Plant Science Bulletin archive


Issue: 2016 v62 No 2 SummerActions

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 IN THIS ISSUE...

PLANTS Grant Recipients and Mentors Gather at Botany 2015!

SUMMER 2016 VOLUME 62 NUMBER 2

PLANT SCIENCE  

BULLETIN

A PUBLICATION OF THE BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA

BSA members attend 

Congressional Visits 

Day.... p. 61

BSA Member Erika Edwards 

Receives Presidential Early 

Career Award... p. 101

“Plants Move, Plants Matter” at the USA Science and Engineering Festival

Shakespeare, Plant Blindness,
and Electronic Media...p. 85

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                                                              Summer 2016 Volume 62 Number 2

PLANT SCIENCE BULLETIN  

Editorial Committee  

Volume 62

Kathryn LeCroy 

 

(2018) 

Environmental Sciences 

University of Virginia 

Charlottesville, VA  22904 

kal8d@virginia.edu

L.K. Tuominen

 

(2016)

 

Department of Natural Science 

Metropolitan State University 

St. Paul, MN  55106 

Lindsey.Tuominen@metrostate.edu 

Daniel K. Gladish

 

(2017)

 

Department of Biology &  

The Conservatory 

Miami University  

Hamilton, OH  45011 

gladisdk@muohio.edu

Melanie Link-Perez  

(2019) 

Department of Botany  

& Plant Pathology 

Oregon State University 

Corvallis, OR 97331 

linkperm@oregonstate.edu

From the Editor

Greetings!

In this issue, we celebrate many of the Society’s award 

winners, including the 2016 Distinguished Fellows 

and this year’s recipient of the Emerging Leader Award  

(p. 62).  Many of our student award winners are list-

ed in this issue, as well (p. 65). Congratulations to all!  

Look for more award winners in the Fall issue. 

I want to take a moment to thank the many people 

who have contributed book reviews to Plant Science 

Bulletin. These contributors volunteer their time and 

effort to read and review the newest books in plant 

science and we could not offer this valuable resource 

without their commitment. I have added many a book 

to my own reading list after reading a review. If you 

would like to write a book review for PSB, the current 

list of available books can always be found at http://

botany.org/home/publications/plant-science-bul-

letin.html. 

PSB has had multiple requests from readers looking 

for advice in choosing textbooks that are successful in 

incorporating plant biology into more general topics. 

This spring, my own university considered switching 

General Biology textbooks, which most of you know, is 

typically a laborious and contentious process. I would 

like to call on you, the readers of Plant Science Bulletin

to address the need for reviews of textbooks, includ-

ing General Biology textbooks, from the perspective 

of botanists.

Textbooks rarely make our list of books available for 

review and we generally don’t have copies available. 

However, if you currently use a textbook with which 

you are particularly happy (or unhappy), PSB would 

welcome your review of that text. If you are interested 

in contributing, please contact me at psb@botany.org. 

I hope that many of you are planning to make the trip 

to Savannah for Botany 2016! 

If you have ideas or comments about Plant Science 

Bulletin, please find me or attend “Are You Being 

Served,” a discussion with the editors of BSA publica-

tions, on Wednesday, August 3, at 1:30 p.m. in Room 

106 of the Convention Center. 

See you in Savannah!

Shannon Fehlberg 

(2020)

 

Research and Conservation 

Desert Botanical Garden 

Phoenix, AZ 85008 

sfehlberg@dbg.org

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57

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SOCIETY NEWS

Summer 2016 Public Policy Note... ......................................................................................................58

Dunn Receives First Annual Botany Advocacy Leadership Award. ..................................61

2016 Congressional District Visits......................................................... .............................................61

Botanical Society of America’s Award Winners.................... .......................................................62

SPECIAL FEATURES

Eat Your Weeds: Edible and Wild Plants in Urban  

   Environmental Education and Outreach........................................................................................ 72

Shakespeare, Plant Blindness, and Electronic Media ............... .............................................85

SCIENCE EDUCATION

USA Science and Engineering Festival: “Plants Move, Plants Matter”     

   Booth Draws Thousands of Visitors. .............................................................................................94

Botany Booth in a Box Outreach Competition.. ...........................................................................95

PlantingScience Seeking 100 New Mentors for Fall 2016 as Improved 

   Website Launched.... ................................................................................................................................95

Digging Deeper Together: Collaborative Teacher/Scientist Professional

   Development Launches this Summer... .........................................................................................96

STUDENT SECTION

Getting the Most out of BOTANY 2016: A Guide for Students ...........................................97

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Linnean Society of London Meeting at the Arnold Arboretum . ........................................100

BSA Member Erika Edwards Receives Presidential Early Career Award .................. 100

Marshall Sundberg Named 2016 Roe R. Cross Distinguished Professor .................. 101

BOOK REVIEWS

Economic........................................................................................................................... .............................. 104

Historical..... ..................................................................................................................................................... 109

Systematics ................................................................................................................................................... 110

www.botanyconference.org

Register now for the  

conference you don’t want to miss! 

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58

Summer 2016 Public Policy Note

By Marian Chau (Lyon Arboretum  

University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa) and  

Morgan Gostel (Smithsonian Institution), 

Public Policy Committee Co-Chairs

SOCIETY NEWS

This year has kicked off with much excitement 

for the BSA Public Policy Committee; 2016 

marks the fifth year of BSA participation in 

the annual Biological and Ecological Sciences 

Coalition (BESC) Congressional Visits Day. 

Two BSA members participated in the event, 

held on April 27 and 28: Dr. Krissa Skogen, 

BSA Public Policy Award winner, and Dr. 

Morgan Gostel, BSA Public Policy Committee 

co-chair. 

Read about Dr. Skogen’s experience, below 

and stay tuned for next year’s Public Policy 

Award application, which can be found at 

http://botany.org/home/awards/awards-

for-early-career-scientists/publicpolicyaward.

html in November 2016.

Dr. Skogen’s Experience

I was honored to have been selected for the 

BSA Public Policy Award and to participate 

in the Biological and Ecological Sciences 

Coalition Congressional Visits Day. I’ve been 

interested in the interface between public 

policy and science for a while and saw this 

event as a unique opportunity both to learn 

from scientists who have devoted part of their 

careers to public policy and to engage with 

policy makers myself.  

The first morning was held at the office of 

the Ecological Society of America, where a 

panel of scientists who have transitioned their 

careers from science to public policy shared 

their personal stories and provided advice. 

The speakers included Rich Pouyat (Senior 

Policy Analyst, Climate Resilience and Land 

Use, Office of Science and Technology Policy), 

Nadine Lymn (Communications Director, 

National Science Board Office, National 

Science Foundation), Brittany Marsden 

(Analyst in NOAA OAR’s Formulation and 

Congressional Analysis Division), and Alan 

Thornhill (Director Office of Science Quality 

and Integrity, U.S. Geological Survey). I 

found this session particularly valuable, as the 

speakers highlighted many of the important 

aspects of being a liaison between science 

and policy making. Their advice included 

many obvious but often overlooked factors 

important for being effective in such a role, such 

as recognizing that science is only one of the 

many considerations taken into account when 

policy decisions are made. They emphasized 

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Congressional Visits Day, Midwest team inside 

the Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, 

D.C. Left to right, BSA Public Policy Commit-

tee Co-Chair, Morgan Gostel; BSA Public Pol-

icy Award winner, Krissa Skogen; and fellow 

team member, Nina Richtman.

the fact that many of the skills that one gains 

as a result of becoming a scientist are essential 

to succeeding as a liaison, including the ability 

to think critically, write clearly, listen, step 

outside of your comfort zone, and—one of my 

favorites—never let a good crisis go to waste.

The afternoon’s events were held at the AIBS 

offices and focused on preparing participants 

for congressional meetings, including 

information on federal trends in science 

funding, tips for successful meetings with 

policymakers, and an overview of the legislative 

process. Kei Koizumi (Assistant Director for 

Federal Research and Development, White 

House Office of Science and Technology 

Policy) provided insight on federal spending 

on science and how it impacts scientists. 

Julie Palakovich Carr (AIBS) then provided 

a number of important talking points for our 

meetings with Congress members, including 

the fact that 68% of federal funding for non-

medical research comes from NSF as well 

as state-specific funding and benefits. The 

afternoon ended with an orientation for 

congressional meetings provided by Alison 

Mize and Terence Houston (ESA) and 

mock Capitol Hill meetings. With the goal 

of asking for support for funding NSF at $8 

billion in fiscal year 2017, my team members 

and I honed our message. As scientists, we 

represented industry (Nina Richtman – 

DuPont Pioneer, Iowa), museum (Morgan 

Gostel – Smithsonian Institution, Washington, 

DC), and non-profit (myself – Chicago 

Botanic Garden, Illinois) and provided a great 

overview of the benefits of science funding 

at numerous levels: academic, educational, 

and industry. I left the AIBS office energized, 

excited, and well-prepared for our meetings 

the following day. 

The second day I joined Morgan Gostel and 

Nina Richtman on the Hill. We met with 

Representative David Young (IA – R) and 

staffers from the offices of Senator Dick 

Durban (IL - D), Senator Mark Kirk (IL - R), 

and Representative Bob Dold (IL - R), Senator 

Joni Ernst (IA – R), Senator Chuck Grassley 

(IA – R), and Representative Eleanor Holmes 

Norton (Washington, DC – D). During our 

meetings, Nina, Morgan and I each took the 

lead for our home state/district. I felt lucky 

to share my personal story of the impact that 

NSF funding has had on my career at pivotal 

times, including as a graduate student and 

now as an early-career scientist with post-

docs and students of my own. I emphasized 

the dual role of NSF funding, for both basic 

research and education, and the value of 

engaging students at various levels, as the 

critical thinking, writing, and analytic skills 

that one learns while pursuing scientific 

endeavors are essential for nearly every 

profession. I was also proud to represent 

my home institution, the Chicago Botanic 

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Society News

Science is about telling 

stories, sharing our 

passions, and getting 

others excited about  

our work.  Engaging a 

new audience—policy 

makers—is essential to 

the future of science... 

Garden, and the great work being conducted 

by my colleagues and the students in our Plant 

Biology and Conservation graduate program, 

much of which has been funded by NSF. Nina 

and Morgan’s personal stories were a great 

complement to mine and provided further 

context for the importance of federal funding 

for NSF to scientists in academic institutions 

and industry.

Prior to my trip, I was nervous about how my 

meetings would unfold and whether I was 

sufficiently prepared. Thanks to the fantastic 

coordination by AIBS prior to our meetings, 

in the end, I was well-prepared and had a 

great time—it was easy, fun, and exciting. At 

the end of my visit, three things were striking 

to me:

•  First, I was shocked by how easy it was to ask for $8 

billion, and that all Congress members and staffers are 

expecting you to ask them for something when you 

meet with them. 

•  Second, I was encouraged by the fact that the offices 

we met with were receptive to our message; people are 

interested in science and they like to hear our stories 

and learn about the impact we are having. 

•  Third, I was surprised by how fun it was to share my 

passion for science and education with people in a po-

sition to effect change and to share my personal story, 

as well as those of students and colleagues with whom 

I’ve worked, of how science funding, and NSF funding 

in particular, has changed our career trajectories and 

lives. 

Science is about telling stories, sharing our 

passions, and getting others excited about 

our work. We are accustomed to engaging 

our students and colleagues. Engaging a 

new audience—policy makers—is essential 

to the future of science. However, many 

scientists and faculty don’t know how to 

become engaged and many don’t know just 

how important—and easy—it is to meet 

with their representatives in Congress and 

voice their concerns. While participating 

in the Congressional Visits Day may be of 

particular interest to someone considering 

a career change from a focus on science to 

a career at the science-policy interface, I’d 

argue that meeting with one’s representatives 

is an extremely valuable experience for any 

scientist, and truly is part of the job of being 

a scientist. 

Traveling to Washington DC isn’t a 

requirement for meeting with Congress 

members; many host district visit days when 

they are home on recess or may tour your 

home institution. Many colleges, universities, 

and non-profits have lobbyists who represent 

them on the Hill. Find out if you have a 

lobbyist, connect with them and stay up to date 

on important science-related policy matters. 

Call the offices of your representatives when 

an important vote is approaching and share 

your concerns—a simple sentence or two 

stating your request takes only a few minutes 

but very few citizens, and scientists, pick up 

the phone. I’m grateful for the opportunity to 

participate in the Congressional Visits Day 

and I thank BSA for providing support and 

encourage others to participate in future years. 

I left DC inspired and excited about my role 

in communicating the importance of funding 

basic science and education and committed 

to remaining engaged in public policy. the 

importance of funding basic science and 

education and committed to remaining 

engaged in public policy. 

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FROM THE 

PSB  

ARCHIVES 

60 years ago:  Guest Editor George S. Avery, 

Jr. introduces a special PSB issue on teach-

ing botany: “One hundred years ago botany 

courses, natural history, or whatever, were 

chiefly of taxonomic  content. A large propor-

tion of the population lived in what we now 

call “the country.” In that different America it 

was a daily experience for people to see and 

know wild plants. Today by farthe most of us 

live in cities or suburbs, and the old approach 

has become inadequate.”. . . 

“In the America of today and the growing 

ever- changing America of the future, botany 

faces a challenge. Whether we can meet it, or 

are to continue along the old traditional paths 

that may lead to extinction-- is the question. 

The articles in this issue suggest that many 

teachers are thinking about ways of meeting 

the challenge. But words alone are not enough, 

no matter how dynamic and thought-provok-

ing they may be. We need a program that will 

make general botany courses a more central 

and vital part of the undergraduate curricu-

lum.” (PSB 2(3): 2) 

50 years ago: “A request that the Botanical So-

ciety of America Archives be deposited in the 

History of Science Collection at The Universi-

ty of Texas was presented at the Council Meet-

ing on August 23, 1964. This request received 

the approval of the Council. Since receiving 

these Archives, our staff has microfilmed the 

Society records through 1949. Recently Dr. 

Richard C. Starr, Secretary, Botanical Society 

of America, has deposited in the Archives the 

Society’s Minutes for 1950 through 1954.  

In addition to these official records, the Col-

lection has been receiving manuscripts, 

photographs and publications related to the 

Botanical Society of America and also to out-

standing U.S. botanists.” (PSB 12(2): 8)

Society News

Dunn Receives First Annual 

Botany Advocacy  

Leadership Award 

The BSA Public Policy Committee and 

the ASPT Environment and Public Policy 

Committee have selected an awardee for 

the first annual jointly sponsored Botany 

Advocacy Leadership Grant. The award 

goes to Dr. Michael Dunn on behalf of the 

Southwest Chapter of the Oklahoma Native 

Plant Society for a seminar and lecture 

series that will contribute to public policy 

by supporting outreach and education on 

native plant conservation and awareness. 

Congratulations, Michael! 

The Botanical Advocacy Leadership Grant is 

an annual award, so we encourage members 

to apply next year.   You can find more 

information on the grant at botany.org/ 

file.php?file=SiteAssets/awards/BSA_BAL_ 

Call.pdf. Stay tuned in January 2017 for an 

update on Michael Dunn’s seminar series, and 

for the 2017 call for applications.  

 

2016 Congressional  

District Visits 

The Botanical Society of America is helping 

to sponsor the 2016 Congressional District 

Visits event. Help showcase your science 

to your elected lawmakers by meeting with 

them locally in your district! Read a summary 

about the 2015 CDV event at 

https://www. 

aibs.org/public-policy/news/lawmakers_ 

tour_research_facilities.html

. Register for this 

event by July 17, 2016 at https://www.aibs.org/ 

public-policy/congressional_district_visits. 

html.

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Botanical Society of America’s 

Award Winners

2016 Distinguished Fellow 

Award Winners 

The Botanical Society of America Distinguished 

Fellow Award (formerly known as the Merit 

Award) is the highest honor our Society bestows.  

Each year, the Merit Award Committee solicits 

nominations, evaluates candidates, and selects 

those to receive an award. Awardees are chosen 

based on their outstanding contributions to the 

mission of our scientific Society. The committee 

identifies recipients who have demonstrated 

excellence in basic research, education, and  

public policy, or who have provided exceptional 

service to the professional botanical community, 

or who may have made contributions to a 

combination of these categories.  

Professor Joseph Armstrong 

Joseph Armstrong is a highly praised teacher/

educator, a public advocate for botany 

andevolution, and an active researcher of 

quitevaried interests. His numerous awards 

include Outstanding Teacher at Illinois 

State University and the BSA’s Charles E. 

Bessey award. Well before STEM education 

came into vogue, he actively challenged and 

involved students in courses and educational 

experiences, as reflected in his books and 

numerous writings. His former students are 

effusive in their high regard for his teaching 

and influences on their professional lives; 

as one of them stated, “he’s all about all the 

students.” He has been equally vigorous in his 

public outreach for botany and evolution, and 

he has been a major contributor to and tireless 

worker for the BSA. Professor Armstrong’s 

research has dealt with  the whole plant, from 

root apical meristems through the wood of 

stems to flowers; his substantial published 

research articles have included studies on 

anatomy, morphology, floral development, 

pollination biology, genetics, systematics, and 

ecology. As one of his supporters noted, his 

“studies on the role of floral morphology for 

the distinction of families in the premolecular 

era are especially noteworthy.” Many have 

noted that he is a student of the whole plant and 

its place in ecosystems, as well as a proponent 

of botany and evolution through teaching and 

public outreach—Professor Armstrong is “a 

man of many hats.”

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Professor Jacob Weiner 

Weiner has made important contributions 

in several areas of ecology, including 

size variation within plant populations, 

plant competition at the individual and 

population levels, plant growth and resource 

allocation, and the application of ecological 

and evolutionary knowledge to agricultural 

production systems. He is associated with a 

specific approach to plant ecology, which is 

analytic, mechanistic, and starts with simple 

models that produce testable hypotheses. 

Several of his papers are considered “classics” 

and are used in plant ecology courses around 

the world because they are easy to read and 

have a clear logic. He is known for finding 

non-conventional angles and solutions to 

difficult problems, and he has often succeeded 

in discovering simplicity in the seemingly 

overwhelming complexity of plant behavior. 

For example, he showed that patterns of 

allocation in plants that had been interpreted 

as “flexible reproductive strategies” could be 

better and more simply explained in terms 

of fixed allometric trajectories. In the middle 

of his career, he made a notable shift in focus 

and location. After serving on the faculty at 

Swarthmore College for 18 years, where he 

taught courses in botany and ecology and 

did research on basic mechanisms of plant 

competition and allocation, he left for the 

Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University 

(now part of the University of Copenhagen) in 

Denmark in 1996 and began applying theories 

from plant ecology to the improvement 

of agriculture. Using ideas from plant 

population biology and testing the resulting 

hypotheses, he has demonstrated that the 

potential for weed suppression by cereal crops 

is much greater than appreciated, and that this 

potential can be realized through increased 

crop density and spatial uniformity. He is 

currently attempting to apply evolutionary 

theory to agriculture and plant breeding.

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Dr. Michael Barker Receives 

Emerging Leader Award 

Dr. Michael Barker is an Assistant Professor in 

the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary 

Biology at the University of Arizona. Barker 

received his undergraduate degree at Denison 

University, earned a Master’s degree at Miami 

University, and then obtained a PhD in 2009 at 

Indiana University with Drs. Loren Rieseberg 

and Gerald Gastony. After his NSERC-BRITE 

Postdoctoral Fellowship at University of 

British Columbia with Dr. Sally Otto, he took 

his current position in 2011. Over that time, 

Barker has proven to be a prolific researcher, 

with more than 50 peer-reviewed publications. 

As an emerging leader, Barker enjoys a 

national and international reputation for 

being an expert at using bioinformatics and 

computational biology to confront enduring 

evolutionary questions in botany. Barker 

has successfully focused on developing 

algorithms for studying ancient and recent 

polyploidy (whole genome duplications). 

Taxonomically, he has worked primarily on 

ferns and members of the sunflower family; 

however, his novel methods in computational 

biology have led him to work on many plant 

groups as now on insects and other lineages 

of life. His expertise also spans time from 

macroevolution to microevolution—from 

the diversification of major lineages to recent 

hybridization and plant domestication. 

Barker has an impressive record of leadership 

not only in research, but also his dedication 

to teaching, outreach, and service. Whether 

coordinating computational workshops 

or directing campus-wide bioinformatics 

efforts, Barker has demonstrated a willingness 

to step up and assume leadership roles in 

professional societies and at the University of 

Arizona. He has organized several symposia 

and colloquia, including a BSA symposium 

and special issue of the American Journal of 

Botany (July 2016) on the theme of polyploidy 

and genome evolution. Given his record of 

accomplishment and contributions to Botany, 

Dr. Michael Barker is an exemplary recipient 

of the BSA Emerging Leader Award.

