IN THIS ISSUE...
SUMMER 2020 VOLUME 66 NUMBER 2
PLANT SCIENCE
BULLETIN
A PUBLICATION OF THE BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
An era of virtual seminars: from creating one to a
list of ones to join.... p. 111
A look back, and forward, at Black Bota-
nists Week with Tanisha Williams.... p. 90
A season of Awards.... p. 76
SPECIAL REPORT:
COVID-19 and
Its Effect on BSA
Members
Summer 2020 Volume 66 Number 2
PLANT SCIENCE BULLETIN
Editorial Committee
Volume 66
From the Editor
Shannon Fehlberg
(2020)
Research and Conservation
Desert Botanical Garden
Phoenix, AZ 85008
sfehlberg@dbg.org
David Tank
(2021)
Department of Biological
Sciences
University of Idaho
Moscow, ID 83844
dtank@uidaho.edu
James McDaniel
(2022)
Botany Department
University of Wisconsin
Madison
Madison, WI 53706
jlmcdaniel@wisc.edu
Seana K. Walsh
(2023)
National Tropical Botanical
Garden
Kalāheo, HI 96741
swalsh@ntbg.org
Greetings,
I think it is fair to say that this is a tumultuous year
and that we are facing challenges on many profession-
al and personal fronts. In this issue of PSB, we begin
to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on
the botanical community. No doubt we will be seeing
the effects of the pandemic for years, but here we’ve
included reflections of members to capture how it has
felt in the moment. We include two articles that pro-
vide tips for moving to a more virtual world, as well.
I am also delighted to highlight the Black Botanists
Week Initiative, which was organized this summer to
celebrate Black people who love, and work with, plants.
We also recap the unprecedented, but overwhelmingly
well-received, Virtual Botany meeting. The feedback
I have heard underscores the importance of joining
together and maintaining professional community
during difficult times. It was a joy to see outstanding
work and deserving people celebrated, even if we were
unable to meet in person.
I want to send a very special thank-you to everyone
who contributed to this issue. Much of it came together
while universities, labs, and public spaces were closed
and people were juggling remote work with novel fam-
ily obligations and extreme uncertainty.
Sincerely,
PSB 66 (2) 2020
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75
SOCIETY NEWS
Meet the New
BSA Board Members!
Michael Donoghue
President-Elect
Melanie Link-Perez
Program Director
Chelsea Specht
Director at Large
for Diversity, Equity
and Inclusion
Jennifer Cruse-Sanders
Director at Large for
Development
Imeñña Valdes
Student
Representative
PSB 66 (2) 2020
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CANDACE GALEN
University of Missouri
In her nearly 40-year career, Dr. Candace
Galen has been a champion for plant science,
conservation, and education. In particular,
Dr. Galen’s career has had a major impact
on the field of plant reproductive ecology
and evolution. She was an innovator at a
time when plant population biology was a
budding field and stands out as a trail blazer
in many dimensions. A hallmark of Dr.
Galen’s research is elegant experiments to
test fundamental evolutionary principles
in the wild. Her research is typified by
a blend of keen observation in the field,
novel conceptual models, and new tools to
understand not just pattern, but also process.
Her work on alpine skypilots, Polemonium
viscosum, revolutionized our understanding
BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA’S AWARD WINNERS
Distinguished Fellow of the Botanical Society of America
The Distinguished Fellow of the Botanical Society of America is the highest honor our Society bestows. Each year,
the 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 identi-
fies recipients who have demonstrated excellence in basic research, education, 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.
of floral trait evolution by integrating across
ecological and evolutionary theory. Recent
work documented evolutionary changes in
pollinator trait evolution in response to climate
change and illustrated the use of noninvasive
monitoring of declining pollinators.
In addition to the numerous graduate students
and postdocs she trained, nearly half of the 40
undergraduate students that worked in her
lab became co-authors on research papers.
In the broader context, her commitment to
education is also evident in that she was one
of the leaders of University of Missouri’s
GK-12 “Show me Nature from Elements to
Ecosystems” STEM grant.
