Plant Science Bulletin archive


Issue: 2011 v57 No 1 SpringActions

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P

LANT 

S

CIENCE

Bulletin

Spring 2011 Volume 57 Number 1 

Student’s respond to Federal 

Policymakers go to page 2

Dr. Elsie Quarterman celebrates  

her 100th birthday see page 11

Oldenberg &Van Leeuwenhoek  at 

the 1994 BSA annual meeting.   

Read more on page15

 

In This Issue..............

A crystal pond surrounded by cushion plants (Distichia muscoides Nees & Meyen) provides the playground for Nature to play 

with shapes and colors beyond the imagination.  See Inside back cover for the scientific description.

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From the Editor

                                                                                           Spring 2011 Volume 57 Number 1

PLANT SCIENCE  

BULLETIN  

Editorial Committee  

Volume 57

Jenny Archibald  

(2011) 

Department of Ecology 

& Evolutionary Biology 

The University of Kansas 

Lawrence, Kansas 66045 

jkarch@ku.edu

Root Gorelick  

(2012) 

Department of Biology & 

School of Mathematics & 

Statistics 

Carleton University 

Ottawa, Ontario 

Canada, K1H 5N1 

Root_Gorelick@carleton.ca

Elizabeth Schussler  

(2013) 

Department of Ecology  & 

Evolutionary Biology 

University of Tennessee 

Knoxville, TN 37996-1610 

eschussl@utk.edu

Christopher Martine 

Department of Biology 

State University of New York 

at Plattsburgh 

Plattsburgh, NY 12901-2681 

martinct@plattsburgh.edu

T

he  Plant Science Bulletin (PSB) is starting 

the year with a new look and high expec-

tations for raising botanical awareness in the 

public consciousness.  For the past few years 

several of us have been representing the Society 

on the advisory board of the Botanical Capac-

ity Assessment Project.  Through that involve-

ment it became clear that professional botanists 

in all sectors, including academe, must become 

more proactive in promoting our discipline to 

the general public and to policy makers in the 

government and federal agencies.  In last year’s 

issues of PSB you may have noticed letters from 

Past-President Holsinger, sent on behalf of the 

Society, to key agencies and administrators to 

provide input on legislation and spending.  In 

this issue I’m pleased to recognize the initiative 

of our youngest members, whose “An open letter 

to federal policymakers from science students” 

is now being promoted by AIBS as a vehicle for 

all science students to influence policy makers.  

Forward the link to your students and encour-

age them to contribute - - then think about ways 

you, and the Society, can become more effective 

lobbyists for botany.

Also in this issue is a tribute to the late Profes-

sor Larry Crockett, who used history and art to 

great effect in teaching botany.  He opened my 

eyes to the botanical contributions of Antoni van 

Leeuwenhoek, which are invariably neglected in 

textbooks.  I hope you will find this brief review 

of the great microscopist’s botanical discoveries 

to be enlightening and useful in your teaching.

-Marsh

Carolyn M. Wetzel 

Department of Biological 

Sciences &Biochemistry 

Program 

Smith College 

Northampton, MA 01063 

Tel. 413/585-3687

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Table of Contents

Society News ............................................................................................. 2

An Open Letter to Federal Policymakers from Science Students ................................2
Open Science Network .................................................................................................3
Science Prize for Inquiry-Based Instruction .................................................................4
Historical Section Announcement for Botany 2011 .....................................................4

BSA Science Education News & Notes ..................................................... 5
Editor’s Choice Reviews ............................................................................ 7
In Memoriam ............................................................................................. 8

Frederick W. Case  Jr.  (1927-2011)  ............................................................................8
William Julian Koch (1925 – 2009)  ............................................................................8
Charles H. Uhl  (1918 – 2010) ...................................................................................10

Personalia ................................................................................................. 11

Dr. Elsie Quarterman .................................................................................................. 11

Opportunities ............................................................................................ 12

microMORPH Grants .................................................................................................12
2011  Seminars at the Humboldt Institute on the Coast of Maine! ............................12
MSc Degree/Postgraduate Diploma in the Biodiversity and Taxonomy of Plants .....13

Reports and Reviews ................................................................................ 15

The Botanical Investigations of Antoni van Leeuwenhoek ........................................15

Books Reviewed ...................................................................................... 26

Ecological ...................................................................................................................26
Economic Botany .......................................................................................................29
Historical ....................................................................................................................28
Phycological ...............................................................................................................32
Systematic ...................................................................................................................32

Books Received ....................................................................................... 40

www.botanyconference.org

Register NOW....

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communicate the change that students want to see: 

that by prioritizing science education and research 

opportunity, the US can be a leader in innovation.   

Statistics on the current state of education in this 

country are evidence that this leadership position is 

not guaranteed in the future of this country.  

I want to acknowledge the leadership and 

dedication of the team of students that came 

together to take action.  You have inspired me 

about what is possible to accomplish.  You have 

also established an example, that future students 

can follow, about how students can use the BSA 

community to help bring their ideas to fruition. 

Please help the number of signatures on the 

petition grow by signing and distributing the letter 

available through this link: 

http://www.aibs.org/public-policy/science_

students_letter.html

Anecdotes: 

When one of the faculty at UGA mass e-mailed 

the YouCut video, which suggested that citizens re-

review NSF projects as a way to “cut government 

waste,” some of our lab members had a brief 

discussion that basically amounted to our all shaking 

our heads and saying, “somebody oughtta....”  After 

silence from other quarters, I realized “somebody” 

might have to start with me.  I approached the 

BSA student section with the idea of writing an 

open letter and was grateful to find others who 

had similar concerns.  It’s been enlightening to 

work with such a thoughtful group of scientists 

who are passionate about science policy, and who 

can transform ideas into wording that is concise, 

accessible, and politically even-handed.
--from Lindsay Tuominen

In the age of information, it is often difficult for 

issues to seem immediate or engaging. But when a 

fellow student sent an e-mail out to the BSA student 

listserv about the proposed “YouCut” NSF budget 

cuts, I felt like we had to do something, not just 

as students interested in our own funding but as 

members of the larger scientific community. Others 

felt similarly, and soon this issue had connected 

students from all across the United States, joining 

us together in a discussion of what should be done. 

Though we are students from various fields and 

Society News

On “An open letter to federal 

policymakers from science 

students”

By Rachel Meyer, student representative of the BSA
I have always been impressed with the energy of 

the students in the Botanical Society of America.  

Perhaps what makes this society so special is that 

the student body is very dedicated to help shape 

the BSA, and likewise, the BSA is always looking 

for ways to get students involved and to give them 

a voice.  The result is a community network that 

transitions very quickly from idea to product.  

The power of this network is beautifully 

exemplified by the open letter from students 

carrying the message that the US needs not only 

to continue, but to strengthen, their investment in 

scientific research and education.  It started with 

one student posting a message to the new student 

listserv. It was about the need to respond to the 

YouCut program, which targeted the National 

Science Foundation’s system of funding research 

grants and choice of research projects that deserve 

this funding.  Several students responded, formed 

a group, and wrote a detailed letter on this issue as 

a response.  

That letter can be viewed at this link:
 https://botany.org/BSA_Students-NSF-12162010.pdf
When the BSA office received news of this 

student initiative, they immediately were looking 

for ways to maximize the potential impact of the 

letter. They also wanted to seize the opportunity 

for students to learn about how our government 

works.  When large groups of people come together 

with a message to their representatives, they can be 

influential.  Bill Dahl put me in touch with Robert 

Gropp from the American Institute of Biological 

Sciences. We immediately began brainstorming 

ways the letter could be signed by thousands of 

students across the country and sent to potentially 

hundreds of people in politics.  

Working with AIBS and the original group of 

students who wrote the letter, we put together the 

petition that is now being circulated among student 

members of dozens of scientific societies.  We are 

acquiring a large number of signatures (in the first 

week we had already gained 400).  As the number 

of signatures grows, we can use the petition to 

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Plant Science Bulletin 57(1) 2011

backgrounds, we collaborated together to formulate 

a nonpartisan response to this attack on the 

scientific community and the progress of our nation. 

--from Natalie Ma

When I saw the YouCut website, my first 

inclination was to jump on Facebook and post my 

distaste for the measure.  When the opportunity 

came to be a part of something larger than a 

Facebook rant, I was extremely excited.  Working 

with a group of young scientists who harbor a 

dedication to the future of scientific research 

was an amazing experience that I hope to repeat.  

Misinformation is a constant phenomenon in the 

world today and it makes me feel accomplished 

to have been a part of a movement that seeks to 

fight misunderstanding.  My fellow BSA Student 

Action Panel members are amazing and show a 

true understanding of issues affecting students, 

researchers and our scientific culture.  I am very 

grateful to them and to BSA for being so supportive 

of students seeking to make a difference.
--from Michael McKain

Although I was unable to participate as much in 

the earlier part of this process, I was truly impressed 

by the way this group of students came together to 

take action on such an important issue. Later on I 

joined their efforts in editing the letter and getting 

it out to students across the country. Using a list of 

scientific societies compiled by the BSA student 

group, I contacted science policy officers from 21 

societies asking them to forward our open letter 

to their own student membership. Several of them 

replied immediately saying they were forwarding 

the message and thanking BSA students for their 

leadership and efforts. One society’s president 

had already sent the action link to their students 

before we even contacted them! Another society 

representative thanked us and shared some of their 

own activism efforts with us, which we will pass 

onto BSA students. It is a great feeling to see our 

message being spread across varying disciplines, 

encouraging more interactions between us, and to 

see that science students across America can come 

together in support of political activism that will 

benefit  our (and future) generations of scientists, 

and our country as a whole. I’m honored to be a 

part of this terrific group of BSA students who 

started it all. 

 

 

 

--Marian Chau, student representative of the BSA

Open Science Network

The Open Science Network (OSN) is a National 

Science Foundation funded project, coordinated 

by the Botanical Research Institute at Texas. OSN 

has been leading pioneering work to promote 

worldwide collaboration between ethnobiologists 

through the continual exchange and enrichment of 

educational techniques, materials, and experiences.  

This Network champions open educational 

resources and uses the latest web technologies to 

encourage sharing, generation, and management of 

educational tools and curriculum for the traditional 

and non-traditional classroom.  Ethnobiological 

teaching resources have been made openly 

available by researchers and educators based at the 

University of Hawai’i at Manoa, Frostburg State 

University, University of South Carolina, University 

of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, and University 

of Kent among others.  Everyone is encouraged to 

visit the homepage

1

, to explore the modules and 

curriculum posted, as well as contribute resources 

of their own.  

We will be hosting an educational colloquia 

titled  Sharing Our Ethnobotany Curriculum: 

the Open Science Approach at the 2011 societal 

meetings of the Society for Economic Botany 

and Botanical Society of America in St. Louis, 

Missouri.  Presentations will emphasize the 

importance of sharing information and resources 

among colleagues; demonstrate the need for peer 

and student assessments of curricula in order to 

maintain fresh and creative ideas in the field; and 

touch on how the creation of open technology has 

allowed the spread of ideas to the far corners of 

the globe.  Participants will be introduced to the 

web-based portal and instructed how to use and 

contribute to its curriculum resources.  

OSN has several travel awards available for any 

interested educators, students and researchers 

that would like to attend and participate in OSN’s 

2011 annual meeting.  The deadline for these travel 

awards is February 22

nd

.  For more information 

regarding these awards or the Network, please visit 

us at our WiserEarth page

2

.  

Keri Barfield (kbarfield@brit.org) &  

Sofia Vougioukalou (S.A.Vougioukalou@kent.

ac.uk

 

Links to websites:  

Homepage- www.opensciencenetwork.net 

WiserEarth- http://www.wiserearth.org/group/

opensci_ethnobiology

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Plant Science Bulletin 57(1) 2011

Science Prize for  

Inquiry-Based Instruction

Have you ever actively participated in a science 

lab that left a lasting impact on you?  Have you ever 

taught an interactive science lab and watched as 

students lit up with understanding?  Science would 

like to recognize efforts such as these with the 

Science Prize for Inquiry-Based Instruction, which 

has been established to encourage innovation and 

excellence in education by recognizing outstanding, 

inquiry-based science education modules.  The 

prize is open to any module where students become 

invested in exploring questions through activities 

that are at least partially of their own design. Rather 

than a typical laboratory exercise that begins with 

an explanation and results in one correct answer, an 

inquiry-based lesson might begin with a scenario 

or question and then require students to propose 

possible solutions and design some of their own 

experiments.

  Winners will be selected by the editors of 

Science with the assistance of a judging panel 

composed of teachers and researchers in the 

relevant  science  fields.    Individuals  responsible 

for the development of the winning resources will 

be invited to write a short essay that describes the 

resource for publication in Science in 2012.  We 

encourage all members of the scientific community 

to explore their classrooms, departments, colleges, 

and universities for nominations in order for the 

Science Prize for Inquiry-Based Instruction to truly 

represent the best in science education.  

 To read the accompanying Editorial please visit 

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/331/6013/10.

full 

 For more information and to download 

applications please visit http://scim.ag/inquiryprize 

 Please contact Dr. Melissa McCartney at 

mmccartn@aaas.org with any questions.
  Melissa McCartney, PhD, Editorial Fellow, Sci-

ence Editorial, 202-285-0300

SCIENCE: www.sciencemag.org  

SPORE: www.sciencemag.org/special/spore/  

AAAS-  Advancing science, Serving society

Historical Section 

Announcement for  

BOTANY 2011

At Botany 2011 in St. Louis, Missouri this 

summer, the BSA Historical Section and co-

sponsoring sections will present a symposium 

featuring area botanists.  Our decision was based 

on the positive feedback we received from similar 

symposia organized by the Historical Section 

in Chicago, at Botany 2007 and in Rhode Island 

for Botany 2010.  We invite you to attend our 

symposium (see below) and join the exciting field 

trip on a behind the scenes look at the extensive 

library and herbarium collections at the Missouri 

Botanical Garden.  

HISTORY OF BOTANY: THE MISSOURI 

CONNECTION 

Joint symposium with the Historical, 

Developmental and Structural, Ecology, Economic 

Botany, Paleobotanical Southeastern and 

Systematics Sections. 

Nuala Caomhanach - “Thomas Nuttall and 19th 

Century Botany: The St. Louis Connection”

Michael Long - “George Engelmann’s Fortunate 

Connections

Deborah Q. Lewis and Lynn G. Clark - “A.S. 

Hitchcock” 

Kim Kleinman  - “Edgar Anderson, The Missouri 

Botanical Garden, & the Rise of Biosystematics”

Betty Smocovitis  - “Joseph Ewan and the 

Cinchona Missions in Latin America, 1942-1945”

Dennis Stevenson -  “William J. Robbins: The 

Missouri Years”

Edward Coe  - “Lewis J. Stadler: The Nature of 

the Gene, and a Clue to DNA”

Lee B. Kass - “Barbara McClintock at the 

University of Missouri (1936-1942): The Road to 

Transposition”

Following the symposium there will be a field 

trip to the Missouri Botanical Garden entitled 

“Exploring George Engelmann’s Legacy: The 

Missouri Botanical Garden Library and Herbarium”

The Historical Section encourages paper/poster 

session contributors.  Each year the Emanuel 

D. Rudolph award is given for the best student 

presentation on an historical subject; this is a cash 

award with a complementary banquet ticket.

For additional information please contact the 

Symposium Committee:  

Marissa C. J. Grant,  mgrant39493@lakeland.cc.il.us 

or Lee B. Kass, lbk7@cornell.edu

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PlantingScience 

Presentations and Meetings 

January 14, 2011. NIBI, The Netherlands 

Edith Jonkers, leading the independent Dutch 

PlantingScience counterpart, will describe 

PlantingScience to Dutch biology teachers.

January 19-22, 2011. Minneapolis, MN: 

Association for Science Teacher Education 

 

PlantingScience Co-PI Carol Stuessy and her 

graduate students from Texas A&M University 

present two sessions “Where the Rubber 

Meets the Road in Authentic Science Learning 

Contexts: Professional Learning to Classroom 

Implementation” and “Applying the Online 

Elements of Inquiry Checklist.”

February 3, 2011. Washington, DC: DC 

Teachers Night

Katie Engen, ASPB Education Foundation, will 

have a hands-on booth to share ASPB activities 

and information about the PlantingScience Spring 

Online Session and Summer Institute for Teachers.

March 8-9, 2011. Berkeley, CA: Cyberlearning 

Tools for STEM Education (CyTSE) Conference 

Claire Hemingway will have hands-on 

demonstration session at this NSF-sponsored 

meeting on K-12 STEM cyberlearning tools.

March 10-13, 2011. San Francisco, CA: NSTA 

Conference

Visit us at the booth or attend the March 11 2-3 

pm session on “Using Dialogue and Art to Enhance 

Science Inquiry and Make Student Thinking 

Visible” with PlantingScience teachers Carol 

Packard and Allison Landry and botanist/botanical 

illustrator Jeanne Debons.

Do you have news or activities you’d like to share 

with the PlantingScience community?  Please let us 

know!

BSA Science Education  

News & 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

PlantingScience Spring 

2011 Session and Program 

Happenings.

January is National Mentoring Month http://

www.nationalmentoringmonth.org/ .  Celebrate 

by committing to mentor middle school or high 

school teams as they conduct plant inquiries in the 

Spring 2011 Session.  It will run 14 Feb. to 15 Apr. 

2011).  Last fall brought together 177 scientists, 

289 student teams, and 30 teachers to collaborate 

online.  We anticipate another exciting session this 

spring.  New this spring will be an international 

collaboration between Florida and Dutch schools.

Inquiry teaching and learning in school 

settings often presents significant challenges, but 

PlantingScience teachers are seeking ways to enrich 

the experience.  Do you wonder what your volunteer 

service as an online mentor offers?  Participating 

teachers share the value of your collaborations with 

classrooms in these quotes:

“I am a much better teacher because of this 

program...it let my kids enter the classroom as 

working lab technicians instead of students ...they 

came into class ready to go, prepared to do science.”

“At every opportunity, all involved kept reminding 

my students of the process that real science requires. 

This helped me to convince my students that they are 

really doing science - not just play acting until some 

future date.”

“While I sometimes get frustrated with the level of 

effort applied by my students I believe that the end 

result is worth all the drama. I had several questions 

this year that came very close to my goal of valid 

scientific inquiry.”

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Plant Science Bulletin 57(1) 2011

PlantingScience Summer 

Institute for Teachers  

June 23-30, 2011.  Held at Texas 

A&M University, College 

Station, TX.

High school and middle school teachers, we 

invite you to join botanists Marsh  Sundberg 

and  Larry Griffing and teachers from across the 

country to explore plant investigations and inquiry 

learning in community.  This summer we will focus 

on plant physiology and Arabidopsis genetics, and 

you’ll have the opportunity to develop a plan to 

take any of new or existing inquiry modules to your 

classroom.  The Institute also offers opportunities 

to immerse in the inquiry experience, engage in the 

online platform, and share strategies for supporting 

team inquiries.  Stipends, housing and travel 

allowances provided.

Apply online by April 4, 2011.  See www.

PlantingScience.org to download a brochure.

http://www.plantingscience.org/institute-

application.html

Science Education  

Bits and Bobs

Mixed PISA Results, Scores Improve but High 

Achievers Still Scarce in Science  — The December 

2010 release the most recent data on the Program 

for International Student Assessment (PISA) 

reiterate the lower than top performance of U.S. 

students compared to other nations in reading, 

math, and science literacy.  Compared to the last 

round of PISA data collected in 2006, US students’ 

science scores for 15-year-olds improved, and the 

U.S. average score in science literacy in 2009 is now 

not measurably different from the average for other 

OECD countries.  Countries with higher average 

science scores than the US include: Finland, Japan, 

Korea, New Zealand, Canada, Estonia, Australia, 

the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, the 

United Kingdom, and Slovenia.  Proficiency in 

science literacy is described by PISA according to 

levels ranging from 1 to the most advanced of 6.  