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BSA Public Policy Award

The Public Policy Award was established in 2012 to support the development of tomorrow’s leaders 

and a better understanding of this critical area. The 2016 recipient is:

Krissa Skogen, Ph.D., Conservation Scientist, Conservation and Land Management Internship 

Program Manager, Chicago Botanic Garden and Adjunct Professor – Northwestern University

The J. S. Karling Graduate Student Research Award

Jonathan P. Spoelhof, University of Florida (Advisor: Douglas Soltis), for the proposal: 

Connecting Adaptation and Expression in Neopolyploid Arabidopsis thaliana 

 The BSA Graduate Student Research Awards

Ana María Bedoya, University of Washington, Seattle (Advisor: Richard Olmstead), for the 

proposal: Andean uplift and the transformation of aquatic ecosystems: Impacts on the evolutionary 

patterns in aquatic plants of northern South America 

Alexander C. Bippus, Humboldt State University (Advisor: Alexandru M.F. Tomescu), for the 

proposal: Exploring the phylogeny of basal Tracheophytes: The early Devonian radiation 

Megan Bontrager, University of British Columbia (Advisor: Amy Angert), for the proposal: The 

roles of geography and environment in determining population genetic structure and performance 

at the northern range edge of Clarkia pulchella 

Matthew Chmielewski, Portland State University (Advisor: Sarah Eppley), for the proposal: 

Does local dispersal of bryophytes by birds matter? Testing temporal shifts in bryophyte movement 

via birds and wind in a Pacific Northwest forest

Taylor Crow, University of Wyoming (Advisor: Kristina Hufford), for the proposal: Alternative 

methods for delineating seed transfer zones 

Timea Deakova, Portland State University (Advisor: Sarah Eppley), for the proposal: A novel 

finding: Exploring the role of isoprene emission from germinating Polytrichum juniperinum moss spores 

Evan Eifler, University of Wisconsin – Madison (Advisor: Tom Givnish), for the proposal: Spatial 

and temporal patterns of diversification in Geissorhiza (Iridaceae): Phylogeny, biogeography, and 

vulnerability in the Cape Floristic Province 

Jonathan A. Flickinger, Florida International University (Advisor: Javier Francisco-Ortega), 

for the proposal: Systematics of the Lathberry Clade of Eugenia L. (Myrtaceae) in the Caribbean 

Islands 

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Luiz Henrique Martins Fonseca, Universidade de São Paulo (Advisor: Lúcia G. Lohmann), 

for the proposal: Systematics, phylogeny and diversification of Adenocalymma (Bignonieae, 

Bignoniaceae) 

Diana Gamba, University of Missouri – St. Louis (Advisor: Nathan Muchhala), for the proposal: 

Is speciation faster in the tropics? Effects of seasonality and mutualists on angiosperm genetic 

structure 

Ian Gilman, University of Idaho (Advisor: David Tank), for the proposal: Phylogeography of 

Cordylanthus and Pseudocordylanthus: A framework for assessing the role of niche evolution and 

conservatism in the process of speciation

Nathan Paul Hartley, Duke University (Advisor: Paul Manos), for the proposal: Diversification 

of a neotropical litter-trapping epiphyte clade (Anthurium section Pachyneurium): A preliminary 

assessment of phylogenetic niche conservatism 

Caitlin Maraist, Portland State University (Advisor: Sarah Eppley), for the proposal: Effects of 

phyllospheric fungi on sexual effort and chemical cues in the dioecious moss, Ceratodon purpureus 

F. Nicolas Medina, Claremont Graduate University, Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden (Advisor: 

J. Travis Columbus), for the proposal: Phylogenetic insights into the New World strangler figs 

(Ficus subgen. Urostigma sect. Americana): Testing for hybridization and introgression 

Chelsea Miller, University of Tennessee, Knoxville (Advisor: Charles Kwit), for the proposal: 

Does the presence of entomopathogenic fungi on myrmecochorous seeds affect seed-handling and 

dispersal behaviors in Aphaenogaster ants? 

Andre A. Naranjo, University of Florida (Advisor: Pamela Soltis), for the proposal: The 

comparative phylogeography of Eastern North American wetland forest species 

Chathurani Ranathunge, Mississippi State University (Advisor: Mark E. Welch), for the 

proposal: Elucidating the adaptive role of microsatellites in natural populations of Helianthus 

annuus (Asteraceae) 

María Adolfina Savoretti, Universidad Nacional de La Plata and Instituto de Botánica 

Darwinion (Advisor: Alexandru M.F. Tomescu), for the proposal: Systematic affinities of Early 

Cretaceous mosses of western North America – an inquiry into the deep history of bryophytes

Katelin D. Stanley, Florida State University (Advisor: Austin R. Mast), for the proposal: 

comparative anchor for anchored phylogenomics: Systematic discovery of Elephantopodinae 

(Asteraceae) from within the “Evil Tribe” 

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Vernon I. Cheadle Student Travel Awards

(BSA in association with the Developmental and Structural Section)  

This award was named in honor of the memory and work of Dr. Vernon I. Cheadle.

Christopher Nelson, Florida Museum of Natural History (Advisor, Dr. Nathan A. Jud), for the 

Botany 2016 presentation: “A new species of Mammea (Calophyllaceae) from the lower Miocene 

of Panama” Co-author: Nathan A. Jud

Adam Ramsey, University of Memphis (Advisor, Dr. Jennifer R. Mandel), for the Botany 2016 

presentation: “Patterns of cyto-nuclear disequilibrium and the influence of heteroplasmy in wild 

carrot, Daucus carota (Apiaceae) Co-author: Jennifer R. Mandel

Amanda Salvi, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Advisor, Dr. Selena Y. Smith), for the 

Botany 2016 presentation: “Effect of canopy shading on morphology, anatomy, and self-shading 

in spiral gingers (Costus)” Co-author: Selena Y. Smith

Rachel Schwallier, Naturalis Biodiversity Center (Advisor, Dr. Barbara Gravendeel), for the 

Botany 2016 presentation: “Evolution of wood anatomical characters in Nepenthes and close 

relatives in Caryophyllales” Co-authors: Barbara Gravendeel, Hugo de Boer, Bertie Joan van 

Heuven, Anton Sieder, Sukaibin Sumail, Rogier van Vugt, Stephan Nylinder, and Frederic Lens

 The BSA Undergraduate Student Research Awards

The BSA Undergraduate Student Research Awards support undergraduate student research and 

are made on the basis of research proposals and letters of recommendation. The 2016 award 

recipients are:

Christie Dang, Creighton University (Advisor, Dr. Mackenzie Taylor), Post-pollination 

development in the hydrophilous species Stuckenia pectinata (Potamogetonaceae)

Anna Hakkenberg, University of Richmond (Advisor, Dr. Carrie Wu), Genetic patterns of 

introduction during the emerging invasion of wavyleaf basketgrass (Oplismenus undulatifolius

into U.S. Mid-Atlantic forest understories

María del Pilar Herrera, San Marcos University (Advisor, Dr. Julien Bachelier), Comparative 

development of extremely dimorphic male and female reproductive structures in Orthopterygium 

huaucui, a very rare and highly endemic dioecious genus of Anacardiaceae

Elizabeth Leo, Towson University (Advisor, Dr. Laura Gough), Bioavailability and trophic 

transfer of heavy metal soil contaminants in urban gardens in Baltimore, MD.

Nathan Luftman, Bucknell University (Advisors, Drs. Christopher T. Martine and Jason 

Cantley), Chenopodium “Moloka’i” (Amaranthaceae): A potential new species on the Hawaiian Island Moloka’i

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Kendall Major, University of Memphis (Advisor, Dr. Jennifer Mandel), Genetic diversity and 

population structure in the clonal plant Trillium recurvatum

Yu-Ling Shih, Da-Yeh University (Advisors, Dr. Pei-Luen Lu), Botanical biodiversity of Long 

Lellang, Sarawak, Malaysia

Austin Szubryt, Southern Illinois University – Carbondale (Advisor, Dr. Kurt Neubig), The 

golden rule for goldentops: Using phylogenetics to classify Euthamia (Asteraceae)

The BSA Young Botanist Awards

The purpose of these awards is to offer individual recognition to outstanding graduating seniors 

in the plant sciences and to encourage their participation in the Botanical Society of America. 

The 2016 “Certificate of Special Achievement” award recipients are:

Kevin Bird, University of Missouri (Advisor: Dr. J. Chris Pires) 

Katie Brown, University of Guelph (Advisor: Dr. Christina (Chris) Caruso) 

Carmela Buono, Rutgers University (Advisor: Dr. Myla F.J. Aronson) 

Alice Butler, Bucknell University (Advisor: Dr. Chris Martine) 

Wade Dismukes, University of Missouri (Advisor: Dr. J. Chris Pires) 

Ashley Donnel, Eastern Illinois University (Advisor: Dr. Scott J. Meiners) 

Benjamin Durrington, Hillsdale College (Advisor: Dr. Ranessa Cooper) 

Zoe Feder, Oberlin College (Advisor: Dr. Michael J. Moore) 

Meghan Garanich, Bucknell University (Advisor: Dr. Chris Martine) 

Cazandra Koonce, St. Louis Community College (Advisor: Dr. Scott D. Gevaert) 

Erin Johnson, Oberlin College (Advisor: Dr. Michael J. Moore) 

Evan Kilburn, Auburn University (Advisor: Dr. Robert S. Boyd) 

Ian Medeiros, College of the Atlantic (Advisor: Dr. Nishanta “Nishi” Rajakaruna) 

Jacob Mreen, St. Louis Community College (Advisor: Dr. Scott D. Gevaert) 

Julia Olivieri, Oberlin College (Advisor: Dr. Michael Moore) 

Becca Otoole, University of Florida (Advisor: Dr. Douglas Soltis) 

Madeline McClelland, Willamette University (Advisor: Dr. Susan R. Kephart) 

Sebastian Mortimer, Willamette University (Advisor: Dr. Susan R. Kephart) 

Margo Paces, Fort Lewis College (Advisor: Dr. Ross A. McCauley) 

Amanda Salvi, University of Michigan (Advisor: Dr. Selena Y. Smith) 

Jake Summers, Connecticut College (Advisor: Dr. Chad Jones)| 

Anna Talcott, Hillsdale College (Advisor: Dr. Ranessa Cooper) 

Imena Valdes, Florida International University (Advisor: Dr. Suzanne Koptur) 

Rebecca Valls, Florida International University (Advisor: Dr. Eric von Wettberg) 

Scott Van De Verg, University of Hawai’i (Advisor: Dr. Cliff Morden) 

Kayla Ventura, University of Florida (Advisor: Dr. Pamela S. Soltis) 

Lauren Walter, Hobart and William Smith Colleges (Advisor: Dr. Shannon C.K. Straub)

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 The BSA PLANTS Grant Recipients

The PLANTS (Preparing Leaders and Nurturing Tomorrow’s Scientists: Increasing the diversity of 

plant scientists) program recognizes outstanding undergraduates from diverse backgrounds and 

provides travel grants and mentoring for these students.

Timothy Batz, California State Polytechnic University (Advisor: Dr. Bharti Sharma) 

Janet Mansaray, Howard University (Advisor: Dr. Janelle Burke) 

Corey Milligan, Harris-Stowe State University (Advisor: Dr. Thomas Brown) 

Brooke Palmer, Colorado State University (Advisor: Dr. Stacey Smith) 

Vivianna Sanchez, Mount St. Mary’s University (Advisor: Dr. Adriane Jones) 

Jaime Schwoch, Portland State University (Advisor: Dr. Mitch Cruzan) 

Evelyn Valdez-Rangel, University of Houston-Downtown (Advisor: Dr. Michael Tobin) 

Rebecca Valls, Florida International University (Advisor: Dr. Eric von Wettberg) 

Nathan Vega, California State University-Fullerton (Advisor: Dr. Joshua Der) 

Monica Warner, California State University - Dominguez Hills (Advisor: Dr. Kathryn Thiess)

Shan Wong, Florida International University (Advisor: Dr. Hong Liu)

Genetics Section Student Research Awards

Genetics Section Student Research Awards provide $500 for research funding and an additional 

$500 for attendance at a future BSA meeting.

Ben Merritt, University of Cincinnati (Advisor: Dr. Theresa M. Culley), for the proposal titled 

Questions of genomic and geographic scales: Characterization and assessment of molecular tools 

in Sedum lanceolatum Torr. (Crassulaceae)”

Megan Bontrager, University of British Columbia (Advisor: Dr. Amy Angert), for the proposal 

titled “The roles of geography and environment in determining population genetic structure and 

performance at the northern range edge of Clarkia pulchella”

Genetics Section Student Travel Awards

Adam Ramsay, University of Memphis (Advisor, Dr. Jennifer R. Mandel) for the Botany 2016 

presentation: “Patterns of cyto-nuclear disequilibrium and the influence of heteroplasmy in wild 

carrot, Daucus carota (Apiaceae)” Co-author: Jennifer R. Mandel

Charles Foster, University of Sydney (Advisor, Dr. Simon Ho) for the Botany 2016 presentation: 

Evaluating the impact of genomic data and priors on Bayesian estimates of the angiosperm 

evolutionary timescale” Co-authors: Herve Sauquet, Marlien van der Merwe, Hannah 

McPherson, Maurizio Rossetto and Simon Ho

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American Journal of Botany and Applications in 

Plant Sciences: Higher Impact Factors 

 

 

Thomson Reuters recently released its latest Journal Citation Reports, and we’re 

proud that American Journal of Botany (AJB) and Applications in Plant Sciences 

(APPS) both have higher impact factors: 

AJB’s impact factor is now 2.8, and APPS is now 0.9. 

Thanks to all contributing authors, reviewers, associate editors, and  

editors-in-chief for their hard work!

Monica Warner, California State University, California State University, Dominguez Hills 

(Advisor, Dr. Kathryn E. Theiss) for the Botany 2016 presentation: “Evaluating species 

differentiation in endangered rush lillies using population genetics” Co-authors: Kathryn E. 

Theiss and Susan Kephart

Developmental & Structural Section  

Student Travel Awards

Muhammad Akbar Abdul Ghaffar, Ohio State University (Advisor, Katrina Cornish), for 

the Botany 2016 presentation: “Histological study of Laticifer and rubber particle ontogeny in 

Taraxacum kok-saghyz roots” Co-authors: Tea Meulia and Katrina Cornish

Bridget Giffei, Creighton University (Advisor, Mackenzie Taylor) for the Botany 2016 

presentation: “Post-pollination development in Ruppia maritima (Ruppiaceae, Alismatales)” Co-

authors: Christie L. Dang, Kristine M. Altrichter, Ana E. Wilden and Mackenzie Taylor

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The New Photosynthesis 

System from LI-COR is Here

Introducing the LI-6800 Portable Photosynthesis System

We can’t wait to show 

you.

See it for yourself at
www.licor.com/6800-in-action 

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72

Eat Your Weeds:  

Edible and Wild Plants in Urban  

Environmental Education and Outreach

1

By Lauren J. Frazee

2

 

Graduate Program in Ecology and Evolution, Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natu-

ral Resources, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Rutgers, The State University 

of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ 

Sara Morris-Marano 

 

  

Mohican Outdoor Center, Appalachian Mountain Club, Blairstown, NJ; Department 

of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, School of Environmental and Biological 

Sciences, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ 
Jennifer Blake-Mahmud  

Graduate Program in Ecology and Evolution, Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natu-

ral Resources, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Rutgers, The State Universi-

ty of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ 
Lena Struwe  

Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, School of Environmental and 

Biological Sciences, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ; De-

partment of Plant Biology and Pathology, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, 

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ

Abstract 

Edible weedy plants are ubiquitous in human- 

dominated areas and provide opportunities to 

combat plant blindness and improve citizens’ 

local ecological knowledge in formal and informal 

urban environmental educatio (UEE) programs. 

Weeds exemplify intriguing ecological, cultural, 

and ethnobotanical concepts, making them ideal 

resources for hands-on, socially relevant, and 

personally meaningful educational activities. 

Cosmopolitan, spontaneous, weedy plant species 

are often freely accessible for use in the curricula of 

many grade levels in varied educational venues as 

well as in extra-curricular activities for all learners, 

given that proper safety and legal precautions are 

taken. We developed and hosted a UEE outreach 

activity based on edible weedy plants at Rutgers 

University as part of an annual, university-wide 

event attended by over 80,000 people in the spring 

of 2014. Incorporating edible weeds into such 

programs teaches plant identification skills and 

ecological appreciation in settings that are “close 

to home” for most people.

SPECIAL FEATURES

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Key Words

 

botanical education; ecological knowledge; 

food; informal education; K-99 education; 

place-based learning; plant blindness; 

species identification; urban environmental 

education; urban vegetation

 

Footnotes

 

1

 Manuscript received 26 January 2016; 

revision accepted 31 March 2016.  

2

 Corresponding author email: lauren.

frazee@ rutgers.edu 

 

doi: 10.3732/psb.1500003  

Introduction 

Positive human-nature interactions are vital 

to counteract modern day environmental 

problems, yet urbanization and development 

continue to threaten our connection with 

and understanding of the biosphere (Miller, 

2005; White et al., 2010; Liefländer et al., 

2012). Current generations are becoming 

increasingly estranged from living organisms 

except other humans, supermarket food 

plants, and pets (Miller, 2005). As of 2014, 

82% of the population of the United States 

lived in urban areas (United Nations, 2014); 

native species diversity and abundance have 

declined in cities (Gaston, 2010; Duncan et 

al., 2011); and the ease of accessibility to green 

space tends to diminish as city populations 

grow (Fuller and Gaston, 2009). Together, 

these phenomena may prevent much of the 

world’s population from experiencing and 

observing nature in a positive light (Morrone 

and Meredith, 2003), ultimately leading to a 

widespread lack of environmental concern 

(Chawla, 1998). Therefore, developing 

effective materials and curricula for urban 

environmental education (UEE) that target 

a broad audience is necessary to create an 

ecologically and socially responsible society 

for the future (Tidball and Krasny, 2010; 

Ardoin et al., 2012).  

Spontaneous urban plants (also known as 

“weeds”) are ubiquitous in cities worldwide; 

they inhabit every crack and corner of the 

cityscape. The omnipresence of weeds in 

modern cities and their suburbs makes them 

some of the most universally accessible wild 

species available for study and observation. 

These weedy plants, whether native or non-

native, have traits that make them well suited 

to highly disturbed human-dominated 

environments such as suburban lawns or 

pavement cracks (e.g. Cheptou et al., 2008; Del 

Tredici, 2010). The sheer prevalence of weeds 

makes them convenient and effective tools for 

combatting plant blindness, defined as “the 

inability to see or notice the plants in one’s 

own environment, leading to the inability 

to recognize the importance of plants in the 

biosphere and in human affairs” (Wandersee 

and Schussler, 1999; Smith, 2014). Learning 

about weeds has the potential to encourage 

people to notice the abundance of plant life 

that surrounds them on a daily basis (Allen, 

2003), even within cities. Studying weeds is 

also a way to encourage learners of all ages 

and backgrounds to appreciate, respect, 

and inquire about nature in all of its diverse 

forms (e.g., useful versus not useful plants, or 

attractive versus “ugly” species).  

Weedy plant foraging and city herbalism 

have experienced a resurgence in popular 

culture in the West in recent years (e.g. Wong 

and Leroux, 2012; Lerner, 2013; Vorass-

Herrera, 2013; Blair, 2014). However, the fact 

that most urban, weedy plant species have 

ancient ethnobotanical histories and cultural 

relevance for diverse human groups is not well 

known today (Zimdahl, 2013). Chickweed, for

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example, is one of the most common vascular 

plants, found in over 100 city floras worldwide  

(Aronson et al., 2014). Chickweed has a 

well-documented ethnobotanical record 

in traditional South American, European, 

and  Asian cultures: the young shoots and 

leaves are used as ophthalmic and anti-

inflammatory medicines in Patagonia; used 

as fodder to increase egg-laying in poultry in 

central Italy; and cooked along with cabbage 

for human nourishment in southwest China 

(e.g. Guarrera et al., 2005; Weckerle et al., 

2006; Molares and Ladio, 2009). Yet, most 

wellknown and beloved plants in today’s 

Western cultures are showy horticultural 

ornamentals and garden crops—not the wild, 

weedy plants historically used for medicinal 

or food purposes. Exposing people to the 

edible, medicinal, and other cultural or 

historical uses of weeds can stimulate people’s 

interest and curiosity in wild organisms. 

Furthermore, using edible urban weeds as 

study organisms roots UEE in the socio-

ecological nature of the city by connecting 

students and the public to the natural world 

via cultural, culinary, biological, ecological, 

and historical references and provides a truly 

interdisciplinary framework for formal and 

informal education (Tidball and Krasny, 2010; 

Blanchet-Cohen and Reilly, 2013).  

Using edible weedy plants in environmental 

educational initiatives also supports the 

development and maintenance of plant 

identification skills. Being able to identify 

a species and giving it a unique name is not 

only important for educational efforts in 

combatting plant blindness, but it is also 

a crucial pre-requisite to foraging for wild 

foods. Along with the ease and accessibility of 

incorporating edible weedy plants into UEE, 

a strong emphasis must be placed on safety 

precautions. A strong foundation of botanical 

identification skills and morphological 

knowledge is necessary for the success and 

safety of any edible wild plant program. Many 

plants are edible, but many others are toxic. 

Foragers, instructors, and learners must 

be aware of toxic “lookalikes” and should 

not consume any plant product until the 

identity of the collected species is certain. 

New foragers may choose to begin with a 

mentor or guide to learn the basics of plant 

identification. Thorough, reliable field guides 

and repeated field identification practice 

are essential for cautious foraging and can 

help remind even the most experienced 

field botanists of subtle yet potentially 

important morphological differences between 

specimens. In urban settings, in particular, 

educators must also ensure that foragers are 

careful to avoid potentially toxic urban sites 

that have been contaminated by pesticides, 

fertilizers, automotive fuel, heavy metals, or 

animal waste, among other pollutants. The 

possibility of individual reactions to allergens 

in common plants should be discussed prior 

to foraging. In addition to safety precautions, 

foragers should always acquire permission 

from landowners to access and remove plant 

materials from a given site. 

