka Prefecture Uni-versity, Japan; Vitaceae (9/28-3/25).

Page 6

Identifying Panamanian DinoflagellatesDuring August, Maria A. Faust

examined the marine dinoflagellate floraof Bocas del Toro, Panama, at the invita-tion of Rachel Collin, SmithsonianTropical Research Institute (STRI). Faustwas part of a workshop that surveyed thebenthic dinoflagellates, diatom micro-algae, and soft bottom meiofauna of theBocas Research Station. Marine dino-flagellates are microscopic marine plants,known as phytoplankton, that drift withinshallow coastal ocean currents and areresponsible for the majority of the flux oforganic matter to both higher trophiclevels and the ocean. Morphologicallydinoflagellates are miniscule cells andtheir identification is particularly taxo-nomically challenging. Often the mostdifficult hurdles for scientists studyingthe ecology of marine organisms are theidentification of species. The morphologyand ecology of dinoflagellates arevirtually unknown in the regional tropicalwaters at Bocas del Toro.

In previous workshops, scientists atthe Smithsonian Institution and collabora-tions between taxonomists from thedifferent units within the Marine ScienceNetwork as well as from outside theSmithsonian have surveyed the ecologyand taxonomy of macro-invertebratefauna within the oceanic coastal man-groves of Bocas del Toro. Interestingly,the Bocas region has a much higherdiversity of soft sediment habitats andproportionally new and endemic speciesto the rest of the widespread Caribbeanfauna.

Faust’s samples yielded rich flora ofgreater than 100-150 benthic, planktonic,red-tide forming, and toxic dinoflagel-lates species of great topological diver-sity present in plankton, mangroveembayment, patch reefs, and sea grassbeds. This material will be used to createa species lists of locations in which theyoccur including a reference collection ofpreserved material. An identificationguide of dinoflagellates is planned toillustrate in photographs of digitizedimages, each with a brief description ofspecies-specific distinguished character-istics. The identification guide of dinofla-gellates will be available through STRI’sWeb page.

The taxonomy-based workshop of

dinoflagellates in turn will benefit thelaboratory in Bocas del Toro in severalways. Primarily it will provide STRIscientists, students, and visitors studyingthe organismic ecology of Bocas del Torowith a taxonomically up-to-date list ofspecies that commonly occur near thelaboratory, and a partial list of locationsin which they occur. The availability ofsuch information makes it easier forresearchers to plan field trips as well asallowing identification of marine unicel-lular plants by marine biologists who arenot necessarily trained experts. Lastly, theworkshop encourages further taxonomicwork in the region. In addition, accurateidentification of organisms is necessaryto make informed conservation decisions.

The BiologicalConservationNewsletterCelebrates IssueNumber 250

This month, the Biological Conserva-tion Newsletter celebrates the publicationof its 250th issue. The newsletter has beena monthly publication of the Departmentfor the past 25 years. Edited by GaryKrupnick, Head of the Plant Conserva-tion Unit, the newsletter contains itemson biological conservation issues, high-lighting research at the SmithsonianInstitution and elsewhere. The newsletteris mailed postally and electronically freeto over 2,100 subscribers in 94 countries.

The newsletter was first issued by theOffice of Biological Conservation(housed in the Department of Botany) inFebruary 1981. In its humble beginnings,the newsletter stated “The Office seeks todevelop an awareness in the minds of ourcolleagues and the general public to theever-present changes in the environmentcaused by human activity and thus servesas a monitoring and warning system.” Inthe “Recent Literature of Interest”section of the newsletter, the first issuecited 11 publications; the October 2005issue cites 200 publications for themonth.

The newsletter features articles onconservation research and current news

Botanical Partnerson the MallLecture Series

In October, the Department of Botanyand the United States Botanic Garden(USBG) will begin the third season of the“Botanical Partners on the Mall LectureSeries.” This quarterly lecture seriesbrings together the Washington scientificcommunity interested in botanicalstudies. Invited speakers are chosen toattract participants from a broad spectrumof the local community interested in plantsciences. All talks are held in the USBGConservatory. This year’s speakers willaddress diverse topics:

• 6 October 2005: Bruce A. Stein,NatureServe – Plant extinctions;

• 19 January 2006: Roger P. Hangarter,Indiana University – Environmentalsensory-response systems and plantdevelopment;

• 13 April 2006: Michael J. Balick,New York Botanical Garden - Ethno-botany in the 21st century.