29% of US students scored at a level 4 in science 

proficiency.

 

PISA Report 

http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.

asp?pubid=2011004

 
8-10 year-old U.K. Students Publish Bee Visual 

Perception Research  — What can you do with 

curiosity about the natural world, access to 

science experts, and a few simple rules to a game?  

Publish real science for starters.  Students in the 

Blackawton Primary School, their headteacher, and 

a vision researcher from University College London 

collaborated on a study of bee vision and behavior.  

While the researcher trained the bees in the study, 

the students asked the key questions, hypothesized 

possible answers, designed experiment features, 

analyzed the data and contributed to the manuscript 

by drawing the figures and describing their key 

findings.  This novel publication in “kids speak” 

speaks volumes about the power of curiosity and 

creativity to fuel science discovery at any age. 

 

See Biology Letters published online 22 

December 2010

http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/

early/2010/12/18/rsbl.2010.1056

How much undergraduate learning takes place 

on college campuses?  — During the first two years 

of college, some 45% of students surveyed showed 

no significant gains in critical thinking, complex 

reasoning, and written communication.  Over 

four years of college, 36% of students still had no 

gains in these critical areas.   Academic rigor and 

administration priorities play significant roles 

according to the Social Science Research Council, 

which released the Improving Undergraduate 

Learning: Findings and Policy Recommendations 

from the College Learning Assessment Longitudinal 

study and an associated book on the findings, 

Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College 

Campuses.  Student participation in learning was 

not left out of the equation, with study habits 

and greater valuation of degree credentials than 

knowledge seeking identified as detractors.

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Editor’s Choice Reviews

Art Instruction in the Botany Lab: A 

Collaborative Approach  

Baldwin Lyn and Ila Crawford.  2010.  Jour-

nal of College Science Teaching 40: 26-31.

“Good observations are often fundamental to good 

science, and drawing has long been recognized as a 

tool to develop students’ observation skills.”   If you 

agree with this, the first sentence of the abstract, 

you’ll want to read the entire article and consider 

establishing a collaboration at your institution.

College Students’ Understanding 

of the Carbon Cycle: Contrasting 

Principle-based and Informal Rea-

soning 

 

Hartley, Laurel M., Brook J. Wilke, Jonathon 

W. Schramm, Charlene D’Avanzo, and 

Charles W. Anderson.  2011.   BioScience 61: 

65-75. 

Like the next article, this one is about carbon cycle 

misconceptions, but it provides a sound education-

al theory basis to attacking the problem.  The tables 

will be particularly useful in helping you to identify 

misconceptions and how to address that with your 

students.

Dust Thou Art Not & unto Dust Thou 

Shan’t Return: Common Mistakes in 

Teaching Biogeochemical Cycles 

O’Connell, Dan  2010.   The American Biol-

ogy Teacher 72: 552-556.

I’ve recommended several articles dealing with 

misconceptions about the Carbon Cycle in the past 

and here’s another one, treated in a slightly differ-

ent way, that will provide you with some additional 

information as you strive to help your students to 

develop a more sophisticated understanding of this 

concept.

Viewing Plant Systematics through a 

Lens of Plant Compensatory Growth  

Rea, Roy V. and Hugues B. Massicotte.  2010.  

The American Biology Teacher 72:541-544. 

 

Variability and phenotypic plasticity in nature are 

difficult concepts for all students, but especially for 

new students beginning their observations in na-

ture.  What we seldom think about in our teaching 

is now the phenomenon of compensatory growth 

can be used to illustrate these two difficult con-

cepts.  The authors condense multiple years worth 

of data and experience to demonstrate the extreme 

range of morphology associated with compensa-

tory growth.

“In the biblical account in Genesis of the Noachian Flood, only the animals were taken two by two 

onto the Ark.  I well remember that I was about twelve years old when the subject came up in Sunday 

School, and I wondered out loud what became of the all the plants, most of which could not have 

survived underwater.  You know how literal-minded young boys can be.  I think it was about this time 

that the teacher sent a note to my parents, suggesting that I might better spend my Sunday mornings 

elsewhere than in Sunday School.”
-Neil A. Harriman, Biology Department, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901        

Congratulations to 

PlantingScience Teacher  

Gwen Foote 

Nautilus Middle School 

 Teacher of the Year!

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8

In Memoriam

Pre-deceased by two brothers-in-law, Andrew Cota 

and Carl Burckhardt and a niece, Debbie Kress. 

A special thank you to his caregiver, Hazel Irvin, 

for her assistance during his nearly two years of 

declining health.
Those planning an expression of sympathy may 

wish to consider the Nature Conservancy of 

Alabama, Roberta Case-Pine Hill
Reserve, the Michigan Nature Association, the 

Children’s Zoo at Celebration Square, or the charity 

of their choice.  www.casefuneralhome.com 
-Carolyn M. Wetzel, Smith College, Northampton, 

MA 01063

Frederick W. Case  Jr.  1927-2011

Well known teacher and botanist passed away 

Wednesday, January 12, 2011. Age 83 years.  The 

son of the late Julia Blanche (Coash) and Frederick 

W. Case Sr. was born February 16, 1927 in Saginaw, 

Michigan. He married Roberta Elizabeth (Boots) 

Burckhardt, February 14, 1953. She passed away 

June 8, 1998. He was a graduate of Arthur Hill High 

School and received his
Bachelor of Science and Master’s in Education 

from the University of Michigan. He served with 

the U.S. Army during WWII. He returned to 

Arthur Hill High where he taught biology and 

natural science until his retirement. He was named 

their Honor Alumnus in 1978. He was named the 

Outstanding Biology Teacher in Michigan in 1971 

and Outstanding Science Teacher in 1987. Fred 

and Roberta authored three books and authored 

or co-authored many articles for magazines 

and scientific publications about native orchids, 

trilliums, insectivorous plants, wildflowers and 

gardening. He received numerous awards and 

recognition for his achievements in botany and 

lectured extensively. He had been associated with 

Cranbrook Institute of Science, The University of 

Michigan Matthaei Botanical Gardens, Longwood 

Gardens, The Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources 

Committee on Endangered and Threatened Plants, 

the Michigan Botanical Club, North American 

Rock Garden Society, the Saginaw Valley Audubon 

Society, Saginaw Valley Orchid Society, The Nature 

Conservancy, Michigan Nature Association, and 

many other horticultural groups. He enjoyed opera, 

theatre, reading, traveling, fine dining and Ketchup. 
Surviving are a son and daughter-in-law, David 

B. and Sheri Leaman Case; three granddaughters, 

Rebecca Case Myers and her husband Chris Myers; 

Emily Case and her fiancée, David Krueger, Caitlyn 

Case; a brother, a sister and two sisters-in-law, 

Win L. and Mary Case; Nancy Cota and Patricia 

Burckhardt; nine nieces, Julie Swieczkowski, 

Mary Lou Case, Susan Case, Kathy Case, Caroline 

Orsini, Amy Case, Jennifer Ashby, Amy Busch, 

Lisa Bulmer, two nephews, Stephen Cota, Bob 

Burckhardt; his lifelong friend, George L. Burrows 

IV; several grand nieces, grand nephews, cousins, 

other relatives, many dear and loyal friends. He was

William Julian Koch 

 (1925 – 2009) 

William Julian Koch, age 85, retired Professor 

of Botany at the University of North Carolina 

at Chapel Hill, died 17 July 2009 at his home in 

Glendale, AZ, after a brief illness. 
William was the fourth of four sons of Frederick 

Henry Koch, a pioneer of folk drama in the United 

States and the founder of Playmakers Theatre at 

UNC, and Loretta Regina Hanigan, a housewife. 

A native Chapel Hill, William attended the local 

public schools. At UNC he earned three degrees in 

botany: B.A. (1947), M.A. (1950), and Ph.D. (1956). 

Interrupting his academic studies, he served in the 

United States Navy (1943-1946).

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9

Plant Science Bulletin 57(1) 2011

Koch conducted his graduate research in mycology 

under the guidance of world renowned mycologist 

John N. Couch who inspired William’s scientific 

investigations. While a graduate student, he was an 

assistant and instructor, both in botany. His master’s 

thesis concerned “A study of the motile cells of 

Vaucheria,” and his dissertation dealt with “Studies 

in the Chytridiales, with special reference to the 

structure, movement and systematic significance of 

the swimming reproductive cell.” After earning his 

doctorate, he joined the faculty in the Department 

of Botany at UNC, advancing in the academic ranks 

to professor. His early research concerned a group 

of water molds, chytrids, on which he published 

a series of papers in scientific journals. When he 

was asked to assume a heavy teaching load, he 

shifted his focus from fungi to humans, especially 

undergraduates.
His lively and inspiring classes were always 

aimed at stimulating students’ innate curiosity for 

knowledge. When teaching a class about edible 

plants, William would bring samples for tasting, 

and he was known for waking up students by 

pouring dried leaves over them. Many of his classes 

started with music appropriate to the theme of 

the lecture: Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” played 

at the beginning of the class in which changes 

of trees during the year took place; and the song 

“John Barleycorn,” prefaced the class in which 

fermentation, including the brewing of beer, took 

place. His other primary courses were introductory 

botany, plant diversity, introductory mycology, and 

advanced mycology. He wrote several textbooks 

and laboratory manuals to accompany his courses, 

which he designed to arouse an interest in students 

and to closely follow his philosophy of teaching (a 

humanistic approach).
William’s innovative teaching, genuine enthusiasm, 

and engaging personality earned him respect with 

students who twice honored him as a featured 

faculty member in the school’s yearbook, Yackety 

Yack, and celebrated a “Willie Koch Day” on the 

UNC campus in 1975. Researchers acknowledged 

his role as a scientist through such tributes as 

naming a genus of fungus, Kochiomyces, for him in 1980.
William held memberships in a number of 

professional associations. He held offices in several 

of them, including the Botanical Society of America 

(Chairman, Microbiology Section, 1963-1964; 

Education Committee, 1978-1980), Elisha Mitchell 

Scientific Society (Vice-president, 1960 and 1974; 

Recording Secretary, 1961-1967), and Mycological 

Society of America (Committee on Research 

Grants and Publications). In honorary societies 

he was elected to Sigma Xi and held several offices 

in its UNC chapter: Vice-president, 1966-1967; 

Executive Committee; Nominating Committee, 

1976; and Membership Committee, 1975-1978.
In the summer of 1986, William retired to Pembroke 

Pines, FL, along with his wife, Dott. He worked 

there with handicapped children, and as a movie 

actor and model. Subsequently, they relocated to 

Glendale, AZ. He then pursued the visual arts and 

created computer images of the natural world. He 

also published a book and a separate CD (Plant 

Close-ups: Designs, 2007) that featured 82 color 

photographs accompanied by personal comments. 

Interested in the state of the country, he and his wife 

volunteered for one year at the Arizona governor’s 

office to become better acquainted with societal 

problems and possible solutions. In his retirement 

settings, the local vegetation captivated William’s 

curiosity, just as he had captivated so many students 

at the University of North Carolina.
His wife Dorothy “Dott” (Clarke) Koch of Roseville, 

CA, survived William at the time of his death, but 

she died in 2010. Current survivors include three 

daughters, Patricia Margolis of Redondo Beach, 

CA, Jean Austin of Jonesborough, TN, and Deb 

Plylar of Phoenix, AZ; one son, David “DK” Koch 

of Lincoln, CA; ten grandchildren; and three great 

grandchildren. 
William was cremated, and his ashes have not been spread.
A List of the Graduate Students of William J. Koch 

and Their Theses.

•  Bernstein, Linda Beryl. 1966. A biosystematic 

study of eight isolates of Rhizophlyctis rosea 

with emphasis on zoospore variability. M.A. 

•  Bostick, Linda Roane. 1966. Studies of the 

morphology and cytology of Chytriomyces 

hyalinus Karling. M.A. 

•  Clausz, John C. 1965. Some factors affecting 

germination of oospores of Achlya hypogyna. 

M.A. 

•  McNitt, Rand Edwin. 1973. Light and electron 

microscopy of Phlycochytrium irregulare 

Koch. Ph.D.  (co-advisor Lindsay S. Olive)

•  Powell, Martha J. 1974. Developmental studies 

of the chytrid Entophlyctis variabile sp.n. : A 

light and electron microscopic investigation. Ph.D. 

•  Register, Thomas Eugene. 1959. Morphological 

variation in a new species of Phlyctochytrium

M.A. 

•  Senior, Laura B. 1981. Study of the mycorrhizal 

organs of Tipularia discolor, the crippled crane 

fly orchid. M.S. 

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Plant Science Bulletin 57(1) 2011

•  Tingle, Constance L. 1972. Some physiological 

aspects of oogonia formation in Saprolegnia 

diclina. M.A. 

-Prepared by William R. Burk, friend and fellow 

mycologist.

Charles H. Uhl  (1918 – 2010)

Charles H. Uhl, professor emeritus of Plant Biology, 

died Aug. 29, 2010, in Jefferson, GA.  He was 92.   

 

Born May 28, 1918, in Schenectady, NY, Charlie 

moved to Georgia at the age of nine.  He earned 

his B.A. (1939) and M.A. (1941) from Emory 

University, and his Ph.D. from Cornell in 1947. 

As for many of his generation, his education was 

disrupted by World War II.  He served in the U.S. 

Navy from 1942-1946 first as an ensign, then as an 

executive officer and Lieutenant.  He was one of 

three officers on a standard landing craft, none of 

whom had any marine experience other than the 

few months training provided by a wartime navy.  

Nonetheless, under orders, he and his crew were 

able to successfully guide their small lumbering 

boat, without escort and continuously out of sight 

of land, some 5000 miles across the Pacific to tiny 

Bora Bora using only a sextant (no GPS in those 

days!).  He and his crew went on to participate in 

combat operations in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater in 

New Guinea, the Philippines, and Borneo.  Charlie 

wrote a history of his experiences in the book USS 

LCI volume II. After the war, Dr. Uhl finished his 

degree and joined the faculty at Cornell in 1947.  For 

many years Charlie was recognized as the expert on 

cytogenetics of the stonecrop family (Crassulaceae) 

and published over 80 papers in the field between 

1943 and 2004. He created and documented over 

1500 specific and generic hybrids in the family.  

He holds the record for the highest number of 

chromosomes ever counted in an angiosperm, n 

= 320 (or a diploid number of 640 chromosomes), 

for  Sedum suaveolens.  Although best known for 

his work on hybridization and polyploidy, he had 

wide-ranging interests and applied his findings 

to taxonomic questions such as the delimitation 

of species and genera as well as the phylogenetic 

relationships among them.   He was also fascinated 

with biogeographic questions and published his 

observations on the effect of the San Andreas Fault 

on speciation in stonecrops.  His work is still having 

an impact on young researchers as demonstrated by 

a recent paper in the American Journal of Botany 

that was dedicated to Dr. Uhl.
His family fondly remembers many field trips to the 

western U.S. and Mexico to collect succulents for 

his research.  Over the years, he contributed several 

thousand plant specimens to the L. H. Bailey 

Hortorium, both from these field trips and from his 

laboratory experiments.  In 1985 he was elected an 

honorary fellow of the Cactus and Succulent Society 

for exceptional achievement in scholarship about 

succulent plants.  In addition to his research, Charlie 

is remembered by many as an excellent teacher of 

Cytology, Cytogenetics, and Microtechnique. His 

labs were well known for having a superb collection 

of cytological preparations, and for his enthusiastic 

participation.  He chaired the graduate degree 

committees of a number of students in cytology 

and served on the committees of many others in 

the fields of both plant biology and plant breeding.  

He was also famous for asking probing questions 

at departmental seminars where his breadth of 

knowledge was apparent to all.
Among Dr. Uhl’s outside interests was stamp 

collecting and he was a longtime member of the 

Ithaca Stamp Club and American Philatelic Society.  

No one in plant biology threw away envelopes from 

afar without removing the stamp and handing it off 

to Charlie.  Charlie had the opportunity as a child 

to see the Cyclorama, a 42-foot high cylindrical oil 

painting depicting the Civil War Battle of Atlanta, 

which at that time was narrated by some of the last 

living confederate soldiers. This experience stoked 

a life long interest in the civil war.
Charlie is survived by his wife of 65 years, Natalie 

Whitford Uhl, also a Cornell emeritus professor; 

his four children Natalie Jean of Las Vegas, New 

Mexico;  Mary of York, England; Charles Jr. of 

Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and Elizabeth of Athens, 

Georgia; and three grandchildren, Toby, Hugh, and 

Amy .  
-Melissa A Luckow

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11

Personalia

Photo Caption:  Left to right:  Front row, Carol Baskin, Elsie Quarterman,  Gail Baker; 

back row , Jerry Baskin, Tom Hemmerly.

Dr. Elsie Quarterman celebrated her 100th 

birthday on November 28, 2010.  She grew up in 

southern Georgia and graduated from what is now 

Valdosta State University.  While teaching high 

school in Georgia during the 1930’s she attended 

Duke University in the summers, completing her 

master’s degree in plant ecology under Henry J. 

Oosting.  In 1943 she took a temporary position at 

Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN), becoming 

one of the first female faculty members.  Her 

position became permanent and she stayed for 33 

years, retiring in 1976. Her Ph. D. dissertation titled 

“Ecology of the Cedar Glades of Middle Tennessee” 

was completed under Oosting’s direction in 1950.

She met Catherine Keever at Duke in the 1930’s 

and they began a life-long friendship and research 

collaboration. Dr. Keever, a specialist in old field 

succession, taught at what is now Millersville State 

University in Pennsylvania.  Their most important 

joint work—completed after several hot summers 

of field work—resulted in a 1962 Ecological 

Monographs paper titled “Southern mixed 

hardwood forest: climax in the southeastern Coastal 

Plain, U. S. A.” In addition to cedar glade ecology, 

Dr. Quarterman’s 30-plus publications include 

papers on a wide variety of topics, from bryophytes 

to forest succession to seed germination.

Always a conservationist, she became more active 

after retirement and has received numerous awards 

for her efforts to preserve and protect unique and 

endangered habitats in Tennessee.  Among these are 

the Oak Leaf Award from the Tennessee Chapter of 

the Nature Conservancy, a Lifetime Environmental 

and Conservation Achievement Award from 

the Tennessee Department of Environmental 

Conservation and the Sol Feinstein Environmental 

Award from the College of Environmental Science 

and Forestry of the State University of New York.  

Nearly all of her graduate students did ecological 

research on cedar glade plants.  Among her graduate 

students are Stewart Ware, Professor Emeritus of the 

College of William and Mary, Thomas Hemmerly, 

Professor Emeritus of Middle Tennessee State 

University, Douglas Waits, Professor Emeritus 

of Birmingham-Southern College, Gail Baker of 

Northwest Florida State College, and internationally 

known seed germination ecologists Carol Baskin 

and Jerry Baskin of the University of Kentucky. 
- Gail S. Baker, Ph. D.

Dr. Elsie Quarterman

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12

microMORPH Grants

microMORPH is pleased to announce a funding 

opportunity for undergraduates ($5,000), graduates 

students, postdoctorals, and assistant professors 

($3,500) in plant development or plant evolution.  