Dr. Galen’s passion for public engagement has
also led to formative change in conservation
of natural resources. Her dedication to
plant conservation and ability to convey
complex and sometimes “hot button” topics
(e.g., climate change) to the public led to
partnerships with the Mountain Area Land
Trust to preserve her long-time research site,
Pennsylvania Mountain, in Colorado. Her
ability to form these partnerships, to inspire
broad groups, will lead to a lasting impact on
the public and on biodiversity.
Dr. Galen has had a remarkable and impactful
career as a botanist, educator, and conservation
advocate, and has served as an important role
model of strong, independent thought for
generations of students.
PSB 66 (2) 2020
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JAMES LEEBENS-MACK
University of Georgia
James Leebens-Mack has been described
as a “genuine star in the firmament of plant
molecular systematics and evolution.” One of
the more notable aspects of his record is that
he not only publishes top-notch empirical
work from his own lab, and on a great diversity
of topics, but he has a knack for community-
building and forging collaborations.
Colleagues from around the country seek him
out to participate in some of the most exciting
genomic research projects going on in the
world today.
Dr. Leebens-Mack has made many significant
contributions to our understanding of
plant diversity. In just the last several years,
he has published papers on the molecular
underpinnings of various aspects of seed and
flower biology, sex determination, storage
roots, CAM photosynthesis, and small RNA
biology. And even with these focused studies,
Dr. Leebens-Mack has been pushing the
envelope by “going big,” with the publication
of numerous whole genome sequences, and
then even grander with the publication last
year of the 1,124 plant transcriptome project,
which he led. The landmark accomplishment
represents the culmination of Dr. Leebens-
Mack having forged collaborations across
dozens of institutions. This achievement
provides key genomic resources for the entire
botanical community, as well as insight into
the phylogeny of all green plants.
The broader impact of his skills as a mentor
should not be overlooked. Dr. Leebens-Mack
is readily available to give his time to help
other researchers and is particularly good at
helping students and postdocs. He regularly
answers questions about techniques or
troubleshooting from across our community,
especially assisting early-career researchers
with practical advice about their unpublished
data sets. Dr. Leebens-Mack has shown real
leadership for our community through his
fearless approach to developing and applying
new techniques, and new ways of thinking.
PSB 66 (2) 2020
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BSA Emerging Leader
Award
CHRISTOPHER MUIR
University of Hawaii
Dr. Christopher Muir serves as an Assistant
Professor in the Department of Botany
at the University of Hawaii. Dr. Muir is
an exceptionally talented quantitative
evolutionary biologist, a passionate and
committed botanist, and a true emerging leader
across the fields of plant trait ecophysiology
and evolution, including as a developer of
community resources and organizations to
support the synthesis of these fields. Muir’s
overarching research interests are focused on
understanding the mechanisms underlying
physiological trait variation, as well as their
role in driving the creation, maintenance, and
distribution of organismal diversity. Although
Muir’s record clearly shows his ambition
and talent for research, he also has a highly
developed sense of mentorship (including
mentoring undergraduate researchers) and
a rapidly emerging record as a leader and
innovator in building community resources
and networks. Muir has been described as
creative and deep thinker, and a talented plant
biologist with a strong computational bent.
NED FRIEDMAN
Harvard University
William (Ned) Friedman is the Arnold
Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary
Biology at Harvard University and the eighth
Director of Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum.
Friedman’s studies have fundamentally
altered century-old views of the earliest
phases of the evolution of flowering plants,
Darwin’s so-called “abominable mystery.”
He is also deeply interested in the history of
early (pre-Darwinian) evolutionary thought
and is particularly focused on the largely
forgotten contributions of horticulturists
and botanists. As Director of the Arnold
Arboretum, Friedman has worked to expand
the Arboretum’s societal impact through
diverse initiatives in public programming,
enhanced communication between scientists
and the public, the embedding of scientific
scholarship within the living collections,
and a reinvigoration of the long-standing
relationship between the Arboretum and the
biodiversity of Asia.
Donald R. Kaplan
Memorial Lecture
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MARGARET MENZEL AWARD
(GENETICS SECTION)
The Margaret Menzel Award is presented by the Genetics Section for the outstanding paper presented in the
contributed papers sessions of the annual meetings.