We recognized the potential of using 

spontaneous weedy plants as an exciting  

and relevant way to engage the public, so 

we organized an outreach table featuring 

edible weedy plants for our local community. 

We held our outreach event at the annual 

Rutgers Day—a university-wide open house 

for Rutgers University in New Brunswick, 

New Jersey—that engages and informs the 

extended local community through activities 

provided by university students, clubs, and 

departments. The local and state-wide impact 

of this celebration is significant: in 2013, this 

event was attended by nearly 80,000 people. 

For Rutgers Day 2014, our environmental 

education table was entitled “Eat Your Weeds: 

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How to Safely Savor Wild Edible Plants.” Our 

overarching teaching goal was to encourage 

community members to make meaningful 

connections not only with living wild plants, 

but also with ecological processes and 

associated biodiversity in urban and suburban 

areas through eating weeds (Table 1).

Activity Description

Plant species selection

Six edible urban weeds that are locally 

abundant were chosen to be showcased at 

our outreach table during Rutgers Day 2014 

(Table 2): Taraxacum officinale (common 

dandelion),  Allium vineale (field garlic, wild 

onion),  Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard), 

Stellaria media (common chickweed), 

Cardamine hirsuta (hairy cress), and Rumex 

acetosella (sheep sorrel). Although not as 

common in suburban and urban areas, and 

not always strictly weedy in our part of the 

world, we also included Rosa canina (wild 

rose) and Sambucus nigra (elderberry) as 

highlighted species due to the commercial 

availability of food products using these plants 

(see Table 2). We also served two prepared 

food products: Elderflower Lemonade from a 

syrup concentrate (“Flädersaft,” IKEA Foods, 

Sweden) and Rose Hip Soup (cold) from a 

smoothie mix (“Nyponsoppa,” Ekströms, 

Eslöv, Sweden).

Fact sheet preparation

Consuming and foraging for wild foods 

involves certain risks, such as injury while 

foraging, plants growing in polluted soils, and 

poisoning due to eating misidentified plants. To 

address these potential risks, we incorporated 

safety information into our activity plan in 

the following ways: (1) the back of each recipe 

card listed foraging tips and species-specific 

advice for plant identification; (2) we supplied 

a general handout to provide information 

on how to safely collect and consume edible, 

weedy plants; and (3) we chose to highlight 

plants that grow commonly in the lawns, 

gardens, and along the sidewalk edges of 

homes, where legal and informed foraging is 

most likely to occur (with information about 

pesticides, soil quality, and other risk factors). 

Preparation of recipe cards and handouts on 

safe foraging required approximately 8 person 

hours.

Teaching Goals

Learning Outcomes

To inspire enthusiasm in a wide range of par-

ticipants To enable people to enjoy, risk- and 

cost-free   edible weedy plants

For participants across age ranges to express 

excitement and enthusiasm in trying new cu-

linary dishes featuring weeds

To disseminate information regarding the 

safe identification, procurement, and prepa-

ration of weedy plants

For participants to collect resources enabling   

effective plant identification, collection, and 

preparation with the intent to use them in the 

future

To broaden perspectives and attitudes about-

weedy plants

For participants to entertain wider view-

points regarding the usefulness of sponta-

neous vegetation

Table 1. “Eat Your Weeds” educational outreach goals and outcomes.

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Plant species name

Recipe(s) created

Role(s) in activity

Alliaria petiolata 

Garlic mustard 

(Brassicaceae)

Garlic Mustard Hummus

Sample tasting, recipe 

handout, and live plant 

display

Allium vineale 

Wild garlic or onion 

(Amaryllidaceae) 

Cream Cheese Spread with Wild 

Garlic Shoots

Sample tasting, recipe 

handout, and live plant 

display

Cardamine hirsuta 

Hairy cress 

(Brassicaceae)

Hairy Cress Salad with Goat 

Cheese, Walnuts, and Honey- 

Dijon Vinaigrette

Recipe handout and live 

plant display

Rosa canina 

Wild rose 

(Rosaceae)

Rose Hip Soup*

Sample tasting and live 

plant display

Rumex acetosella 

Sheep sorrel 

(Polygonaceae)

Fresh Fruit Salad with Sheep 

Sorrel and Sweet Whipped 

Cream

Recipe handout

Sambucus nigra 

Elderberry 

(Adoxaceae)

Elderflower Lemonade*

Sample tasting

Stellaria media 

Chickweed 

(Caryophyllaceae) 

Sautéed Chickweed with Ginger, 

Garlic, and Soy Sauce

Recipe handout and live 

plant display

Taraxacum officinale 

Dandelion 

(Asteraceae)

Dandelion Flower Lemonade†; 

Deep-Fried Dandelion Flowers;  

Orecchiette Pasta with Italian 

Sausage, Dandelion Greens, and 

Lemon Zest

Sample tasting, recipe 

handouts, and live plant 

display

Table 2. Food and drink featured plant contents and role. 
Notes: 

*Rose Hip Soup and Elderflower Lemonade are not original recipes; these beverages are avail-

able commercially. †Dandelion Flower Lemonade was used as the sample tasting dish for T. 

officinale.

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Recipe preparation

Over several weeks we developed eight original 

recipes based on six of our highlighted weedy 

plant species. We selected three of the eight 

original recipes to feature in our free tastings, 

using three species of the most easily accessible 

and identifiable weeds: Alliaria petiolata, 

Allium vineale, and Taraxacum officinale. 

For ingredients we spent approximately 3 

hours foraging for plant material locally 

in areas where pesticides and herbicides 

had not been applied. We prepared Cream 

Cheese Spread with Wild Garlic Shoots (Fig. 

1), Garlic Mustard Hummus, Elderflower 

Lemonade, Rose Hip Soup, and Dandelion 

Flower Lemonade in bulk to offer as samples 

on crackers and in small tasting cups at our 

table (see Table 2). Food preparation prior 

to the event required approximately 6 hours 

to prepare the necessary quantities (i.e. two 

gallons of Rose Hip Soup, two gallons of 

Dandelion Flower Lemonade, two gallons of 

Elderflower Lemonade, and 64 ounces each of 

Garlic Mustard Hummus and Cream Cheese 

Spread with Wild Garlic Shoots).

Event day set-up

With set-up teams consisting of two people 

and two handcarts, we set up three tables along 

one of the major pedestrian paths on Cook 

Campus, Rutgers University during Rutgers 

Day. Our outreach area was equipped with a 

large, custom-designed overhead sign reading 

“WEEDS” made from clear plastic tubing 

filled with a variety of dried weedy plant parts 

(Fig. 2). A newly developed, original logo 

that read “EAT YOUR WEEDS” appeared 

on all outreach materials (Fig. 3). Outreach 

materials included recipe cards with a picture 

of its featured edible weed and specific foraging 

tips; new, illustrated field identification guides 

Figure 1. Cream Cheese Spread with Wild 

Garlic Shoots and hairy cress garnish (center) 

and Garlic Mustard Hummus (either side) on 

crackers. These recipes were prepared in bulk 

to distribute sample tastings at our “Eat Your 

Weeds” table at Rutgers Day 2014. Photo: cc // 

Lena Struwe, 2014.
to 34 local weeds; and handouts on safe 

foraging practices. We dug up and potted over 

20 living examples of weedy species featured 

in our field guide and displayed these on one 

of the tables (see Fig. 2). We also incentivized 

food sampling by handing out stickers about 

weeds to all tasters with fun and informative 

messages such as “I eat weeds,” “Weeds are also 

made of stardust,” “I drink weeds,” “Weeds are 

superevolutionary,” and “Without humans, no 

weeds.” All of our materials (recipe cards, field 

guide, and foraging safety handout) are freely 

available as PDF files on our website and blog 

(Struwe, 2014; http://4weeds.blogspot.com). 

We staffed our table with two to four rotating 

volunteers throughout the day.column.}

Results

At the 8-hour-long Rutgers Day event on 

26 April 2014, we distributed over 2000 free 

samples of weedy food and beverage items 

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Figure 2. A memorable sign, reading “WEEDS” and made out of dried plant material in tubes, sits 

above potted weedy plant example specimens at our “Eat Your Weeds” table at Rutgers Day 2014. 

Pictured from left to right are Lauren J. Frazee, volunteer Zachary Bunda, and Dr. Lena Struwe. 

Photo: cc // Jennifer Blake-Mahmud, 2014.

at our outreach table. We estimate that we 

communicated directly or indirectly (though 

visuals, handout materials, or “sticker 

interactions”) with 2000 to 3000 visitors about 

the public misconceptions and overlooked 

virtues of weeds in today’s society, including 

but not limited to edibility. We also handed out 

over 400 recipe cards and about 500 field guide 

pamphlets. Almost 84,000 people attended 

Rutgers Day 2014 overall (Szteinbaum et al., 

2014).

Although Rutgers Day attracts community 

members of diverse backgrounds, there were 

common themes in responses from the public. 

While we conducted no formal assessment of 

visitors to our table to evaluate our learning 

goals and outcomes, volunteers jotted down 

notes of interesting stories and interactions 

during the event. Five to six table volunteers 

then discussed these anecdotes during our 

reflection and debriefing process, and here we 

present and interpret that information. Table 

visitors included faculty members, students, 

friends, and parents as well as local families 

with elderly relatives and toddlers in tow. Most 

people were very interested in the sample 

tastings, and some returned to the table twice 

or more that day. The most popular recipe 

cards were for Deep-Fried Dandelion Flowers 

and Cream Cheese Spread with Wild Garlic 

Shoots. Many visitors quickly recognized our 

example specimens and sample ingredients 

(see Table 2; Fig. 2) as plants that are common 

in their own yards or neighborhoods. The most 

common question for plant identification 

was about Lamium purpureum (deadnettle), 

a common weed in many front yards at that 

time of the year (i.e., early-mid spring), and 

many people wanted to know how to rid their 

yards of it.

Children as well as adults added the stickers to 

their clothing and wore them around campus 

for the remainder of the day, potentially 

providing (and provoking) interactions on 

weedy plant topics with additional visitors 

that not yet had visited (or could not visit) our 

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Figure 3. An original logo created for our “Eat 

Your Weeds” table at Rutgers Day 2014 appear-

edon all outreach materials. Image: cc // Lena 

Struwe, 2014 

table.  Many adults reminisced with us about 

what they or their older relatives used to eat 

earlier in their lives and told us (and children, 

if present) about foraging for wild plants as 

children, drinking older relatives’ dandelion 

wine, and where the best spots were for 

finding certain species. A disabled veteran 

told us about foraging for stinging nettle in 

New Jersey and that he appreciated our effort 

to educate the public about edible plants.

Discussion

Using edible weeds in UEE is an effective 

way to stimulate curiosity in plants, to 

broaden perspectives on spontaneous 

weedy vegetation, and to encourage plant 

identification skills. This activity combats 

plant blindness by encouraging participants to 

observe and experience weedy plants, which 

are often overlooked and underappreciated. 

The intended take-home message for festival-

goers and visitors to our table was: “Notice 

these plants, all plants, and all life, for that 

matter; experience them; enjoy them; and find 

out what they do and represent” (see Table 1).  

This type of activity strengthens connections 

between the people of the New Jersey–New 

York metropolitan area and their local, urban 

flora.

We attribute our success in implementing our 

outreach program on edible, urban weeds 

to three factors. First, utilizing local, urban 

weeds in UEE is a means of outdoor, place-

based learning (Theobald, 1997; Kolb, 2014). 

In place-based learning, students make use 

of nearby resources to study both the natural 

world and the community; all such lessons 

come directly from the context of the local 

environment (Gruenewald and Smith, 2014). 

Place-based curricula have also been found 

to increase student motivations for scholastic 

achievement (Powers, 2004).  Moreover, the 

opportunities (or “places” themselves) for 

studying weeds occur at every point in time 

and space along the urban-rural gradient. 

The cityscape itself is transformed into a 

living laboratory when weeds become study 

organisms. Students can uproot local weeds, 

bring them to their classroom, and interact 

with them directly. Getting students out and 

into their surroundings to experience wild 

organisms will help combat the ongoing trend 

of human disconnection from nature through 

direct contact with plants (Miller, 2005). 

Second, the edible weeds that we presented 

at our activity have traditional significance 

for many ethnic and cultural groups and are 

highly recognizable. Simply put, humans 

both love and hate weeds. In general, weeds 

have been and continue to be associated with 

all human settlements in urban, suburban, 

and rural environments worldwide; weeds 

are a universal human phenomenon. All 

of the weedy plants featured in this activity 

are economically important as sources of 

flavoring agents, medicine, vegetables, fruits, 

and/or serve as ornamental species (see Table 

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2; Wiersema and León, 2013). In modern 

cities, weedy plants are considered important 

in the provisioning of ecosystem services 

such as habitat for wild species, microhabitat 

regulation, and air filtration (Robinson and 

Lundholm, 2012). The connections between 

metropolitan areas, people, and weeds are a 

result of the complex sociopolitical ecology 

of urban development (Gaston, 2010). In this 

way, we presented social as well as biological 

and cultural contexts for learning about each 

plant.

Third, our tasting opportunities, take-home 

recipes and guides, thought-provoking 

stickers, and weedy plant example specimens 

encouraged an active, multisensory, 

kinesthetic, and engaging experience (Stern 

et al., 2014). Eating, in itself, is a personal 

action that can translate into multi-sensory, 

experiential learning. Visitors to our outreach 

table could choose to partake in learning 

and exploration by any or all of the following 

methods: eating or drinking free samples; 

smelling plants, choosing favorite recipes 

for future use; perusing species guides and 

safety pamphlets; observing live plants 

labeled with species names; talking to us and 

asking questions; and even sharing their own 

experiences with fellow visitors.

In all, food is inherently motivating and, 

perhaps most importantly, eating weeds is 

a novelty in today’s society. We tend to care 

about and remember the texture, tastes, and 

smells of certain foods, thereby encouraging 

connections with personal experiences. Using 

edible plants and food preparation methods 

in educational activities such as the Food, 

Math, and Science Teaching Enhancement 

Resource Initiative developed at East Carolina 

University (USA) has shown to increase 

students’ abilities to retain information in the 

life sciences (Duffrin et al., 2010; Hovland 

et al., 2013). Moreover, both accompanying 

students in local foraging activities and 

encouraging members of the public to engage 

in independent wild plant foraging and 

then preparing wild plant foods promotes 

learning-by-doing, or experience-based 

learning. Outdoor, field-based experiences 

in general can be highly memorable and 

beneficial to learners (Dillon et al., 2006). 

Similarly, schoolyard vegetable gardening 

activities have been touted as a key method for 

improving children’s environmental attitudes 

and aptitude in the sciences (Waliczek and 

Zajicek, 1999; Williams and Dixon, 2013).

Risk is an inherent part of foraging and 

consuming wild plant species, but the design 

of this activity helps to minimize those risks. 

We chose to highlight certain species for 

Weeds are natural 

choices for use in  

urban environmental 

education due to their 

relative abundance 

in cities and suburbs, 

interesting ecological 

niches, and strong 

 

historical associations 

with a diversity of  

cultural practices. 

These are globally 

 

accessible resources 

with  broad  appeal   

for    informal public  

outreach as well 

as formal nature 

 

education.

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sample tastings (i.e., dandelion, wild onion/

wild garlic, and garlic mustard) that are easy to 

identify by characteristic leaf morphology and 

have no poisonous “look-alikes.” Dandelion 

flower heads and their tufted, wind-blown 

fruits are well-recognized in modern culture, 

and their use as a decorative motif—in 

stationery, interior design, and even tattoos—

has recently surged. Wild onion and garlic 

mustard leaves have distinct, pungent scents 

when broken. All of these species are usually 

found in high density and abundance where 

they are present and generally do not cause 

allergic reactions in humans. (However, people 

with food allergies should remain cautious.) In 

addition, these species look strikingly different 

from the most common poisonous plants in 

the mid-Atlantic and northeastern United 

States, such as jimsonweed, nightshade, and 

poison ivy, which can cause symptoms such 

as gastric irritation and painful rashes. We 

strongly discourage consuming or serving 

any foods made with wild plant species unless 

their species identities have been confirmed 

with 100% accuracy. All plant species used 

in this activity can be harvested up to two 

weeks before food preparation, refrigerated, 

and verified with a specialist ahead of time. 

Local botanical societies or institutions of 

higher education may be able to assist with 

verification. Learning to forage for edible 

plants, or simply knowing the toxic plants 

in your environment, necessitates a strong 

knowledge in botanical identification of 

species and their morphologies and provides 

an excellent argument for improved botanical 

education at the K-99 level.

Using urban edible plants in informal public 

education easily lends itself to formal lesson 

planning in the plant sciences and UEE as well 

as to other informal contexts in diverse venues 

and seasons. These activities could be prepared 

for small or large crowds anywhere there are 

wild edible plants, but the accessibility of edible 

weeds in city and suburban environments 

makes them especially meaningful for UEE. In 

the mid-Atlantic and northeastern urbanized 

United States, educators can typically forage 

during much of the growing season for plant 

materials or sample specimens of the species 

used here (after asking permission from 

property owners or land managers, where 

necessary). Wild onion grows prolifically in 

lawns in the early spring and late fall in this 

region, whereas dandelion and garlic mustard 

have leafy growth in lawns and suburban 

woods, respectively, from the early spring 

through the fall. Moreover, there are numerous 

other edible urban plant species available for 

harvest and study outside of temperate zones. 

Of the 17 most common urban plants in cities 

around the world (Aronson et al., 2014), all 

but four have well-described edible and/or 

medicinal uses (Wiersema and León, 2013).

We recommend that educators account 

for certain logistical factors when hosting 

large-scale outreach events based on foods 

and beverages made from urban weeds. 

The limiting factor in making this activity 

successful for large crowds (such as Rutgers 

Day) is simply the number of volunteer hours 

needed for bulk food preparation and “plating” 

or serving during the event. Crackers topped 

with Garlic Mustard Hummus and Cream 

Cheese Spread with Wild Garlic Shoots 

were taken up by visitors at a rate exceeding 

the speed at which we could prepare them. 

Various strategies could be implemented to 

relieve volunteers from this burden, such as 

using squeeze bottles to dispense toppings 

onto crackers, planning to serve less labor-

intensive samples, or simply doing more 

preparatory work ahead of time. Furthermore, 

we suggest serving at least one drink and at 

least one solid food and choosing recipes that 

are palatable across a wide range of tastes 

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(e.g. sweet and savory) to diversify the menu. 

Tasters should have easy access to ingredient 

lists to avoid problems with food allergies and 

intolerances. Another important planning 

consideration is seasonality. For example, the 

herbaceous weedy species harvested for this 

event are not available in late fall and winter 

in temperate areas.  However, we do see the 

potential for educators to develop seasonal 

edible weed activities that reflect the change 

in plant species composition throughout the 

year, especially in temperate climates.

Conclusions

Our “Eat Your Weeds” outreach table at Rutgers 

Day 2014 in New Brunswick, NJ, is an example 

of how to incorporate plant- and place-based 

learning, socioecological connections, and 

direct contact with wild organisms in urban 

environments in a practical and fun way. 

We have evaluated our outreach activity as 

highly successful in encouraging community 

members to become more familiar with local, 

wild plant biodiversity in an urban setting 

(see Table 1). We received overwhelmingly 

positive feedback and recognition from 

visitors, observers, and university media 

(Szteinbaum et al., 2014). Edible urban weeds 

are an easy and economical teaching tool 

for active, culturally relevant, place-based 

learning in UEE and in combatting plant 

blindness. Weeds are natural choices for use 

in UEE due to their relative abundance in 

cities and suburbs, interesting ecological 

niches, and strong historical associations 

with a diversity of cultural practices. These 

are globally accessible resources with broad 

appeal for informal public outreach as well as 

formal nature education.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Aishwarya Bhattacharjee, 

Zachary Bunda, Leif Albert, Natalie Howe, 

Carlos Olivares, and Julia Perzley for 

preparing and serving food and volunteering 

at our table on Rutgers Day 2014. We are also 

grateful to Laura Shappell for designing the 

field guide pamphlet, which was illustrated by 

Bobbi Angell. The “Eat Your Weeds” project 

was sponsored by the Chrysler Herbarium, 

and our Rutgers Day table was arranged 

through Department of Ecology, Evolution, 

and Natural Resources and Department of 

Plant Biology and Pathology at The School 

of Environmental and Biological Sciences at 

Rutgers University. This project was supported 

by a USDA-Hatch grant (NJ17145) and a 

USDA planning grant (WERA1015) awarded 

to L.S. 

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Abstract

“Plant blindness” is lack of botanical 

awareness. In Shakespearean London, 

knowledge of plants among the general 

public can be characterized as extensive. 

Allusions to dozens of wildflowers, weeds, 

and plant-derived potions were immediately 

understood by Shakespeare’s audiences. By 

comparison, in modern London, a published 

study showed that secondary level students, 

graduates, and a substantial portion of 

biology teachers, could scarcely recognize ten 

common wildflowers. Eight of these ten are 

referenced in Shakespeare, and all appear in 

British folklore. This comparison of historical 

versus contemporary plant knowledge in 

a given locale appears unique, but studies 

focusing on comparisons of contemporary 

rural versus urban environments are available. 

Both categories of comparisons support the 

conclusion that contemporary urban life 

promotes plant blindness. Disconnection 

from agricultural and natural environments 

(“nature deficit disorder”), not zoocentrism, 

is likely responsible for “plant blindness.” 