An informal reception will be hostedafter the talk to promote discussion andexchange of ideas.

items, as well as information on newpublications, fellowships and grants, jobannouncements, educational materials,and meetings. In addition, the newsletter’sWeb page <http://ravenel.si.edu/bcn/>features an extensive searchable bibliog-raphy of 25,923 citations, making thenewsletter a valuable resource to thebiological diversity and conservationcommunity.

Page 7

The 2006 Smithsonian Botanical Symposium, 21-22 April, toExplore Island Archipelagos

The Department of Botany willconvene the 2006 Smithsonian BotanicalSymposium, “Island Archipelagos:Cauldrons of Evolution,” to be held atthe National Museum of Natural Historyin Washington, D.C., on 21 – 22 April2006.

Island archipelagos have long beenrecognized as unique biological laborato-ries by evolutionarybiologists. Theclassic observationsby Charles Darwin onadaptive radiation infinches were made inthe Galápagos archipelago and morerecently ecological and evolutionaryinvestigations in the Hawaiian Islands,Eastern Caribbean, and Azores haveincreased our understanding of evolution-ary processes and the generation ofbiological diversity. Characterized bydifferent degrees of isolation fromcontinental floras and faunas, by equablemaritime climates, and by often reducedbiodiversity and trophic structure, islandsoften contain unique biotas that experi-ence different selective pressures fromthose that dominate mainland ecosystems.

Added to this mix of biological rich-ness are two kinds of storms – physicalstorms in the form of hurricanes thatregularly pass through the island chainsand the “storm” of human populationgrowth and development. The formerstorms, along with other types of naturaldisturbance such as volcanic activity, haveplayed an important role in the evolution

of the biota. Thelatter “storm” nowthreatens thecontinued existenceand ecologicalintegrity of both

terrestrial and marine ecosystems ofisland archipelagos. Through invitedlectures, the Symposium will explore therole that island archipelagos have playedin our understanding of ecological andevolutionary processes as well as thefuture conservation of these uniqueecosystems.

The sixth José Cuatrecasas Medal inTropical Botany will be awarded at theSymposium. This prestigious award ispresented annually to an internationalscholar who has contributed significantlyto advancing the field of tropical botany.

The award is named in honor of Dr. JoséCuatrecasas, a pioneering botanist whospent many years working in the Depart-ment of Botany at the Smithsonian anddevoted his career to plant exploration intropical South America.

Sponsors of the Symposium are theDepartment of Botany, the Office of theAssociate Director for Research andCollections, the United States BotanicGarden, the National Tropical BotanicalGarden, and the Cuatrecasas FamilyFoundation.

Registration and additional informa-tion about the 2006 Smithsonian Botani-cal Symposium will appear soon at <http://persoon.si.edu/sbs/>. You may also call202-633-0920 or email sbs@si.edu formore information.

New FacesNew FacesNew FacesNew FacesNew Faces

Kenneth J. Wurdack recently joinedthe Department as an Assistant Curator.He received his Ph.D. in 2002 from theUniversity of North Carolina at ChapelHill. He was laboratory manager for theCullman Program for Molecular System-atics Studies at the New York BotanicalGarden before coming to the Smithsonianas a post-doctoral fellow and a ResearchAssociate in molecular systematics.Wurdack’s research interests are on thesystematics and evolution of Euphorbia-ceae, a large group of angiosperms notedfor rubber (Hevea brasiliensis), cassava(Manihot esculenta), poinsettias (Eu-phorbia pulcherrima) and castor bean(Ricinus communis). He has also doneresearch on the order Malpighiales towhich euphorbs belong, Thymeleaeceae,horizontal gene transfer, and ant-plantinteractions. Wurdack’s research andbotanical career will be highlighted in thenext issue of the Plant Press.

Kenneth Wurdack stands tall with Joannesia princeps (Euphorbiaceae) in theDepartment greenhouse. Photo by Leslie Brothers.