These grants are available to support cross-

disciplinary visits between labs or institutions for a 

period of a few weeks to an entire semester.  We are 

particularly interested in proposals that will add a 

developmental perspective to a study of evolution 

of populations or closely related species.  We are 

also interested in developmental studies that will 

incorporate the evolution of populations or closely 

related species.  The deadline for proposals is March 

1st, 2011.  More information about the training 

grants and the application process may be found on 

the microMORPH website:

http://www.colorado.edu/eeb/microMORPH/

grantsandfunding.html 

To be eligible for microMORPH training grants, 

applicants must fill at least one of the following 

criteria: 1) be a U.S. citizen, or 2) be affiliated with 

(enrolled in a degree granting program or employed 

by) a U.S. college, university, or institution, or 3) 

propose to train in and be hosted by a lab at a U.S. 

college, university, or institution.

These internships are supported by a five-year 

grant from the National Science Foundation 

entitled microMORPH: Molecular and Organismic 

Research in Plant History. This grant is funded 

through the Research Coordination Network 

Program at NSF. The overarching goal of the 

microMORPH RCN is to study speciation and the 

diversification of plants by linking genes through 

development to morphology, and ultimately to 

adaptation and fitness, within the dynamic context 

of natural populations and closely related species.

If you would prefer not to receive any more emails 

from me about the microMORPH RCN, please 

email me back with the word “NO” in the subject 

line and I will remove you from the mailing list. I 

will use this list for occasional updates on funding 

opportunities through the microMORPH RCN, 

and yearly workshops hosted by microMORPH.

Sincerely,
Pamela K. Diggle (Pamela.diggle@colorado.edu)
Ned Friedman (ned@colorado.edu)

Opportunities

2011  Seminars on  at the 

Humboldt Institute on the 

coast of Maine!

May 22 - 28 

Lichens and Lichen Ecology.   

 

David Richardson and Mark Seaward.

May 29 - Jun 4  Crustose Lichens: Identification    

 

Using Morphology, Anatomy, and  

 

Simple Chemistry.   

 

Irwin M. Brodo.

Jun 5 - 11 

Bryophytes and Bryophyte Ecology 

 

Nancy G. Slack.

Jun 12 - 18 

The Lichen Genera Rhizocarpon,   

 

Fuscidea, Porpidia, and Other    

 

Lecideoid Lichens.   

 

Alan Fryday.

Jun 26 - July 2  Applied Field Identification of Sedges  

 

and Rushes.   

 

Andrew L. Hipp.

Jun 26 - July 2  Aquatic Flowering Plants. 

 

 

C. Barre Hellquist.

Jul 3 - 9  

The Genus Carex: Advanced  

 

 

Taxonomy and Ecology.    

 

Anton A. Reznicek.

Jul 3 - 9 

Botanical Latin for Application and  

 

Enjoyment.  Steven R. Hill.

Jul 24 - 30 

Botanical Illustration: Sketching and  

 

Painting Wildflowers in Their  

 

 

Natural Environment.   

 

Angela Mirro.

Jul 31 - Aug 6  Flora of Maine Coastal Habitats and  

 Islands. 

 

 

Glen H. Mittelhauser.

Aug 14 - 20 

Applied Foundations in Vascular   

 

Plant Morphology.   

 

Susan Pell.

Aug 21 - 27 

Taxonomy and Biology of Ferns and  

 

Lycophytes, with Guest Lectures on  

 

Isoetes.   

 

Robbin C. Moran and W. Carl Taylor.

Aug 21 - 27 

The Genus Bryum and Bryaceae:   

 

Systematics and Biogeography of   

 

North American Species. 

 

 

John R. Spence.

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13

Plant Science Bulletin 57(1) 2011

http://www.eaglehill.us/programs/nhs/nhs-

calendar.shtml 

Descriptions of seminars may be found at
http://www.eaglehill.us/programs/nhs/nhs-

calendar.shtml 

Information on lodging options, meals, and costs 

may be found at

http://www.eaglehill.us/programs/general/

application-info.shtml 

There is an online application form at
http://www.eaglehill.us/programs/general/

application-web.shtml 

Syllabi are available for these and many other fine 

natural history training seminars on diverse topics.

For more information, please contact :

   Humboldt  Institute 

   PO  Box9 

   Steuben, ME 04680-0009. 

   207-546-2821. Fax 207-546-3042 

   E-mail  -  mailto:office@eaglehill.us 

Online general information may be found at  

 http://www.eaglehill.us 

NATURAL HISTORY SEMINARS
In support of field biologists, modern field 

naturalists, and students of the natural history 

sciences, Eagle Hill offers specialty seminars and 

workshops at different ecological scales for those 

who are interested in understanding, addressing, 

and solving complex ecological questions. Seminars 

topics range from watershed level subjects, and 

subjects in classical ecology, to highly specialized 

seminars in advanced biology, taxonomy, and 

ecological restoration.  Eagle Hill has long been 

recognized as offering hard-to-find seminars and 

workshops which provide important opportunities 

for training and meeting others who are likewise 

dedicated to the study of the natural history 

sciences.

Eagle Hill field seminars are of special interest 

because they focus on the natural history of one 

of North America’s most spectacular and pristine 

natural areas, the coast of eastern Maine from 

Acadia National Park to Petit Manan National 

Wildlife Refuge and beyond. Most seminars 

combine field studies with follow-up lab studies and 

a review of the literature. Additional information 

is provided in lectures, slide presentations, and 

discussions. Seminars are primarily taught for 

people who already have a reasonable background 

in a seminar program or in related subjects, or 

who are keenly interested in learning about a 

new subject. Prior discussions of personal study 

objectives are welcome.

MSc Degree/Postgraduate 

Diploma in the Biodiversity 

and Taxonomy of Plants

Royal Botanic Gardens 

Edinburgh/ University of 

Edinburgh

Programme Philosophy

The MSc in Biodiversity and Taxonomy of Plants 

was established by the University of Edinburgh and 

the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) to 

address the growing worldwide demand for trained 

plant taxonomists and whole-plant scientists. 

 

A detailed knowledge of plants and habitats is 

fundamental to their effective conservation.  To 

communicate such knowledge accurately and 

effectively, training is required in plant taxonomy 

– the discipline devoted to plant diversity and 

evolution, relationships, and nomenclature.  The 

MSc is perfect for those wishing to develop a career 

in many areas of plant science:

• Survey and conservation work in threatened 

ecosystems

• Assessment of plant resources and genetic 

diversity 

• Taxonomic research 
• Management of institutes and curation of 

collections 

• A stepping stone to PhD research and 

academic careers

Edinburgh is a unique place to study plant 

taxonomy and diversity.  The programme and 

students benefit widely from a close partnership 

between RBGE and the University of Edinburgh 

(UoE). RBGE has one of the world’s best living 

collections (15,000 species across our four specialist 

gardens – 5% of world species), an herbarium of 

three million specimens and one of the UK’s most 

comprehensive botanical libraries.  The School of 

Biological Sciences at UoE is a centre of excellence 

for research in Plant Sciences and Evolutionary 

Biology. Recognised experts from RBGE, UoE, and 

from different institutions in the UK deliver lectures 

across the whole spectrum of plant diversity. Most 

course work is based at RBGE, close to major 

collections of plants, but students have full access 

to the extensive learning facilities of the university.

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14

Plant Science Bulletin 57(1) 2011

Entry Requirements
Applicants should ideally hold a university 

degree, or its equivalent, in a biological, 

horticultural, or environmental science, and above 

all have a genuine interest in plants.  Relevant work 

experience is desirable but not required.  Evidence 

of proficiency in English must be provided if this is 

not an applicant’s first language.

Funding
The University of Edinburgh provides a limited 

number of studentships.  Other international 

funding bodies have supported overseas students 

in the past. More information can be obtained in 

the course handbook.

Further Information
For further details on the programme, including 

a course handbook please visit the RBGE website: 

http://www.rbge.org.uk/msctaxonomy
You can also contact the Course director 

or Education Department at RBGE, or the 

Postgraduate Secretary of the University of 

Edinburgh:

MSc course Director
Dr Louis Ronse De Craene
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Tel +44 (0)131 248 2804
Email: l.ronsedecraene@rbge.ac.uk

Postgraduate Secretary
The University of Edinburgh
School of Biological Sciences, Darwin Building
The King’s Buildings, Edinburgh EH9 3JR, UK
Tel +44 (0)131 650 7366
Email: icmbpg@ed.ac.uk

To apply online, please go to:
http://www.ed.ac.uk/studying/postgraduate/

finder/details.php?id=1

and click on the link to apply for this degree.

Aims and Scope

The MSc provides biologists, conservationists, 

horticulturists and ecologists with a wide 

knowledge of plant biodiversity, as well as a 

thorough understanding of traditional and modern 

approaches to pure and applied taxonomy. Apart 

from learning about the latest research techniques 

for classification, students should acquire a 

broad knowledge of plant structure, ecology, and 

identification.

Programme Structure
This is an intensive twelve-month programme 

and involves lectures, practicals, workshops and 

essay writing, with examinations at the end of 

the first and second semesters. The course starts 

in September of each year and the application 

deadline is normally 31 March.

 Topics covered include:

•   Functions and philosophy of taxonomy 
•   Evolution and biodiversity of the major plant 

groups, fungi and lichens

•   Plant geography 
•   Ecology of plants and ecosystems
•   Conservation and sustainability
•   Production and use of floras and monographs 
•   Biodiversity databases
•   Phylogenetic analysis
•   Population and conservation genetics
•   Tropical field course, plant collecting and 

ecology 

•   Curation of living collections, herbaria and 

libraries 

•   Plant morphology, anatomy and development
•  Cytotaxonomy
• Molecular systematics

Fieldwork and visits to other institutes are an 

integral part of the course.  There is a two-week field 

course to a tropical country in which students are 

taught field collection and identification of tropical 

plants ecological survey techniques.  The summer 

is devoted to four months of a major scientific 

research project of the student’s choice or a topic 

proposed by a supervisor. These research projects 

link in directly with active research programmes at 

RBGE.

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15

The Botanical investigations 

of Antoni van Leeuwenhoek

Marshall D. Sundberg

Department of Biological 

Sciences

Emporia State University

Emporia, KS 66801

Key words:  anatomy, wood, phloem, seeds, 

sorus, sporangium

ABSTRACT

Antoni van Leeuwenhoek is well known for his 

single lens microscopes and how he used them to 

make observations on “little animals,” however, the 

breadth of his botanical observations are less well 

known.  His thorough studies of wood anatomy 

are well documented but he also reported on the 

leaf anatomy, phloem, numerous seeds, and ferns.  

This article is a summary of his major anatomical 

findings as well as several of his physiological 

experiments on plants, quantitative measurements 

and predictions based on his observations, and 

descriptions of the economic uses of some plants.  

Leeuwenhoek and Oldenburg

Most of us are familiar with Leeuwenhoek 

as a 17

th

 century Dutch maker of single-lens 

microscopes and discoverer of bacteria and 

many “little animals,” protozoans and aquatic 

invertebrates.  (Dobell, 1932; Ford, 1991)  You may 

have observed that there are multiple spellings of 

his name: “in the English versions of his epistles, 

published in the Philosophical Transactions, his 

surname is spelled in no less than 19 different 

ways.”  (Dobell, 1932, p.303)  In this article I will 

use the form chosen by the editors of The Collected 

Letters of Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, a 19 volume 

compilation by Dutch scientists, in Dutch and 

English, of all of Leeuwenhoek’s correspondence 

(Leeuwenhoek, 1939).  (A recent article even 

describes the construction and use of a “replica” 

microscope by undergraduate students who then 

used it to observe onion leaf peels and mosquitoes 

(Sepel, Loreto, and Rocha, 2009).  But it wasn’t 

until I was invited by the late Larry Crockett to 

perform with him in his unpublished three-act 

play, “A Market Day in Delft,” that I learned of 

Reports and Reviews

Leeuwenhoek’s relationship with Henry Oldenburg 

and his series of botanical publications in the 

Philosophical Transactions.  This brief review of 

Leeuwenhock’s botanical work is dedicated to the 

memory of my friend, the late Professor Crockett: 

botanist, thespian, teacher, and mentor.

[Figure 1. Top, left to right, Larry Crockett (Leeuwenhoek) 

and Marshall Sundberg (Oldenburg) in production of “A 

Market Day in Delft” presented at the 1994 annual meet-

ing in Knoxville, TN. Bottom, left to right, Antoni van 

Leeuwenhoek and Henry Oldenburg. Top image accessed 

10/15/2010. http://botany.org/plantimages/Image-

Data.asp?IDN=35-125&IS=700]

In the Epistle Dedicatory to volume 8 (1673), 

Henry Oldenburg noted that in this volume there 

would be “…some Microscopical additionals 

toevince the late improvement of that Instrument 

in Holland….”  Oldenburg was the founding 

editor of the Philosophical Transactions (later the 

Received: 11/1/2010; Accepted 2/9/2011

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16

Plant Science Bulletin 57(1) 2011

small Particles.”  In the thicker material left behind 

were the same small particles “of which the Leaf 

were made up” and between these particles some 

of the pipes “as I said I had seen in the Pores of the 

Stalk of the Leaf.”  If he held some of the thicker 

material to a small flame, the particles burned away 

but the pipes remained.  Later he examined some 

plain sap expressed form the leaves, and from the 

stalk of the fruit after the leaves had “faded” and 

in both of these exudates he found the little pipes.  

“Now ‘tis likely, that these Pipes in this Herb are the 

cause of the smart that is felt in chawing the Arum 

by the motion of the moist Tongue in tasting.” (p. 

381)   

Later he noted “…that the motion of the sharp 

Particles that are in some saps, was not less” [than 

the “very pretty to behold” motion of the “little 

globuls” he observed in the juice squeezed from 

lemon peels]. (p 382)   Furthermore, although 

he observed small particles in the sap of many 

plants, including ones shaped like “a well-polished 

triangular or quadrangular pointed Diamond”, but 

the “little Pipes” described in Arum were found in 

only a few other plants such as the sap of “green 

Vine-branches, and Asparagus…and very many 

in the Sap of the Stalk and Leaves of Cataputia 

(Spurge)…” (p. 382).  

Unfortunately Leeuwenhoek provided no 

sketches to support his descriptions in this paper, 

but it is clear that he has described the parenchyma 

(pores) in the petiole cross section.  His “Pipes” 

are raphid crystals, either free or clustered within 

parenchyma cells, and he observed druses and 

prismatic crystals in the expressed sap of other 

plants.  The “little globuls” with “very pretty motion” 

were oil droplets from the glands of his lemon peel.

Wood Anatomy

The following year in his Epistle Dedicatory, 

Oldenburg noted: “The curious Anatome of Plants 

is here confirm’d, in some main Points, by good 

Microscopes.” (Oldenberg, 1676).  In this volume 

Leeuwenhoek (1676b) included his first botanical 

illustration, a detailed cross sectional image of an ash 

twig, with an inset tangential section, to illustrate his 

description of “the Texture of Trees.”  (Interestingly, 

the published image in the Philosophical 

Transactions (Leeuwenhoek, 1676b) is a mirror 

image of the figure Leeuwenhoek submitted in his 

letter of April 21 (1676a). Leeuwenhoek’s studies 

on wood anatomy are the one area of his botanical 

work that is well documented in the literature (see 

van Iterson, 1948; Baas, 1982) so I will only briefly 

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society

and in that capacity maintained a professional 

correspondence with Leeuwenhoek regarding the 

latter’s submissions, and sometimes requesting 

work on specific topics.  For instance, in Letter 

No. 18 (Leeuwenhoek, 1675b) Leeuwenhoek wrote 

“You had the kindness in your letter of October 

26

th

 1674 to ask me to examine the sap of plants.  I 

have examined several saps and observed in them 

various figures, of which I have made rough drafts 

on paper.”   Oldenburg also acted as a go-between for 

Leeuwenhoek to communicate with others.   Four 

months before submitting his first wood anatomy 

paper, Leeuwenhoek wrote to Oldenburg: “Dear 

Sir, I received your honoured letter of August 12

th

 

in good order, from which I learned that you have 

received my letter of August 14

th 1

).  I looked forward 

to another letter in order to learn the opinion of the 

Gentlemen Amateurs [Nehemiah Grew and Robert 

Hooke] (to whom you will have communicated 

my writings by now) on my theses, for I expect to 

be contradicted, since the speculations set forth 

in my letter, will appear strange to some people.  

I will be greatly obliged if these objections are 

communicated to me.”  (Leeuwenhoek, 1675c)  Of 

particular value in the Collected Letters volumes 

cited above are the extensive footnotes that explain 

the biology, customs, interpretations, etc., such as 

the apparent date inversion between Leeuwenhoek’s 

letter and Oldenburg’s reply and the use of the term 

“Gentlemen Amateurs” in the latter quotation.  The 

“microscopical additionals” Oldenberg referred to 

was Leeuwenhoek’s (1673a) first contribution to 

science, “1.  The Mould upon skin…” and “2.  The 

sting of a Bee….”  

Petiole Observations

Two years after his initial article, Leeuwenhoek 

(1675a) published his first observations on plants.  

He begins by noting that the sap of Arum (Wake-

robin) tasted “very sharp upon the tongue” and that 

a cross section of the petiole contained “globuls 

not exactly round” which themselves contained 

“particles incomparably smaller.” Furthermore, 

there were special parts “which I shall call Pores” 

[parenchyma cells] and inside the pores were 

“heaps” of 10 – 15 “small Figures” that were about 

“the thickness of that of a Spiders Web,” but which 

appeared to be about “the thickness of a great 

Bread-knives back” in his microscope.  He later calls 

these small figures “Pipes.”[raphid crystals]  If he 

macerated some of the arum petiole and squeezed 

the juice through bleu [filter] paper, nothing was 

visible in the strained juice except an “abundance of 

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Plant Science Bulletin 57(1) 2011

Figure 2.  Ash wood, Leeuwenhoek (1676b). The largest 

figure, 3, is the main sketch of a 1/8 transverse section of 

a 1-year old ash stem with fine cellular detail in the pith 

and xylem.  Figure 1 is a radial section through an “upright 

vessel” showing a short series of joined vessels with pitted 

walls while Figure 2 is a tangential section illustrating two 

fusiform multiseriate rays.  (Figure 4 is of a nematode found 

in the French wine, the description of which is the last para-

graph of the communication.)

Seven years later Leeuwenhoek (1683) 

acknowledged that he was familiar with the 

work of Malpighi and Grew, but nevertheless, 

ventured “to represent the Vessels in Wood after 

such manner as they offer’d themselves to me.” 

(p. 198).   In this wonderful paper he illustrates 

and describes transverse and tangential sections 

of six different woods: oak, elm, beech, willow, 

alder, ebony, as well as palm and “straw” [probably 

wheat]. Leeuwenhoek’s illustrations on a single 

fold-out plate illustrate rectangular samples of the 

woods, similar to the student laboratory slides we 

use today.  The transverse sections always include 

a transition between growth rings except for the 

ebony and palm, “…because that wood grows 

in a Climate where it increases always: for the 

Island  Mauritius  lies in a few degrees North of 

the Tropic of Capricorn.” (p. 205).  In each of the 

figures, individual cells are clearly and accurately 

represented; pit patterns and angle of the end 

walls of vessels can be analyzed.  Leeuwenhoek  

distinguished between large multiseriate rays and 

smaller uni-or biseriate ones, calling them two 

types of “Vessels…lying horizontally.” (p 199) 

 

 

Leeuwenhoek provided a clear description of the 

describe some highlights here.

In August,1673, he sent a letter to Oldenburg 

differentiating between pine wood, with one type of 

“pipe” (tracheids) and describing two sizes of pipes 

in the wood of oak.  “I have likewise found two sorts 

of holes or pipes, one larger (vessels) than the other, 

in beech-, ash-, willow-, and vine-wood, as also in 

sugarcane and rotan.” (Leeuwenhoek, 1673b).   In 

this letter he also described “tiny bands” (wood 

rays) among the pipes, “white”(spring wood) and 

“darker” (summer wood) areas with denser cells, 

and speculated on the movement of fluids through 

the pipes.  The “valves” he describes are bordered 

pits.  This letter was not published.  