Rebecca Povilus, Whitehead Institute, for the Presentation: Single nucleus analysis of Arabidopsis
endosperm reveals new, transcriptionally distinct cell types. Co-authors: Colette Picard, Ben
Williams, and Mary Gehring
EDGAR T. WHERRY AWARD
(PTERIDOLOGICAL SECTION AND
THE AMERICAN FERN SOCIETY)
The Edgar T. Wherry Award is given for the best paper presented during the contributed papers session of
the Pteridological Section. This award is in honor of Dr. Wherry’s many contributions to the floristics and
patterns of evolution in ferns.
Amanda Grusz, University of Minnesota-Duluth, for the Presentation: An environmentally-
based model for the origin of obligate apomixis in ferns: insights from the pellaeid clade (Pteridaceae;
Cheilanthoideae). Co-authors: Michael D. Windham, Kathryn Picard, Kathleen Pryer,
Eric Schuettpelz, and Christopher Haufler
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.
Taylor AuBuchon, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
Mary Sagatelova, The Ohio State University
BOTANY ADVOCACY LEADERSHIP GRANT
This award organized by the Environmental and Public Policy Committees of BSA and ASPT aims
to support local efforts that contribute to shaping public policy on issues relevant to plant sciences.
Nina House, Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, for the Proposal: Assessing Grazing Impacts on
Remote Montane Meadows in the Southern Sierra Nevada, Tulare County, California
PSB 66 (2) 2020
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DONALD R. KAPLAN AWARD IN
COMPARATIVE MORPHOLOGY
Donald R. Kaplan was a leading researcher in the area of plant form, where he sought to deduce fundamental
principles from comparative developmental morphology. Through his own work and the work of the many
graduate students he mentored, he had a profound effect on the fields of plant development and structure.
Kaplan always encouraged his students to work independently, often on projects unrelated to his own research.
He believed that students should publish their work independently, and rarely coauthored his students’ papers.
To promote research in plant comparative morphology, the Kaplan family has established an endowed fund,
administered through the Botanical Society of America, to support the Ph.D. research of graduate students
in this area. The annual award of up to $10,000 may be used to support equipment and supplies, travel for
research and to attend meetings, and for summer support. This award was created to promote research in
plant comparative morphology, the Kaplan family has established an endowed fund, administered through
the Botanical Society of America, to support the Ph.D. research of graduate students in this area.
Annika Smith, University of Florida, for the Proposal: The unique nectar spurs of the nasturtiums
(Tropaeolum): Vascular architecture, tissue conflict, and synorganization
THE BSA GRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH AWARD
INCLUDING THE J. S. KARLING AWARD
The BSA Graduate Student Research Awards support graduate student research and are made on the basis
of research proposals and letters of recommendations. Withing the award group is the Karling Graduate
Student Research Award. This award was instituted by the Society in 1997 with funds derived through a
generous gift from the estate of the eminent mycologist, John Sidney Karling (1897-1994), and supports and
promotes graduate student research in the botanical sciences.
THE J. S. KARLING GRADUATE STUDENT
RESEARCH AWARD
Veronica Iriart, University of Pittsburgh, for the Proposal: The Fate of Plant Mutualisms Under
Anthropogenic Stress
Hanna Makowski, University of Virginia, for the Proposal: The role of plant mating systems in
colonization
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THE BSA GRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH AWARDS
Ioana Anghel, University of California, Los Angeles, for the Proposal: Species boundaries and
mechanisms of divergence in sympatric species of Linanthus
Betsabé Castro Escobar, University of California, Berkeley, for the Proposal: Phylogeography
and Domestication of calabash trees (Crescentia cujete) in the Caribbean
Nevin Cullen, University of Pittsburgh, for the Proposal: Can adaptation to toxic elements
facilitate microbially-mediated speciation in plants?