Page 8

Botanists Swarm Vienna at the XVII International BotanicalCongress

Department staff members wereconspicuous participants at the XVIIInternational Botanical Congress (IBC) inVienna, Austria, 17-23 July. This meetingwas the second IBC to be held in Vienna,the first one convened there 100 yearsago.

Immediately preceding the mainprogram of the XVII IBC, the Nomencla-ture Section of the Congress took place atthe University of Vienna, from 12-16July. This Section was presented by theCongress’s Bureau of Nomenclature asprescribed by the International Code ofBotanical Nomenclature. Dan H. Nicol-son, president of Bureau of Nomencla-ture, chaired the session. Attending fromthe Department were Nicolson, PaulPeterson, Laurence Dorr, Vicki Funk,Laurence Skog, Robert Soreng, andWarren Wagner. Important topics thatwere discussed include the elimination ofillustrations as types beginning in 2007,the defeat of the proposals to conservenames below the rank of genus andspecies, the defeat of the proposal toconserve names across ranks, and theapproval of the moving of the type ofAcacia from a paraphyletic grade inAfrica to a smaller monophyletic groupcentered in Australia. Recommendationsfor electronic publication were alsopassed although the date of publicationwill remain the date of hard copy publica-tion. Currently eight flowering plantfamilies have two names (e.g., Composi-tae and Asteraceae; Palmae and Areca-ceae); the proposal to eliminate thatoption for seven of those families wasdefeated in the mail ballot and was notdiscussed on the floor.

The Congress was opened with areception at the Vienna Town Hallattended by thousands of participants andthe program began on Monday, 18 July,with an opening talk by Peter Raven. Thecongress focused on the newest develop-ments in the botanical sciences world-wide and included plenary talks, generallectures, symposia, and poster sessions.All aspects of basic and applied botanicalresearch were included. More than 4,000participants of XVII IBC 2005 attendedfrom 97 countries making this Congress atruly international event.

Highlights of the Congress includedkeynote addresses by scientists from theNational Museum of Natural History:

• John L. Clark, “Phylogeneticrelationships and patterns of diversifi-cation in Gesneriaceae subfamilyGesnerioideae,” with Eric H. Roalson,Laurence E. Skog, John K. Bogganand Elizabeth A. Zimmer;

• Vicki Funk, “Evolution of the Com-positae: the big picture,” with R.J.Bayer, L. Watson, B. Gemeinholzer, C.Oberprieler, N. Garcia-Jacas and A.Susanna;

• Conrad Labandeira (Department ofPaleobiology), “The Mesozoic contextfor the origin of angiosperm plant-insect associations and floral syn-dromes;”

• Cristián Samper, “Implementing theglobal strategy for plant conservation:challenges and opportunities;”

• Robert Soreng, “Phylogeneticstructure of Poaceae (R. Br.) Barnhartsubfamily Pooideae Benth. based onsequence data of four chloroplast-encoded genes (matK, ndhF, ndhH,and rbcL),” with J.I. Davis;

• Warren Wagner, “It is not just a floraanymore;”

• Kenneth Wurdack, “Progress in Mal-pighiales phylogeny: new insightsfrom eight genes,” with C.C. Davis.

Other departmental members andresearch associates who presented talksand posters during the scientific sessionswere H. David Clarke, Susan Grose, PatHerendeen, Vivian Negron-Ortiz, PaulPeterson, Karen Redden, Harold Robin-son, Laurence Skog, Chelsea Specht,Anna Weitzman, and Jun Wen. Co-authors of talks and posters who could notattend the meeting were John Boggan,Robert Faden, W. John Kress, andElizabeth Zimmer.

In addition to the talks and posters,there were also specialized workshops,small group meetings, and ad-hoc dis-cussions. Several were organized bymembers and affiliates of the Department

including the International CompositaeAlliance (V. Funk), Flora Neotropica (P.Acevedo) and the Legume working group(P. Herendeen), OSU systematics group(V. Funk), New York Botanical Gardengroup (P. Acevedo), International Associa-tion of Plant Taxonomy business meeting(W. Wagner), Species Plantarum Project(W. Wagner and V. Funk) and others.

The next congress will be held inMelbourne, Australia, in July 2011.