Subsequently Leeuwenhoek had the opportunity 

to examine Hugen’s copy of Grew’s “Comparative 

anatomy of the trunks of plants” and based on the 

figures in that text (Leeuwenhoek was unable to read 

the English text) concluded that Grew was unaware 

of the two types of vessels he had observed.  This 

was the reason for his illustrated 1676 paper.  As a 

preface, Oldenburg noted: “These observations, as 

to the Texture of Plants, although they (and very 

many more) have been already made and published 

by Dr. Grew, and by Sign. Malpighi; yet because 

that (for the most part) they may be a further 

confirmation of the truth of their observations; I 

thought it not unuseful to have them communicated 

here also.”(Leeuwenhoek, 1675b,p. 656-7) (Grew’s 

earlier publications including  “Comparative 

anatomy of the trunks of plants” were combined in 

1682 to become the “Four Books” [sections] of his 

Anatomy of Plants).  Hutton et al.(1809) expanded 

on Oldenburg’s original remarks to justify and 

ensure Grew’s priority in describing the structure 

of woody stems.

The issue of priority aside, Leeuwenhoek, 

provided more accurate individual cellular detail 

in his illustrations, particularly shape variation 

where large vessels adjoin.  His representations of 

rays, as well as tyloses in some vessels, are clear and 

accurate.

On at least one point, Leeuwenhoek provided a 

better interpretation than either Grew or Malpighi, 

both of whom stated that the large vessels, pores, 

contained only air.  Leeuwenhoek stated that “the 

greater Vessels [true vessels] sent [sap] upwards,” 

but he thought “that some small Particles did again 

descend in the smaller Vessels [tracheids]….” 

(Leeuwenhoek, 1675b, p. 653). 

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Plant Science Bulletin 57(1) 2011

are I guess about 20000 Vessels.  

Hence in an Oak Tree of four foot 

Diameter are 3200 Millions of 

ascending Vessels, and in one of 

1 foot, there are 200 Millions of 

Vessels.  If we suppose 10 of these 

great and small Vessels in a day to 

carry up 1 drop of Water, and that 

100 of these drips make one Cubick 

Inch, there will be 200000 Cubic 

Inches.  These Inches reduced to 

feet, amount to full 115 Cubick feet of Rhinland 

measure, of 12 inches to the foot; and one Cubick 

foot weighing 65 lib. Of our Delph water, the whole 

will amount to 7475 lib. Or 14 Bordeaux Hogsheads 

[Bordeaux Hogshead = 220 liters] of water, which 

a Tree of one foot Diameter in one day can bring 

up. (p. 200).

(As an exercise in Biology of Plants this semester, 

I challenged students to test Leeuwenhoek’s figures 

by calculating the number of vessels per mm

2

 

on our oak slides.  Only one student took up the 

challenge - - her numbers, converted to English 

units, were 68,000 cells/in.

2

.)

Fifteen years later Leeuwenhoek (1694) returned 

to studying wood and made some observations 

concerning the relationship between growth 

rate, size, and wood strength.  In this short letter 

he questioned some of the common opinion 

concerning the strength of wood based on his 

understanding of wood structure and growth.  For 

instance, it was believed that timber cut in winter 

was stronger than that cut in summer.  However, 

he noted: “that there is no difference, except in the 

Bark and outermost Ring of the Wood, which in the 

Summer are softer, and so more easily pierced by the 

Worm.” (p 224).  His most significant observation 

was that the width of the annual rings is related 

to growth conditions.  “Some of these circles are 

broader than others, particularly the Ninth, the 

Tree from some accidental Cause receiving more 

Nourishment, and growing faster that Year than the 

former.” He said, 

“he [a correspondent] examined a piece of Ash 

growing in Norway, and found it grew 44 years 

before its semidiameter was one Inch; whereas Ash 

growing about Delft has been observed to increase 

an Inch early for several years together.” (p. 225).

There is another 27-year span before 

Figure 3. Oak wood sections, Leeuwenhoek (1683), 

Figs.2, 3, and 4. Fig. 2, cross section at boundary of 

growth rings. E, large vessels, F, multiseriate wood rays, G, 

uniseriate wood rays. Fig. 3. Longitudinal section of vessel 

containing numerous tyloses. Fig 4, Tangential section 

with large multiseriate ray, T-V, pitted vessels, O-N, and 

uniseriate rays, P,Q.

formation of annual rings and defines the concept 

of “spring wood.”  “EEE denote large ascending 

Vessels made every year in the Wood in the Spring, 

when it begins to grow.  These are filled within 

with small Bladders, which have very thin Skins, 

here expressed in one of the greater Vessels, cut 

long ways in the third Figure….” (p. 199).  The 

figure he refers to is a portion of an oak vessel, in 

longitudinal section, with obvious tyloses filling 

the lumen.  Later, in willow, “… the great ones 

[vessels] beset with little parts, seeming Globuls.” 

(p. 204)  He also described one sort of “rising 

Vessels” as being “…also speck’t with parts which 

by a common Microscope appear like Globuls, as 

Fig 4. ON where one of the said Vessels is cult long-

ways.” (p. 199)  Again referring to oak, this figure 

is a tangential section where pitted side walls are 

evident the length of the vessel running from O 

to N, top to bottom of the image.  This figure also 

shows an area with numerous biseriate rays adjacent 

to a large multiseriate ray.  In elm he also describes 

pitted vessels:  “HH Shews one of the great rising 

Vessels in length, cut cross in the midst; yet when 

we observe the same more exactly we see that they 

consist of very thin Films, beset with Helical Threds 

[sic], exhibiting obscure spots upon the hoops or 

bows as Fig 3.” (p. 203)

Extremely interesting are Leeuwenhoek’s 

quantitative musings, 44 years prior to Hales’ 

Vegetable Statics (1727).  

All these ascending Vessels in the aforesaid piece 

of Wood, which is about 1/90 of a Square Inch, 

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Plant Science Bulletin 57(1) 2011

surprized [sic] to find a Variety from what I then 

wrote concerning the Mealy and Oily substance…I 

found no Mealy Substance at all [in cotton], but 

four small Leaves enwrapping one another…” (P. 

949).  Leeuwenhoek’s recognition of endosperm 

was significant.  Although Grew (1682) has a small 

chapter and an early section of the first chapter 

dedicated to the anatomy of seeds, he concentrated 

on beans and other legumes, or stone fruits.  Thus, 

he made no mention of the endosperm or its role 

is food storage to support the dormant embryo in 

the seed.

Figure 4. Organ development during willow embryo 

germination, Leeuwenhoek (1693a) Figs. 12, 13. Fig. 12, 

12-hour dried embryo ABEF is ring-shaped wall around 

radicle sometimes referred to as a collet, ; Fig 13, 36 hr 

seedling, Cotyledons, I, cotyledonary node, HK, hypocotyls 

axis, HK-GL and branch roots growing from collet, GL.

A second major observation of Leeuwenhoek 

(1693a) is a “ligament, made up of several Vessels 

also…” (p. 702) [the funiculus] which attaches 

the developing seed to the fruit wall.  For ash he 

diagramed two spirally coiled xylem vessels that 

were dissected from the “ligament.”  In filberts, 

this structure is substantial enough that he could 

make and illustrate a hand cross section showing 

the numerous vessels.  “…the Embrio [sic] which 

is to be the future Plant, perhaps a Tree is so long 

contained in that Body which we call the Seed, and 

fed by means of a Ligament from its Matrix, to wit, 

the Tree, till it be of a competent growth, and has 

a sufficiency to provide for it self [sic], and grow 

when exposed on the bare ground, and then it is 

no longer kept up…This Nourishment is a sort of 

Flour which encompases the Embrio [sic] Plant, 

Leeuwenhoek’s (1721a) next, and last, botanical 

contribution to wood anatomy - - a short 

description, unillustrated, of an unknown tropical 

wood and further observations on the “ascending 

Vessels” of oak and fir.  In oak he describes pits.  

“…in Oak I found some other Vessels, which 

enter’d into their sides and appear’d to me like so 

many small round holes, especially where the 

Horizontal Vessels lay, which I judge to be united 

to the ascending Vessels, by means of those small 

Orifices, and thereby to discharge part of their Sap 

into them.” (p. 136)  

I have likewise made some Observations upon 

Fir Wood, in which the ascending Vessels consist of 

so very fine and thin a Substance, that they exhibit 

a very delightful Spectacle in the Microscope.  In 

these ascending Vessels I imagin’d that I saw some 

Globules, with a small opening in their middle, 

which seem’d to be of a closer and denser Substance 

than the rest of the Wood.  But I afterwards found 

myself mistaken, and that these supposed Globules 

were nothing else but the Orfices [bordered pits], 

whereby the ascending and horizontal Vessels were 

united together, and through which the sap was 

carry’d from the one to the other. (p. 136)

Seeds and Fruits

Already in 1676 Leeuwenhoek (1676c) wrote 

to Oldenburg about the structure of peppercorns 

and wheat seeds and vascular bundles in the fruits 

of several plants, however, this work and several 

subsequent letters concerning seeds and fruits 

were not published.  Finally, in 1693, Oldenburg 

published two papers describing the anatomy of 

seeds (Leeuwenhoek, 1693a,c) and this was from 

a letter sent by Leeuwenhoek on July 13, 1685!  

Leeuwenhoek’s most extensive observations were 

on ash, filbert, and willow seeds in the first paper.  

In his discussion of the two large leaves [cotyledons] 

of the ash embryo he described how the “liquor or 

sap” conveyed in the “vessels” [veins] is transported 

laterally form one “globule” [cell] to the next in 

the interstitial parenchyma [by diffusion] “…as if 

you should put several small Pellets of dry’d Clay 

in a glass Vessel, if the Water touch but one of 

them, you will find it communicated by that to the 

Second, Third, and so on till they are all Wet.”(p. 

701)  He also noted that “every Seed containing not 

only the Rudiments of the future Plant [embryo], 

but also a certain fine flower [sic][endosperm] to 

nourish it so long, till striking Root into the Earth, 

it may thence receive its Nutriment.” (p. 701)  He 

modified this statement in the later paper - - “I was 

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Plant Science Bulletin 57(1) 2011

by boiling the leaves, mixing with oil, and drinking.  

In half an hour convulsions and other symptoms 

(detailed by Leeuwenhoek) commence.  Ever the 

experimentalist, Leeuwenhoek cracked some of 

the seeds and soaked them in clean rain water for 

a few hours.  “I took a little of the Water and mixed 

it with my Blood, as it dropt from my Finger by the 

pricking of a Needle, and I immediately observed 

that the Blood was extreamly [sic] coagulated, 

yea, more than I had ever seen it in my Life… 

the Particles of Globules [of the blood which is 

normally bright red in water] did assume a Blackish 

or Dirty Colour.” (p. 2206).  

While Leeuwenhoek’s anatomical description 

of the coffee seed (Leeuwenhoek, 1687) was not 

published, in the 1706 paper he described coffee 

use by the Moors.  “If a person that is not us’d to 

it should take but10 or 20 grains, ‘twould have the 

same effect as if they had drank 10 Bottles of Wine.” 

(p. 2207-8)  If used too often it has the effect of 

“depriving them of their Memory together with the 

Appetite, and at last making them so lean, that they 

would have hardly any Flesh upon their Bones…”  

A drink called “Bosta” is a mixture of the Canfie 

[coffee]drink with seeds of poppies. “This Seed 

is little used by them in Physick, tho I doubt not 

that it might be excellently well apply’d, because 

it does not only imitate the effects of Opium, but 

also, if there be not too much of it us’d at a time, 

it has the same operation as the best Wine” (p. 

2208).  In the last page of the paper he describes the 

dissected embryos of these seeds, and hemp seed 

for comparison.        

 In his last botanical paper (1721b) he 

acknowledged that in his studies of seeds he 

often observed the  “so called Membranes, in 

which the Substance of Meal, or Flower [sic], is 

inclosed, like little Packets in Cells or Boxes[storage 

parenchyma filled with starch grains]…. I at 

length, with astonishment, discovere’d very plainly, 

that what I call the membranes, were endured 

with an unspeakable number of little Holes, thro’ 

which, in many places, one might perceive the 

Light;” (p. 200).  Leeuwenhoek apparently was 

describing simple pits in the parenchyma cell walls.  

Unfortunately, he provided no illustrations for this 

final contribution to plant anatomy.  He continued 

with some speculation on the function of these 

pores.

…the Orfices of Seeds are so form’d, that many 

of their little Vessels do admit Moisture to pass 

and in the Seed make the two Lobes.” (p. 703-4).  

A final innovation in this paper is his 

documentation of early organography during 

germination.  He laid willow seeds on moist sand 

in his closet and made subsequent observations 

after 36 and 72 hours.  Emergence of the radicle, 

elongation of the hypocotyls and development of 

the cotyledons and branch roots are well illustrated 

in his figures 12-13.

In 1696 Leeuwenhoek was finally successful 

in making adequate preparations to describe 

the embryos in seeds of figs and strawberries (he 

tried but was unsuccessful in his 1693 paper).  

His descriptions, however, are most notable for 

economic botany and ecology and remind us of 

his interest and facility in math.  Concerning figs: 

“I opened one Fig which I thought to be good and 

well tasted, and in it I saw some hundreds of Mites 

creep about, that did crawl in the inside of the Fig; 

so that when we eat Figs, we send, unknown to us, 

many Thousands of these little Animals into our 

Stomachs.” (p. 274) 

Now if we see that a common Fig has between 

four and five Hundred Seeds, and that one Tree 

doth Yearly produce many Figs, and that every 

ripe Seed of a Fig can produce a whole Tree; and 

consequently, if a Country was planted all over 

with Fig-trees, it may produce so many Fig-trees 

in a Year, that we might not only Plant a whole 

Kingdom all over with Fig-trees, that all these Seeds 

might produce, but also the whole earthly World; 

and that this doth not only succeed in Fig-Trees, 

but many other; ….We have reason to lay our Hand 

upon our Mouth, and think that the Almighty has 

thought this convenient, for the Procreation of 

all that has moving and growing; and thus all our 

Reason is but guessing, and that the true Reason is 

to us incomprehensible. (P. 277)

Similarly, when considering the seeds on a 

strawberry “We must again lay our Hand upon our 

Mouth, and be astonished at the increasing and 

great multiplicity of Seeds of this Plant.” (P. 278).

Ten years later Leeuwenhoek (1706a,) returned 

to the study of seeds but this time most of the 

paper is an ethnobotanical description of the uses 

of these seeds, or the plants that produce them.  

The first, from a tree he called Euwane, ‘Tis used 

inwardly by no body, excepting some Women, that, 

disagreeing with their Husbands, make use of it in 

order to kill themselves; it being consequently a 

certain Poyson [sic].” (p. 2205)  The poison is made 

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inwards, and accordingly Water is driven into them 

by the pressure of the Air, and causes the Seed to 

swell; upon which, a Warmth and Fermentation 

succeeding in the Seed, it requires a greater space, 

and by the particular Formation of the Particles, 

which lie in the Cells, and which have derived their 

Encrease [sic] from the Cells, the mealy Substance, 

of which they consist, is partly driven out of them 

into the body of the young Plant, which by this 

means increases so much in bulk, that the Root 

is now able to supply it with Nourishment from 

the early, at which time the Seed is found to be 

diminished in its bigness. (p. 202)

Leeuwenhoek’s physiology may be incorrect, but 

his anatomical observations were excellent.  His 

last paragraph may be viewed as a summary of his 

career in science and as an inspiration to scientists 

today.  The key to success is persistence and careful 

observation.

As often as I have view’d Seeds, for several Years 

past, with the Microscope, yet I never imagin’d 

that the little Cells were endued with so many 

Vessels, tho’ I have often been considering, how the 

Intrusion of the Particles of the Meal, or Flower, 

into the Membranes was effected; nor should I ever 

have attained thereto, but by continual Labour in 

the investigation of things, which are concealed 

from our naked Eyes, and towards which I have a 

much greater inclination, than what I observe in 

most other men.

Ferns

Leeuwenhoek’s (1705) descriptions and 

experiments with fern “Seed-Vessels and Seeds” 

[sporangia and spores] are worthy of incorporation 

into a modern laboratory manual.  He began by 

describing a walk where he came upon a patch of 

Polypodium ferns having a great number of “Seed 

Vessels” [sporangia] on its leaves “…soon one and 

soon another of them burst before our Eyes, which 

spectacle seem’d exceeding strange to us.” (p. 1868).  

That winter he was given some leaves of Oak Fern 

and he noticed that it too had seed vessels but that 

these were much larger than those of the polypod 

and this time “I observed several little Bundles of 

Parcels of these Seed Vessels, sometimes thirteen 

of them lying in a row by one another.” [sori]. (p. 

1868)  So he went out, in February, to collect some 

polypods to grow and observe in his study.  

His first illustration, the “greater part” of one 

of these leaves (he has now employed a painter to 

do his drawings), “..to shew you the many Seed 

Vessels that are upon the same, together with the 

unspeakable number of small Seeds that are shut up 

in each Vessel.” (p. 1869)  He noted that in a single 

row “on one branch only of such a leaf” [pinna] 

there may be “13 of those little Particles, which to 

the naked Eye appear like Roses [sori]…and when 

I separated one of these Seed Vessels from the rest, 

I observed that all of them had very short kind of 

Stalks, whereby they were fastened to the Leaf, and 

by which they received their Increase…and the Leaf 

 

Figure 5. Polypodium sporangia, Leeuwenhoek (1705). Fig. 

2. Dorsal view of opened sporangium, showing annulus.KO, 

stomium, M, and sporangium stalk, HN. Fig 6, side view of 

sporangium beginning to open. annulus, GBCD; stomium, 

Figure 7, unopened sporangium.

seem’d clearer or more transparent there, in which 

place I judge there was a Canal or Vein of the 

leaf.”(p. 1870)  He carefully dissected several of 

these sori and counted from 120 to 140 sporangia 

in each.  Unlike the summer, however, all of them 

were open and contained no “seed”[spores].  “This 

openness seem’d at first very strange to me, because 

I could not perceive in any of them that it was 

occasion’d by any bursting or breaking in pieces; 

but when I’consider’d the matter better, I fancied 

to my self that Nature had ordered it so in those 

Seed Vessels, that as soon as the Seed was ripe, and 

received no further Nourishment, the Seed Vessels 

should open of course.” (p 1870). 

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Plant Science Bulletin 57(1) 2011

always observed that almost all the Seed Vessels 

shut up themselves, just after the same manner as 

they were before they discharged their Seed; and 

when I spread those Seed Vessels abroad, and let 

them dry again, they were all of them as open as 

that which is represented by Fig. 2. (p. 1874)

Bark

While Leeuwenhoek purposely omitted the 

bark from his descriptions of the stem of ash in 

1676, he turned to this subject in his second paper 

of 1693(b).  Unlike Grew (1682), who provides a 

detailed description of a number of different barks 

in his chapters on roots and stems, Leeuwenhoek 

made some generalized comparative descriptions 

of about a dozen species.  Most of the species he 

examined had “vessels” [sieve tube elements] 

running “upwards” in the bark and those barks 

“…grows thicker as the Tree increases, the outside 

cracking grows Dead, and sticks to the young Bark 

underneath, which is the only living Part of the 

Bark.”  In a few trees the “vessels” in the bark “run 

round the Tree; for as the Tree increases in Vessels 

not being able to Stretch nor Separate from each 

other, must necessarily break asunder; so that the 

Old Bark is easily Separated and falls off from the 

New.” (p. 841)  Furthermore, he states that because 

Figure 6. Phloem, Leeuwenhoek (1706b). Figure 1, sieve 

tube element in longitudinal view. Fig 2, phloem cross sec-

tion with sieve cells, FG, tiny companion cells with dark 

walls, and four phloem fibers HI.

of the horizontal “vessels” [xylem rays] he described 

earlier in the wood, “the Bark…is produced and 

nourished from the Trunk of the Tree…” (p. 841).