Victoria DeLeo, Pennsylvania State University, for the Proposal: Testing tradeoffs in different
components of fitness due to frugivory in the common Caribbean tree Metopium toxiferum
Estefania Pilar Fernandez Barrancos, University of Missouri-St. Louis, for the Proposal: Effects
of forest restoration on the recovery of coarse woody debris and associated arthropods
Clarice Guan, Cornell University, for the Proposal: Pieces of the puzzle: Morphological, genetic,
and histological investigations of spiromonostichy, a unique phyllotactic pattern with associated
helical growth in spiral gingers (Costus, Costaceae)
Katherine Holmes, Cornell University, for the Proposal: Plasticity and local adaptation of
secondary metabolites to herbivory in Eutrochium maculatum
Nina House, Claremont Graduate University (Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden), for the
Proposal: A Vascular Flora of the Manter and Salmon Creek Watersheds, Tulare County, CA
Yi Huang, University of California, Riverside, for the Proposal: Species delimitation in
Arctostaphylos
Amanda Katzer, University of Kansas, for the Proposal: Modified-Trichome Nectary
Development in Penstemon
Thomas Lake, University of Minnesota, for the Proposal: Does adaptation facilitate or impede
future plant invasions?
Bing Li, Northwestern University, for the Proposal: Genetic and Morphological Changes of
Oenothera organensis during Ex Situ Conservation
Martin Llano, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia, for the Proposal: Taxonomy, phylogeny
and biogeography of Anthurium section Dactylophyllium (Araceae)
Elena Loke, Northwestern University, for the Proposal: Incorporating Phased Alleles to
Reconstruct a Recent and Rapid Radiation
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82
Natalie Love, University of California, Santa Barbara, for the Proposal: Using field and herbarium
collections to detect the ecological and evolutionary causes of geographic variation in pollen size
and production in the California mountain jewelflower (Streptanthus tortuosus, Brassicaceae)
Victoria Luizzi, University of Arizona, for the Proposal: Investigating the potential microbial
drivers of interactions between leafcutter bees (Megachile spp.) and cottonwoods (Populus
fremontii)
Valerie Martin, Utah State University, for the Proposal: Microbial Facilitation of Exploitation in
a Plant-Pollinator Mutualism
Susan McEvoy, University of Connecticut, for the Proposal: From genome to methylome:
detection of epigenetic marks for two forest tree species
Bailey McNichol, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, for the Proposal: Characterizing plant
diversity and distribution at an ecological crossroads in an era of global change
Heather Phillips, Cornell University, for the Proposal: Quantifying the Ontogeny of Development
of Fused Structures in the Zingiberales
Brandie Quarles, Duke University, for the Proposal: Phenological Tracking via Dormancy:
Facilitating Survival and Adaptation to Climate Change
Maryam Sedaghatpour, University of California, Berkeley, for the Proposal: Silene
(Caryophyllaceae) of mediterranean Lebanon
Elena Stiles, University of Washington, for the Proposal: Linking cordilleran uplift and landscape
aridification in the northeastern Andes
Amy Waananen, University of Minnesota, for the Proposal: Time is the Longest Distance:
Temporal Outcrossing in a Fragmented Environment
THE BSA UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH AWARD
The BSA Undergraduate Student Research Awards support undergraduate student research
and are made on the basis of research proposals and letters of recommendation.
Michael Daines, Brigham Young University-Idaho, for the Proposal: Distribution of Astragalus
amnis-amissi, a Plant Endemic to East-Central Idaho
Jonathan Hayes, Bucknell University, for the Proposal: Genetic diversity & connectivity of
Chasmanthium latifolium (Poaceae) in Pennsylvania & the effect on conservation status
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Aaliyah Holliday, Cornell University, for the Proposal: Evolution of the Monocot Inflorescence
I. Jason Rose, Cornell University, for the Proposal: Inflorescence Structure And Development In
Liliales: What Is The Ancestral State Of The Liliales Order?
Diamanda Zizis, Bucknell University, for the Proposal: Solanum dioicum and Solanum
ultraspinosum: A morphometric analysis of hybrid offspring from parents with different breeding
systems
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.