Contributed Presentations

L. Bohs, S. Knapp, M. Nee, D. Spooner, J.Bennett, L. Walley and J. Clark: TheSolanum PBI project: taxonomy in theelectronic information age;

P. Catalán, A. Quintanar, L. Gillespie, L.A.Inda, J.G. Segarra-Moragues, A. Archam-bault, J. Müller, M. Olonova, R. Sorengand S. Castroviejo: Evolutionary analysisof the Poaceae subfamily Pooideae tribalcomplex Aveneae-Poeae: systematic andbiogeographic implications;

D. Clarke: Biogeography of plants of theGuiana Shield: Inferences from sevenflorulas from Northern South America;

S.O. Grose and R.G. Olmstead: Evolutionof mammal dispersed fruits: morphologyand anatomy of fruits in Crescentieae(Bignoniaceae);

P.S. Herendeen, G.P. Lewis and A.Bruneau: Reproductive structures ofLeguminosae: phylogenetic and paleobo-tanical utility;

N. Hoffmann and P.T. DePriest: Unex-pected genetic diversification in morpho-logical uniform taxa and exceptionalmorphological diversification in Cladiaand closely related lineages;

P. Hoffmann, K.J. Wurdack, H. Kathria-rachchi, R. Samuel and M.W. Chase: Sys-tematics of Euphorbiaceae s.l. lineages;

P. Karis, V. Funk, R. Chan, R. McKenzieand N. Barker: Small tribes, but a largechallenge: clades and grades of Arctoti-deae and Liabeae;

H. Kathriarachchi, R. Samuel, P. Hoff-mann, K.J. Wurdack and M.W. Chase:Phylogenetic relationships in Phyllan-

Page 9

WenContinued from page 1

thus and relatives (Phyllanthaceae):evidence from nuclear ITS and plastidmatK sequences;

S. Knapp, L. Bohs, M. Nee, D. Spooner, J.Bennett, J. Clark and L. Walley: Tax-onomy as a team sport: PBI Solanum orhow to monograph a monster;

P.M. Peterson, S.J. Pennington and R.J.Soreng: Biogeography and classificationof New World Pooideae (Poaceae);

H.R. Robinson, S. Keeley and R. Chan:Progress in understanding Vernonieaeevolution;

J.M. Saarela, P.M. Peterson and S.W.Graham: Phylogeny and biogeography ofBromeae;

C.D. Specht and W.J. Kress: Pollinationsyndromes and diversification rates in thetropical Gingers (Zingiberales);

A.L. Weitzman and C.H.C. Lyal: TheBiologia Centrali-Americana Centennial:a vision for digital access to taxonomicinformation;

J. Wen: Patterns of morphologicaldifferentiation among intercontinentaldisjunct plants in the Northern Hemi-sphere.

Contributed Posters

L. Bohs, M. Nee, S. Knapp, D. Spooner,J.R. Bennett, J. Clarke and L. Walley:The PBI Solanum project - an interna-tional collaboration to monographSolanum;

H. Dempewolf, T.J. Motley, D.H. Lorenceand W.L. Wagner: Biogeographicpatterns and affinities of the Pacificisland genus Oparanthus (Coreopsideae:Asteraceae);

F. Eggens, M. Popp, M. Nepokroeff, W.L.Wagner and B. Oxelman: The origin ofthe Hawaiian endemic Silene species;

T.M. Evans, C.R. Hardy, R.B. Faden andR.F. Bode: A combined molecular phylo-genetic analysis of Commelinaceae;evidence from rbcL, ndhF, and 26Snuclear ribosomal sequences;

L.J. Gillespie, A. Archambault and R.J.Soreng: Partial incongruence betweennuclear ribosomal ITS and chloroplasttrnT-trnF phylogenies of the bluegrassgenus Poa and allied genera: new insights

into reticulate evolution in Poaceae;

L.J. Gillespie, A. Archambault, R.J.Soreng, S.W.L. Jacobs and H. Ma: Aclose phylogenetic relationship detectedbetween Poa subg. Andinae of Patagoniaand Hookerochloa and Festucella ofAustralia (Poaceae, Pooideae, Poeae):evidence from nuclear and chloroplastDNA sequences and morphology;