His second paper on bark (1706b) was a closer 

examination of the bark of a tree he calls “China 

Detained examination of the opened sporangia 

revealed “8 Screw-like parts” [an annulus] one each 

one.  

Let us suppose now that when the Seed is ripe, 

and receives no further Nourishment, it, and 

particularly its Shell or Vessel, which for the most 

part is composed of a thin Membrane, shrinks in, by 

reason that its moisture in dry weather is all exhal’d; 

now this shrinking in is greater in the 8 Screw-like 

parts, that are described between H and O, than in 

any other part of the Seed Vessel, because that the 

Screw-like parts are there of more than an ordinary 

thickness, in comparison of the other parts of the 

Seed Vessels; by which extraordinary shrinking the 

Seed Vessels are forc’d open, and the inclosed Seed 

[spores] thrown out. (p. 1871)

He went on to describe the individual spores, 

which are slightly oval, yellowish, and have a 

sculptured surface, and that 50 or more are 

contained in each sporangium.  He suggested that 

the sporangia are produced and fed by the veins 

of the leaf and that they, in turn, “are fed from 

the same.”  In analogy to his previous studies of 

seeds, he postulated that each spore must also be 

“indued with particular Canals of Vessels” (p. 1872) 

to supply them.  In breaking open a spore “I was 

mightily surpriz’d to find a great deal of Oyl coming 

out of one of them; and as each of these Seeds was 

of a Yellowish Colour, so was the Oyl also, where 

‘twas a little thick; but where it was thinner, it was 

a clear as any Water; the other Particles that lay in 

and about the Oyl, were of an exceeding smallness.” 

(p. 1873)  Because of this small size “it is easie [sic] 

to conceive how the same, after that they are full 

ripe, may be scatter’d abroad with a brisk Wind…” 

(p. 1873-4).

The most interesting part of the article, however, 

is the last paragraph where he described some 

experiments to investigate how the sporangia 

released their spores.

For my further satisfaction in this matter, I 

took a Fern Leaf, in which the Seed Vessels being 

quite ripe, were for the most part open, and had 

discharged their Seed, and put it into boyling [sic] 

hot Water; in this expectation, that the hot Water 

insinuating itself immediately into the Screw-like 

parts, as they are represented in Fig. 2. Between H 

and O, would so extend or swell out those parts, 

that the Seed Vessels would resume the same figure 

or appearance as when they were full of Seed; 

and this Experiment I repeated several times, and 

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Plant Science Bulletin 57(1) 2011

the Wood, as I often said before, and from whence 

also I conclude, that the above mentioned Particles 

receive their increase [sic]….the above mentioned 

Particles, so as they are cut across, whereby 

they appear in an Oval Figure [crescent-shaped 

secondary phloem separated by dilated phloem 

rays]; and if we view them very nicely we may 

discover, that [a small part of the particles] they are 

composed of Screw-like Parts [phloem fibers]…”(p. 

2448).  The sieve cells, companion cells, and phloem 

fibers are illustrated in his Fig. 2 (Fig. 6).

 

Conclusion 

Leeuwenhoek’s observations are clearly 

remarkable, and it has sometimes been suggested 

that they were in part due to a vivid imagination.  

We all know that a small number of his original 

microscopes exist (at least 26 additional 

microscopes, known to have been given to the 

Royal Society, along with separate dried specimens, 

have been lost; Ford, 1991, foreward and p. 130, 

164), and they have been demonstrated to produce 

magnifications of up to 266 X and a numerical 

aperture of up to 0.37 (on an 110X lens; Ford, p. 

166).  Furthermore, a few of his samples exist, 

including hand sections of cork and elder pith.  

Ford provides a wonderful chapter comparing 

Leeuwenhoek’s lenses with modern Leitz lenses 

of comparable magnification and Leeuwenhoek’s 

hold up very well indeed in the areas of focus 

(they are obviously not “flat field”).  Similarly, his 

hand-sectioned specimens, observed with SEM, 

are comparable to modern microtome-produced 

material!  In his papers on wood and seeds, he 

frequently describes his preparations techniques; 

soaking or boiling in water, soaking in brandy or 

wine, etc. which were required for him to make 

sections of these hard materials with his straight-

edge razor.  He is an inspiration for my botany 

students struggling to produce adequate sections of 

herbaceous material with their half-double edge blades! 

Acknowledgement

I thank Laura Rosalie Davis for her efforts 

to determine cell counts/inch in oak wood for 

comparison with Leeuwenhoek’s estimates and two 

anonymous reviewers for their useful critiques.

China” – probably Cinchona  “which is made use 

of with success in the most Obstinate Fevers” (p. 

2446).  The first part recalled his conversation 

with Angelus van Wikhuysen, a physician from 

Middleburgh, who supplied the material and who 

shared his methods of preparation.  For his part, 

Leeuwenhoek recounted his understanding of the 

growth of bark.

Our Discourse amongst other things rolled upon 

this Topic, That between one Bark and another 

there is a great deal of difference; for in all Woods 

that are known to me, the Bark proceeds out of the 

Wood, and every Year there is produced a new Bark 

between the Wood and the old one of the former 

Year, by which means the Barks of Trees grow 

every Year thicker and thicker; so that at length 

the extreamest Bark that lies farthest from the Tree 

does not only receive no nourishment, but also dies, 

so that that which before had a taste in it becomes 

altogether tasteless, as I have shewn pon [sic] other 

Occasions; and consequently those Barks, which 

we call China China, are best when separated from 

the youngest Trees. (p. 2446)

Leeuwenhoek proceeded with some remarkable 

descriptions of secondary phloem and phloem 

rays.  He began by describing some of the “long 

Particles,” [fusiform-shaped series of sieve cells] 

pointed at both ends running lengthwise through 

the bark, “Some of which, at first view, one would 

judge to be twice or thrice as long as the rest; but 

examining them more nicely, I found that they were 

several

 Particles sheathed, as it were, within one another, 

in such a manner, that without looking very close 

upon them, would take them to be one continued 

Particle. (p. 2447)  His illustration and description 

of a single cell emphasizes the “small dent” where 

adjoining cells connect.   “…but I never observed 

any thing like this in other Barks of Trees that I 

have examined, save only in that which is called 

Cinnamon.” (p. 2448)

He then described a cross section through some 

of these same long particles and had his artist 

sketch a small block of these cells.  “I have seen six 

of them lie so near one another, that you could but 

just distinguish the Number of them [companion 

cells], and that which divides these long Particles 

from each other is only the Vessels [phloem rays] 

that compose part of the Bark, and proceed from 

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van Leeuwenhock, Volume 1: 3-15, Plate II. 

 

 

Amsterdam: Swets & Zeitlinger.

LEEWENHOECK, MR. 1676b.  Extract of a 

letter written to the publisher by Mr. Leewenhoeck 

from Delft, April 21, 1676; Concerning the texture 

of trees, and some remarkable discovery in Wine; 

together with some notes thereon.  Philosophical 

Transactions 11: 653-660 plus figure.

LEEUWENHOCK.  ANTONI.  1676c/1939.  

Letter no. 26 in: The collected letters of Antoni van 

Leeuwenhock, Volume 1: 129-143.   Amsterdam: 

Swets & Zeitlinger.

LEEWENHOECK, ANTHONY. 1683.  An 

abstract of a letter from Mr. Anthony Leewenhoeck 

of Delft to Mr. R.H. concerning the appearances 

of several woods, and their vessels.  Philosophical 

Transactions 13: 197-208.

LEEUWENHOCK.  ANTONI.  1685/1957. 

 

Letter no. 85 in: The collected letters of Antoni 

van Leeuwenhock, Volume 5: 215-269, 17 figures.   

Amsterdam: Swets & Zeitlinger.

LEEUWENHOCK.  ANTONI.  1687/1961. 

 

Letter no. 99 in: The collected letters of Antoni 

van Leeuwenhock, Volume 6: 223-249, 6 figures.   

Amsterdam: Swets & Zeitlinger.

LEEUWENHOEK, ANTH VAN. 1693a.  A letter 

from Mr. Anth. Van Leeuwenhoek concerning 

the seeds of plants, with observations on the 

manner of the propagation of plants and animals.  

Philosophical Transactions 17: 700-708.

LEEUWENHOEK, ANTH. VAN. 1693b.  An 

extract of a letter from Mr. Anth. Van. Leeuwenhoek, 

containing several observations on the texture of 

the bones of animals compared with that of wood: 

on the bark of trees; on the little scales found on the 

cuticula, etc.  Philosophical Transactions 17: 838-843.

LEEUWENHOEK, ANTHONY VAN. 

 

1693c.  An extract of a letter from Mr. Anthony 

van Leeuwenhoek, to the R.S. containing his 

observations on the seeds of cotton, palm, or date-

stones, cloves, nutmegs, goose-berries, currans, 

tulips, Cassia, lime-tree: on the skin of the hand, 

and pores, of sweat, the crystalline humour, optic 

nerves, gall, and scales of fish; and the figures of 

several salt particles, etc.  Philosophical Transactions 

17: 949-960.

LEUWENHOCK, ANTHONY VAN.  1694.  The 

Extract of another letter from Mr. Anthony van 

Leuwenhock, to the Royal Society; Concerning 

the difference of timber growing in different 

countries, and felled at different seasons of the year.  

Philosophical Transactions 18: 224-225.

Literature cited

BAAS, PETER.  1982.  Leeuwenhoek’s 

contributions to wood anatomy and his ideas on 

sap transport in plants. In: L.C. Palm & H.A.M 

Snelders.  Antoni van Leeuwenhoek 1632-1723.  

Studies on the life and work of the Delft scientist 

commemorating the 350

th

 anniversary of his 

birthday. Amsterdam: Rodopi.  

DOBELL, CLIFFORD. 1932.  Antony van 

Leeuwenhoek and his “little animals.”  New York, 

Harcourt, Brace and Company.

FORD, BRIAN J.  1991.  The Leeuwenhoek 

Legacy.  Bristol, UK: BioPress Press.

GREW, NEHEMIAH. 1682/1965 reprint.  The 

anatomy of plants: with an idea of a philosophical 

history of plants and several other lectures read 

before the Royal Society.  New York: Johnson 

Reprint Corporation.

HALE, STEPHEN.  1727/1969 reprint.  Vegetable 

statics.  London: Macdonald & Co.

HUTTON, CHARLES, GEORGE SHAW, and 

RICHARD PEARSON. 1809.  The philosophical 

transactions of the Royal Society of London from 

their commencement in the year 1665, to the 

year 1800. Abridged, with notes and biographic 

illustrations.  Volume 2, 1672 – 1683.  London: C. 

and R Baldwin.  

LEEWENHOECK, M[r.] 1673a.  A specimen 

of some observations made by a microscope, 

contrived by M. Leewenhoeck in Holland, 

lately communicated by Dr. Regnerus de Graaf.  

Philosophical Transactions 8: 6037-6038.

LEEUWENHOEK, ANTONI. 1673b/1939. 

 

Letter no. 2 in: The collected letters of Antoni van 

Leeuwenhock, Volume 1: 53.  Amsterdam: Swets & 

Zeitlinger. 

LEEWENHOECK, MR. 1675a.  Other 

microscopical observations, made by the same, 

about the texture of the blood, the sap of some 

plants, the figure of sugar and salt, and the probably 

cause of the difference of their taste.  Philosophical 

Transactions 10: 380-385.

LEEUWENHOCK, ANTONI.  1675b/1939. 

 

Letter no 18 in: The collected letters of Antoni van 

Leeuwenhock, Volume 1: 303.  Amsterdam: Swets 

& Zeitlinger. 

LEEUWENHOCK, ANTONI. 1675/1939c. 

 

Letter no. 19 in: The collected letters of Antoni van 

Leeuwenhock, Volume 1: 331.  Amsterdam: Swets 

& Zeitlinger.

LEEUWENHOCK.  ANTONI.  1676a/1939.  

Letter no. 22 in: The collected letters of Antoni 

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LEEWENHOEK, MR. 1696. An extract of a 

letter from Mr. Leewenhoek, dated the 10th of July, 

An. 1696. Containing microscopical observations 

on eels, mites, the seeds of figs, strawberries, etc.  

Philosophical Transactions 19: 269-280.

LEEUWENHOEK, ANTHONY VAN. 1705. 

Observations on the seed-vessels and seeds of 

Polypodium.  In a letter from Mr. Anthony van 

Leeuwenhoek, F.R.S. Philosophical Transactions 

24: 1868-1874.

LEEUWENHOEK, ANTHONY VAN.  1706a.  

Microscopical Observations on the seeds of 

several East-India plants, by Mr. Anthony van 

Leeuwenhoek, F.R.S.  Philosophical Transactions 

25: 2205-2209.

LEEUWENHOEK, ANTHONY VAN.  1706b. 

Microscopical Observations on the cortex 

peruvianus: By Mr. Anthony Van Leeuwenhoek, 

F.R.S. Philosopical Transactions 25: 2446-2455.

LEEUWENHOEK, MR.  1721a.  Observations 

upon the vessels in several sorts of wood, and upon 

the muscular fibres of different animals.  By the 

same curious and inquisitive person.  Philosophical 

Transactions 31:134-141.

LEEUWENHOECK, MR.: CHAMBERLAYNE, 

JOHN. 1721b.  Observations upon the seeds 

of plants.  By the same.  Translated by John 

Chamberlayne, Esq.  Philosophical Transactions 

31: 1720-1721.

LEEUWENHOEK. 1939.  The collected letters 

of Antoni van Leeuwenhoek.  19 Volumes. 

 

Amsterdam:  Swets and Zeitlinger.

OLDENBURG, HENRY. 1673.  Epistle 

Dedicatory.  Philosophical Transactions 8.

OLDENBURG, HENRY. 1676.  Epistle 

Dedicatory.  Philosophical Transactions 11.

SEPEL, LENIRA M.N., ELGION L.S. Loreto, 

and JOÃO B.T. ROCHA. 2009.  Using a replica of 

Leeuwenhoek’s microscope to teach the History 

of Science and to motivate students to discover 

the vision and the contributions of the first 

microscopists.  CBE-Life Sciences Education 8: 338-

343.  http://www.lifescied.org/cgi/reprint/8/4/338

VAN ITERSON, G. 1948.  A discussion of 

Leeuwenhoeck’s drawings and descriptions in 

his letter of 12 January 1680, as compared with 

those by Marcellus Malpighi and Nehemiah Grew 

of corresponding objects. Pp 435-441. In: The 

Collected Letters of Antoni van Leeuwenhoek III.  

PUBLISH WHERE IT MATTERS

A testimonial from a recent author in the American Journal of Botany

 

I have had an excellent experience with the copy editing & typesetting  

process at AJB. As more and more of the jobs get sent overseas and  

the overall quality declines, this is something I have come to really appreciate 

as an author and it is likely to encourage my return to AJB.”

 

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26

Books Reviewed

Ecological

 

Botanic Gardens:  Modern-Day Arks

 

Sara Oldfield.   

2010.  ISBN 978-0-262-01516-5.  240 pages.  

MIT Press.  Cambridge, Massachusetts USA.

The title for this book, “Botanic Gardens: Modern-

Day Arks” is absolutely brilliant.  It brings to mind 

all the right mental images for the role of botanic 

gardens in today’s ever-changing world.  Botanic 

gardens have been around of a long time.  Often 

their image is that of a delightful but somewhat 

antiquated institution, perhaps because of the 

beautiful Victorian-era conservatories in some 

of the more well-known gardens.  But this image 

is very far from the modern-day truth as botanic 

gardens currently have an increasingly vital role 

to play in the future of plant biodiversity (and by 

association animal, and even ecosystem) survival in 

our changing world. 
Almost all botanic gardens have a “pretty face”, 

showcasing the glorious wonders of the botanical 

world far and wide no matter where they are located.  

The general public can see and appreciate not only 

the ornamental and native plants, but also plants 

that grow wild in faraway places that the viewer 

could not even have imagined existed otherwise. 

This book, with a wealth of gorgeous images from 

all over the world, certainly is large enough to be a 

coffee table book of just pretty pictures.  However 

its goal is to highlight the conservation, research 

and education roles of botanic gardens.  Its very 

real value is in the fascinating text about sixteen 

different botanic gardens, about half in temperate 

areas and half in the tropical realm.
Several of the botanic gardens described here were 

established in European countries (Royal Botanic 

Gardens, Kew and Edinburgh, Berlin and France, 

for example) that for years have sent their botanists 

Ecological

Botanic Gardens:  Modern-Day. Arks Sara Oldfield - Joanne M. Sharpe.  ...................26

Globalization and Agricultural Landscapes: Change Patterns and Policy Trends in 

Developed Countries. Pimdahl, Jǿrgen, & Simon Swaffield (eds).Lawrence C. Davis .27

Mapping Species Distributions. Spatial Inference and Prediction. Janet Franklin -  

Marcel Rejmanek ............................................................................................................29

Economic Botany

Ethnoveterinary Botanical Medicine.  Katerere, David R., and Dibungi Luseba, Eds. 

Carolyn Wetzel ................................................................................................................29

Historical 

The odyssey of a woman field scientist. A story of passion, persistence, and patience. 

Jean H. Langenheim - Carol C. Baskin ..........................................................................31

Phycological

A Color Atlas of Photosynthetic Euglenoids. Ionel Ciugulea and Richard E. Triemer - 

John Z Kiss.. ...................................................................................................................32

Systematic

Aquatic Plants of Wisconsin.  Skawinski, Paul - Donald H. Les ...................................32 

The Book of Leaves: a leaf-by-leaf guide to six hundred of the world’s great trees. 

Allen J. Coombes - Joseph E. Armstrong..   ...................................................................34

Diversity, Phylogeny, and Evolution in the Monocotyledons.  Ole Seberg, Gitte 

Peterson, Anders S. Barfod, and Jerrold I. Davis (eds) - Isabel Marques  .....................34 

Gymnosperms of the United States and Canada. Elray S. Nixon illustrated by Bruce L. 

Cunningham.- Neil A. Harriman  ...................................................................................36

Seeds of Amazonian Plants. Fernando Cornejo and John Janovec. - 

David L. Gorchov... ........................................................................................................37

Systema Naturae 250: The Linnaean Ark.  Polaszek, Andrew (editor). 

Neil A. Harriman  ...........................................................................................................38 

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Plant Science Bulletin 57(1) 2011

all over the world to help less “developed” countries 

by collecting and sending home living and pressed 

specimens of their flora.  Such dedicated and 

hard-working botanists were often unaware of 

the elaborate taxonomies and plant knowledge 

held by the indigenous people.  But today that is 

changing and the emphasis is on collaboration 

and on encouraging the local staff to run their 

own botanic gardens and projects.  The Nezahat 

Gokyigit Botanic Garden in Istanbul Turkey, is an 

example: the original flora of Turkey was produced 

by the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, but later 

volumes were written by local botanists based in 

Turkey.  Currently the two gardens exchange staff 

for a truly collaborative approach to horticultural, 

education and conservation work.
While each botanic garden has its own 

personality and focus, I think it is fair to say that 

it is an institutional form recognized and respected 

throughout the world.  They are generally located 

on relatively small areas of land (250 acres or more 

would be a large botanic garden) often in cities 

or suburbs of cities (for example, the 160 botanic 

gardens in China, some of which are described 

in the chapter on South China Botanic Garden).  