Electronic media with botanical themes 

offer one potential venue for re-establishing 

awareness of plants. 

Shakespeare, Plant Blindness and 

Electronic Media

1

Key Words

botanical literacy; nature deficit disorder; 

plant blindness; Shakespeare; video games

Footnotes

Resubmission received 25 March 2016; 

revision accepted 26 March 2016. 

Corresponding author email: fdugan@wsu.

edu

doi: 10.3732/psb.1600002

Introduction:  

The Bard’s Botany

In the preface to Roy Vickery’s (2010) volume 

on British and Irish plant lore, a tale is told of 

the great ethnobotanist Richard Evans Schultes 

(1915-2001). “The great man” in conversation 

with Vickery makes the pronouncement, 

“The British Isles have no ethnobotany.” The 

majority of Vickery’s 226 pages document 

the opposite. It is true that we don’t think of 

peoples of the British Isles as using plant-

derived body paint in ceremonies and rituals, 

nor as consulting shamans intoxicated on 

plant hallucinogens, so in this sense Schultes 

was correct. But that the Isles host centuries-

old plant lore is beyond dispute. Although 

Vickery (2010) deserves a careful read from 

any persons interested in plant lore of the 

European tradition, an alternative source for 

much of this lore is found in more widely 

read literature: Shakespeare. This plant lore is 

highly pertinent to the current concept and 

debates regarding “plant blindness.”

By Frank M. Dugan

2

USDA-ARS Plant Introduction, Washing-

ton State University, Pullman, WA.

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Most readers will recall in Shakespeare’s 

plays allusions to plant products, such as a 

love potion:

The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid  

Will make man or woman madly dote 

Upon the next live creature that it sees.    

 

 (Midsummer Night’s Dream II.i.)

Or, plant poisons:

 … I would the milk 

 Thy mother gave thee when thou suck’dst 

her breast 

Had been a little ratsbane for thy sake! 

 

 

 

 (1 Henry VI V.iv.)

Such themes are abundant in Shakespeare. 

Tabor (1970) provided a catalog of abundant 

instances of plant poisons and potions in 

Shakespeare.

Shakespeare also had knowledge of weedy 

plants, and attributed to them symbolic as 

well as agronomic significance (Archer et al., 

2012). Thus we have Lear’s daughter Cordelia:

Alack ‘tis he: why, he was met even now  

As mad as the vext sea; singing aloud;  

Crown’d with rank fumitor and fur row-       

 weeds, 

With bur-docks, hemlock, nettles,   

 

 

cucko-flowers,  

Darnel, and all the idle weeds that grow 

In our sustaining corn.

 

 

   

 

   (King Lear IV.iv)

Or, the Duke of Burgundy:

…her fallow leas   

The darnel, hemlock, and rank fumitory,  

Do root upon …    

…and nothing teems  

 

But hateful docks, rough thistles, kecksies, 

burs  

 

   (Henry V V.ii)

Figure 1. Lear’s crown of weeds (from Clarke 

and Clarke, 1864). Alternative representations  

of Lear’s crown as containing attractive daisies,  

clover, wildflowers, even roses, etc., miss the 

bard’s intent (Archer et al., 2012).
Leaving aside for the moment the botanical 

identity of such plants as kecksies and cucko-

flowers, it seems apparent that weeds such 

as “rank fumitory” are both symptom and 

symbol of things going badly (Fig. 1), and that 

Shakespeare could specify quite a few weeds 

(Archer et al., 2012). However, most analyses 

of Shakespeare’s botany have focused on the 

Shakespearean flowers.

Over decades, there have been reams 

written on flowers and their connotations in 

Shakespeare (e.g., Ellacombe, 1884; Grindon, 

1883; Savage, 1923; Thiselton Dyer, 1884; 

Willes, 2015). For example, we have Oberon, 

on scenic beauty:

I know a bank where the wild thyme  

 

 

 blows, 

Where oxslips and the nodding violet  

 

 grows; 

 

Quite over-canopied with lush wood 

 

     bine, 

With sweet musk-roses, and with    

 

 

 

eglantine 

    

 

(Midsummer Night’s Dream II.i.) 

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Or, Autolycus, singing for joy:

When daffodils begin to peer,  

 

With hey! the doxy over the dale,   

Why, then comes in the sweet o’the  

 

 

 year    

 

  

(Winter’s Tale IV.ii)

The whole point of this foray into potions, 

weeds, and flowers is that Shakespeare was 

familiar with many plants, their significance, 

and their products. Approximately 190 plant 

names appear in Shakespeare (Rydén, 1978). 

Given the time and changes in language that 

separate us from Shakespeare, and given 

that he wrote well in advance of Linnaean 

taxonomy, it’s understandable that some 

names remain ambiguous for us. It’s difficult 

to determine with precision exactly which 

Linnaean species were intended by some 

names, such as “lady-smocks” (Lever, 1952). 

However, when Shakespeare used flowers 

as symbols, he assumed his audience would 

understand. Various sources strongly affirm 

that Shakespeare’s audiences understood 

his botanical allusions and were otherwise 

familiar with numerous plants and their 

properties: “It is essential to remember that 

the flower symbolism had to be understood 

by an ordinarily intelligent audience, or 

the scene would be meaningless” (Lever, 

1952). Shakespeare’s use of these symbols 

was “familiar and meaningful to Elizabethan 

theatre-goers” (Rydén, 1978). Occasionally 

the significance of a name for a given plant, 

or herbal potion, may have eluded some of 

his audience, but this was very unlikely to 

happen consistently. “With their virtues and 

properties (real or imagined) plants were, to 

an extent unknown today, in the centre of 

everyone’s life” (Rydén, 1978). “Town and 

country dweller alike knew the names of 

herbs and flowers used in cookery, household 

remedies and gardens” (Boas Hall, quoted 

in Rydén, 1978). Although correspondence 

between Shakespearean plant names and 

their Linnaean counterparts may sometimes 

be in doubt, there is no doubt that “Each 

plant would ‘speak’ to Shakespeare’s audience” 

(Thomas and Faircloth, 2014). “Shakespeare’s 

botanical references are not mere literary 

devices; they take us to the very heart of social 

life in Elizabethan and Jacobean England” 

(Willes, 2015). We can reasonably assume that 

most of his audience recognized several dozen 

plant names and their contextual allusions in 

the plays and sonnets. 

Remember also that Shakespeare’s London 

(the growing urban center, plus neighboring 

villages later subsumed into greater London), 

although rapidly expanding, was about 

200,000 inhabitants at the end of the 16th 

century (Porter, 2009). He or any other 

inhabitant could walk out of densely populated 

neighborhoods into the countryside (or if 

equipped with horse or carriage, ride out even 

more quickly) and no doubt a high proportion 

of Londoners often did: “Nature was close at 

hand for any Londoner with eyes to see” (Tuan, 

1978). They, far more often than modern city 

dwellers, became familiar with the plants, 

livestock, and wildlife of the countryside 

even if these persons had not originated 

from rural areas. Moreover, those who were 

literate were exposed to an increasing array of 

cheap, printed herbals and agronomic tracts 

(Dugan, 2015). Also, with the National Health 

Service being non-existent in those days, 

most people in London or elsewhere, when ill 

(or when in need of love charms, spells, etc.), 

turned to what was known as cunning folk 

(usually “wise-women” or “herb-wives”), or 

to the apothecaries to whom the herb-wives 

sold plants, for plant-based therapies (Allen 

and Hatfield, 2004; Beith, 1995). Neither 

countryside nor plants were far away for the 

common Londoner.

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The Bard’s Audiences  

Compared to the Modern 

Urban Public

Assuming that the hypothesis of high botanical 

literacy amongst Shakespeare’s audiences is 

well supported by the above arguments, it 

seems irresistible to compare this situation 

with that of today’s urban populations. 

Such comparisons are methodologically 

problematic, given differences in gender, 

age, and ethnicity between audiences of 

Shakespeare’s time and populations in today’s 

London. And studies addressing the botanical 

literacy of modern, London populations are, to 

put it mildly, rare. I’ve found one: Bebbington 

(2005). In this study, 812 A-level biology 

students (essentially the equivalent of high 

school seniors in the United States), another 

92 persons who had graduated from A-level, 

plus 21 biology teachers, were presented with 

a color sheet illustrating ten very common 

British wildflowers (ragwort, cow parsley, 

foxglove, red campion, germander speedwell, 

primrose, lesser celandine, common dog 

violet, common daisy, and greater plantain). 

Although considerable latitude was given 

in naming (e.g., any form of “violet” would 

do for “common dog violet”), no A-level 

students were able to name eight or more 

plants, 10% could name none, and 93% 

could name only four or fewer plants. Recent 

graduates of A-level, still enrolled in some 

form of schooling, exhibited slightly greater 

competence: 3% to 5% could name eight or 

more plants, but 81% to 91% of graduates 

could name only four or fewer plants. Biology 

teachers fared best, with only 5% able to name 

none, 10% were able to name all ten plants, 

34% could name only four or fewer plants, and 

38% could name eight or more. (On the online 

pdf, gray scale with deplorable resolution 

[okay, we all have our excuses], yours truly, 

the plant scientist, initially recognized seven: 

cow parsley, foxglove, campion, primrose, 

violet, daisy, and plantain.) 

How many of these ten plants can be 

documented as relevant to Shakespeare’s 

audiences? Rydén (1978) does not index 

ragwort, foxglove, speedwell, or celandine, 

but has numerous entries for primrose, 

daisy, and violet; considers cow parsley one 

of the contenders for “kecksies” along with 

other umbelliferous plants; ties campion to 

“Cuckow flower” (probably Lychnis, “a much-

vexed problem”); and specifies plantain as a 

medicinal plant in Shakespeare. Rydén’s list of 

Latin (Linnaean) names is much shorter than 

that for common names, reflecting ambiguities 

in assignment, and some of the Latin names 

below are absent in Rydén (1978).

Name assignment, sometimes encompassing 

Latin names, is collectively more extensive  

in other relevant sources, but not necessarily 

more accurate: Of the ten plants, Savage 

(1923) indexes primrose (Primula vulgaris), 

violet (Viola odorata), daisy (Bellis perennis

and plantain (Plantago major) as occurring 

in Shakespeare, as did Ellacombe (1884), 

but with the latter sometimes lacking (or 

with differing) specific epithets. Cook (1940) 

provides references (play, act, scene, and line) 

for primrose, violet, and daisy. Cow parsley, or 

Anthriscus sylvestris (Darbyshire et al., 1999) 

is probably Shakespeare’s “kecksies” (above), 

used to refer to weedy plants in the Apiaceae 

in general, and sometimes cow parsley in 

particular (Thomas and Faircloth, 2014). 

Ellacombe (1884) and Thiselton Dyer (1884) 

thought kecksies to be dried stalks of hemlock, 

but this opinion is discounted by Thomas and 

Faircloth (2014) on the basis that hemlock 

is otherwise designated in Shakespeare. The 

“cucko-flower” in Shakespeare is very likely 

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the red campion (Elton, 1904), a name applied 

to various reddish or pink-tinted flowers in 

Silene (Lychnis). 

Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) is a different case 

because, “Strangely enough, the foxglove … is 

not mentioned by Shakespeare”—“strangely” 

because the plant is striking and was common 

in Shakespeare’s British landscape (Grieve, 

1931). It was recorded as used by common folk, 

topically (as a bath), against fairy changelings 

(Lamb, 2007), and was in 17th-century 

London sought by gardeners (Clayton, 2003), 

so it is highly probable that Shakespearean 

audiences knew it well. Bebbington’s (2005) 

“germander speedwell” (

Veronica chamaedrys

is a bit more slippery. Speedwell or “Fluellen” 

(“members of the Veronicaceae family”) seem 

represented only by the name of a character 

in Shakespeare, Captain Fluellen (Henry V 

IV.i.), in which the name of the plant seems 

to indicate the character’s status (Thomas and 

Faircloth, 2014). Lesser celandine (Ranunculus 

ficaria

, one of the yellow buttercups

) is 

suggested for one of Shakespeare’s somewhat 

ambiguous references, cuckoo-bud (differing 

from cuckoo-flower, according to Thomas and 

Faircloth, 2014). “Cuckoo-buds” are denoted 

simply as Ranunculus in Savage (1923), or what 

moderns often call buttercups, an opinion 

seconded by Ellacombe (1878) and Willes 

(2015). A remaining challenge is “ragwort” 

(usually  J

acobaea vulgaris, syn. Senecio 

jacobaea, but sometimes related species

), 

and I could find no direct reference to it in 

Shakespeare. The poet John Clare, an ardent 

admirer of Shakespeare, wrote a sonnet, “The 

Ragwort” (1832), in which “tattered weed 

of small worth held” (Shakespeare’s second 

sonnet) is presented as “tattered leaves” of 

Clare’s first line. Ragwort was, in the British 

Isles of the 16th century and later, thought to 

be used by fairies as a “riding stick” (Simpson, 

1995), implying a popular awareness of 

the plant. “

Gerard [the famed herbalist, 

contemporary with Shakespeare] noted 

that the ragwort or St. James’s wort (Senecio 

jacobaea) was known by country people as 

‘stagger-wort’” (Drury, 1985).

So, Shakespeare very probably alluded to eight 

of Bebbington’s (2005) ten plants (cow parsley, 

campion, speedwell, primrose, celandine, 

violet, daisy, plantain; or their closest 

relatives, very similar in appearance and 

perhaps indistinguishable at the time), and 

the other two (ragwort, foxglove) are clearly 

indicated as common in Shakespeare’s day, 

and were embedded in folklore. All ten plants 

are further documented in British folklore 

(Vickery, 2010). It must be remembered 

that there were no folklorists per se in 

Shakespeare’s day. Folklore was collected and 

published by folklorists much later (Artese, 

2015). Shakespeare himself “was the first great 

folklorist who went to the very source of the 

learning of the folk.… He was a conscientious 

collector who did not invent, but saw the 

inherent beauty of the popular mythology, 

and then presented it to the world” (Wheatley, 

1916). The most reasonable assumption, given 

evidence above for widespread botanical 

literacy in Shakespearean London, given 

that Shakespeare’s botanical allusions were 

intended to be understood by his audience, 

and given that all these plants are well 

documented in British rural folklore, is that 

Shakespeare’s audiences and other intelligent 

people of the general public were familiar with 

all or most of these ten plants and capable of 

recognizing them. They would have scored 

highly on Bebbington’s (2005) test, certainly 

better than the modern A-level students and 

A-level graduates (the overwhelming majority 

of whom could name only four or fewer of the 

ten common wild flowers), perhaps better 

than Bebbington’s biology teachers (more 

than a third of whom could name only four or 

fewer). And probably better than me (at only 

seven)!

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The most plausible conclusion is that by 

comparison with Shakespeare’s day, botanical 

literacy of the general populace has gone 

downhill in modern London, and by 

extension, other urban environments. Given 

the proximity of Shakespearean audiences 

to nature, and the lack of such proximity 

in modern urban populations, this isn’t a 

shocking conclusion. Common sense dictates 

that rural populations will, collectively, 

have a more extensive knowledge of nature 

than urban populations, and you can take 

your pick of academic studies that support 

this conclusion. For example: Among 507 

modern German adolescents, urban settings 

and preferences had a negative correlation 

with knowledge of trees and herbs relative 

to settings and preferences closer to nature 

(Lückmann and Menzel, 2014). In general, 

urbanization results in lower population 

exposure to natural biodiversity (Turner 

et al., 2004). These processes have bearing 

on a current, much discussed perspective 

regarding botanical literacy, “plant blindness.”  

Plant Blindness

First introduced as a pedagogical term in 

education (Wandersee and Schussler, 1998), 

the term “plant blindness” soon evolved to 

a theory (Wandersee and Schussler, 2001). 

Essentially, it’s held that current learning 

about organisms is zoocentric, resulting in 

diminished knowledge about plants relative 

to knowledge about animals (Hershey, 2002; 

Strgar, 2007; Schussler and Olzak, 2008), 

although there may be deeper explanations: 

“Instead of invoking zoological biases as 

the root cause, there may well be a visual-

cognitive-societal basis for why plants … 

are frequently ignored or undervalued” 

(Wandersee and Schussler, 2001). But whether 

by conspiracy, design, or social evolution, it’s 

usually held that animals are more engaging 

than plants.  

A variety of strategies including online 

learning, plant-based learning modules 

and laboratory exercises (Fig. 2) have been 

designed to counteract plant blindness 

(Hemingway et al., 2011; Uno, 2009). The 

idea is that somehow, there must be a way that 

teachers can make fir trees or pampas grass 

as exciting as baby pandas. For example, an 

intensive survey of 1299 Viennese secondary 

students (grades 5-12) strongly indicated that 

medicinal plants and “stimulant herbal drugs” 

(sage and belladonna are later specified, but 

one can guess about some others) are of 

greater interest than ornamental or edible 

plants (Pany, 2014). To successfully build 

on the children’s interest, plants in the first 

two categories should be emphasized for 

teaching: “No time should be wasted on plants 

considered as uninteresting” (Pany, 2014). 

This is not great news for agronomists wanting 

to reach out to young urban students, but it 

probably accurately reflects views of city kids. 

Unsurprisingly, the most consistent interest 

across grades was in stimulants, a somewhat 

problematic teaching vehicle.

Figure 2. Students, well-recovered from plant 

blindness, inspect one of their chlorophyllous friends 

(from Washington State University Department of 

Plant Pathology, http://plantpath.wsu.edu).

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There are also studies of children’s knowledge 

of animals (e.g., Balmford et al., 2002; 

Genovart et al., 2013; Westervelt, 1984). 

Moreover, historical folklore collected in 

broad or restricted locales at specified dates 

can be examined for ethnozoological or 

ethnobotanical relevance. But comparisons 

with contemporary knowledge about animals 

seem even more fraught with difficulty than 

the comparison above. I know of no published 

source enabling comparison of historical 

ethnozoological knowledge with that of 

contemporary knowledge in a specific locale, 

analogous to use of Shakespeare in making 

comparison to Bebbington (2005). Based on 

experience, I assert that urban children are 

more likely to have diminished knowledge of 

animals (as well as plants) relative to children 

who have grown up experiencing the zoobiota 

of farms, fields, and forests, an assertion 

commensurate with Lückmann and Menzel 

(2014) and Turner et al. (2004). Accordingly, 

a very legitimate hypothesis is that separation 

from nature and agriculture—“nature 

deficit disorder” (Louv, 2008)—is the factor 

primarily responsible for plant blindness. 

Unsurprisingly, the connection between 

nature deficit disorder and plant blindness is 

explored in education literature (e.g., Frisch et al., 

2010).

Electronic Media

The closest most kids get to genuine 

enthusiasm for botany is the video game Plants 

vs. Zombies (Popcap Games, Seattle). (If you 

don’t know what this is, kids will think you’re 

mentally deficient.) You may have noticed 

that despite the attraction of children to video 

games, there is virtually no deployment of 

analogously colorful, fast-paced, interactive 

gaming for legitimate learning in chemistry, 

biology, history, etc. Admittedly, there are a 

few tentative steps, e.g., Klopfer et al. (2012), 

on a game with cartoon characters and 

competition for understanding weather data, 

or see Sadler et al. (2013) on a “game-based 

curriculum” in high school biology. Typical 

is Herrero et al. (2014), who advance claims 

that playing the commercial videogame Spore 

(Electronic Arts, Redwood City, California) 

promotes understanding of biological 

evolution.

It is conceivable that video games could, 

instead of constituting a distraction from 

nature, actually teach serious botany. Xylem 

transport could be illustrated in a manner 

similar to our own innards in Fantastic Voyage 

(1966), but of course faster-paced. Sort of like 

Harvard University’s and XVIVO’s Inner Life 

of the Cell series, (e.g., 2006 www.xvivo.net/

animation/the-inner-life-of-the-cell/; 2013 

www.xvivo.net/animation/harvard-protein-

packing/) but with elements of competition. 

Of course, there has to be funding. And 

something in the game has to explode. If this 

can be done, there is a chance that significant 

numbers of the younger set will voluntarily 

use technology to actually look at living plants. 

Some might even want to become botanists. 

Conclusions

The disconnect between modern urban life 

and nature (including agriculture) seems 

ubiquitous and persistent, resulting not 

only in “plant blindness” but in a broader 

“nature deficit disorder.” The inability of a 

contemporary urban population to recognize 

common wildflowers familiar to a much 

earlier urban population of the same locale 

is a symptom of this disconnect, as is the 

gap between rural and urban populations 

in familiarity with products of nature. Thus 

far, electronic media beloved of urban youth 

represent a distraction from nature, but also 

represent a potential venue to restore interest 

in the world of nature and agriculture.

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Acknowledgements

The author thanks Lori Carris and Sian 

Ritchie for constructive harassment on the 

manuscript.

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and environmental education, pp. 143-157 in: The 

Inclusion of Environmental Education in Science 

Teacher Education, A.M. Bodin, B.S. Klein and 

S. Weaver (eds), Springer, New York.

Genovart, M., G. Tavecchia, J. J. Enseñat, and P. 

Laiolo. 2013. Holding up a mirror to the society: 

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484–489.

Grieve, M. 1931. A Modern Herbal (2 volumes). 

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Grindon, L.H. 1883. The Shakespeare Flora:  

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94

  SCIENCE EDUCATION

 

By Catrina Adams,  

Education Director

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 Catrina Adams, Ed-

ucation Director, at cadams@botany.org.