L.A. Inda, J.G. Segarra-Moragues, P.M.Peterson, J. Müller and P. Catalán: Phy-logenetic studies and the radiation of theNew and Old World festucoids (Loliinae,Pooideae, Poaceae);

D.H. Lorence and W.L. Wagner: Vascularflora of the Marquesas Islands;

V. Negron-Ortiz and L.I. Strittmatter:Characterizing polyploidy in the Carib-bean Consolea Lem. (Cactaceae): chro-mosomes, cytomixis and pollen grainsize;

K.M. Redden and P.S. Herendeen: Mor-phology, diversity and phylogeny ofPaloue, Elizabetha, Heterostemon andrelated Caesalpinoid legumes fromnortheastern South America;

N.F. Refulio-Rodriguez, J.T. Columbusand P.M. Peterson: Systematics of Dis-santhelium Trin. (Poaceae: Pooideae);

T.M. Rehse, W.J. Kress and P.S. Manos:Appendages matter, again: Phylogeneticsand the classification of Curcuma L.;

W.L. Wagner, P.C. Hoch and P.H. Raven:A new classification for Onagraceae.

scientists ignored the insights of theanthropologists as unscientific in theirapproach to understanding tropical forestdegradation. Nobody seems to be seri-ously listening to the others. Have we lostour focus on the real issues of tropicalforest conservation while competing with Continued on page 10

ChairContinued from page 3

each other for resources to solve thesame problem?

Perhaps my reaction to the discussionand debate among the conservation troopsis too severe. Perhaps this disarray is agood thing for the field and we are in acritical phase of reassessment andreconsideration. Perhaps we will emergefrom this time with a new game plan fortropical forest conservation and restora-tion. As suggested by Richard Sandbrookat the Cornwall conference, a call foramnesty and time-out may be in orderamong all the key players in the conserva-tion community in order to refocus andrethink our priorities to determine wherewe need to concentrate our activities. Ifour progress has stalled, let’s stop amoment and take stock of where we are inorder to regain the momentum of the pastdecade and once again move forward inour efforts to conserve tropical forests.

projects. When selecting her dissertationproject, she became interested in twoAsian – North American disjunct genera:Parthenocissus and Ampelopsis ofVitaceae. She intends to expand her workon Vitaceae, a poorly understood familywith a similar distributional pattern to thatof Araliaceae, with an excellent fossilrecord. Two years ago, a visiting scientist,Akiko Soejima from Osaka PrefectureUniversity of Japan, spent her sabbaticalleave at the Field Museum, where shehelped Wen assemble a large molecularphylogenetic dataset of Vitaceae. So far,they have obtained molecular sequencesfor 110 species of Vitaceae, representingall genera except the monotypic genus

Page 10

WenContinued from page 9

Jun Wen collecting Aralia bipinnata Blanco in Benguet Province, Luzon, thePhilippines, September 2004. Photo by Martin Sands.

Acareosperma endemic to Laos. Sheplans to gradually conduct more work onVitaceae.

Recently Wen began working withMike Dillon (Field Museum) on thesystematics and biogeography of Nolana(Solanaceae), the largest plant genus ofthe Atacama and Peruvian deserts. Theyplan to use Nolana as a model to examinethe patterns of biogeographic diversifica-tion and speciation history in thesedeserts. She will head for Peru in Novem-ber this year to hunt for Nolana.

Wen’s second major area of interest isthe biogeography of the northern hemi-sphere and the biogeographic relation-ships between temperate and tropicalelements. She has been actively studyingthe origin and evolution of eastern Asianand eastern North American disjunctbiogeographic pattern in flowering plantssince her graduate days. She has madeexcellent progress toward understandingthe general patterns and the timing of thedisjunctions through work in her lab,Michael Donoghue’s group at Yale Uni-versity, and Jenny Xiang’s lab in NorthCarolina State University. Recently Wenand Donoghue organized a symposium on“Biogeographic Dynamics in the NorthernHemisphere” at the 2005 InternationalBotanical Congress in Vienna. Wen isespecially interested in pursing further

work on testing the morphological stasishypothesis of eastern Asian – easternNorth American disjuncts, and document-ing the differentiation patterns of sub-tropical and tropical disjunct lineages incomparison with temperate relatives.Specifically, she is using Aralia, Dendro-panax and Oreopanax-Sinopanax(Araliaceae), Altingiaceae (with postdocStefanie Ickert-Bond), Rhus, Pistacia andToxicodendron (Anacardiaceae; withpostdocs T. Yi and Z. Nie), and Prunus(Rosaceae; with Dan Potter and JoeyShaw) as models to examine in detail theevolution of morphological charactersthrough time and space within a phyloge-netic framework.