Therefore, the challenges of population pressure 

on biodiversity commonly encountered by the 

management of large preserves and parks are 

less of a problem in a botanic garden.  This book 

demonstrates that while a botanic garden may 

not be able to protect a large number of species 

ndigenous to their small site, the living collections, 

research programs and outreach can be of national, 

regional or even global importance.
My only (very minor) criticism of this book is the 

use of acronyms, especially in the introductory 

chapters.  Although the author works for the 

Botanic Gardens Conservation International 

(BGCI), I doubt that many of the intended readers 

of the book have any idea what the acronym stands 

for and yet it is repeated several times before being 

interpreted on page 19. Even after identifying the 

meaning of an acronym (for example, GSPC = 

Global Strategy for Plant Conservation), I suspect 

the reader will immediately forget and then have to 

look back.  There is a good index and also short lists 

of further reading and other organizations acting 

as conservation advocates at the back of the book, 

but this section should be perhaps referenced in the 

introductory material.
Each chapter of the book, though nominally 

describing a single botanic garden, actually 

describes a different system of interactions among 

people and institutions throughout the world. 

The introduction and summary chapters also give 

more examples from other botanic gardens.  Each 

garden’s focus on research and conservation is 

unique, thus the book provides a user-friendly 

introduction to many subjects worthy of further 

study in an undergraduate or botanic garden 

classroom such as plant genetics, micropropagation, 

extinction, invasives, ex situ horticultural methods, 

ethnobotany, and community relations, to name but a 

few.
-Joanne M. Sharpe, Coastal Maine Botanical 

Gardens

Globalization and Agricultural Land-

scapes: Change Patterns and Policy 

Trends in Developed Countries

2010.  ISBN 978-0-521-73666-4.  

(Paper US$59.00) 275 pp.  

Cambridge University Press

32 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10013.

Landscape Ecology as a discipline makes direct use 

of botany to a limited extent, but it must necessarily 

deal in broader generalizations, in order consider 

geology, meteorology, sociology and a dozen other 

“ologies” too. However, even such a broad subject as 

landscape ecology is only one facet of globalization. 

Globalization as a phenomenon may be largely 

about the “space of flow” more than the “space of 

place” as referred to by Castells. This book attempts 

to deal with both kinds of space.
Primdahl, from Denmark, and Swaffield, from New 

Zealand, have edited a volume attempting to give 

a broad survey of some issues of globalization in 

relation to agricultural landscapes in developed 

countries. This means, of course, that much of 

the world’s land, and a very large fraction of its 

population, is not explicitly considered. Another 

volume addressing the less developed and rapidly 

developing countries would likely identify many 

of the same themes, but translated into myriad 

forms. Even within the developed OECD countries 

only a few are considered in any detail. While 

every country, and region, will show significant 

differences from the case studies considered here, 

some general principles may be discerned.

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Plant Science Bulletin 57(1) 2011

Urbanization of the population and industrialization 

of agriculture seem to be major drivers of changing 

patterns of agricultural landscapes. Both are 

consequences of the substitution of outside energy 

for human energy in agricultural, and other, 

production. Reenburg et al.consider the land use 

patterns of an impoverished soil area in Denmark, 

and tropical forest in Malaysia. For Denmark, 

marginal agricultural land has been extensively 

converted to forest land, presumably to yield pulp or 

timber. In Malaysia, native forests have been logged 

over for cash and replaced by oil palm plantations, 

to supply a continuing cash crop. In both instances, 

the landscape is dramatically altered, to supply the 

needs of a distant population. This is globalization 

in action.
In an introductory chapter, Primdahl and Swaffield 

consider how globalization and landscape 

sustainability are affected by contrasting regulatory 

and marketing systems, with Denmark having 

a system of complex controls imposed by the 

EU and New Zealand depending mainly on the 

free market as an economic driver. The rates of 

change, and types of change, occurring in these two 

settings may be quite different. Yet dairy farmers 

in these two systems may be both competitors, 

and collaborators, sharing a common interest in 

maximizing production and profitability, through 

use of some similar strategies, while maintaining 

the identity of their place of production. They 

participate in the space of flows, with common 

ideas and interconnected economies, but each 

lives in a unique space of place, their particular 

agroecosystem.
This is not an easy book; it might serve well as a 

textual basis for an entire course. Generally it is 

well-written, though a few chapters have what feels 

rather impenetrable prose to one not schooled in 

the intricacies of planning and policy. Still, policy 

matters tremendously, driving ecosystem change 

directly and indirectly through market forces, so 

understanding it is worth the effort. The book is well 

produced with ~ 500 index terms, and a literature 

cited section of ~50 references in each chapter. 

Most chapters have some illustrations, tables or 

graphs. We could benefit from having more. Only 

three plant (tree) species appear in the index, all 

cited in a single paragraph. You will have to look 

elsewhere for details of landscape properties or change.
The chapter I found most fascinating was a case 

study of urban agriculture in Tokyo, Japan. Yokohari 

et al. look toward the inevitable de-densification of 

Japan which is driven by simple demographic and 

economic facts. With a low birth rate, population 

aging and decrease is inevitable. In its geographic 

location, Japan cannot effectively produce many 

commodities at a lower cost than they can be 

imported from elsewhere. So, the authors recognize 

that planning, which formerly assumed inevitable 

growth of cities, must accept that they will slow 

their growth. More importantly, place should be 

made for integrating agriculture and horticulture 

into the cities, through use of empty spaces for 

vegetable and fruit production. 
Other chapters provide a comparison of Argentine 

pampas and Brittany, examine the transition of 

farmland to forest in Portugal, and consider the 

several transitions happening in Estonia during the 

collapse of collective farms, and the suburbanization 

of cities. A very detailed consideration of urban/

rural planning in the Dutch context gives insight 

into changes of landscape at the scale of a few to 

tens of km. More sweeping discussions of policy 

changes are found in a chapter on the impact of U.S. 

federal policy on rural landscape, nationwide.
At an intermediate scale, Switzerland, surrounded 

by, but not part, of the EU, provides a case study 

in how market competition and comparative 

advantage force change on the landscape, unless 

significant counter-forces are provided through 

explicit policies. The authors discuss alternative 

paths but can only suggest some potential 

outcomes. Major change seems inevitable though its 

direction and magnitude may vary.
Primdahl considers change patterns through a half-

dozen case studies, two areas each in Denmark, 

Portugal and New Zealand. Common factors 

and outcomes appear to be, that on the better 

land production is being intensified for increased 

profits, while in the more marginal land there 

is a de-intensification, perhaps heading toward 

abandonment, or return to “nature.” A closing 

chapter by Swaffield and Primdahl sums up broad 

trends and points toward areas for further research. 

The particular challenge noted by those authors is to 

reconcile open markets and sustainability. Further 

compounding this challenge is the observation 

that urban planning and agricultural planning are 

usually done independently, often by groups of 

stakeholders with little overlap of interests or even 

mutually usable vocabulary.
One main message provides a continuing thread 

weaving the various studies together. Change will 

happen, and we might or might not be able to 

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Plant Science Bulletin 57(1) 2011

control its direction. But we must at least try to 

understand and modulate what happens, for the 

health of both ecosystems and humanity.
-Lawrence C. Davis, Professor of Biochemistry, 141 

Chalmers Hall, Kansas State University, Manhattan, 

KS 66506. ldavis@ksu.edu,  phone 785-532-6124

Mapping Species Distributions.  

Spatial Inference and Prediction

Janet Franklin with contributions by  

Jennifer A. Miller 

2009. ISBN 978-0-521-87635-3 (hardback, 

US$125.00), ISBN 978-0-521-87635-3 (pa-

perback, US$48.00), xviii + 320 pp. Cambridge 

University Press Cambridge. 

Mapping of the actual or potential species 

distributions is currently an important discipline 

for at least three reasons: (1) we need accurate 

inventories of biodiversity for conservation and 

basic ecological purposes,(2) survival of some 

species is uncertain because of global climate 

change (e.g., Aitken et al. 2008, Ledig et al. 2010), 

(3) it is desirable to know what is the actual and 

potential distribution of invasive species (Gallien et 

al. 2010). The key questions are habitat suitability, 

dispersal opportunities of studied taxa, and use 

of proper statistical methods. Therefore, a detail 

review of available methods in this area is highly 

desirable. The book under review is logically 

divided into four parts: I. History and ecological 

basis of species distribution modeling, II. The data 

needed for modeling species distributions, III. 

An overview of the modeling methods, IV. Model 

evaluation and implementation. 
Much of the book reviews modeling approaches 

that link species location information with 

environmental data. The reader is guided step by 

step from the Hutchinson’s niche concept to spatial 

sampling designs, digital terrain maps, generalized 

linear and additive models, Bayesian approaches, 

spatial autocorrelation, decision trees and random 

forests, artificial neural networks, envelope 

models, ecological niche factor analysis, habitat 

suitability indices, and measures of prediction 

errors. Examples of recent studies are summarized 

in many tables. The book is simply packed with 

information that will be helpful for beginners as 

well as for advanced researchers. 
While usefulness of remote sensing is discussed 

in general (p.94-9), the use of remote sensing for 

mapping of invasive plant species (e.g., Asner & 

Huang 2011) is not mentioned. This is the only 

missing information I can think of. With over 

1200 references, this book more than sufficiently 

presents contemporary situations in species 

distribution description and modeling. In spite of 

the exponentially growing number of publications 

in this area, the book will be extremely useful for 

several years to come. Franklin herself tried to 

summarize some new developments in her more 

recent article (Franklin 2010). 
– Marcel Rejmánek, Department of Evolution and 

Ecology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616.

Literature Cited
Aitken, S.N. et al. 2008. Adaptation, migration 

and extirpation: climate change outcomes for tree 

populations. Evolutionary Applications 1: 95-111.
Asner, G.P. & C.-Y. Huang 2011. Remote sensing. In: 

D. Simberloff & M. Rejmánek, eds. Encyclopedia of 

Biological Invasions, University of California Press, 

pp. 580-584.
Franklin, J. 2010. Moving beyond static species 

distribution models in support of conservation 

biogeography. Diversity and Distributions 16: 321-

330.
Gallien, L. et al. 2010. Predicting potential 

distributions of invasive species: where to go from 

here? Diversity and Distributions 16: 331-342.
Ledig, F.T. et al. 2010. Projections of suitable habitat 

for rare species under global warming scenarios. 

American Journal of Botany 97: 970-987.

Economic Botany

Ethnoveterinary Botanical Medicine. 

Katerere, David R., and Dibungi Luseba, Eds. 

2010. ISBN 978-1-4200-4560-4 (Hardcover 

US$139.95) xv + 434 pages, CRC Press/Tay-

lor and Francis Group, Boca Raton, Florida

Ethnoveterinary Botanical Medicine is a 

compendium of research articles about herbal 

medicines for domestic and companion animals. 

Its 17 chapters cover all aspects of the practice, 

including case studies from around the world and 

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Plant Science Bulletin 57(1) 2011

details of research approaches. The authorship is 

truly international making this the first global-

scale compilation of traditional and modern 

knowledge of the use of plants for animal health. 

It is a “must-have” for all individuals serious about 

ethnopharmacology, veterinarians working with 

the studied populations, and anthropologists 

interested in getting a better idea about traditional 

approaches to animal care. As stated by one author 

(p. 257), “The era of treating [ethnoveterinary 

medicines] and any other ethnic knowledge system 

with suspicion and labeling it as myth, superstition, 

and witchcraft is long gone.”
The book arrived at an opportune time for me – one 

hen in our flock of organic chickens was suffering 

from “sour crop”, a potentially fatal malady. We did 

not want to inject her with drugs and were trying 

a variety of organic remedies. I carefully leafed 

through my new copy of Ethnoveterinary Botanical 

Medicine searching for poultry digestive aids but 

to no avail. Quickly I realized that this is not a 

guidebook to animal care organized by ailment or 

symptom, but is a detailed scientific study of the 

entire practice. 
The chapters cover all of the inhabited continents of 

the planet. They include both developed regions like 

the European Union and less developed regions like 

areas of Africa. The focus is on farm animals, but 

there is one chapter devoted to study of treatments 

for pet and companion animals. As is the case for 

most books that are compilations of chapters by 

many authors, this book suffers somewhat from 

inconsistency in organization and the clarity of 

writing among the chapters, and hence, access to 

specific information. Some chapters are mostly 

comprised of tabular lists of plants by scientific 

name, a category for which they are used (e.g., 

“endoparasite”), and a reference to a primary 

document. Others have more useful summaries of 

the primary literature and synthesis of information. 

I do not mean that the tables are not useful; in fact, 

some provide a quick way to find specific treatment 

information (e.g., Leonitis leonurus (Lamiaceae) 

is “added to drinking water to prevent sickness in 

poultry and [is] used for gall sickness in cattle” in 

South Africa, Table 11.1). All figures and images 

are black and white and clear. Chapter organization 

varies between plant taxon-based and disease/

condition-based. Some chapters include more 

information about culture and geography, and 

some have more history than others, but all have 

a wealth of information about the current state of 

practice in their given region. And all agree that 

ethnoveterinary medicine is seriously understudied 

and in need of documentation before traditional 

knowledge is lost.
Ethnoveterinary Botanical Medicine has much 

to offer on the topic of plant discovery and 

commercialization. Technical, ethical, and legal 

considerations of bioprospecting are covered in 

the first four chapters. Stated reasons for scientific 

study of traditional practices were multi-fold but 

generally fell into two categories: evaluation of 

plants for effective treatments that could be used 

globally, and assessment of safety to minimize 

inadvertent harm caused by farmers using dubious 

practices. Very intriguing to me was the information 

that traditional knowledge of animal health care is 

generally passed down within families, not held by 

a centralized person as is found for most traditional 

human healers. This results in more ready sharing 

of information among farmers because none of 

them is making a livelihood directly from the 

knowledge. This also means that there isn’t a local 

specialist in a position to assess and synthesize 

the various methods used by different farmers, 

which may lead to propagation of less than optimal 

practices. The dispersed nature of indigenous 

knowledge may prove a challenge to investigators 

who go looking for it. The authors cover topics of 

intellectual property and access and benefit sharing 

in a meaningful way. Having a broader context in 

which to place the specific plant and treatment 

information in the later chapters helped me (a non-

specialist) gain a better appreciation for the field.
One might think that knowledge we have gained 

about herbal medicine for humans could be directly 

applied to other animals. But as a veterinary friend 

of mine described, about 95% of what she learned 

in vet school could be applied to all animals that she 

treats, but it’s the last 5% that makes the difference 

between success and failure. Katerere (South 

African Medical Research Council, Cape Town) and 

Luseba (Tshwane University of Technology, South 

Africa) make a strong case that herbal medicine for 

animals deserves its own serious study.
Post script: For those of you wondering how our 

hen fared, she was able to live on for a few months 

after treatment of her sour crop with some folk 

remedies picked up from local farmers, and then 

succumbed to a different disease! 
-Carolyn Wetzel, Smith College

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Plant Science Bulletin 57(1) 2011

Historical

 

The odyssey of a woman field scien-

tist. A story of passion, persistence, 

and patience. 

  

Jean H. Langenheim.   

2010 ISNB 978-1-4415-7442-8 (hardback  

US$35) 539 pp.  Xlibris Corporation.  www.

Xlibris.com 

I think the word “amazing” should be in the title 

of this book, i.e., this is “An amazing story of 

passion, persistence and patience.”  The story of 

Professor Jean Langenheim’s (J. L.) life, scientific 

accomplishments, sense of adventure, eagerness 

to learn about and experience other cultures, and 

ability to see herself in the context of her place in 

history is fascinating and highly informative.  
J. L.’s placement of her life story in the context 

of developments of ecological and evolutionary 

thinking, creation of the field of chemical ecology, 

and changes in opportunities for women in society 

and science provides unique insight into a period 

(post World War II) of rapid and exciting changes 

in science and the role of women in science.  The 

book is of great value in terms of the historical 

record it provides.
The style of writing is very engaging.  One minute 

you are reading about travels in Alaska, but a few 

pages later you are on a small ship traversing the 

fjords of Norway.  However, although J. L. describes 

extensive travels in Africa, Australia, China, 

Europe, Mexico, North America, South America, 

and the boreal and tundra regions of the Northern 

Hemisphere, the book is not a travel log.  Travel 

to various places is an important part of the story, 

but travel through time is an even more important.  

The book traces the developement and changes in 

the field of ecology.  Also, the book follows J. L.’s 

ever expanding interest in ecology and in particular 

amber, resins, and eventually the new field of 

chemical ecology.
Throughout the book, J. L. explains ecological 

concepts in some detail (like a good professor 

should), but she stops before the reader  starts to 

wonder if perhaps he/she has stumbled on some 

old lecture notes from a course on the history of 

ecology.  Her descriptions of concepts and ideas 

are clear and very useful in helping the reader 

understand how/when ecology and especially 

the various aspects of chemical ecology grew and 

changed during J. L.’s lifetime of research.  That is, 

as J. L. tells the story of her life and career, you can 

see how she fits into the whole picture of changes 

in ecological thinking and ways of doing research.
I especially enjoyed J.L.’s accounts of being a 

graduate student at the University of Minnesota 

and in particular her descriptions of Professor 

William S. Cooper.  How else would I have ever 

known about his drive for absolute perfection in 

writing a manuscript and his love of music.   He 

accepted J. L. as a Ph.D. student only because she 

was married at that time to Ralph Langenheim, 

who was one of Professor Cooper’s Ph.D. students.
Many of J.L.’s trips were to various places, e.g., 

Africa and South America, to collect research 

material of the legumes  Hymenaea and Copaifera.  

Also, she attended scientific meetings all over 

the world.  Her description of a trip to one of 

these meetings includes the location, title of her 

oral presentation, interactions with colleagues, 

field trips, social events, and the difficulties and 

interesting challenges of her travels – often alone.
There are some important lesions to be learned 

from J. L.’s story.   One, do not be afraid of hard 

work.   Two, upset plans often mean the beginning 

of a rich new experience.  Three, never lose your 

love of learning and experiencing new things.  

Four, collaborations with colleagues around the 

world not only enhance the pleasure of living but 

can promote the development of new ideas and 

new avenues of research.  Five, service to others 

(students, colleagues, university, and societies) is 

demanding but has rich rewards.
One gets the impression that J. L. has kept detailed 

records of her research activities, participation 

in scientific societies, mentoring of students, 

leadership roles in various societies, and her many 

travel adventures.  She has successfully meshed this 

wealth of information into a very readable story that 

keeps everything in proper historical perspective.   

Thus, much can be learned from reading this book.  