USA Science & Engineering Festival:

“Plants Move, Plants Matter”

Booth Draws Thousands of Visitors

This April, BSA joined the U.S. Botanic 

Garden, the American Society for Plant 

Biologists, the Donald Danforth Plant Science 

Center, Society for Economic Botany, and 

Rutgers University in a large, five-part, 600 

square foot “Plant Presence” booth at the USA 

Science and Engineering festival (USASEF). 

Over the course of three days, over 365,000 

people attended the festival, and thousands 

stopped by the plants booth to explore hands-

on activities and demonstrations around 

seeds, flowers, roots, stems, and leaves. 

The BSA “leaf” part of the booth included 

a working model of a Venus flytrap with 

trigger hairs created by Rutgers Mechanical 

Engineering undergraduate students Adam 

Burrous and Valeria Saro-Cortes (Figure 1), 

a leaf adaptation origami game developed by 

Jennifer Blake Mahmud (Rutgers) and Catrina 

Adams (Figure 2), and a chloroplast movement 

“leaf print” demonstration implemented with 

help from Holly Gorton (St. Mary’s College 

of Maryland) and Terry Woodford Thomas 

(Donald Danforth Plant Science Center).

Visitors loved seeing our model Venus flytrap 

and learning more about its sophisticated 

triggering mechanism, as well as taking a 

closer look at the live Venus flytrap on display, 

courtesy of the U.S. Botanic Garden. The 

origami game was very popular with upper 

elementary and middle school students, 

and many teachers took full sets to use in 

their classrooms. The leaf print and video of 

chloroplast movement fascinated many by 

showing a kind of plant movement of which 

few were aware. 

We could not have pulled off the event without 

help from many D.C. area volunteers. Thanks 

to Monica Carlsen, Betsy Collins, Greg Perrier, 

Caroline Puente, Jonathan Singer, and Martha 

Weiss for your help at the event!

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Science Education

The activities that were developed and piloted 

at USASEF will be added to U.S. Botanic 

Garden programming, and the model Venus 

flytrap will continue to be used at the U.S. 

Botanic Garden. 

Botany Booth in a Box  

Outreach Competition

We are looking forward to the first BSA 

outreach competition at this year’s Botany 

Conference in Savannah. We had over 20 

submissions and are looking forward to live 

demonstrations by the semifinalists during the 

opening reception in the exhibit hall this year. 

If you will attend this year’s annual meeting, 

please join us to see what outreach activities 

your colleagues have developed, and cast your 

votes for this year’s winners!

PlantingScience Seeking 

100 New Mentors for Fall 

2016 as Improved Website 

Launched

PlantingScience, our online science mentoring 

program, is looking for 100 new scientist 

mentors to join the program to work with 

middle- and high-school students on student-

designed projects around eight themes in plant 

biology, from seed germination to Arabidopsis 

genetics. We are in the process of launching a 

new and improved PlantingScience website, 

http://dig.plantingscience.org, which has a 

much bigger capacity to serve more teachers 

and students each year. 

We are very excited to finally be growing our 

capacity to help more students, but it means 

that we now have an increased demand for 

scientist mentors to work with those students. 

Mentoring a team or two takes only about 

an hour a week, can be done from anywhere 

with an internet connection, and is a great 

way to connect with middle- and high-school 

students to share your passion for plants and 

science. If you have not mentored before, 

please consider giving it a try this fall. If you 

have been mentoring already, please share this 

opportunity with your colleagues! Sign up to 

be notified when registration opens on the 

new website at: https://dig.plantingscience.

org/community/joinplantingscience/

becomeamentor.

For graduate students and post-docs, we also 

offer an opportunity to serve as a Master Plant 

Science Team (MPST) member. Members 

of this team serve in enhanced roles, both 

mentoring and serving as liaisons between 

a teacher and his or her other mentors. In 

exchange for a larger role, we offer MPST 

members a free BSA membership and 50% 

off meeting registration for the following year. 

The deadline for MPST applications is August 

8, 2016. 

Figure 1. Rutgers mechanical engineering un-

dergraduate student Adam Burrous shows vis-

itors how trigger hairs work using the working 

Venus flytrap model that he and Valeria Saro- 

Cortes built as their senior capstone project

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Science Education

Digging Deeper Together: 

Collaborative Teacher/Sci-

entist Professional Develop-

ment Launches this Summer

We are looking forward to two exciting 

weeks of professional development this 

summer in Colorado Springs, CO. As part 

of a collaborative NSF grant, we are bringing 

together 34 high-school teachers and 20 early-

career scientist “PlantingScience Fellows” to 

work collaboratively over the summer and into 

the fall to improve students’ PlantingScience 

projects and the way students think about 

photosynthesis, plants, and science and what 

it means to be a plant scientist. This team 

will be working closely together during the 

fall PlantingScience session, co-mentoring 

students through their PlantingScience 

projects. 

Congratulations to this year’s PlantingScience 

Fellows: Steven Callen, Julia Chapman, Kevin 

Dorn, Chloe Drummond, Kate Eisen, Kate 

Eisen, Nathanial Frein, Ben Gahagen, Julie 

Herman, Kevyn Juneau, Kelly Ksiazek, Jacob 

Landis, Jesse Mayer, Alex Pilote,  Jerald Pinson, 

Devesh Shukla, Andries Temme, Amanda 

Tracey, Erika Valek, Catherine Vrentas, and 

Martha Zwonitzer.  Thanks also to scientist 

mentor leaders Susan Bush and Eric Jones, 

and teacher leaders Kim Parfitt and Kara 

Butterworth. 

DON’T MISS  

BOTANY 2016:  

CELEBRATING OUR HISTORY,  

CONSERVING OUR FUTURE  

http://botanyconference.org/

An exciting number of education, 

outreach and training offerings for 

you to consider: 

Workshops on

•  Making a Visual Key: A Lab Exercise 

with Practical Consequences
•  Planting Inquiry in Science Class-

rooms
•  Using Visual Learning to Improve 

Comprehension
•  Web-based Retrieval Practice as a 

Self-Directed Study Tool for Students 

in Botany and Plant Taxonomy

Symposium “The Importance of 

Communicating Science”

Professional Development workshops 

for students: 

•  Botanical Career Panel
•  Applying to Graduate School: Tips 

for Success
•  We are All Plumbers Now: Toolbox-

es for Building Unconventional STEM 

Career Pipelines

Don’t miss the Teaching Section 

presentations and posters, and the 

PlantingScience mixer.  

Check the website for updates and 

schedule.

 

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97

STUDENT SECTION

By Angela McDonnell and Becky  

Povilus, BSA Student Representatives

The BOTANY conference is quickly 

approaching! With 6 days of lectures, field 

trips, workshops, socials, and more, where 

does one start and how can you get the most 

out of your experience? Check out our tips 

and links below for some ideas!

Travel and Lodging

Travel Grants. Although it is too late to apply 

for this year, you can take advantage of the many 

travel grants next year. Keep these on your radar 

next spring! You can find them online at http://

botany.org, then click Awards, scroll to 

Travel awards for students, then a list will pop up 

with links to each of the following:

• PLANTS grants are funded by NSF and BSA 

to bring talented and diverse undergraduates 

to the meeting.

• Triarch Botanical Images Awards provide 

acknowledgement and travel support to BSA 

meetings for outstanding student work in the 

area of creating botanical digital images.

• Section Awards are worth checking out. 

There are many to choose from, so be sure to 

check with your sections!

• Vernon I. Cheadle Awards are generally giv-

en to students who are presenting in a session 

sponsored by the Developmental and Struc-

tural Section

Find a Roommate. Split your hotel costs 

by sharing a room with a roommate! Take 

advantage of the 2016 BOTANY Housing 

Partner Finder: http://images.botany.org/

roommate.shtml. Besides saving you $$$, it 

can be a great way to connect with your peers 

and make new friends and contacts.

Getting the Most out of  

BOTANY 2016: A Guide for Students

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 Student Section

98

Volunteer at the Conference. Did you 

know that you can earn back your early 

registration fee by volunteering your time 

at the conference? The conference couldn’t 

happen without the help of students to run the 

registration booth, help at ticket events, and 

make sure that sessions run smoothly. These 

opportunities are limited each year and are 

actually unavailable for BOTANY 2016, but 

keep this in mind next spring for next year’s 

conference!

Highlights for Students

Workshops: There are so many to choose 

from! Two are specifically aimed at students: 

•  “Applying to Graduate School: Tips for 

Success,” led by Anna Monfils, is a panel dis-

cussion designed to introduce undergradu-

ate students to the specific requirements for 

applying to graduate programs in plant biol-

ogy. (Free)

•  “Crafting an Effective Elevator Speech and 

Communicating Broader Impacts of your 

Work,” led by your friendly neighborhood 

BSA student reps. The workshop features 

tips from Doug Soltis, and time with your 

peers to help you create an elevator speech 

of your own, just in time for use during the 

conference.  ($10)

Student Luncheon: A Focus on Careers 

in Botany. What can you do with a degree 

in botany? Come find out at the Student 

Luncheon! Pam Diggle will speak about 

publishing, and then you’ll get a chance to talk 

to representatives from various career paths 

in a “speed-dating” format. You’ll even get a 

delicious catered lunch! ($5)

Botanical Career Panel. Organized by Susan 

Pell from the US Botanic Garden, this panel 

will be held Monday afternoon and includes 

professionals with botanical degrees who 

will discuss their professional experiences 

and answer participants’ questions. The 

moderator will facilitate an open discussion 

designed to address opportunities in the post-

undergraduate and post-graduate job markets. 

(Free)

Poster Session. Whether you are presenting 

your own work or just there to see what 

people are working on, this is a great time to 

talk science, learn about cutting-edge plant 

research, and meet people! Poster sessions will 

happen on August 1 and 2. Be sure to check out 

a detailed schedule on the web at http://2016.

botanyconference.org/engine/search/ or via 

the Botany Conference App, which will be 

available soon! (Free)

Celebrating 10 years of BSA Student Reps: 

Come Meet your Reps! Time flies—it’s already 

been 10 years since the first BSA student reps 

were appointed as board members to help the 

Society meet the needs of student members. 

Come meet the past and present reps, and 

learn about what we do for the society… and 

why you might want to become one! We’ll be 

meeting 1 hour before the Student Social and 

Networking Event (see below), at the Moon 

River Brewing Company, which is walking 

distance from the conference center at 21 W 

Bay St, Savannah, GA 31401. (Free)

Student Social and Networking Event. A 

favorite event for many! This year we’ll be 

at the Moon River Brewing Company… 

reportedly one of the most haunted buildings 

in Savannah! Come catch up with old friends 

and meet new ones while enjoying craft brews, 

munchies, and a gorgeous beer garden. It’s easy 

to add a ticket for this event (which includes a 

drink ticket!) to your conference registration: 

Find a link to register for the conference at 

2016.botanyconference.org, and click “Modify 

Registration.” A special thanks to our sponsor, 

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 Student Section

99

International Journal of Plant Sciences, for 

making this event possible! ($5)

Field trips.  Savannah has a rich history and 

diverse local ecosystems, and you can explore 

it first-hand with local experts! This year, 11 

different field trips are being offered; you can 

choose from tours of history sites, kayak trips, 

and hiking trails that showcase the flora and 

fauna. Also be sure to check out the Botany 

in Action trip—you can help give a beloved 

urban park some TLC! (cost varies by field trip) 

 

A special note about field trips and student 

members of the BSA Systematics Section: Did 

you know that ASPT and/or BSA Systematics 

Section members are eligible for field trip 

grants? Send Jim Cohen an e-mail message 

(jcohen@kettering.edu) after you register 

for the field trip. Include your name, e-mail 

address, affiliation, mailing address, whether 

you are an ASPT or BSA Systematics Section 

member, and the field trip title. You could be 

reimbursed for up to $100!

For most ticketed events, it’s not too late to 

register! Tickets for these events are easy to 

add to your conference registration: Find the 

link to register for the conference on the web 

at botanyconference.org, and click “Modify 

Registration.”

The BOTANY Conference App!

Schedule Planner. With so much going on 

during the conference, planning your days 

can be a challenge. The online BOTANY 

Conference App lets you browse talks and 

events and then add the ones you want to a 

schedule that you can check online, so you can 

stay on track. BSA members can download the 

app at https://dl.doubledutch.me/download.

aspx?appId=a9832a5e-fd6a-4fee-9c76-

fde1f8e41ba3&region=us.

Share your BOTANY experience! Social media 

allows you to share your experiences at the 

conference, and the number of tweets, posts, 

likes, and shares are growing every year. The 

social media aspect lets you share your photos 

and thoughts throughout the conference, 

and it can be a way to share your work and 

increase your visibility. It’s a great way to see 

what is going on and keep tabs on all your 

conference buddies! Use the #BOTANY2016 

hashtag when discussing the conference! 

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100

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Linnean Society of London 

Meeting at the  

Arnold Arboretum

On May 6-8, 2016, 60 Fellows of the Linnean 

Society met at the Arnold Arboretum for a 

historic meeting of the Linnean Society—

the first in North America since its founding 

in 1788. Ned Friedman, Director of the 

Arboretum, together with Linnean Society 

Past-President Dianne Edwards, planned 

the meeting as an opportunity for American 

members to participate in a “Burlington 

House” type of meeting with scientific 

papers and an induction of new Fellows 

(who ordinarily must travel to the annual 

Anniversary Meeting in London to formalize 

their election by signing the Fellows roll). 

The botany was well represented with papers 

presented by: BSA Corresponding Member 

Diane Edwards, Ned Friedman, Robin 

Hopkins, Sandy Knapp, Jan Salick, Dennis 

Stevenson, and Marsh Sundberg. Other 

Fellows in attendance, with BSA connections, 

included: Peter Crane, Pamela Diggle, Vicki 

Funk, Cynthia Jones, Ed Schneider, Lena 

Struwe, Barry Tomlinson, and Joe Williams.

BSA Member  

Erika Edwards Receives 

Presidential Early Career 

Award     

Erika Edwards, associate professor of ecology 

and evolutionary biology at Brown University, 

was awarded the Presidential Early Career 

Award for Scientists and Engineers. Edwards 

was among 105 honorees who received this, 

the U.S. government’s highest award for 

engineers and scientists in the early stages 

of their independent research careers, at the 

White House in May.

The National Science Foundation nominated 

Dr. Edwards for her “innovative research 

[Edwards headshot]

Erika Edwards
Image: Casey Dunn, Brown University

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101

Announcements

leading to exciting breakthroughs in 

understanding the drivers of plant 

evolutionary innovation, and particularly the 

evolution of plant form and photosynthesis 

systems, and for engaging public outreach on 

plant biology.”

“What makes this so special for me is that we 

do not work on human health, or medicine... 

we are not engineers; we are botanists,” 

Edwards said in a press release from Brown 

University. “My lab is an evolutionary 

biology lab, and our primary focus is on 

understanding how different plant species 

are related to one another, and how they have 

adapted to climate change and the emergence 

of new environments over deep evolutionary 

time. It is wonderful to have this type of 

science recognized as important for humanity 

and relevant to our current challenges. We 

have a lot to learn from history, and that 

certainly includes natural history - nature is 

full of inspiring and elegant solutions to big 

problems.”

President Barack Obama greets Erika Edwards 

at the White House.

Marshall Sundberg Named 

2016 Roe R. Cross  

Distinguished Professor

Long-time BSA member Marshall 

Sundberg was named the 2016 Roe R. 

Cross Distinguished Professor at Emporia 

State University. This award, established 

in 1979 to honor the ESU professor who 

“best demonstrates teaching excellence, 

professional activities, fostering of 

intellectual atmosphere, service to the 

university outside the classroom and status 

as a student mentor” is the highest teaching 

award given by the University. 

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Volume 8  Numbers 5–6  October–December 2015

Monographs in Long Term High Mountain Ecological Research - the Niwot Ridge 
Long Term Ecological Research Site, 1995–2015

Contents

Monographs in Long Term High Mountain Ecological Research - the Niwot Ridge Long Term Ecological 

Research Site, 1995–2015

Laszlo Nagy 

595

An overview of research from a high elevation landscape: the Niwot Ridge, Colorado Long Term Ecological

Research programme

Mark W. Williams, Timothy R. Seastedt, William D. Bowman, Diane M. McKnight and Katharine N. Suding 597

Contrasting long-term alpine and subalpine precipitation trends in a mid-latitude North American

mountain system, Colorado Front Range, USA

Timothy G.F. Kittel, Mark W. Williams, Kurt Chowanski, Michael Hartman, Todd Ackerman, Mark Losleben

and Peter D. Blanken 

607

Cryosphere: ice on Niwot Ridge and in the Green Lakes Valley, Colorado Front Range

Matthias Leopold, Gabriel Lewis, David Dethier, Nel Caine and Mark W. Williams 625

The ‘teflon basin’ myth: hydrology and hydrochemistry of a seasonally snow-covered catchment

Mark W. Williams, Eran Hood, Noah P. Molotch, Nel Caine, Rory Cowie and Fengjing Liu 639

Fluxes of energy, water, and carbon dioxide from mountain ecosystems at Niwot Ridge, Colorado

John F. Knowles, Sean P. Burns, Peter D. Blanken and Russell K. Monson 663

Winter gas exchange between the atmosphere and snow-covered soils on Niwot Ridge, Colorado, USA

Daniel Liptzin, Detlev Helmig, Steven K. Schmidt, Brian Seok and Mark W. Williams 

677

Limnology of the Green Lakes Valley: phytoplankton ecology and dissolved organic matter biogeochemistry 

at a long-term ecological research site

Matthew P. Miller and Diane M. McKnight 

689

Plant–microbe interactions at multiple scales across a high-elevation landscape

Steven K. Schmidt, Andrew J. King, Courtney L. Meier, William D. Bowman, Emily C. Farrer, Katharine N. Suding 

and Diana R. Nemergut 

703

Vegetation change at high elevation: scale dependence and interactive effects on Niwot Ridge

Katharine N. Suding, Emily C. Farrer, Andrew J. King, Lara Kueppers and Marko J. Spasojevic 713

A slide down a slippery slope – alpine ecosystem responses to nitrogen deposition

William D. Bowman, Diana R. Nemergut, Diane M. McKnight, Matthew P. Miller and Mark W. Williams 727

Plant community response to nitrogen and phosphorus enrichment varies across an alpine tundra 

moisture gradient

Eve I. Gasarch and Timothy R. Seastedt 

739

The consequences of multiple resource shifts on the productivity and composition of alpine tundra communities: 

inferences from a long-term snow and nutrient manipulation experiment

Eve I. Gasarch and Timothy R. Seastedt 

751

The forest–alpine ecotone: a multi-scale approach to spatial and temporal dynamics of treeline change 

at Niwot Ridge

Patrick S. Bourgeron, Hope C. Humphries, Daniel Liptzin and Timothy R. Seastedt 763

Of plants and pikas: evidence for a climate-mediated decline in forage and cache quality

Sabuj Bhattacharyya and Chris Ray 

781

Children’s book series and associated curricula support elementary education and outreach in water resources

Chris Ray, Diane M. McKnight, Marcie D. Bidwell, Tiffany Fourment, Colleen Flanagan Pritz and Amy H. Rinehart 795

Plant Ecology 

& Diversity

Volume 8  Numbers 5–6  October–December 2015

ISSN 1755-0874

8

mm

Monographs in Long Term High Mountain Ecological 

Research - the Niwot Ridge Long Term Ecological 

Research Site, 1995–2015

TPED_COVER_8-05-06.indd   1

25/02/16   7:12 PM

P

lant E

colog

y & D

iv

ersity 

Volume 

8  N

umbers 

5–6  O

ctober–December 

2015

Plant Ecology & Diversity

Volume 8  Numbers 5–6  October–December 2015

Monographs in Long Term High Mountain Ecological Research - the Niwot Ridge 

Long Term Ecological Research Site, 1995–2015

Contents

Monographs in Long Term High Mountain Ecological Research - the Niwot Ridge Long Term Ecological 

Research Site, 1995–2015

Laszlo Nagy 

595

An overview of research from a high elevation landscape: the Niwot Ridge, Colorado Long Term Ecological

Research programme

Mark W. Williams, Timothy R. Seastedt, William D. Bowman, Diane M. McKnight and Katharine N. Suding 597

Contrasting long-term alpine and subalpine precipitation trends in a mid-latitude North American

mountain system, Colorado Front Range, USA

Timothy G.F. Kittel, Mark W. Williams, Kurt Chowanski, Michael Hartman, Todd Ackerman, Mark Losleben

and Peter D. Blanken 

607

Cryosphere: ice on Niwot Ridge and in the Green Lakes Valley, Colorado Front Range

Matthias Leopold, Gabriel Lewis, David Dethier, Nel Caine and Mark W. Williams 625

The ‘teflon basin’ myth: hydrology and hydrochemistry of a seasonally snow-covered catchment

Mark W. Williams, Eran Hood, Noah P. Molotch, Nel Caine, Rory Cowie and Fengjing Liu 639

Fluxes of energy, water, and carbon dioxide from mountain ecosystems at Niwot Ridge, Colorado

John F. Knowles, Sean P. Burns, Peter D. Blanken and Russell K. Monson 663

Winter gas exchange between the atmosphere and snow-covered soils on Niwot Ridge, Colorado, USA

Daniel Liptzin, Detlev Helmig, Steven K. Schmidt, Brian Seok and Mark W. Williams 