Ava Adler, Oberlin College; Advisor: Dr. Michael J. Moore
Ariel Antoine, Bucknell University; Advisor: Dr. Christopher T. Martine
Sarah Ashlock, University of California, Santa Cruz; Advisor: Dr. Kathleen M. Kay
Jeannine Barr, Indiana University Southeast; Advisor: Dr. David Winship Taylor
Michele Beadle, College of Saint Benedict; Advisor: Dr. Stephen G. Saupe
Grace Brock, Miami University; Advisor: Dr. Robert L. Baker
Jennifer Davis, Bucknell University; Advisor: Dr. Christopher T. Martine
Rosemary Glos, Cornell University; Advisor: Dr. Shayla Salzman
Aaron Lee, The College of New Jersey; Advisor: Dr. Wendy Clement
Luisa McGarvey, Oberlin College; Advisor: Dr. Michael J. Moore
Grace McGee, Connecticut College; Advisor: Dr. Chad Jones
Samantha Mehl, Miami University; Advisor: Richard C. Moore
Elise Miller, College of Saint Benedict; Advisor: Dr. Stephen G. Saupe
Eastyn Newsome, Miami University; Advisor: Dr. Robert L. Baker
Lydia Soifer, Davidson College; Advisor: Dr. Christopher Thawley
Alexis Sullivan, Weber State University; Advisor: Dr. Bridget E. Hilbig
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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 grant.
Christina Andreski, Plymouth State University; Advisor: Diana Jolles
Juan Angulo, University of Georgia; Advisor: James Leebens-Mack
Sarah Ashlock, University of California; Santa Cruz, Advisor: Kathleen Kay
Trinity Depatie, Florida Atlantic University; Advisor: James K. Wetterer
Kandiss Dowdell, Montana State University Billings; Advisor: Jason Comer
Miyauna Incarnato, The College of Wooster; Advisor: Jennifer Ison
Maia Jones, California Academy of Sciences; Advisor: Nathalie Nagalingum
Sofia Ocampo, Florida International University; Advisor: Suzanne Koptur
Michelle Pham, University of California, Los Angeles; Advisor: James Cohen
I. Jason Rose, Cornell University; Advisor: Chelsea D. Specht
Vida Svahnstrom, University of St. Andrews; Advisor: Susan Healy
MAYNARD MOSELEY AWARD
(DEVELOPMENTAL & STRUCTURAL AND
PALEOBOTANICAL SECTIONS)
The Maynard F. Moseley Award was established in 1995 to honor a career of dedicated teaching, scholarship,
and service to the furtherance of the botanical sciences. Dr. Moseley, known to his students as “Dr. Mo”, died
Jan. 16, 2003 in Santa Barbara, CA, where he had been a professor since 1949. He was widely recognized
for his enthusiasm for and dedication to teaching and his students, as well as for his research using floral
and wood anatomy to understand the systematics and evolution of angiosperm taxa, especially waterlilies.
(PSB, Spring, 2003). The award is given to the best student paper, presented in either the Paleobotanical
or Developmental and Structural sessions, that advances our understanding of plant structure in an
evolutionary context.
Aleca Borsuk, Yale School of the Environment, for the Presentation: Structural organization
of the spongy mesophyll in laminar leaves with reticulate venation. Co-authors: Adam Roddy,
Guillaume Theroux-Rancourt, and Craig Broderson
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ISABEL COOKSON AWARD
(PALEOBOTANICAL SECTION)
Established in 1976, the Isabel Cookson Award recognizes the best student paper presented in the
Paleobotanical Section.
Keana Tang, University of Kansas, for the Presentation: Cunonicaceae from the Late Cretaceous
of North America and its paleobiogeographic implications. Co-authors: Brian Atkinson and
Selena Smith.
KATHERINE ESAU AWARD
(DEVELOPMENTAL AND STRUCTURAL SECTION)
This award was established in 1985 with a gift from Dr. Esau and is augmented by ongoing
contributions from Section members. It is given to the graduate student who presents the out-
standing paper in developmental and structural botany at the annual meeting.
Cecilia Zumajo, New York Botanical Garden and CUNY, for the Presentation: Evolution of the
seed coat. Co-authors: Dennis Stevenson and Barbara Ambrose
PHYSIOLOGICAL SECTION LI-COR PRIZE
(This year the Physiological Section awarded just one award for the combined Best
Oral Paper & the Li-COR prize.)