The third major area of researchinterest for Wen is the biogeography ofAsia. Understanding the dynamic natureof biogeographic relationships throughoutthe Northern Hemisphere has beenhindered by the lack of studies on intra-continental relationships. To date, thebiogeography of most regions in Asia hasnot been well understood, especially froma modern phylogenetic perspective.Previous biogeographic work on Asiahas focused mostly on West andCentral Asia, or Southeast Asia andIndia, in the context of the Wallace’sline and the relationship of SoutheastAsia and India to other biogeographicregions, often of Gondwanan origin suchas Australia, New Guinea, Pacific islands,

and Africa. The vast area encompassingeastern and South Asia and the Himalayashas been examined largely from afloristic perspective.

In 1944, Araliaceae were used by H.-L.Li to develop biogeographic hypothesesin China. Based on the distributions andpresumed evolutionary relationships, Lirecognized six biogeographic regions inChina and its neighboring regions. Wen isdeveloping and testing hypotheses on thebiogeography of East and South Asiaincluding the Himalayas using the phylo-genetic evidence of three clades ofAraliaceae: the Eleutherococcus –Macropanax – Metapanax complex, theBrassaiopsis – Trevesia group, and theAralia – Panax complex.

The fourth category of Wen’s researchinterests is the evolution of leaf morphol-ogy, using Araliaceae as a case study.Almost all types of leaf architecture canbe found in Araliaceae. The leaves ofAraliaceae vary from simple, to variouslylobed or divided, to palmately and orpinnately compound. The variation in leafmorphology of Araliaceae varies withdevelopmental stages, ecological habitats,and phylogenetic lineages. Many her-barium specimens have preserved thevariations. Throughout her field studiessince 1987, Wen has taken careful notesin the field on the variation of leafmorphology in Araliaceae. Wen isfocusing on (1) carefully documentingthe patterns of leaf variation genus bygenus, (2) providing hypotheses on theadaptive significance of leaf variation inAraliaceae, and (3) providing a model ofevolution and homologies for leafarchitecture of the family based onevidence from phylogenetics, fossils, anddevelopmental observations.

Wen’s fifth major area of researchinterest is the systematics and conserva-tion of Asian medicinal plants. Wen firstbecame interested in botany through theearly teachings of her grandfather anduncle, both who are traditional medicinaldoctors in her home village in China. Herwork with ginsengs and close relatives hasmade her aware that many traditionallyused medicines are still taxonomicallypoorly understood and many have becomerare and endangered due to over-harvest-ing. In collaboration with colleagues inAsia, she would like to contribute to thecareful documentation of Asian medicinal

Page 11

PublicationsPublicationsPublicationsPublicationsPublications

Appetiti, E. 2005. Remedies from thebush: traditional medicine among theAustralian. Pp. 175-190. In: Yaniv, Z. andU. Bachrach (eds.). Handbook of Medici-nal Plants. Haworth Press, Binghamton.

DeFilipps, R.A. and L.E. Skog. 2005.Gesneriaceae, the African-violet family.Pp. 342-347. In: Staple, G.W. and D.R.Herbst (eds.). A Tropical Garden Flora;Plants Cultivated in the HawaiianIslands and Other Tropical Places.Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu.

Funakoshi, H., W.J. Kress, J. Škornièko-vá, A. Liu, and K. Inoue. 2005. Returnfrom the lost: rediscovery of the pre-sumed extinct Leptosolena (Zingibera-ceae) in the Philippines and its phyloge-netic placement in gingers. Acta Phyto-taxonomica et Geobotanica 56: 41-53.

Funk, V.A., K.S. Richardson, and S.Ferrier. 2005. Survey-gap analysis inexpeditionary research: where do we gofrom here? Biological Journal of theLinnean Society 85: 549–567.