677

Limnology of the Green Lakes Valley: phytoplankton ecology and dissolved organic matter biogeochemistry 

at a long-term ecological research site

Matthew P. Miller and Diane M. McKnight 

689

Plant–microbe interactions at multiple scales across a high-elevation landscape

Steven K. Schmidt, Andrew J. King, Courtney L. Meier, William D. Bowman, Emily C. Farrer, Katharine N. Suding 

and Diana R. Nemergut 

703

Vegetation change at high elevation: scale dependence and interactive effects on Niwot Ridge

Katharine N. Suding, Emily C. Farrer, Andrew J. King, Lara Kueppers and Marko J. Spasojevic 713

A slide down a slippery slope – alpine ecosystem responses to nitrogen deposition

William D. Bowman, Diana R. Nemergut, Diane M. McKnight, Matthew P. Miller and Mark W. Williams 727

Plant community response to nitrogen and phosphorus enrichment varies across an alpine tundra 

moisture gradient

Eve I. Gasarch and Timothy R. Seastedt 

739

The consequences of multiple resource shifts on the productivity and composition of alpine tundra communities: 

inferences from a long-term snow and nutrient manipulation experiment

Eve I. Gasarch and Timothy R. Seastedt 

751

The forest–alpine ecotone: a multi-scale approach to spatial and temporal dynamics of treeline change 

at Niwot Ridge

Patrick S. Bourgeron, Hope C. Humphries, Daniel Liptzin and Timothy R. Seastedt 763

Of plants and pikas: evidence for a climate-mediated decline in forage and cache quality

Sabuj Bhattacharyya and Chris Ray 

781

Children’s book series and associated curricula support elementary education and outreach in water resources

Chris Ray, Diane M. McKnight, Marcie D. Bidwell, Tiffany Fourment, Colleen Flanagan Pritz and Amy H. Rinehart 795

Plant Ecology 

& Diversity

Volume 8  Numbers 5–6  October–December 2015

ISSN 1755-0874

8

mm

Monographs in Long Term High Mountain Ecological 

Research - the Niwot Ridge Long Term Ecological 

Research Site, 1995–2015

TPED_COVER_8-05-06.indd   1

25/02/16   7:12 PM

Volume 53     Number 4      December 2015

ISSN 0028-825X

NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF

BOTANY

Biology of Plants, Fungi and Algae of the Southern Hemisphere

Trim Size: 174 X 248 mm

Research articles
  Taxonomic notes on the New Zealand flora: lectotypes in the 
fern family Gleicheniaceae 
 LR Perrie and PJ Brownsey  

 183 

      New records of  Ramalina  (Ramalinaceae, Ascomycota) 
for mainland New Zealand 
 DJ Blanchon, PJ de Lange and DJ Galloway  

 192 

      Leaf temperatures of divaricate and broadleaved tree species 
during a frost in a North Island lowland forest remnant, 
New Zealand 
 CH Lusk and MJ Clearwater  

 202

 

Short communications
      DNA sequence analysis confirms the identity of the intergeneric 
hybrid  Argyrotegium mackayi   ×   Leucogenes leontopodium  
(Asteraceae: Gnaphalieae) 
 RD Smissen, MJ Thorsen, I Breitwieser and JM Ward   

210

 

      New records of Antarctic lichens 
 A Passo, JM Rodriguez and J Chiapella  

 216

 

      Notes on a new population of the endangered Chilean tree 
 Gomortega keule  
 D Muñoz-Concha, C Farías and J Méndez  

 224

 

      Factors affecting recruitment of  Beilschmiedia tawa  
in northern New Zealand 
 NS Morales  

 231

 

      

Volume 53     Number 4      December 2015

New Zealand Journal of Botany

Volume 53     Number 4      December 2015

NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF

BOTANY

Spine Width: 3.5 mm

TNZB 53_4 COVER.indd   1-3

17-12-2015   16:11:03

Volume 53     Number 4      December 2015

ISSN 0028-825X

NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF

BOTANY

Biology of Plants, Fungi and Algae of the Southern Hemisphere

Trim Size: 174 X 248 mm

Research articles

  Taxonomic notes on the New Zealand flora: lectotypes in the 

fern family Gleicheniaceae 

 LR Perrie and PJ Brownsey  

 183 

      New records of  Ramalina  (Ramalinaceae, Ascomycota) 

for mainland New Zealand 

 DJ Blanchon, PJ de Lange and DJ Galloway  

 192 

      Leaf temperatures of divaricate and broadleaved tree species 

during a frost in a North Island lowland forest remnant, 

New Zealand 

 CH Lusk and MJ Clearwater  

 202

 

Short communications

      DNA sequence analysis confirms the identity of the intergeneric 

hybrid  Argyrotegium mackayi   ×   Leucogenes leontopodium  

(Asteraceae: Gnaphalieae) 

 RD Smissen, MJ Thorsen, I Breitwieser and JM Ward   

210

 

      New records of Antarctic lichens 

 A Passo, JM Rodriguez and J Chiapella  

 216

 

      Notes on a new population of the endangered Chilean tree 

 Gomortega keule  

 D Muñoz-Concha, C Farías and J Méndez  

 224

 

      Factors affecting recruitment of  Beilschmiedia tawa  

in northern New Zealand 

 NS Morales  

 231

 

      

Volume 53     Number 4      December 2015

New Zealand Journal of Botany

Volume 53     Number 4      December 2015

NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF

BOTANY

Spine Width: 3.5 mm

TNZB 53_4 COVER.indd   1-3

17-12-2015   16:11:03

Research articles
Development of gene-based markers for the identification 
of wheat-rye translocations possessing 1RS
YJ Lee and YW Seo 

241

High-frequency plantlet regeneration by somatic embryogenesis 
from mature zygotic embryos of onion
X Wu, F Yang, XC Piao, KH Li, ML Lian and Y Dai 

249

Biocontrol potential of chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) and 
endophytic Bacillus subtilis strains against the most 
destructive grapevine pathogens
H Boubakri, A Hadj-Brahim, C Schmitt, I Soustre-Gacougnolle 
and A Mliki 

261

Effect of photoperiod and temperature on flowering of 
Rhodanthe floribunda and Pycnosorus thompsonianus
Krisantini, P Wickramasinghe, V Wickramasinghe and 
ME Johnston 

275

Heterobeltiosis, potence ratio and genetic control of processing 
quality and disease severity traits in tomato
N Pandiarana, A Chattopadhyay, T Seth, VD Shende, 
S Dutta and P Hazra 

282

Effects of salicylic acid applied pre- or post-transport on 
post-harvest characteristics and antioxidant enzyme activity 
of gladiolus cut flower spikes
I Rahmani, N Ahmadi, F Ghanati and M Sadeghi 

294

Effect of canopy temperature on the stripe rust resistance 
of wheat
J-J Cheng, H Li, B Ren, C-J Zhou, Z-S Kang and L-L Huang 

306

Volume 43     Number 4     December 2015

ISSN 0114-0671

Volume 43     Number 4     December 2015

NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF

CROP AND 

HORTICULTURAL

SCIENCE

NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF

CROP AND 

HORTICULTURAL

SCIENCE

Volume 43     Number 4     December 2015

New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science

Spine Width: 4.5 mm

Trim Size: 174 X 248 mm

TNZC 43_4 COVER.indd   1-3

10-12-2015   16:48:16

Research articles

Development of gene-based markers for the identification 

of wheat-rye translocations possessing 1RS

YJ Lee and YW Seo 

241

High-frequency plantlet regeneration by somatic embryogenesis 

from mature zygotic embryos of onion

X Wu, F Yang, XC Piao, KH Li, ML Lian and Y Dai 

249

Biocontrol potential of chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) and 

endophytic Bacillus subtilis strains against the most 

destructive grapevine pathogens

H Boubakri, A Hadj-Brahim, C Schmitt, I Soustre-Gacougnolle 

and A Mliki 

261

Effect of photoperiod and temperature on flowering of 

Rhodanthe floribunda and Pycnosorus thompsonianus

Krisantini, P Wickramasinghe, V Wickramasinghe and 

ME Johnston 

275

Heterobeltiosis, potence ratio and genetic control of processing 

quality and disease severity traits in tomato

N Pandiarana, A Chattopadhyay, T Seth, VD Shende, 

S Dutta and P Hazra 

282

Effects of salicylic acid applied pre- or post-transport on 

post-harvest characteristics and antioxidant enzyme activity 

of gladiolus cut flower spikes

I Rahmani, N Ahmadi, F Ghanati and M Sadeghi 

294

Effect of canopy temperature on the stripe rust resistance 

of wheat

J-J Cheng, H Li, B Ren, C-J Zhou, Z-S Kang and L-L Huang 

306

Volume 43     Number 4     December 2015

ISSN 0114-0671

Volume 43     Number 4     December 2015

NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF

CROP AND 

HORTICULTURAL

SCIENCE

NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF

CROP AND 

HORTICULTURAL

SCIENCE

Volume 43     Number 4     December 2015

New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science

Spine Width: 4.5 mm

Trim Size: 174 X 248 mm

TNZC 43_4 COVER.indd   1-3

10-12-2015   16:48:16

Scandinavian Jour

nal 
of

 

Fo

re

st R
es

ea

rch

Volume 26,  Issue 6,  December 2011

ISSN: 0282-7581

Volume 26,  Issue 6
December 2011

Short-term effects of mechanical and biological treatments on Sorbus aucuparia 

L. sprouting in mesic forests in Finland 

505

Leena Hamberg, Henna Vartiamäki, Minna Malmivaara-Lämsä, Irja Löfström, 

Sauli Valkonen and Jarkko Hantula

Factors affecting the success of autumn direct seeding of Pinus sylvestris L. in 

Finnish Lapland 

515

Mikko Hyppönen and Ville Hallikainen

Natural regeneration in patch clear-cutting in Picea abies stands in Southern Finland 

530

Sauli Valkonen, Katja Koskinen, Juhani Mäkinen and Ilkka Vanha-Majamaa

Density–growth relationships in thinned and unthinned Norway spruce and Scots pine 

stands in Norway 

543

Belachew Gizachew and Andreas Brunner

Effects of sample size and tree selection criteria on the performance of taper equations 

555

Nirmal Subedi, Mahadev Sharma and John Parton

Conversion to pine: Changes in timing and magnitude of high and low fl ows 

568

Yusuf Serengil, Wayne T. Swank, Mark S. Riedel and James M. Vose

Usefulness of biophysical proxy data for modelling habitat of an endangered forest species:

The white-backed woodpecker Dendrocopos leucotos 

576

Kristoffer Stighäll, Jean-Michel Roberge, Kjell Andersson and Per Angelstam

Greenhouse gas balance of harvesting stumps and logging residues for energy in Sweden 

586

Eva-Lotta Lindholm, Johan Stendahl, Staffan Berg and Per-Anders Hansson

The infl uence of interaction with forest on cognitive function 

595

Won Sop Shin, Chang Seob Shin, Poung Sik Yeoun and Jae Joon Kim

News & Views 

599

Contents

Scandinavian Journal of

Forest Research

Scandinavian Jour

nal 

of

 

Fo

re

st R

es

ea

rch

Volume 26,  Issue 6,  December 2011

ISSN: 0282-7581

Volume 26,  Issue 6

December 2011

Short-term effects of mechanical and biological treatments on Sorbus aucuparia 

L. sprouting in mesic forests in Finland 

505

Leena Hamberg, Henna Vartiamäki, Minna Malmivaara-Lämsä, Irja Löfström, 

Sauli Valkonen and Jarkko Hantula

Factors affecting the success of autumn direct seeding of Pinus sylvestris L. in 

Finnish Lapland 

515

Mikko Hyppönen and Ville Hallikainen

Natural regeneration in patch clear-cutting in Picea abies stands in Southern Finland 

530

Sauli Valkonen, Katja Koskinen, Juhani Mäkinen and Ilkka Vanha-Majamaa

Density–growth relationships in thinned and unthinned Norway spruce and Scots pine 

stands in Norway 

543

Belachew Gizachew and Andreas Brunner

Effects of sample size and tree selection criteria on the performance of taper equations 

555

Nirmal Subedi, Mahadev Sharma and John Parton

Conversion to pine: Changes in timing and magnitude of high and low fl ows 

568

Yusuf Serengil, Wayne T. Swank, Mark S. Riedel and James M. Vose

Usefulness of biophysical proxy data for modelling habitat of an endangered forest species:

The white-backed woodpecker Dendrocopos leucotos 

576

Kristoffer Stighäll, Jean-Michel Roberge, Kjell Andersson and Per Angelstam

Greenhouse gas balance of harvesting stumps and logging residues for energy in Sweden 

586

Eva-Lotta Lindholm, Johan Stendahl, Staffan Berg and Per-Anders Hansson

The infl uence of interaction with forest on cognitive function 

595

Won Sop Shin, Chang Seob Shin, Poung Sik Yeoun and Jae Joon Kim

News & Views 

599

Contents

Scandinavian Journal of

Forest Research

CYAN

MAGENTA

YELLOW

BLACK

Botany Letters

Volume 163

Number 1

March 2016

Editorial
Elisabeth Dodinet and Marc-Andre´ Selosse

1

List of reviewers

3

Letter
Letters to the twenty-first century botanist: ‘‘What is a flower?’’
Sophie Nadot and Elisabeth Dodinet

9

Articles
First genome size assessment, heterochromatin and rDNA chromosome mapping in the genus
Sclerocarya (Anacardiaceae): insight into the new basic chromosome number
Pauline Bationo-Kando, Jean-Didier Zongo and Sonja Siljak-Yakovlev

11

New status and combinations for the two East African taxa of Isachne R. Br. (Gramineae)
J.F. Veldkamp

19

Ceramium cornutum and Ceramium pallidum (Rhodophyta: Ceramiales) two new records for Morocco:
morphology and reproductive structures
Mustapha Hassoun, Ghizlane Salhi, Hanaa Moussa, Hassane Riadi, Mohamed Kazzaz and
Hanaa Zbakh

25

Assessing the phylogenetic dimension of Australian Acacia species introduced outside their native
ranges
Kowiyou Yessoufou, Kevin Mearns, Hosam O. Elansary and Gerrit Hendrik Stoffberg

33

Pollen morphology and folding of Prototulbaghia Vosa (Amaryllidaceae), South Africa
Madeleen Struwig, Stefan John Siebert, Melissa Andriessen and Anine Jordaan

41

Micromorphological intraspecific differentiation of nectar guides and landing platform for pollinators in
the Iberian parasitic plant Cistanche phelypæa (Orobanchaceae)
Renata Piwowarczyk, Luis Carlo´n, Justyna Kasin´ska, Szymon Tofil and Piotr Furman´czyk

47

Validation of chasmophytic syntaxa of colline and montane zones in Tajikistan (Middle Asia)
Arkadiusz Nowak, Sylwia Nowak, Marcin Nobis and Agnieszka Nobis

57

Long-chain primary alcohols in Momordica cochinchinensis Spreng leaf surface waxes
Abhishek Mukherjee and Anandamay Barik

61

Corrigendum

67

ISSN 1253-8078

Botany Letters

Volume 163 - Number 1 - March 2016

Socie´te´ botanique de France

Volume

163

Number

1

March

2016

ISSN

1253-8078

Botany

Letters

Spine width= 3.5mm

CYAN

MAGENTA

YELLOW

BLACK

Botany Letters

Volume 163

Number 1

March 2016

Editorial

Elisabeth Dodinet and Marc-Andre´ Selosse

1

List of reviewers

3

Letter

Letters to the twenty-first century botanist: ‘‘What is a flower?’’

Sophie Nadot and Elisabeth Dodinet

9

Articles

First genome size assessment, heterochromatin and rDNA chromosome mapping in the genus

Sclerocarya (Anacardiaceae): insight into the new basic chromosome number

Pauline Bationo-Kando, Jean-Didier Zongo and Sonja Siljak-Yakovlev

11

New status and combinations for the two East African taxa of Isachne R. Br. (Gramineae)

J.F. Veldkamp

19

Ceramium cornutum and Ceramium pallidum (Rhodophyta: Ceramiales) two new records for Morocco:

morphology and reproductive structures

Mustapha Hassoun, Ghizlane Salhi, Hanaa Moussa, Hassane Riadi, Mohamed Kazzaz and

Hanaa Zbakh

25

Assessing the phylogenetic dimension of Australian Acacia species introduced outside their native

ranges

Kowiyou Yessoufou, Kevin Mearns, Hosam O. Elansary and Gerrit Hendrik Stoffberg

33

Pollen morphology and folding of Prototulbaghia Vosa (Amaryllidaceae), South Africa

Madeleen Struwig, Stefan John Siebert, Melissa Andriessen and Anine Jordaan

41

Micromorphological intraspecific differentiation of nectar guides and landing platform for pollinators in

the Iberian parasitic plant Cistanche phelypæa (Orobanchaceae)

Renata Piwowarczyk, Luis Carlo´n, Justyna Kasin´ska, Szymon Tofil and Piotr Furman´czyk

47

Validation of chasmophytic syntaxa of colline and montane zones in Tajikistan (Middle Asia)

Arkadiusz Nowak, Sylwia Nowak, Marcin Nobis and Agnieszka Nobis

57

Long-chain primary alcohols in Momordica cochinchinensis Spreng leaf surface waxes

Abhishek Mukherjee and Anandamay Barik

61

Corrigendum

67

ISSN 1253-8078

Botany Letters

Volume 163 - Number 1 - March 2016

Socie´te´ botanique de France

Volume

163

Number

1

March

2016

ISSN

1253-8078

Botany

Letters

Spine width= 3.5mm

Taylor & Francis

GRANA Vol. 55, 2016. No. 1, pp. 1–100

ISSN 0017-3134

Vol. 55, 2016. No. 1

An international journal of PALYNOLOGY and AEROBIOLOGY

Editorial Board

F. Eide, Norway; K. Dybkjær, Denmark; S. Lindström, Denmark; H. Seppä, Finland; D. Batten, 

UK; G. Jones, USA; M. Harley, UK; M. Hesse, Austria; K. Raunsgaard Pedersen, Denmark; 

R. van der Ham, The Netherlands

Chief Editor

Else Marie Friis

Editors

David J. Cantrill, Thomas Denk, Carol A. Furness, Matthew Smith

Technical Editor

Christian Pott

1

5

17

24

52

71

GRANA, Vol. 55, 2016. No. 1

Contents

C. Rydin and C. Hoorn
The Gnetales: past and present  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

M. B. Prámparo, P. L. Narváez and N. Mego
Galeacornea guayaguensis 
sp. nov., a new elaterate pollen species from the 
Cretaceous of central-western Argentina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

C. F. P. da Luz
Pollen grains of Ephedra tweediana C.A.Mey., recent species of the 
Ephedraceae in Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

K. Bolinder, L. Norbäck Ivarsson, A. M. Humphreys, S. M. Ickert-Bond, 
F. Han, C. Hoorn and C. Rydin
Pollen morphology of Ephedra (Gnetales) and its evolutionary 
implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

M. Judite Garcia, E. Premaor, P. E. De Oliveira, M. E. C. Bernardes-de-Oliveira, 
R. Dino, L. Antonioli and J. B. D. Menezes
Cenozoic distribution of Ephedripites Bolkhovitina (1953) ex Potonié (1958) 
emend. Krutzsch (1961) in Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F. Han, C. Rydin, K. Bolinder, G. Dupont-Nivet, H. A. Abels, 
A. Koutsodendris, K. Zhang and C. Hoorn
Steppe development on the Northern Tibetan Plateau inferred from 
Paleogene ephedroid pollen  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4.5

mm

SGRA_COVER_55-01.indd   1

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Taylor & Francis

GRANA Vol. 55, 2016. No. 1, pp. 1–100

ISSN 0017-3134

Vol. 55, 2016. No. 1

An international journal of PALYNOLOGY and AEROBIOLOGY

Editorial Board

F. Eide, Norway; K. Dybkjær, Denmark; S. Lindström, Denmark; H. Seppä, Finland; D. Batten, 

UK; G. Jones, USA; M. Harley, UK; M. Hesse, Austria; K. Raunsgaard Pedersen, Denmark; 

R. van der Ham, The Netherlands

Chief Editor

Else Marie Friis

Editors

David J. Cantrill, Thomas Denk, Carol A. Furness, Matthew Smith

Technical Editor

Christian Pott

1

5

17

24

52

71

GRANA, Vol. 55, 2016. No. 1

Contents

C. Rydin and C. Hoorn

The Gnetales: past and present  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

M. B. Prámparo, P. L. Narváez and N. Mego

Galeacornea guayaguensis sp. nov., a new elaterate pollen species from the 

Cretaceous of central-western Argentina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

C. F. P. da Luz

Pollen grains of Ephedra tweediana C.A.Mey., recent species of the 

Ephedraceae in Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

K. Bolinder, L. Norbäck Ivarsson, A. M. Humphreys, S. M. Ickert-Bond, 

F. Han, C. Hoorn and C. Rydin

Pollen morphology of Ephedra (Gnetales) and its evolutionary 

implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

M. Judite Garcia, E. Premaor, P. E. De Oliveira, M. E. C. Bernardes-de-Oliveira, 

R. Dino, L. Antonioli and J. B. D. Menezes

Cenozoic distribution of Ephedripites Bolkhovitina (1953) ex Potonié (1958) 

emend. Krutzsch (1961) in Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F. Han, C. Rydin, K. Bolinder, G. Dupont-Nivet, H. A. Abels, 

A. Koutsodendris, K. Zhang and C. Hoorn

Steppe development on the Northern Tibetan Plateau inferred from 

Paleogene ephedroid pollen  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4.5

mm

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Volume 38, Number 1, Januar

y–March 2016

Special topics/Sujets spéciaux
A review of wheat leaf rust research and the development of resistant cultivars in Canada
B. D. McCallum, C. W. Hiebert, S. Cloutier, G. Bakkeren, S. Barcellos Rosa, D. G. Humphreys, 
G. F. Marais, C. A. McCartney, V. Panwar, C. Rampitsch, B. J. Saville and X. Wang
 

1

Symposium contribution/Contribution à un symposium
Using DIR1 to investigate long-distance signal movement during Systemic Acquired Resistance
R. K. Cameron, P. Carella, M. Isaacs, M. Champigny, J. Merl-Pham, S. Dey and A. C. Vlot 

19

Defi ning Arabidopsis NPR1 orthologues in crops for translational plant immunity
X. Kuai and C. Després 

25

Plant pathogenic oomycetes: counterbalancing resistance, susceptibility and adaptation
A. Burkhardt and B. Day 

31

Bacteria and phytoplasmas/Bactéries et phytoplasmes
Identifi cation of bacterial pathogens and races of Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola 
from dry bean fi elds in Western Canada
S. Chatterton, P. M. Balasubramanian, R. S. Erickson, A. Hou, D. L. McLaren, M. A. Henriquez 
and R. L. Conner
 

41

Disease control/Moyens de lutte
Comparison of the sensitivity of Monilinia fructicola isolates to tebuconazole in Brazil 
using three methods
P. S. F. Lichtemberg, W. M. Zeviani, T. J. Michailides and L. L. May De Mio 

55

Epidemiology/Épidémiologie
Characterization of Colletotrichum lindemuthianum races infecting dry edible bean 
in North Dakota
J. M. Halvorson, R. S. Lamppa, S. G. Markell and J. S. Pasche 

64

Forest Pathology/Pathologie forestière
Neofusicoccum arbuti: a hidden threat to Arbutus menziesii characterized by widespread 
latent infections and a broad host range
R. R. McGregor, M. L. Sakalidis and R. C. Hamelin 

70

Genetics and resistance/Génétique et résistance
Transferring clubroot resistance from Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa) to canola (B. napus)
A. H. Hirani, F. Gao, J. Liu, G. Fu, C. Wu, Y. Yuan, W. Li, J. Hou, R. Duncan and G. Li 

82

(continued on inside back cover)

CONTENTS

Cover illustrations: (Left) Close-up of trunk of diseased arbutus showing symptoms consistent with infection by 

Neofusicoccum arbuti. Numerous sunken blackened cankers with a raised, uneven margin can be seen. For more 

insight, see the article by R. R. McGregor et al. in this issue. 