Anna Jiselle Ongjoco, California State Polytechnic University, Ponoma, for the Presentation:
Strategies Utilized by Pinus coulteri and Pinus attenuata for Surviving at Low Elevations in the
San Bernardino Mountains. Co-authors: Edward G. Bobich, Frank E. Ewers, and Erin J. Questad
PHYSIOLOGICAL SECTION STUDENT POSTER AWARD
Simone Lim-Hing, University of Georgia, for the Presentation: Untangling the micronutrient
status and defense responses in loblolly pine (Pinus taeda). Co-authors: Kamal J.K. Gandhi,
Brittany F. Barnes, Lawrence Morris, Elizabeth McCarty, and Caterina Villari
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ECOLOGICAL SECTION STUDENT
PRESENTATION AWARD
Veronica Iriart (Graduate), University of Pittsburgh, for the Presentation: Herbicide
drift reveals species-level variation in stressor resistance and weakens co-flowering
interactions in 25 wild plant species. Co-authors: Regina Baucom and Tia-Lynn Ashman
Jenni Velichka (Undergraduate), Queen’s University, for the Presentation: Intraspecific variation
in seed dispersal strategies between annual and perennial ecotypes of Mimulus guttatus. Co-
author: Jannice Friedman
ECOLOGICAL SECTION POSTER AWARD
Aleah Querns (Graduate), North Carolina State University, for the Poster: The evolution of
thermal tolerance and clines in native vs. invasive populations of Mimulus guttatus. Co-authors:
Rachel Cooliver, Mario Vallejo-Marín, and Seema Sheth
A. J. SHARP AWARD
ABLS/BRYOLOGICAL AND LICHENOLOGICAL SECTION
Bryan Piatkowski, Duke University, for the Presentation: Carbon Storage and Niche Preference
Track Phylogeny in Sphagnum (peat moss). Co-authors: Joseph Yavitt, Merritt Turetsky, and
Jonathan Shaw.
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REFLECTIONS ON BOTANY 2020 - VIRTUAL!
As COVID-19 disrupted the entire world, we were
also forced to re-imagine the annual conference.
No travel. No meeting in person. Potentially No Fun!
We worked to create a version that would allow our
collective members to present their research, network a bit,
and learn and share with each other. It was an enormous
undertaking! But in your words, it was successful!
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Tanisha Williams
What was/is Black Botanists Week?
Black Botanists Week was first organized
in 2020 to promote, encourage, create a
safe space for, and find more Black people
(and BIPOC) who love plants! The week is a
celebration of Black people who love plants.
This plant love manifests in many ways
ranging from tropical field ecologist to plant
geneticist, from horticulturalist to botanical
illustrator. We embrace the multiple ways that
Black people engage with and appreciate the
global diversity of plant life.
A LOOK BACK—AND AHEAD—
AT BLACK BOTANISTS WEEK
What motivated you to spearhead this
event?
During the height of the pandemic and
the Black Lives Matter Movement, the
#BlackBirdersWeek was formed in response
to a White woman falsely calling the cops on
a Black birder. I participated in this week and
found such a sense of joy and pride in seeing
the many beautiful Black people who were
excited about science and nature. I wanted to
create a similar space for Black people who
loved plants.
What do you hope people will take away
from Black Botanists Week and the huge
response to it?
Our ultimate goal is that people from all
backgrounds, especially BIPOC backgrounds,
take away a sense of belonging within the
botanical and plant science fields. We had
nothing but positive and supportive responses
from individuals, celebrities, botanical
societies, and more
What’s your vision for this hashtag and
event going forward?
This will be an annual celebration and
recognition of BIPOC who love plants. We also
want to make sure we are giving back through
service and outreach. Many of the committee
members are sharing their research, time,
skills, and love for plants across a variety of
In July 2020, BSA member Dr. Tanisha Williams---with a team of 11 like-minded botanists---
coordinated the very first Black Botanists Week. PSB Editor Mackenzie Taylor reached out to Dr.
Williams following the event to get her thoughts on the impact of the event and what the future
brings.
PSB 66 (2) 2020
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platforms. We also are working to start a fund
to support young and aspiring botanists with
hand lens and botanical field guides. Also,
the committee members are collaborating
with the Holden Arboretum; each committee
member will be giving a lecture that highlights
the contribution of Black botanists during the
2020-2021 Scientist Lecture Series via Zoom.
Do you have a favorite post or story that
came out of the event?
Wow, tough question! There were (and are) so
many great stories.