I conclude that Professor Langenheim’s book is an 

amazing story about an amazing person.
--Carol C. Baskin Department of Biology, Depart-

ment of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of 

Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506

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Plant Science Bulletin 57(1) 2011

Phycological

A Color Atlas of Photosynthetic 

Euglenoids

Ionel Ciugulea; Richard E. Triemer (2010 

Hardcover: 232 pages; List price: $89.95 

Publisher: Michigan State Univ Press ISBN-

10: 0870138790 ISBN-13: 978-0870138799

The euglenoids represent one of the most fascinating 

group of algae.  They have a distinctive chloroplast 

structure in that three membranes compose the 

chloroplast envelope, a feature that is reflective of 

the secondary endosymbiotic events and origin 

of the this group.  The euglenoid algae also have a 

characteristic undulating motion termed metaboly, 

and many species can also use their flagella to 

swim.  In addition, euglenoids utilize paramylon, 

a beta-1-3-linked glucan, as a storage carbohydrate 

in the form of membrane-bound crystals in the 

cytoplasm.
Euglenoid algae are of interest from an ecological 

perspective since they usually occur in high 

numbers in stagnant waters with elevated levels of 

nutrients.  As such, these algae are indicative of the 

ecological status and health of bodies of water and 

can be used as biomonitors. Studies have shown 

Euglena to exhibit both gravitaxis and phototaxis 

depending on the light conditions.
This book begins with a brief introdcution to 

the euglenoid flagellates including a key to the 

photosynthetic genera.  The authors are both well-

known authorities of the systematics, morphology, 

structure, and ecology of the euglenoid algae.  The 

bulk of this large format book consists of high-

quality color light microscopy of these algae.  The 

morphological variation and cellular structures in 

the euglenoids are fascinating, and the quality of 

reproduction is very high.  This is a beautiful book.  
The figure legends focus on the key diagnostic 

features that are necessary to identify the taxon.  

Thus, this book will be useful to botanists, 

phycologists, and limnologists.  The illustrations 

also are valuable to professionals who monitor 

water quality in rivers and lakes and would 

provide a useful basis for the identification of the 

photosynthetic euglenoids.
--John Z. Kiss, Botany Dept., Miami University, 

Oxford, OH 45056.

Systematic

Aquatic Plants of Wisconsin

Skawinski, Paul M.  

No date [2010]. ISBN: none (Softcover; spiral 

binding US$34.00). xx + 150 pp.  Published 

by the author. 

Admittedly, I was somewhat skeptical of this book 

when I first learned about it because I had never 

read anything else on aquatic plants by the author 

or had even heard of him for that matter.  Also, 

the book was published privately, which raised my 

suspicions of why a traditional publisher would not 

have been interested.  I was relieved to find my fears 

to be mostly ungrounded; however, I did find both 

pluses and minuses in this text.
First I’ll mention a few technical issues. As soon as I 

picked up the book to summarize the bibliographic 

information, I found that no publication date 

was provided.  The omission of publication date 

is not trivial because it creates in every case a 

major nuisance for anyone trying to cite the work.  

Bibliographic citation is made even more difficult 

by the lack of a city (or any locale) corresponding 

to the place of publication.  As a consequence, the 

task of providing an appropriate citation for this 

book is sure to give many editors a headache.  The 

book first appeared in September, 2010, so pencil 

in the date if you own a copy.  Also, I noticed that 

for some reason, the very first page was repeated 

unnecessarily as the third page, except for the 

author’s e-mail address.  Such technical aberrations 

are to be expected in unedited works, so I was not 

surprised.  However, the overall quality of the book 

is decent.  The plastic coil binding is substantial and 

the pages turn readily without sticking like they do 

in many spiral-bound booklets.  The paper is glossy 

(perhaps to help repel water when used in the field) 

and the print is crisp and dark.  There is a metric 

ruler reproduced on the back of the first text page 

and it was accurate to 0.5 mm across its 20 cm span.
The book is subtitled “A photographic field guide 

to submerged and floating-leaf [sic!] aquatic plants” 

for good reason as one immediately finds that it 

contains color photos on nearly every other page.  

Generally, the photos are of pretty good quality and 

are produced quite well on most pages.  There are 

a few line drawings (e.g., page x), which are fairly 

crude and could be improved.  There is a two-page 

reference section.

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Plant Science Bulletin 57(1) 2011

This guide uses a picture association approach to 

facilitate the identification of common aquatic 

plants for those with limited botanical training 

such as average lakeshore residents and the like.  

Although its coverage is limited to the state of 

Wisconsin, this book also would be useful in 

most of the upper Midwestern region of North 

America due to the similar aquatic floras.  There 

are 120 species included in total.  A few technical 

dichotomous keys (Myriophyllum,  Sparganium

Utricularia) are provided by R.W. Freckmann 

(University of Wisconsin); however, the majority of 

the book follows a color-coded scheme that groups 

various species primarily using a combination 

of leaf shape and leaf arrangement, which is not 

unlike the strategy incorporated in past treatments 

of aquatic plants such as the popular Fassett (1957) 

manual.  A problem with methods that avoid a 

step-by-step keying process is that they can be 

subjective, reflecting primarily one individual’s 

concept of whether a particular set of features is 

‘similar enough’ to be placed within one category 

rather than another.   One example is Callitriche

a genus with leaves that vary in shape from linear 

(submersed) to spatulate (floating).  Yet, Callitriche 

is keyed only in the section for “round or oblong 

leaves”, which would describe many of the species 

but would not accommodate some such as C. 

hermaphroditica, a resident of Wisconsin with 

entirely linear, submersed foliage.  Furthermore, 

grouped with Callitriche are genera like Brasenia 

and Wolffia, which exhibit little commonality in leaf 

shape, especially the latter where the entire shoot is 

modified as a frond or thallus.  Here it might have 

been better to adopt a format in which the plants 

were grouped by their habit, e.g., those species 

that float or have at least some leaves that float 

on the water surface.  There also is a category for 

‘irregularly shaped leaves.’  I’m not sure what that 

category means, but for some reason it separates 

Najas marina from the other Najas species, which 

are grouped with the opposite, lance/linear-leaved 

category.  Again, the ‘irregular’ category contains 

an eclectic assemblage of taxa such as Azolla

Ranunculus sceleratus and Berula, which I cannot 

envision as a cohesive group of any sort.  Also, what 

does one do with Utricularia?  Are those leaves 

feathery or irregular?  I predict that many users 

could find it difficult to place many of these plants 

in the desired category, but I suspect that they 

then will simply flip through the pages until they 

find a plant that looks like the one they are trying 

to identify.  There is a precaution (on page viii) 

to identify any heterophyllous species using only 

the submersed foliage.  However, if this advice is 

followed, then none of the Callitriche species could 

be identified properly.
Non-technical terminology is used for the most 

part (except in the formal keys) and there is a 

glossary at the back.  Most of the definitions are 

adequate, but some are incorrect or at least need 

to be improved.  An axil, for instance is the angle 

formed between the leaf and shoot and is not “a 

location where the leaf meets the stem” as defined 

in the book; that definition would apply to “node” 

instead.  Similarly, “peduncle” is defined as “a 

stalk supporting a flower”, which technically is the 

pedicel.  A peduncle supports an inflorescence; 

thus, the definition given is correct only in the 

case of solitary flowers.  ‘Annual’ is described 

as a plant that “completes its life cycle” in a year; 

however, many perennials flower, fruit, set seed 

and germinate (i.e., complete a life cycle) within 

a year.  Properly the term ‘annual’ should refer to 

plants (or structures) that survive only for one year 

(i.e., growing season).  The definition of ‘perennial’ 

also is incorrect (“a plant that lives for more than 

two years”) because a plant needs only to live for 

more than one year to be perennial.  Biennials are 

short-term perennials, with some requiring more 

than the two years specified in the definition to 

complete their life-cycle.  A ‘clasping leaf’ is defined 

as one with no stalk, which “wraps around the 

stem.”  Although the author surely was referring to 

the base of the leaf, a non-botanist could perceive 

such leaves as coiling around the stem like tendrils.  

‘Lacunar cells’ are described as “large hollow cells”; 

however, lacunae actually are voids between cells, 

not the cells themselves (which cannot be hollow).  

I’m always picky about definitions, but clarity 

is important to reduce confusion and glossaries 

should provide an opportunity to train uninitiated 

readers in the proper use of botanical terminology.
The nomenclature mostly is up-to-date with a 

few exceptions.  A number of fairly recent name 

changes (e.g., SchoenoplectusStuckenia) have been 

incorporated.  However, Utricularia macrorhiza 

is still referred to as U. vulgaris, a genetically 

distinct Old World taxon (see Jobson et al., 2003).  

Persicaria amphibia is assigned to the genus 

Polygonum, which has been shown to be distant 

phylogenetically (e.g. Kim & Donoghue, 2008).  

The name Ruppia cirrhosa is used for R. maritima

however, the former is not distinct from the latter 

(Ito et al., 2010).
Now that I have picked at a number of fairly trivial 

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Plant Science Bulletin 57(1) 2011

things, I can get to the good stuff.  I found this 

book to be extremely accurate at describing and 

depicting the included taxa, despite a number of 

them being quite difficult technically.  The author’s 

skill in the identification of aquatic plants is evident 

and has resulted in a very useful reference indeed.  

In most cases, the photographs nicely depict the 

correct species described in the text.  I found only 

one picture (attributed to Potamogeton alpinus  on  

p. 51), which seemed a bit ‘iffy’ to me and looked 

more like P. illinoensis or a hybrid of the same.  

By providing key identification characteristics in 

the text descriptions (accented in bold type) the 

author effectively conveys the more important 

identification features to the reader.  The inclusion 

of magnified inset photos also serves nicely to 

accent features that are useful in field recognition.  

In most cases, anybody with reasonable 

observatory skills should be able to identify an 

unknown species at least close to the actual species 

using the procedure outlined in the introductory 

pages or just by comparing their specimen to the 

photos.  So, despite a few glitches, I would regard 

this book as a useful reference that effectively meets 

its intended objective of providing assistance with 

the identification of aquatic plants in the region 

specified.
However, because this book is not written to be a 

technical botanical text, I would not recommend 

it as an alternative to more standard taxonomic 

guides (e.g. Crow and Hellquist, 2000).  It is not 

suitable as a textbook for use in a taxonomic course 

(due mainly to the lack of dichotomous keys for 

most species), but certainly would serve as a nice 

supplement to such works.
I applaud the emphasis of the author on promoting 

the use of his book to document new occurrences 

of invasive and potentially invasive species.  The 

former are indicated clearly in the text and the latter 

are summarized in a separate section (appendix 

A).  Making such helpful works available to the 

non-technically trained individual is indeed an 

excellent way of increasing the network of persons 

on the lookout for invasive plants.  There also is 

good advice given regarding whom to contact if an 

invasive or imperiled species putatively is located.  

The last section of the book (appendix E) is a list of 

species provided with ‘coefficient of conservatism’ 

values.  Unfortunately, I could not find anywhere 

in the book where this appendix was explained.  It 

appears to assign a number (from 0-10), which is 

relative to the conservation value of each species; 

however, no information is provided regarding how 

the index was derived or exactly to what it refers.

In summary, this photographically enriched guide 

to the aquatic plants of Wisconsin is a useful 

supplement that will be valued by those conducting 

routine identification of hydrophytes in this region.  

Anybody conducting pertinent field work in the 

upper Midwest region would be well-advised to 

procure a copy while they are available.  Apparently, 

only 750 copies of this book were printed, so 

supplies are limited.  Interested parties can order 

a copy at: 

http://www.uwsp.edu/cnr/uwexlakes/

publications/aquaticPlantsWi/aquaticPlantsWi.asp
-Donald H. Les, Department of Ecology & Evo-

lutionary Biology, The University of Connecticut, 

U-3043, Storrs, CT, 06269-3043, USA (Les@uconn.edu).

Literature Cited
Crow, G. E., Hellquist, C. B., 2000. Aquatic and 

Wetland Plants of Northeastern North America. 

2 Volumes. The University of Wisconsin Press, 

Madison.
Fassett, N. C., 1957. A Manual of Aquatic Plants. 

With Revision Appendix by E. C. Ogden. The 

University of Wisconsin Press, Madison.
Ito, Y., Ohi-Toma, T., Murata, J., Tanaka, N., 2010. 

Hybridization and polyploidy of an aquatic plant, 

Ruppia (Ruppiaceae), inferred from plastid and 

nuclear DNA phylogenies. Amer. J. Bot. 97, 1156-

1167.
Jobson, R. W., Playford, J., Cameron, K. M., 

Albert, V. A., 2003. Molecular phylogenetics of 

Lentibulariaceae inferred from plastid rps16 intron 

and  trnL-F DNA sequences: implications for 

character evolution and biogeography. Syst. Bot. 28, 

157-171.
Kim, S.-T., Donoghue M. J., 2008. Molecular 

phylogeny of Persicaria (Persicarieae, 

Polygonaceae). Syst. Bot. 33, 77-86.

The Book of Leaves: a leaf-by-leaf 

guide to six hundred of the world’s 

great trees.  

Allen J. Coombes.   

2010.  ISBN 9780226139739.  (Cloth 

US$55.00) 656 pp.  University of Chicago 

Press, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Leafing through Allen Coombes’, The Book of 

Leaves, leaves you impressed by its handsome, 

although somewhat spartan, encyclopedic 

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Plant Science Bulletin 57(1) 2011

approach and extensive coverage, but it leaves you 

wondering about the intent of the book, which is 

not exactly a pretty picture book, not a field guide, 

and not an atlas of tree leaf form, but something 

of all these things.  This book seems designed to 

simply illustrate a lot of tree leaves, and it certainly 

does that.   Exactly 598 trees were selected from 

all the world’s temperate regions are profiled, one 

species to a page.  Two monocots are included 

and seem strangely out of place.  Each profile 

is dominated by a life-sized image of a typical 

leaf, and if the leaf is too big, a life-sized portion 

thereof is accompanied by a reduced-size image of 

the whole leaf, which really does give you a sense 

of size for the bigger leaves.  The color images, 

toned down to an appropriate level of green, are 

uniformly high quality.  The six hundred species are 

organized alphabetically by botanical family name, 

which appears in the upper corner of each page, 

i.e., Fagaceae rather than Beech family, and then 

alphabetically by genus and species, which makes 

it hard to access a specific tree without knowing its 

generic and family names.  Although there is an 

index by common name and an index by scientific 

name, even the table of contents fails to list the 

families and inclusive page numbers.  To complicate 

access further, up to date taxonomic placements 

mean that for example maples and buckeyes are no 

longer in their long- familiar respective families, 

but submerged into Sapindaceae, and this book is 

not really written for the people who would know 

this.  One is tempted here and there to quibble 

about certain species omitted or included, but the 

coverage is broad and even includes the southern 

hemisphere, e.g., Nothofagus.  
Each profile consists of a set of standard elements: 

tabular data on leaf type, leaf shape, leaf size, leaf 

arrangement, bark, flowers, fruit, distribution 

with a world map, and habitat, a small silhouette 

of a mature tree showing the general shape and 

size relative to a small human figure (the author 

perhaps?), and the species name with authority 

and common name.   One or two short paragraphs 

provide a general description of the tree including 

information on horticultural varieties or selections 

and landscape value, flowering, growth habits, and 

similar species.  A caption accompanies each leaf 

image with a detailed description of the leaf similar 

to what would be found in a taxonomic manual.  
The introduction provides a brief general botany 

level background on leaves, their form and function, 

and plant taxonomy.  An attempt is made to provide 

a dichotomous key and tabular type of organization 

for leaf forms showing thumbnail images of all 

the leaves in the book in a way that could be used 

to identify an unknown leaf, but it strikes me as 

wholly inadequate for that use because even within 

such general categories you would end up trying 

to match your leaf to dozens of images.   At 656 

pages in a hard cover this is a hefty tome, not a field 

guide.  This is not a book most botanists will need 

or want, but the Book of Leaves will find a place on 

many a book shelf as a reference book for arborists, 

horticulturalists, nurserymen, and tree-loving 

gardeners.  With my interest in tropical trees the 

temperate zone orientation was disappointing, but 

perhaps leaves of tropical trees will be the author’s 

next project.  Coombes has written a number of 

handbooks and guides to trees and shrubs among 

which are the Illustrated Encyclopedia of Trees and 

Shrubs and the Dictionary of Plant Names.  Priced 

at $55 in hard cover the Book of Leaves seems a 

very good value.
--Joseph E. Armstrong, Behavior, Ecology, Evolu-

tion and Systematics, School of Biological Sciences, 

Illinois State University, Normal, IL 61790.

Diversity, Phylogeny, and Evolution 

in the Monocotyledons 

Seberg, Ole, Gitte Petersen, Anders S. Bar-

fod, and Jerrold I. Davis (eds).  

2010. ISBN 978-87-7934-398-6. (US$68.50 

[398,00 DKK]) 664 pp. Aarhus University 

Press Langelandsgade 177 DK – 8200 Århus N.

This book provide an accurate and timely 

compendium of current research on 

Monocotyledons (monocots), a traditionally 

recognized, monophyletic group of angiosperms. 

There are about 100 families and 67,000 species 

of monocots, so that monocots comprise about 

one-fourth of the approximately 250,000 species 

of flowering plants. Monocots provide most of 

world’s staple foods including grain crops as rice, 

wheat, corn, barley and rye. They also include other 

economically important groups like orchids (the 

largest family of monocots in terms of species), 

gingers, lilies and aroids. Several orchids are 

important epiphytes in tropical forests, providing 

food and habitat for insects, fungi, and other 

kinds of organisms in the forest canopy. Another 

group of great economic importance is the palm 

family (Arecaceae), which includes coconuts, 

dates, and the oil palm.  Several chapters of this 

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Plant Science Bulletin 57(1) 2011

book focus specifically on specific families like 

Orchidaceae and Arecaceae but half of book 

is devoted to Poales. Diversity, Phylogeny, and 

Evolution in the Monocotyledons includes reviews 

and reports of the current research held by some 

of the world’s leading specialists in this field. 

Edited by Ole Seberg (University of Copenhagen), 

Gitte Petersen (University of Copenhagen), 

Anders Barfod (University of Aarhus) and Jerrold 

Davis (Cornell University), this book is based on 

the scientific presentations made at the Fourth 

International Conference on the Comparative 

Biology of the Monocotyledons and the Fifth 

International Symposium on Grass Systematics 

and Evolution held in Copenhagen in 2008. The 

1993 Kew monocot conference (published as 

Rudall et al, 1995) became the first in an ongoing 

meeting series held periodically to discuss 

major advances in monocots. These conferences 

usually gather a huge amount of, and sometimes 

overlapping information, so that it is always very 

good to find a comprehensive book that centralizes 

major ideas. The newly updated compendium of 

monocot research builds upon the strengths of 

former books although it is more specific than the 

previous ones - published as volumes 22 and 23 of 

Aliso (2006 and 2007) – where a huge amount of 

information (and colour pictures) were gathered 

concerning several taxa of monocots (eg. arecales, 

asparagales, agavaceae and xanthorrhoeaceae, 

alliaceae/amaryllidaceae, iridaceae, orchidaceae, 

commelinales, discoreales, liliales, zingiberales). 

Within this new, recently published monocot book, 

the reader can find information concerning diverse 

aspects of monocots like species boundaries, 

relationships among closely related-species, 

differences in morphological characteristics, and 

the origin and diversification of some lineages, 

specially Arecaceae, Araceae and Orchidaceae. With 

664 pages of text in 32 “chapters,” there is more than 

enough to appeal to, and challenge, a wide-ranging 

audience although some knowledge of monocots 

is required. Most of the data presented are derived 

from phylogenetic studies so that some background 

information concerning molecular tools and 

interpretation of phylogenetic trees is required to 

understand this book. Personally, I missed some 

chapters concerning floral evolution, pollination 

systems and other ecological basic knowledge that 

might help readers to understand the importance 

and diversification of monocot species. Apart from 

their obvious economic importance as sources 

of foods and other materials to mankind, several 

monocots play an important ecological role in a 

variety of habitats, such as prairies, marshes, bogs, 

ponds and streams. Nevertheless, scientists looking 

for current information about monocot research, 

as well as specialist in this field will find it a handy 

tool for quick cross-referencing and current 

phylogenetic advances in monocots.
 