(Right) Symptoms of halo blight on a bean leaf, showing 

large yellow halos surrounding small necrotic lesions. The pathogen 

Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola was 

recovered from the lesions. For more insight, see the article by S. Chatterton et al. in this issue.

ISSN: 0706-0661

PLANT

PATHOLOGY

CANADIAN JOURNAL OF

Revue canadienne de phytopathologie

Volume 38, Number 1,  January–March 2016

JOURNAL OF THE CANADIAN PHYTOPATHOLOGICAL SOCIETY

REVUE DE LA SOCIÉTÉ CANADIENNE DE PHYTOPATHOLOGIE

An International Journal of Phytopathology

6.5

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C

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 JOU

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L

AN

T P

AT

H

O

LOG

Y

 

Volume 38, Number 1, Januar

y–March 2016

Special topics/Sujets spéciaux

A review of wheat leaf rust research and the development of resistant cultivars in Canada

B. D. McCallum, C. W. Hiebert, S. Cloutier, G. Bakkeren, S. Barcellos Rosa, D. G. Humphreys, 

G. F. Marais, C. A. McCartney, V. Panwar, C. Rampitsch, B. J. Saville and X. Wang 

1

Symposium contribution/Contribution à un symposium

Using DIR1 to investigate long-distance signal movement during Systemic Acquired Resistance

R. K. Cameron, P. Carella, M. Isaacs, M. Champigny, J. Merl-Pham, S. Dey and A. C. Vlot 

19

Defi ning Arabidopsis NPR1 orthologues in crops for translational plant immunity

X. Kuai and C. Després 

25

Plant pathogenic oomycetes: counterbalancing resistance, susceptibility and adaptation

A. Burkhardt and B. Day 

31

Bacteria and phytoplasmas/Bactéries et phytoplasmes

Identifi cation of bacterial pathogens and races of Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola 

from dry bean fi elds in Western Canada

S. Chatterton, P. M. Balasubramanian, R. S. Erickson, A. Hou, D. L. McLaren, M. A. Henriquez 

and R. L. Conner 

41

Disease control/Moyens de lutte

Comparison of the sensitivity of Monilinia fructicola isolates to tebuconazole in Brazil 

using three methods

P. S. F. Lichtemberg, W. M. Zeviani, T. J. Michailides and L. L. May De Mio 

55

Epidemiology/Épidémiologie

Characterization of Colletotrichum lindemuthianum races infecting dry edible bean 

in North Dakota

J. M. Halvorson, R. S. Lamppa, S. G. Markell and J. S. Pasche 

64

Forest Pathology/Pathologie forestière

Neofusicoccum arbuti: a hidden threat to Arbutus menziesii characterized by widespread 

latent infections and a broad host range

R. R. McGregor, M. L. Sakalidis and R. C. Hamelin 

70

Genetics and resistance/Génétique et résistance

Transferring clubroot resistance from Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa) to canola (B. napus)

A. H. Hirani, F. Gao, J. Liu, G. Fu, C. Wu, Y. Yuan, W. Li, J. Hou, R. Duncan and G. Li 

82

(continued on inside back cover)

CONTENTS

Cover illustrations: (Left) Close-up of trunk of diseased arbutus showing symptoms consistent with infection by 

Neofusicoccum arbuti. Numerous sunken blackened cankers with a raised, uneven margin can be seen. For more 

insight, see the article by R. R. McGregor et al. in this issue. 

(Right) Symptoms of halo blight on a bean leaf, showing 

large yellow halos surrounding small necrotic lesions. The pathogen 

Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola was 

recovered from the lesions. For more insight, see the article by S. Chatterton et al. in this issue.

ISSN: 0706-0661

PLANT

PATHOLOGY

CANADIAN JOURNAL OF

Revue canadienne de phytopathologie

Volume 38, Number 1,  January–March 2016

JOURNAL OF THE CANADIAN PHYTOPATHOLOGICAL SOCIETY

REVUE DE LA SOCIÉTÉ CANADIENNE DE PHYTOPATHOLOGIE

An International Journal of Phytopathology

6.5

mm

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Volume 51     Number 2     May 2016

European Journal of Phycology

European

Journal of

Phycology

Volume 51     Number 2     May 2016

ISSN 0967-0262

European

Journal of

Phycology

Volume 51       Number 2       May 2016

RAN ZHAO, DAPHNE H.P. NG, LEI FANG, YVONNE Y.S. CHOW & YUAN KUN LEE
MAPK in Dunaliella tertiolecta regulates glycerol production in response to osmotic shock 

119

SANTOSH SATHE & PIERRE M. DURAND
Cellular aggregation in Chlamydomonas (Chlorophyceae) is chimaeric and depends on traits like 
cell size and motility 

129

NANA KINOSHITA, KOGIKU SHIBA, KAZUO INABA, GANG FU, CHIKAKO NAGASATO & TAIZO MOTOMURA
Flagellar waveforms of gametes in the brown alga Ectocarpus siliculosus 139

DAVID H. JEWSON & REBECCA J. BIXBY
Abundance and size change of Hannaea baicalensis in Lake Baikal 

149

ROMAIN GASTINEAU, GERT HANSEN, NIKOLAÏ A. DAVIDOVICH, OLGA DAVIDOVICH, JEAN-FRANÇOIS BARDEAU, 
IRENA KACZMARSKA, JAMES M. EHRMAN, VINCENT LEIGNEL, YANN HARDIVILLIER, BORIS JACQUETTE, 
MICHEL POULIN, MICHÈLE MORANÇAIS, JOËL FLEURENCE & JEAN-LUC MOUGET
A new blue-pigmented hasleoid diatom, Haslea provincialis, from the Mediterranean Sea 

156

SVENJA HEESCH, MARIE PAŽOUTOVÁ, MÓNICA B.J. MONIZ & FABIO RINDI
Prasiolales (Trebouxiophyceae, Chlorophyta) of the Svalbard Archipelago: diversity, biogeography
and description of the new genera Prasionella and Prasionema 

171

ZHAOHE LUO, KENNETH NEIL MERTENS, SIAMAK BAGHERI, HILAL AYDIN, YOSHIHITO TAKANO, KAZUMI MATSUOKA, 
FRANCINE M.G. MCCARTHY & HAIFENG GU
Cyst-theca relationship and phylogenetic positions of Scrippsiella plana sp. nov. and S. spinifera 
(Peridiniales, Dinophyceae) 

188

DIBA A. KHAN-BUREAU, EDUARDO A. MORALES, LUC ECTOR, MICHAEL S. BEAUCHENE & LOUISE A. LEWIS
Characterization of a new species in the genus Didymosphenia and of Cymbella janischii (Bacillariophyta) 
from Connecticut, USA 

203

CHRISTINE COCQUYT & ELS RYKEN

Afrocymbella barkeri sp. nov. (Bacillariophyta), a common phytoplankton component of Lake Challa,
a deep crater lake in East Africa 

217

FERNANDO GÓMEZ, HARUYOSHI TAKAYAMA, DAVID MOREIRA & PURIFICACIÓN LÓPEZ-GARCÍA
Unarmoured dinoflagellates with a small hyposome: Torodinium and Lebouridinium gen. nov. for 

Katodinium glaucum (Gymnodiniales, Dinophyceae) 

226

5.5

mm

TEJP_COVER_51-02.indd   1

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Volume 51     Number 2     May 2016

European Journal of Phycology

European

Journal of

Phycology

Volume 51     Number 2     May 2016

ISSN 0967-0262

European

Journal of

Phycology

Volume 51       Number 2       May 2016

RAN ZHAO, DAPHNE H.P. NG, LEI FANG, YVONNE Y.S. CHOW & YUAN KUN LEE

MAPK in Dunaliella tertiolecta regulates glycerol production in response to osmotic shock 

119

SANTOSH SATHE & PIERRE M. DURAND

Cellular aggregation in Chlamydomonas (Chlorophyceae) is chimaeric and depends on traits like 

cell size and motility 

129

NANA KINOSHITA, KOGIKU SHIBA, KAZUO INABA, GANG FU, CHIKAKO NAGASATO & TAIZO MOTOMURA

Flagellar waveforms of gametes in the brown alga Ectocarpus siliculosus 139

DAVID H. JEWSON & REBECCA J. BIXBY

Abundance and size change of Hannaea baicalensis in Lake Baikal 

149

ROMAIN GASTINEAU, GERT HANSEN, NIKOLAÏ A. DAVIDOVICH, OLGA DAVIDOVICH, JEAN-FRANÇOIS BARDEAU, 

IRENA KACZMARSKA, JAMES M. EHRMAN, VINCENT LEIGNEL, YANN HARDIVILLIER, BORIS JACQUETTE, 

MICHEL POULIN, MICHÈLE MORANÇAIS, JOËL FLEURENCE & JEAN-LUC MOUGET

A new blue-pigmented hasleoid diatom, Haslea provincialis, from the Mediterranean Sea 

156

SVENJA HEESCH, MARIE PAŽOUTOVÁ, MÓNICA B.J. MONIZ & FABIO RINDI

Prasiolales (Trebouxiophyceae, Chlorophyta) of the Svalbard Archipelago: diversity, biogeography

and description of the new genera Prasionella and Prasionema 

171

ZHAOHE LUO, KENNETH NEIL MERTENS, SIAMAK BAGHERI, HILAL AYDIN, YOSHIHITO TAKANO, KAZUMI MATSUOKA, 

FRANCINE M.G. MCCARTHY & HAIFENG GU

Cyst-theca relationship and phylogenetic positions of Scrippsiella plana sp. nov. and S. spinifera 

(Peridiniales, Dinophyceae) 

188

DIBA A. KHAN-BUREAU, EDUARDO A. MORALES, LUC ECTOR, MICHAEL S. BEAUCHENE & LOUISE A. LEWIS

Characterization of a new species in the genus Didymosphenia and of Cymbella janischii (Bacillariophyta) 

from Connecticut, USA 

203

CHRISTINE COCQUYT & ELS RYKEN

Afrocymbella barkeri sp. nov. (Bacillariophyta), a common phytoplankton component of Lake Challa,

a deep crater lake in East Africa 

217

FERNANDO GÓMEZ, HARUYOSHI TAKAYAMA, DAVID MOREIRA & PURIFICACIÓN LÓPEZ-GARCÍA

Unarmoured dinoflagellates with a small hyposome: Torodinium and Lebouridinium gen. nov. for 

Katodinium glaucum (Gymnodiniales, Dinophyceae) 

226

5.5

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background image

103

BOOK REVIEWS

Economic

Public Garden Management: A Global Perspective, Vols. 1 and 2 .............................. 103

Messages from the Gods:  A Guide to the Useful Plants of Belize ............................ 105

Historical

Hidden Histories and Ancient Mysteries of Witches, Plants, and Fungi. ................... 108

Systematics

Keys to Lichens of North America .................................................................................................. 109

Jewels of the Plains ................................................................................................................................ 110

Spot-characters for the Identification of Malesian Seed Plants .................................. 111

Economic

Public Garden Manage-

ment: A Global Perspec-

tive, Vols. 1 and 2

Bijan Dehagan

2014.  

ISBN-13: 978-1-4931-6178-2 (Vol. 

1); 978-1-4931-6181-2 (Vol. 2)

Vol. 1: Paperback, US$148.99. 396 pp.

Vol. 2: Paperback, US$162.99. 442 pp.

Xlibris LLC, Bloomington, Indiana, USA

These two volumes are a beautiful compilation 

of pictures with accompanying explanatory 

text. They would be a wonderful addition to 

anyone’s personal library and can serve as a 

“go-to” when one needs quick information 

about a certain type of garden. Figures (with 

their captions) are grouped together at the 

end of each chapter. The pictures are excellent 

depictions of different gardens around the 

world and show the many ways in which these 

gardens serve the public. Images capture the 

particular concept being discussed in each 

chapter and provide a supportive visual 

explanation. The books exemplifies the saying, 

“A picture is worth a thousand words.” 

The author, Bijan Dehgan, is well traveled 

and the pictures—most of which are taken 

by him—attest to this. The captions are quite 

detailed and add to the information already 

provided in the text. It is akin to sitting 

through a presentation, with the captions 

providing the reader with the descriptions 

that the presenter would provide with each 

slide. It is meant to serve as a garden design 

textbook but is also suitable for real estate 

developers, home owners, and others who are 

interested in making our urban environment 

a pleasant place for humans to interact with 

nature in close proximity with the different 

urban structures that are an integral part 

of human societies. It would be interesting 

to see how this book might contribute to 

gardens in the future as technology and social 

media connectivity continue to increase in 

importance. 
Chapters 1 and 2 are good introductory 

chapters. Chapter 1, titled “Why Do We Need 

Public Gardens?,” is a perfect beginning to this 

two-part series on public garden management. 

This chapter is very well written, with a variety 

of quotes from religious and fictional books 

background image

PSB 62 (2) 2016 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

        

104

Book Reviews

from different time periods and in different 

languages. The chapter covers the evolution of 

human society, industrialization, urbanization, 

and the physical and psychological benefits 

derived from public gardens. The chapter 

refers to gardens as “living museums” and 

concludes by promising to discuss the position 

of public gardens in cultural, educational, and 

research institutions across the globe. Chapter 

2, “Public Gardens and Their Functions,” 

introduces us to the different types of gardens 

and their definitions. Chapter 3 provides 

a historical overview that takes the reader 

back in time through ancient Egypt, the 

Persian “Paradisio,” the garden of Aristotle’s 

Lyceum, Oriental gardens and their cultural 

significance, monastic and physic gardens 

including details of medicinal plant collections 

in India, and then moves on to cover the 

extensive history of European gardens. The 

pictures accompanying this chapter present 

the evolution of gardens, garden design, and 

their significance in human culture. 
Chapters 4A through 4G get into the details 

of garden development and design, including 

detailed landscaping plans and pictures of 

gardens illustrating different landscaping 

elements and garden design. Designs and 

pictures of formal and informal gardens, Asian 

gardens and the inclusion of bonsai, layouts 

of flower and butterfly gardens, rock gardens, 

historical and present-day rose gardens, and 

water gardens and the intricacies involved 

in designing them are all described in detail 

and illustrated with examples from all over 

the world. Lastly, the inclusion of children’s 

gardens—featuring learning activities, 

planting of vegetables and flowers, and natural 

playground equipment—adds an interesting 

dimension to the purpose of gardens in our 

society. All gardens involve plant collections 

from different regions, and the chapter on 

“Plant Collecting Expedition and Herbarium” 

describes historical perspectives on this 

process, including expeditions, famous 

collectors, and data sheets used for recording 

location details for collections. This, the 

final chapter in Volume 1, also addresses the 

importance of herbarium collections and the 

relevance of ethnobotany in today’s world.
Volume 2 moves from the plant collection 

expeditions and building of herbarium 

collections to the development of 

in situ 

preservation such as conservatories and 

greenhouses. In this chapter, the pages with 

pictures outnumber those with text, and 

feature botanical gardens around the world, the 

University of Vienna greenhouses, the Phipps 

conservatory collections, and the United 

States National Conservatory, along with 

many other global conservatories. Chapter 7 

discusses the inclusion of plants in zoological 

gardens and the ecological and horticultural 

issues concerning zoos. It is stated very 

explicitly that this chapter is not about animals, 

their importance, or zoo management, but 

specific aspects of “codependence of plants 

and animals” are discussed. The chapter on 

art in gardens elaborates on the inclusion 

of structures, sculptures, and other forms 

of art related to plants in gardens. Chapter 

9 discusses the importance of interpretive 

signs in public gardens, especially as a source 

of learning activities.  Examples of well-

designed information panels allow the reader 

to appreciate their importance. 
Beginning with an apt proverb, “Man 

strides over the earth and deserts follow 

in his footsteps,” in Chapter 10 the author 

describes the important role public gardens 

play in conservation. The chapter defines 

biodiversity and elaborates on a case study 

of cycad conservation. It also includes some 

details of the Endangered Species Act and 

different conservation organizations. Chapter 

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11 discusses people-plant interactions in 

gardens, focusing on the importance of garden 

elements and design that work with humans 

and potentially serve as a psychosocial route 

to better mental and physical health. The 

chapter on turf grass in public gardens is a 

text by Professor Laurie Trenholm adapted to 

this book. The writing in this chapter is much 

more technical in comparison with the rest of 

the book; the chapter addresses some of the 

concerns of the expanding turf grass acreage 

in the United States. The last two chapters 

touch upon two important issues—funding 

for maintaining public gardens and career 

opportunities in public gardens. The epilogue 

describes clearly the purpose of the chapters 

in these two volumes, which is mainly to 

provide background information to assist in 

the creation of new and ingenious landscape 

designs for public enjoyment. These two 

volumes will make an excellent addition to 

library collections and would also be useful as 

coffee table books in academic departments 

dealing with landscape architecture.
–H. S. Arathi, Department of Soil and Crop 

Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Col-

lins, Colorado, USA

Messages from the Gods: 

A Guide to the Useful 

Plants of Belize

Michael J. Balick and Rosita 

Arvigo

2015.  

ISBN-13: 978-0-19-996576-2

Paperback, US$49.99. 560 pp.

Oxford University Press (New 

York, New York, USA)  and New 

York Botanical Garden (Bronx, New York, USA)

This book provides (in three chapters) a brief 

overview of Belizean ethnobotany, together 

with a 421-page account of the Belizean 

flora as it is used for food and medicine. My 

interest in this book arose from making it the 

basis for a lecture in an ethnobotany course, 

but its real value will lie in its usefulness for 

anyone traveling in Belize, or working with 

specimens from that country, who is also 

interested in ethnobotany, traditional healing, 

or drug discovery.
For pedagogical purposes, the book, like 

Belize itself, is especially valuable because of 

the light it sheds on the relationship between 

people and the plants they find around them 

where they live and work. Belize is particularly 

important in this regard because of the way 

its geography and history have conspired to 

make it a more or less politically stable enclave, 

within which more than one culture has 

found room to exist and interact peacefully 

with others. The authors refer to a population 

of 333,000 that comprises Maya, Afro-Creole, 

Garifuna, South Asian, Chinese, Lebanese, 

European, and mestizo, and write that a “…

purist would only find disappointment in 

searching for ‘true’ Maya healing among 

today’s practitioners.” Instead, they describe 

at some length the process by which the 

discovery of the therapeutic properties of 

plants is still taking place. For example, they 

describe how, when in 1988 the first patients 

with HIV/AIDS returned to Belize for care 

by their families, Belizean traditional healers 

had little to offer them. Ten years later, the 

scene had changed, and healers were using 

treatments made from local plants to relieve 

the symptoms of these patients.
After describing the origins, objectives, and 

methodology of the Belize Ethnobotany 

Project, the authors go on to provide a 

knowledgeable discussion of different 

aspects of Belizean ethnobotany, including 

a description of how forest conversion and 

habitat loss have reduced the availability of 

many plant species, making it necessary for 

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healers to go further and further to reach 

sites at which they can still collect the plants 

they use. This second chapter also includes a 

profile of the Mayan healer Don Eligio Panti, 

who was the teacher of Rosita Arvigo. It was 

her interest in documenting Don Eligio’s 

knowledge that led her to collaborate with 

Michael Balick, and this, in turn, led to the 

larger Belize Ethnobotany Project. In the 

third chapter, the authors present 11 more 

healers, representing different backgrounds, 

traditions, and practices. They then provide 

edited transcripts of conversations with eight 

of these healers that let the reader see, in 

their words, the different ways in which they 

understand their work. 
The account of the useful plants in the 

Belizean flora in the fourth chapter is arranged 

taxonomically in four sections (ferns and fern 

allies, gymnosperms, monocotyledons, and 

dicotyledons), following the arrangement 

of the earlier checklist of the flora (Balick et 

al., 2000). Flowering plant family alignments 

follow Angiosperm Phylogeny Group III. 