Ickert-Bond, S.M., K.B. Pigg, and J. Wen.2005. Comparative infructescence mor-phology and anatomy in Liquidambar L.(Altingiaceae) and its taxonomic and

phylogenetic significance. AmericanJournal of Botany 92: 1234-1255.

Ireland, R.R., G. Bellolio, H. Bednarek-Ochyra, and R. Ochyra. 2005. Fertileplants of Racomitrium patagonicum(Bryopsida, Grimmiaceae). Journal of theHattori Botanical Laboratory 98: 205-211.

Nie, Z.-L., J. Wen, Z.-J. Gu, D.E. Bouf-ford, and H. Sun. 2005. Polyploidy inflora of the Hengduan Mountains Hot-spot, Southwestern China. Annals of theMissouri Botanical Garden 92: 275-306.

Nie, Z.-L., J. Wen, H. Sun, and B. Bartho-lomew. 2005. Monophyly of KelloggiaTorrey ex Benth. (Rubiaceae) and evolu-tion of its intercontinental disjunctionbetween western North America andeastern Asia. American Journal of Botany92: 642-653.

Rosen, D.J. and R.B. Faden. 2005.Gibasis pellucida (Commelinaceae), anew and potentially weedy genus andspecies for Texas. Sida 21: 1931-1934.

Touwaide, A. 2005. Healers and physi-cians in the ancient and medieval Medi-terranean cultures. Pp. 155-173. In: Yaniv,Z. and U. Bachrach (eds.). Handbook ofMedicinal Plants. Haworth Press, Bing-hamton.

Touwaide, A., N. De Sante, and G. Aliotta.2005. The origins of Western herbalmedicines for kidney diseases. Pp. 251-260. In: Eknoyan, G. (ed.). Alternativeand Complementary Medicine andChronic Kidney Disease (= Advances inChronic Kidney Disease 12.3). Elsevier,New York.

Zimmer, E.A. and Roalson, E.H. (eds.).2005. Methods in Molecular Evolution:Producing the Biochemical Data:Methods in Enzymology, v. 395. Elsevier,San Diego. 852 pp.

Jun Wen with colleagues H. Wan (left) and X. Chen (middle) on Mt. Wuyishan,Jiangxi Province, China, collecting wild populations of Panax sinensis J. Wen,ined. (a close congeneric relative of ginseng), in July 2001. Photo by Jun Wen.

plants, with a conservation perspective,along with the development of a databasewith plant and drug images.

Finally, Wen has a strong interest inthe conservation and biodiversity inven-tory of the flora of Asia, especially inpoorly explored regions such as southeastTibet, Myanmar, and Indochina (especiallyCambodia and Laos). In 2002 she was aparticipant in the southern Gaoligongshanconservational rapid study jointly con-ducted by the Field Museum and collabo-rators in China.

Recently, Wen was awarded two majorgrants: a John D. and Catherine T. Mac-Arthur Foundation grant for biodiversityresearch and training in eastern Himalaya,with colleagues Greg Mueller and RickRee (both at the Field Museum); and aNational Science Foundation systematicbiology grant for phylogenetic, biogeo-graphic and revisionary taxonomic studiesin Prunus (Rosaceae), with colleaguesDan Potter (University of California,Davis) and Joey Shaw (University ofTennessee, Chattanooga).

Panax quinquefolius L. isthe highly prized

American ginseng,sometimes known as

the “essence of man.”Its root often has a

human shape and themedicinal value of the

plant is still highlydebated. Phylogeneti-

cally it forms a cladewith Panax ginseng C.A.

Meyer (true ginseng)and Panax japonicusC.A. Meyer (Japanese

ginseng). Ginseng andAmerican ginseng are

not really sister species,although they were the

first species grouprecognized with a wide-ranging classical biogeo-

graphic disjunctionbetween eastern Asia

and eastern NorthAmerica, first noted

in 1716.

Panax quinquefolius L.

Department of BotanyPO Box 37012NMNH, MRC-166Washington DC 20013-7012

Official BusinessPenalty for Private Use $300

Art by Alice TangeriniArt by Alice TangeriniArt by Alice TangeriniArt by Alice TangeriniArt by Alice Tangerini