References:
Columbus, J. T., Friar, E. A., Porter, J. M., Prince, 

L. M. & Simpson, M. G. (eds.) 2006. Monocots - 

Comparative Biology and Evolution (excluding 

Poales). Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden. Aliso 

22. ISSN: 0065-6275.  

Columbus, J. T., Friar, E. A., Porter, J. M., Prince, 

L. M. & Simpson, M. G. (eds.) 2007. Monocots 

- Comparative Biology and Evolution Poales. 

Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden. Aliso 23.  

Rudall, P. J., Cribb, P. J., Cutler, D. F. & Humphries, 

C. J.  (eds.) 1995. Monocotyledons: Systematics 

and Evolution (v. 1 & 2). Royal Botanic Gardens 

Kew.

- Isabel Marques,Universidade de Lisboa. Museu 

Nacional de História Natural. Jardim Botânico. Rua 

da Escola Politécnica 58. 1269-102 Lisboa.  Portugal

Gymnosperms of the United States 

and Canada 

Elray S. Nixon

Illustrated by Bruce L. Cunningham. 

2010.  ISBN-13 978-0-934115-05-6 200 

pages (hardcover, US$74.95; paperback, 

US$59.95).   Forester-Artist.com, 180 County 

Road 8201 Nacogdoches, Texas 75964.

This is a striking and unusual book whose 

greatest strength is the detail and accuracy of the 

illustrations.  The coverage includes the native and 

naturalized gymnosperms of North America.  Each 

species is very thoroughly illustrated: bark, cones, 

seeds, leaves, aspect (both summer and winter, as 

appropriate), all in intense color.  The vivid hues on 

every page are reminiscent of the artistic wall charts 

of the past.  The drawings are absolutely faithful to 

the real plants, the parts are all properly labeled, 

and the bright colors, while exaggerated, are not at 

all misleading.  In fact they are an aid to instruction.  

There’s no denying, they draw the eye and focus on 

the key characters of each species.
There are thorough keys from the level of Division 

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Plant Science Bulletin 57(1) 2011

Yet it is extraordinarily difficult to identify seeds 

that arrive in seed traps.  The same problem is 

encountered in studies of the diets and dispersal 

effectiveness of fruit-eating animals – how to 

identify seeds in feces, where one has no traces of 

other parts of the plant.   This challenge increases 

with the diversity of the flora.  In one of the most 

diverse regions, Amazonia, this challenge has been 

eased considerably by the publication of ‘Seeds of 

Amazonian Plants’ in the Princeton Field Guides 

series (Cornejo and Janovec 2010).  This 155-page 

volume includes high quality color photographs of 

seeds of 543 genera, primarily from the Peruvian 

Amazon.   Most genera are represented by an image 

of just one species, but some of the more diverse 

genera (e.g.  Ficus,  Piper,  Chamaedorea,  Inga

Miconia) are represented by two or more images, 

for a total of 750 photographs. 
The images are organized alphabetically by family 

and genus (with 131 families represented).  Each 

family has a one-paragraph description, which 

describes growth forms and major vegetative and 

fruit characteristics.  Each genus has a similar 

paragraph, which additionally lists the genus’ 

range in the Western Hemisphere.  The vegetative 

characters are those that are useful for field 

identification, including leaf shape and arrangement 

and characters relating to bark, sap/latex, and 

spines, thorns, and other distinctive structures.   A 

Glossary and plates of line drawings at the end of 

the text make these descriptions useful to those not 

familiar with the botanical terminology.
If the user does not already have an idea what 

genus a seed might belong to, he/she can use key 

the authors provide in the first part of the text, 

‘Aid to Identification of Amazonian Seeds.’   This 

key is very pragmatic, and quite distinct from a key 

to floral or vegetative characters of the same set of 

genera.  The first choice in the key separates seeds 

[and diaspores(fruits)] with obvious adaptations 

for wind dispersal (wings or hairs) from those 

lacking such structures (and thus likely dispersed 

by animals).  The wind-dispersed taxa are next 

separated into diasporas with wings or hairs, 

seeds with wings, and seeds with hairs.  The key 

separates non-wind-dispersed seeds first by size, 

and then within each size class by shape and color.   

Most of these categories are further separated 

by characteristics of the surface (e.g. pubescent, 

smooth, or striate).   Each terminal node of the 

key lists the genera that are potential matches 

(typically 2-10 genera), each with a page number, 

(Phylum) down to species.  There are no species 

descriptions but the full-page color illustrations 

more than make up for that.  The pictures mostly 

lack scale bars, but the captions give the real size of 

each element in the composition.  
The nomenclature is taken verbatim from 

Eckenwalder and Thieret and contributing authors, 

Flora of North America, volume 2, 1993.  It follows, 

therefore, that research findings since then are not 

reflected here.  A notable example is the work of 

D. P. Little, Systematic Botany 31: 461-480. 2006, on 

the genus Cupressus, wherein the generic name is 

restricted to the Old World species, and those of 

the New World become Callitropsis.  It’s an area of 

active research, and it is easy to see why the author 

chose to stick with FNA.   Taxonomists working 

in the area would find a treatment of some of the 

synonymy to be useful, but for most of us that is 

beyond the basic morphology of gymnosperms we 

would want for teaching and research and in this 

the book excels. 
The book concludes with an illustrated glossary, 

a page of references, and a nicely done index, 

including references to all the illustrations.  Finally, 

there are 19 numbered pages of advertisements, all 

in full color, for other products from this publisher, 

including note cards, plaques, and posters. 

 

After-the-index publishers’ advertisements were 

common in the 19

th

 century; perhaps the custom 

is being revived.
–Neil A. Harriman, Biology Department, University 

of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Oshkosh, WI 54901; harri-

man@uwosh.edu

Seeds of Amazonian Plants

Cornejo, Fernando and John Janovec.   

2010.  ISBN 978-0-691-14647-8 (Paper 

US$24.95) 186 pp.  Princeton University 

Press 41 William Street Princeton, New Jersey, 

08540-5237.

The study of seed dispersal is crucial to many 

investigations in community and population 

ecology, including questions involving succession, 

recovery from anthropogenic disturbances, and 

mechanisms maintaining diversity.  For example, 

the role of dispersal limitation in structuring 

plant communities typically involves comparing 

the composition of dispersed seeds to that of 

established seedlings (e.g. Harms et al.  2000).   

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Plant Science Bulletin 57(1) 2011

Amazon Biodiversity Program at the Botanical 

Research Institute of Texas (also Cornejo’s home 

institution), and has published extensively on the 

flora of the neotropics, particularly Myristicaceae 

and the flora of southeastern Peru.   
This book will be extremely useful to anyone 

studying dispersed seeds, whether in seed traps, 

exposed substrate, or diet samples from animals.  

It is not really a ‘field guide,’ but a reference book 

for one’s lab or field station.   Because most of 

the photographs are from seeds from Peru, and 

the authors’ expertise is greatest for the Peruvian 

Amazon, this volume will be most useful to those 

working in western Amazonia.  However, many 

genera are widespread across Amazonia, making 

this book useful throughout the region.
-David L. Gorchov, Department of Botany, Miami 

University, Oxford, OH 45056 USA

Literature Cited
Cornejo, F. and J. Janovic. 2010. Seeds of Amazonian 

Plants. Princeton University Press.
Harms, K.E., S.J. Wright, O. Calderon, A. 

Hernandez, and E.A. Herre EA. 2000. Pervasive 

density-dependent recruitment enhances seedling 

diversity in a tropical forest. Nature 404:493–495. 

Systema Naturae 250:  

The Linnaean Ark.

  

Polaszek, Andrew (editor).  

ISBN 978-1-4200-9501-2 (hardcover 

US$99.95) xvi + 276 pp.  CRC Press, 6000 

Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300, Boca 

Raton, Florida 33487.

This volume is an outgrowth of a symposium held 

in Paris in August of 2008.  The title and subtitle of 

the book indicate that the book is concerned with 

Systema Naturae, ed. 10, volume 1 only, of 1 January 

1758, the starting point for binomial nomenclature 

in animals; there is but passing mention of volume 

2 of Systema Naturae, 1759, devoted to plants.  
There are 8 unnumbered pages of color photographs 

without captions, except for a reference to another 

page, where the same photograph is properly 

captioned, and there reproduced in black and white 

– but without reference to the colored version of the 

photograph between pages 16 and 17. This is a very 

enabling the user to narrow the possibilities further 

by using the images and genus descriptions.  The 

images themselves include seed size information, 

and are of very high quality, and beautiful to those 

of us who appreciate seeds.  The tiniest seeds are 

represented by scanning electron micrographs, but 

the majority are illustrated with color photographs 

taken under natural light.
I found it slightly frustrating that the images were 

identified only to genus, and not to species.  I 

imagine the authors did this so that users would 

not erroneously assign their seeds to the illustrated 

species.  Species within a single genus typically 

have similar-looking seeds, and with most genera 

represented by only a single species, the ‘best match’ 

would frequently be the right genus, but the wrong 

species.  Nevertheless, the species identification 

would occasionally be useful to a researcher.  For 

those genera where seed appearance is variable, 

and the text includes photos of two or more 

species, identification beyond the genus would be 

particularly helpful.
The only real problem with this text is that 

erroneous page numbers are given in the key for 

some of the genera.  In fact, a few of the genera 

listed in terminal nodes in the key are not even 

described or illustrated in the text.   The other 

genera can be found by looking through the pages 

for the appropriate family (the book does not have 

an index).  If one does not know the family, one 

would need to consult another source in order to 

locate the genus, and the images of its seeds, in the 

text.   This editorial problem is unfortunate, but 

does not detract significantly from the book’s value.
To produce this unique volume required authors 

knowledgeable not only with the diverse flora of 

Amazonia, but also with seeds of this flora, and 

the characteristics of dry seeds that are useful 

in identification.  Fernando Cornejo began 

developing his own reference collection of seeds in 

1984 in Manu National Park in Peru.  His expertise 

in seed identification increased further as he rose 

to the challenge of identifying seeds in both seed 

traps and fecal samples of birds and bats during 

our collaboration in northeastern Peru in 1988-

1992.  At that time he began pursuing the idea 

of a photographic guide to seeds of the Peruvian 

Amazon.  Further field work in multiple sites in 

Amazonia, and the collaboration with John Janovec, 

led to completion of a very useful reference.  Janovic 

is research botanist and director of the Andes to 

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39

Plant Science Bulletin 57(1) 2011

This is not mentioned, but it may be relevant to 

today’s computer-driven efforts at completeness.
The discussion of homonyms is instructive: the 

computer sees Oenanthe  Vieillot, 1816, Aves, as 

being a homonym of Oenanthe Linnaeus, Apiaceae 

(or Umbelliferae), 1753.  They are homonyms in a 

grammatical sense, irrelevant except to a computer, 

but not nomenclaturally, given the explicitly stated 

independence of the two Codes.  In the example 

cited in this chapter, there is also said to be an 

Oenanthe, Orchidaceae.   Other than at the Global 

Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) website, 

this so-called orchid is not to be found in any other 

index.  Best I can tell, this is a ghost reference.  The 

chapter author also refers to an avian Oenanthe 

Pallas, 1771.  This is a nomen nudum, and therefore 

to be ignored; moreover, it is not recognizable at the 

GBIF site, because authors of names are suppressed.  

Further, at the GBIF site, it is said that Oenanthe 

of Kingdom Plantae, is an ambiguous synonym of 

Oenanthe (of Phylum Animalia, presumably).  It is, 

of course, nothing of the sort, except in the “mind” 

of a computer.  It may be mentioned in passing that 

the website fails to list the names that have been 

given to the parsley-related Oenanthe, but it does 

list some of the avian names and assigns a few to 

Kingdom Plantae.  It is easy to see how immensely 

difficult assessing biodiversity on a worldwide scale 

is going to be. 
The final chapter of the book is “250 Years of 

Swedish Taxonomy.”  This is not only great history, 

but also an excellent treatment of current efforts 

in Sweden to assess the biodiversity of an entire 

country.  The book concludes with a thorough 

index, sadly missing from many symposium 

volumes.  The cover illustration for the book is a 

reproduction of “La fontaine d’os,” “The fountain of 

bones,” by surrealist Wolfgang Paalen.  It is colorful; 

its relevance to the contents of the book escapes me.
– Neil A. Harriman, Biology Department, Univer-

sity of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Oshkosh, Wisconsin 

54901, harriman@uwosh.edu

unusual, and one wonders what technical detail of 

book publishing wrought it; it cannot have been the 

editor’s wish.
The 18 chapters cover just about every subject 

that could be subsumed under this title, from 

speculations about Linnaeus’ childhood to 

problems with computerizing the names of all the 

world’s plants and animals.  The lengthiest chapter, 

54 pages, was authored by B. Dayrat; it  is a history 

of zoological nomenclature, written in a most 

engaging style.  It may be old stuff to zoologists, but 

every botanist with an interest in nomenclature will 

want to read it.
There is a BIG problem (chapter 14).  BIG is an 

acronym for “Biodiversity Indexing Group.”  I infer 

that these people are leaders in what is sometimes 

called “bioinformatics.”  The chapter’s title is “The 

All Genera Index: Strategies for Managing the BIG 

Index of All Scientific Names.” The underlying 

notion is to make every name for every organism 

available at a single website, with all manner of 

ingenious cross-links.  The chapter is sometimes 

difficult to follow, because the author uses “invalid” 

in the sense of the ICZN (i.e., the name is not 

correct in an author’s taxonomic judgment), versus 

the sense of the ICBN (i.e., the name fails to meet 

the manifold requirements of Articles 32-45, 

which are minutely specified but do not include an 

author’s taxonomic judgment).  Evidently, the aim 

is to indicate which generic names are valid, in the 

zoological sense.  This is clearly a hopeless task; 

with the daily appearance of new monographs, 

“correctness” shifts constantly – and yesterday’s 

invalid name may become today’s valid name.  “As 

a result [of new studies], 5-10% of scientific names 

become taxonomically invalidated each decade.”
The compilers of the original two volumes of Index 

Kewensis (1885; seed plants only) made many 

decisions about synonymy and “correctness,” a vain 

effort not abandoned until Supplement 4 of 1913.  

The lament of Captain Arthur Phillip, leader of the squadron carrying the first colonists and 

convicts to settle in Sydney, January 26, 1788,  - -  
“I am without one botanist, or even an intelligent gardener.”

Visit Sydney on your way to the  

International Botanical Congress  

in Melbourne this summer.

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40

Aloes: The Definitive Guide.  Carter, S., J.J. Lavranos, L.E. Newton, and C.C. Walker.  2011.  ISBN 

978-1-84246-439-7 (Cloth US$160.0) 760pp.  Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.  Distributed by University of 

Chicago Press1427 E. 60

th

 Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60637.

Bamboos at TBGRI.  Koshy, K.C.  2010.  ISB N978-81-920098-0-3 (Paper US$30.00) 104 pp.  Tropical 

Botanic Garden and Research Institute, Palode, Thiruvananthapuram 695562, Kerala, India. 

Bedouin Ethnobotany: Plant Concepts and Uses in a Desert Pastoral World.  Mandaville, James P.  

2011.  ISBN 978-0-8165-29000-1 (Cloth $55.00) 352pp.  University of Arizona Press, 355 South Euclid 

Ave., Ste. 103.  Tucson, Arizona 85719.

The Book of Fungi: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species from around the World.  Roberts, 

Peter and Shelley Evans.  2011.  ISBN 978-0-226-72117-0  (Cloth US$55.00) 656 pp.  University of Chicago 

Press1427 E. 60

th

 Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60637.

The Diatoms: Applications for the Environmental and Earth Sciences.  Smol, John P. and Eugene F. 

Stoermer.  2010.  ISBN 978-0-521-50996-1 (Cloth US$225.00) 667 pp.  Cambridge University Press, 32 

Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10013.

Field Guide to the Littoral Forest Trees of South East Madagascar.  Rabehevitra, David, Johny 

Rabenantodandro, Faly Randriatafika, Stephanie Channeliere, and Stuart Cable. 2011.  ISBN 978-1-84246-

444-1 (Paper US$74.00) 400 pp.  Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.  Distributed by University of Chicago 

Press1427 E. 60

th

 Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60637.

Fire in the Forest.  Thomas, Peter A. and Robert S. McAlpine.  2010.  ISBN 978-0-521-82229-9 (Cloth 

US$49.00) 225 pp.  Cambridge University Press, 32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10013.

Guide to the Flowers of Western China.  Grey-Wilson, Christopher and Phillip Cribb.  2011.  ISBN 

978-1-84246-169-3.  (Cloth US$115.00)  530 pp.  Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.  Distributed by University 

of Chicago Press1427 E. 60

th

 Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60637

Landscapes and Hydrology of the Predrainage Everglades. 2011.  McVoy, Christopher, Winifred Park 

Said, Jayantha Obeysekera, Joel VanArman, and Thomas W. Dreschel.  ISBN 978-0-8130-3535-2.  (Cloth 

US$85.00) 368 pp.  University Press of Florida, 15 NW 15

th

 Street, Gainesville, FL 32611-2079.

A Natural History of the New World: The Ecology and Evolution of Plants in the Americas.  Graham, 

Alan.  2010.  ISBN 978-0-226-30680-3 (Paper US$40.00) 387 pp.  The University of Chicago Press, 

Photosynthesis Research Protocols, 2nd Ed.  Carpentier, Robert (ed.). 2010.  ISBN 978-1-60761-924-6 

(Cloth US$139.00).  395 pp.  Humana Press, 333 Meadowlands Parkway, Secaucus, NJ 07094.

Sesame: The genus Sesamum.  Bedigian, Dorothea. 2010.  ISBN 978-0-849-33538-9 (Cloth US$129.95) 

556 pp.  CRC Press, Taylor and Francis Group, 6000 NW Broken Sound Parkway, Suite 300, Boca Raton, 

FL 33487. 

Trees of Panama and Costa Rica.  Condit, Richard, Rolando Pérez, and Nefertaris Daguerre.  2011.  

ISBN 978-0-691-14710-9 (Paper US$85.00)496 pp.  Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, 

Princeton, New Jersey, 08540-5237. 

Books Received

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Plant Science Bulletin 

 Featured Image

Spring 2011 Volume 57 Number 1

Plant Science 

Bulletin

ISSN 0032-0919 

Published quarterly by  

Botanical Society of America, 

Inc.  

4475 Castleman Avenue 

St. Louis, MO 63166-0299 

 

The yearly subscription 

rate of $15 is included in the 

membership 

Send address changes to:

Botanical Society of America 

Business Office 

P.O. Box 299 

St. Louis, MO 63166-0299 

bsa-manager@botany.org

Address Editorial Matters (only) 

to: 

Marshall D. Sundberg 

Editor 

The Botanical Society of 

America is a membership 

society whose mission  is to: 

promote botany, the field of 

basic science dealing with the 

study and inquiry into the 

form, function, development, 

diversity, reproduction, 

evolution, and uses of plants 

and their interactions within the 

biosphere

A crystal pond surrounded by cushion plants (Distichia muscoides 

Nees & Meyen) provides the playground for Nature to play with 

shapes and colors beyond the imagination.
This pond was found at 14,500 ft of elevation, in a deep valley 

surrounded by snowy peaks of more than 16,500 ft. The acid 

sulfate-chloride thermal water gives rise to the accumulation 

of white and yellow mineral crystals on the bottom of the pond 

and covering the roots of a colony of Distichia muscoides. The 

extremely imbricated leaves of these plants are adapted to the 

constant freezing temperatures. The ice of the dawn is still covering 

the tips of the leaves. 

Nature Games

Mauricio Diazgranados

Saint Louis University

Visit this and all the current   

Conant Student Travel Award Submissions at: 

http://botany.org/awards_grants/detail/conant.php

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