Families, genera, and species are arranged 

alphabetically. The authors attempt to provide 

at least one illustration (most of which are 

excellent color photographs) for each genus. 

Species treatments vary in length, according to 

the number of uses listed. Under each species, 

the lead for each ailment or other use is set 

boldface, making it easy for the reader to see 

the variety of uses and range of detail available. 

References to voucher specimens and to the 

relevant literature are provided. What I did 

not find was a consistent indication of which 

species are introduced in Belize. Some are 

obvious, like the food plants introduced by 

Europeans (e.g., breadfruit, coconut, rice). 

This is too bad, as it would be interesting to 

see the extent to which healers have taken 

advantage of cosmopolitan weeds and other 

introduced species. Evidently, the interest is 

there, as one healer, the late Percival Hezekiah 

Reynolds, asked Balick for dandelion seeds.  

The central portion of the right panel of “Potato Peeling 101 to Ethnobotany 101” by Jane Ash 

Poitras shows a First Nations youth doing the science that explains an aspect of their traditional 

knowledge. Installed in the Daphne Cockwell Gallery of Canada: First Peoples, of the Royal On-

tario Museum. Courtesy of the Royal Ontario Museum, photo credit Brian Boyle.

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The remaining two chapters are found 

online, together with three appendices, at the 

publisher’s website (http://global.oup.com/

us/companion.websites/9780199965762/). 

Chapter 5, by Robert Heinzman and Conrad 

Reining, with Michael J. Balick, describes the 

timber and non-timber forest products of 

Belize in historical, statistical, and economic, 

as well as botanical detail. Chapter 6, by 

Gordon M. Cragg and David J. Newman, is 

a report on Belizean plants evaluated by the 

U.S. National Cancer Institute as part of its 

approach to the discovery and development 

of new drugs for the treatment of cancer and 

AIDS. This chapter concludes with its authors’ 

reflection on the HIV and anti-tumor assay 

results. Only a small fraction of the species 

documented showed appreciable anti-tumor 

activity, and only one species was shown 

to contain compounds (guttiferones) with 

known anti-HIV activity. The authors note the 

difficulty of inferring therapeutic potential 

from ethnobotanical data when the diseases 

in question, like cancer and HIV, are generally 

outside the diagnostic and therapeutic 

experience of traditional healers. 
The book concludes with a literature cited 

section and a 21-page index in fine print. 

Overall, it is a wonderfully balanced work that 

respects the healers and others who shared 

their knowledge with the authors and, at the 

same time, respects the scientific traditions 

in which the authors operate, one as an 

ethnobotanist and the other as a naprapathic 

practitioner. This is important, because we 

should recognize that the reason why the 

authors attach so much importance to the role 

of their book in helping Belizeans preserve 

their traditional knowledge is that, when Belize 

is able to provide adequate modern health 

care to all of its citizens, their dependence 

on traditional therapies is likely to diminish. 

This is as it should be, because so many 

illnesses have their origins in interactions 

with bacteria, viruses, and parasites, or in 

pathologies resulting from accumulated 

genetic mistakes or environmental insults, all 

of which are best understood in a scientific 

context. North Americans and Europeans, 

the majority of whom have ready access to 

sophisticated medical interventions, forget 

this at their peril—witness the needless recent 

death of the child whose parents chose to treat 

his meningitis only with herbal remedies. 
–T. A. Dickinson, Senior Curator Emeritus, 

ROM Green Plant Herbarium (TRT), De-

partment of Natural History, Royal Ontario 

Museum, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Literature Cited

Balick, M. J., M. H. Nee, and D. E. Atha. 2000. 

Checklist of the vascular plants of Belize, with 

common names and uses. Memoirs of the New 

York Botanical Garden 85: 1–246.

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HISTORICAL

Hidden Histories and 

Ancient Mysteries of 

Witches, Plants, and 

Fungi

Frank Dugan 

2015. 

ISBN-13: 978-0-89054-465-5

Paperback, US$69.95. 180 pp. 

APS Press, St. Paul, Minnesota, 

USA 

The précis to Mr. Frank Dugan’s recent 

book—Hidden Histories and Ancient Mysteries 

of Witches, Plants, and Fungi—describes 

“convergent new findings” and “congruent 

datasets” as the impetus for a revisionist 

view of both crop-pathogen and plant-

human interactions in European history and 

prehistory. It is, of course, common practice 

for scholars to revise their views when 

confronted with new evidence. What makes 

Mr. Dugan’s approach unique, however, is 

that his writing is at once a revision of our 

understanding of crop plant migration; an 

intriguing introduction to the relationship 

between folklore, fakelore, and literacy; and a 

finely woven tapestry of source material that 

spans the fields of archaeology, linguistics, 

agricultural science, and cultural geography. 

His writing is concise and yet his view is 

expansive, making Hidden Histories a valuable 

reference for both the expert in and the 

student of agricultural history.
Despite a bibliography of nearly 700 

sources,  Hidden Histories is a small book 

that uses a narrative approach to outline a 

rigorously investigated and sound intellectual 

framework. The author has cleverly organized 

the material around broad and encompassing 

themes: the spread of crop plants and fungal 

pathogens; the exchange of ethnobotanical 

information between oral and literate sources; 

the impact of New World plants on Old World 

folklore; the transformation of traditional 

knowledge following land use change and 

the commercialization of plant materials; 

and new forms of pagan customs originally 

intended to protect crops and livestock. Each 

chapter can be read on its own as a lengthy 

review. Together, they represent an example of 

the rare kind of multidisciplinary scholarship 

that seeks to unify rather than divide.
In the opening chapter, which references the 

title of a work by Hesiod—Shadows of Works 

and Days—Mr. Dugan demonstrates his 

scientific expertise as he considers molecular-

genetic evidence that alters our previous 

understanding of crop-pathogen interactions, 

the timing of crop plant introductions, and 

the impact of these on the health and habits of 

the European rural poor. Linguistic evidence 

also plays a large role in the author’s analysis. 

We are convincingly shown that weather and 

existing pathogens repeatedly led to famine 

in medieval and premodern Europe as scald 

and rusts moved between domesticated and 

wild plants. We learn of the migration of 

legumes and their importance, along with 

pathogen-resistance vetches, as alternate 

forms of sustenance. Foraging for wild plants 

and fungi is described as a necessity during 

“need years.” The complexity of securing 

adequate nourishment in premodern times is 

contextualized by being placed alongside the 

early plant science to which the experience of 

scarcity gave rise.
Subsequent chapters continue tracing the role 

of women as the primary foragers and keepers 

of orally transmitted plant knowledge. The 

tired, albeit revealing, contrast between oral 

and literate societies, folklore and ethnobotany, 

herbalism and patented medicine is present 

in Mr. Dugan’s writing but is thankfully 

downplayed. Instead, the author seems to 

favor a view that suggests that one form of 

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social interaction and knowledge transfer was 

necessarily eclipsed by another as writing 

became the dominant form of communication 

among those interested in plant lore. A novel 

part of his analysis is the effect of enclosure 

of the commons on rural, especially female, 

interactions with wild plants. The impact 

of “women … sundered from wild and 

common spaces” is visible today as a nearly 

complete loss of intergenerational knowledge 

of mushrooms. Folkways of information 

transfer are interpreted as important sources 

of ethnobotanical knowledge when they can 

be juxtaposed with other evidence and as 

fakelore, or invented traditions, when they 

cannot. Mr. Dugan is quick to remind us, 

however, that fakelore often contains accurate 

information about plant uses and should not 

be entirely discounted as its own avenue 

worthy of study.
Despite the book’s emphasis on traditional 

knowledge, the reader who is seeking 

information on the “ancient mysteries of 

witches” mentioned in the title might be 

disappointed. Gone are the days when 

women who gather and work with plant 

materials are given the moniker “witch.” As 

Hidden  Histories demonstrates, the revival 

of interest in such topics as Wicca and the 

occult can mask a more practical and durable 

synthesis that is taking place: that between 

scientific and popular approaches to botanical 

knowledge. The uncommon and eclectic 

illustrations provided by Mr. Dugan support 

the view that plants and human culture are 

inextricably joined and the evolution of one is 

not entirely distinct from the development of 

the other. One travels across time and space 

and back again while reading this intriguing 

review, and despite the fact that one’s journey 

is organized more by theme than chronology, 

the end result is invigorating rather than 

disorienting. A trail of open doors remains.
–Andrea Kornbluh, Department of Biological 

Science, Rowan University, Glassboro, New 

Jersey, USA; kornbluh@rowan.edu

SYSTEMATICS

Keys to Lichens of 

North America

Irwin M. Brodo

2016.  

ISBN-13: 978-0-300-19573-6

Paperback, US$29.95. 424 pp. 

Yale University Press, New 

Haven, Connecticut, USA

Surely lichens are an underappreciated life 

form, often overlooked as just growths on tree 

trunks. These symbiotic organisms composed 

of a fungus and alga have been shown to be 

able to decompose rock, given enough time. 

They also are capable of surviving in very 

inhospitable conditions while also being useful 

in determining air quality. Lichenologist Dr. 

Irwin Brodo has championed this often-

ignored  but  ecologically  significant  group 

of organisms, particularly in the 2001 book 

Lichens of North America (LNA). Now lichen 

enthusiasts and general naturalists have an 

accompanying key to identification.
Brodo indicates in the preface that this 

volume came about at the request of many 

readers of the LNA book who indicated a 

need for a spiral-bound, no-extras guide that 

could  incorporate  the  identification  keys 

from the original book. Certainly this volume 

seems like a great addition to a herbarium, 

classroom, or lab. It lies completely flat and 

contains a huge amount of information at one’s 

fingertips. However it seems unsuitable for 

excessive use in the field, as the cover is paper 

and the interior stock rather flimsy. This must 

be a concession to the expense of printing 

such an extensive work for an admittedly 

narrow audience. It would not resist tears or 

moisture well.
The key includes just a few photos in an 

appendix, but this must be expected in a book 

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including over 2,000 species, nearly double the 

species covered in LNA. Brodo mentions there 

are 4,881 lichen species recognized as of 2014, 

and the key incredibly covers nearly half of 

them. There are 10 pages of figures illustrating 

lichen morphology and concepts necessary for 

use of the key, a most helpful inclusion even for 

experienced lichenologists, and certainly vital 

for students and enthusiasts. The glossary is 

absolutely essential, as it clarifies terminology 

used in identification. It’s fortunately very 

clear, and I referred to it constantly.
Keys A through K cover major types of lichen, 

including fruticose, crustose, squamulose, 

umbilicate, foliose, jelly lichens, and variations 

like dwarf fruticose. So, for example, if I know 

I have a fruticose lichen, in Key A, Fruticose 

lichens, we find “1. Thallus pale greenish 

yellow, yellowish green, green, white, gray, 

brown, olive, or black…6.” Following this to 

6.(1) and 6., I choose 6.(1) “Thallus pendant or 

almost pendant,” etc. This leads to 7., where I 

must choose between “Thallus greenish yellow 

or yellowish green (containing usnic acid in 

the cortex)” or “Thallus shades of white, gray, 

brown, olive, or black (lacking usnic acid).” I 

choose the first, which refers me to 8.
Now I must choose between microscopic 

characteristics: do the branches contain a 

tough, single, central cord, or no? In this 

hypothetical case, I can choose the former, 

which tells me I have the common 

Usnea

a.k.a. old man’s beard lichen. Now I can go 

further, to the section on 

Usnea species 

on page 348. Further characteristics, some 

requiring at least a hand lens to determine, 

may lead to my particular species.
By using these diagnostic characteristics, and 

sequence of steps, one should be able to “key 

out” ideally to species. But lichen, like the 

fungi and algae that compose them, are not 

the easiest organisms to identify to species; 

doing so with certainty may often require 

microscopic examination of spores or other 

internal characteristics.
This is a utilitarian book, and should be 

preceded by study of the LNA. It is intended 

for use alongside the LNA. This is not a 

beginner’s book, and to avoid frustration, 

users should at least familiarize themselves 

with terminology used in morphology, etc. 

This  key  not  only  revises  identifications 

since the publication of LNA, but is a major 

expansion. Species covered in greater detail 

in LNA are helpfully in boldface, so one can 

easily seek further detail. This volume is a 

fantastic addition to the masterwork of lichens 

that is Lichens of North America.
–Kenneth Setzer, Fairchild Tropical Botanic 

Garden, Coral Gables, Florida, USA

Jewels of the Plains: Wildflowers of the 

Great Plains Grass-

lands and Hills, revised 

edition 

Claude A. Barr, edited by 

James H. Locklear

2015. 

 ISBN-13: 978-0-8166-9801-1

Hardcover, US$27.95. 288 pp. 

University of Minnesota Press,  

Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

According to the dustjacket flap, “Claude A. 

Barr did not set out to be a writer.” This re-

released and updated classic work shows that 

we are all lucky that he became one. Barr 

(1887–1982) homesteaded 160 acres of land in 

South Dakota in 1910, which, through a stroke 

of luck, ended up becoming an acclaimed 

nursery. Barr became known for cultivating 

native plants (and developing cultivars) from 

the Great Plains. His Prairie Gem Ranch 

operated for four decades, sending plants 

all over the United States and the world. As 

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his name grew (thanks to his submission of 

photos of native plants to various gardening 

journals), people from around the country 

began contacting him asking how to grow 

these wonderful prairie plants. Barr began 

writing about the plants as well, and here lies 

the body of this work.
This work was originally published 

posthumously in 1983 and has since gone 

out of print. University of Minnesota Press 

has done everyone who enjoys native 

wildflowers  a  great  service  in  updating  and 

re-releasing it. James Locklear (who recently 

published a work on Phlox) has updated all 

of the nomenclature in the original book 

and otherwise left the text untouched. Also 

included are an Introduction, Notes, Glossary, 

and Bibliography. Locklear has not only 

updated the species names for each taxon 

that Barr covered but also included the “old” 

name so that people who are unfamiliar with 

the newer names can understand what plant 

is being described. The over 500 species 

covered are arranged alphabetically by genus. 

Each genus has at least one species described, 

sometimes many more. Barr not only wrote 

about each plant’s physical characteristics, but 

its distribution, cultivation, and ecology. Here 

the text really shines. Barr does a fantastic job 

of describing the plants and writes about them 

in a way that is not often seen. I will quote a 

few nice passages:
Referring to Hypoxis hirsuta: “…it puts up its 

miniature reflections of the sun, singly or in 

clusters, over a long season…”
Writing of Antennaria: “Many are the low, 

gray mats of ladies’-tobacco, many the varied 

leaf forms and patterns in different regions, 

and many the attitudes of gardeners toward 

these useful and beautiful subjects in garden 

design.”

Arctostaphylos uva-ursi: “It delights in 

modeling the irregular surface of rocks with 

its advancing stems, and there displays at 

their best, in early spring, its brief clusters of 

tiny, pendant urns of pink and white. Is there 

a finer four-season, low shrub to be found?” 
I had never heard of this book before now, and 

I am very grateful that it has been reprinted 

for younger generations to enjoy. 
–John G. Zaborsky, Botany Department, 

University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, 

Wisconsin, USA; jzaborsky@wisc.edu

Spot-characters for the 

Identification of Malesian 

Seed Plants: A Guide

M. M. J. van Balgooy, Y. W. Low, 

and K. M. Wong

2015.  

ISBN-13: 978-983-812-159-0

Paperback, US$29.63. 288 pp. 

Natural History Publications 

(Borneo), Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia

Asia is one of the most biodiverse continents, 

with six megabiodiverse countries— namely 

China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the 

Philippines, and Papua and New Guinea. 

Due to the tropical and subtropical climate 

regimes, Southeast Asia is particularly rich 

in plant resources, with over 40,000 seed 

plants known to science; this biodiversity 

is comparable to the rich plant diversity of 

the Neotropics (Central and South America) 

and the Afrotropics (Sub-Saharan Africa). 

Spot-characters  for  the  Identification  of 

Malesian Seed Plants is a spectacular guide 

book exploring the rich plant diversity of 

the Malesian region. Malesia represents a 

phytogeographically rich part of Southeast 

Asia, comprising the countries Brunei, 

Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua and New Guinea, 

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PSB 62 (2) 2016 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

        

112

Book Reviews

floristic set.” 
This volume will be useful for field biologists, 

professional botanists, ecologists, herbarium 

curators and conservators, phytogeographers, 

environmentalists, researchers, academics, 

and students specializing in the seed plants 

of Southeast Asia both within and adjacent 

to the Malesian phytogeographic region. It 

will also interest amateur botanists and plant 

enthusiasts, particularly those interested in 

the seed plants of the vast, biodiverse Indo-

Malaya ecozone. I particularly recommend 

the volume to aspiring taxonomists who 

wish to learn how to systematically describe 

a plant in the most comprehensive fashion in 

the classroom. The numerous colored plates, 

micrographs, and images—along with the 

accompanying texts—will enable budding 

taxonomists to develop expertise on important 

plant diagnostic characters in the laboratory, as 

well as while scanning herbarium specimens 

before formal field exposure.
–Saikat Kumar BasuUniversity of Lethbridge, 

Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada

the Philippines, Singapore, and Timor-Leste. 

It is important to note that four countries 

within the Malesian region are designated 

as megabiodiverse countries, suggesting the 

spectacular  floral  diversity  of  the  region. 

This comprehensive, colorful volume lists, 

discusses, and analyzes 119 spot characters of 

Malesian seed plants and includes color plates 

highlighting  various  identifiable  seed  plant 

characters. The authors have painstakingly 

included every possible taxonomic detail 

necessary for clearly identifying the local seed 

plants, and the volume nicely translates their 

decades of cumulative experiences in seed 

plant  identifications  under  the  challenging 

field conditions of Southeast Asia.
The plant characters include various growth 

forms, distinctive vegetative characters (like 

stem and branch patterns as well as foliar 

characters such as stipules, petioles, rachis, leaf 

arrangement or phyllotaxy, leaf forms, shapes, 

margins, venation, coloration, indument, leaf 

surface, textures), and reproductive characters 

(e.g.,  different  forms  of  floral  arrangements 

or  inflorescences,  flowering  habits,  life 

cycles,  forms  of  flowers,  fruits  and  seeds). 

Quick field characters such as plant exudates 

(saps and resins) and characteristic smells 

that a collector or surveyor would notice 

during  field  collections  are  also  included. 

The authors focus on important diagnostic 

characters that can be easily detected both in 

well-preserved herbarium specimens and in 

newly collected specimens to facilitate quick 

and  comprehensive  identification  of  local 

seed plants. A number of easily detectable 

field  characters  are  also  included  in  this 

unique and comprehensive guide. The authors 

elegantly explain that the “spot characters” 

devised by them are not an attempt to replace 

conventional taxonomic keys, but are simply 

to assist in the process of identification of plant 

families,  genera,  or  species  for  a  “specific 

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Plant Science Bulletin 

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The Botanical Society of 

America is a membership soci-

ety whose mission  is to: pro-

mote botany, the field of basic 

science dealing with the study 

& inquiry into the form, func-

tion, development, diversity, 

reproduction, evolution, & uses 

of plants & their interactions 

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POSTMASTER:  

Send address changes to: 

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Address Editorial Matters (only) to: 

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Plant Science Bulletin

                                                                                     Summer 2016 Volume 62 Number 2

This April, BSA joined the U.S. Botanic Garden, the 

American Society for Plant Biologists, the Donald Danforth 

Plant Science Center, Society for Economic Botany, and 

Rutgers University in a large, five-part, 600 square foot 

“Plant Presence” booth at the USA Science and Engineering 

festival (USASEF). Over the course of three days, over 

365,000 people attended the festival, and thousands stopped 

by the plants booth to explore hands-on activities and 

demonstrations around seeds, flowers, roots, stems, and 

leaves.

Above, BSA member Monica Carlsen, Research Associate - 

Center for Plant Conservation at Missouri Botanical Garden, 

shows a young visitor how to play the a leaf adaptation 

origami game developed by Jennifer Blake Mahmud 

(Rutgers) and BSA Education Director Catrina Adams.

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Be sure and view the video 

at:botany.org

 

Savannah International Trade and 

Convention Center 

Symposia, Posters, Exhibits,  

Field Trips, Workshops 

Submit your abstract and sign up to attend this 

premier botanical conference! 

www.botanyconference.org

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