The first newspaper article on the
week:
https://www.dailyitem.com/news/
local_news/bucknell-researcher-starts-
social-media-movement-to-highlight-black-
botanists/article_45f85956-f9cd-5ec2-9a18-
fc6f7d163e8f.html
MEET THE BLACK BOTANISTS WEEK COMMITTEE
Maya Allen
Jade Bleau
Brandi Cannon
Natasza Fontaine
Morgan Halane
Rupert Koopman
Nokwanda P. Makunga
Beronda L. Montgomery
Itumeleng Moroenyane
Georgia Silvera Seamans
Tatyana Soto
Tanisha M. Williams
Recent USA Today article: https://www.
usatoday.com/stor y/life/2020/08/04/
blackinneuro-blackinchem-can-hashtags-
help-black-scientists-build-community-
spotlight-excellence/5541431002/
My Plant Love Story: https://www.
plantlovestories.com/post/the-grace-of-
growing.
We also had a recent AP article that is really
making an impact around the country:
https://apnews.com/0e42554f0d60afeebe4b9e
119bb55165
PSB 66 (2) 2020
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THE BACKGROUND OF
BLACK BOTANISTS WEEK
Black Botanists Week is a celebration of
Black people who love plants. This plant
love manifests in many ways ranging from
tropical field ecologist to plant geneticist,
from horticulturalist to botanical illustrator.
We embrace the multiple ways that Black
people engage with and appreciate the global
diversity of plant life. (Please refer to the
website: https://blackbotanistsweek.weebly.
com.)
The inaugural week of this social media
movement was held on July 6 to July 11, and
the organizers encourage all to participate
to showcase and amplify the voice of past,
present and future botanists.
The organizers define a botanist as anyone that
has a love for plants and works with plants.
Any study fields or careers or social-cultural
engagements with the topics listed below fit
the profile of someone doing botany:
• Cytology – Cell structure
• Epigenetics – Control of gene expression
• Paleobotany – Study of fossil plants and plant
evolution
• Palynology – Pollen and spores
• Plant biochemistry – Chemical processes of
primary and secondary metabolism
• Phenology – Timing of germination, flower-
ing and fruiting
• Phytochemistry – Plant secondary chemistry
and chemical processes
• Phytogeography – Plant Biogeography, the
study of plant distributions
• Phytosociology – Plant communities and
interactions
• Plant anatomy – Structure of plant cells and
tissues
• Plant ecology – Role and function of plants
in the environment
• Plant evolutionary developmental biology –
Plant development from an evolutionary
perspective
• Plant genetics – Genetic inheritance in plants
• Plant morphology – Structure of plants
• Plant physiology – Life functions of plants
• Plant reproduction – Processes of plant
reproduction
• Plant systematics – Classification and naming
of plants
• Plant taxonomy – Classification and naming
of plants
• Plant interactions – With other life forms or
the environment
Applied Botanical Fields
• Agronomy – Application of plant science to
crop production
• Arboriculture – Culture and propagation of
trees
• Astrobotany - The study of plants in space
• Biotechnology – Use of plants to synthesize
products
• Dendrology – Study of woody plants, shrubs,
trees and lianas
• Economic botany – Study of plants of
economic use or value
• Ethnobotany – Plants and people. Use and
selection of plants by humans
• Forestry – Forest management and related
studies
• Horticulture – Cultivation of garden plants
• Marine botany – Study of aquatic plants and
algae that live in seawater
• Micropropagation – Rapid propagation of
plants using cell and tissue culture
• Pharming (genetics) – Genetic engineering
of plants to produce pharmaceuticals
• Plant breeding – Breeding of plants with
desirable genetic characters
• Plant pathology (Phytopathology) – Plant
diseases
• Plant propagation – Propagation of plants
from seed, bulbs, tubers, cuttings and graft-
ing
• Pomology – Fruit and nuts
93
COVID-19 and You
CHECKING IN WITH 12 BSA MEMBERS
DURING A GLOBAL PANDEMIC
The past year has brought unprecedented challenges to those of us working in STEM and higher
education. In late 2019, a novel coronavirus arose in Wuhan, China and spread throughout
the globe, prompting wide-scale shutdowns and quarantines across most continents. These
shutdowns hit the majority of the United States in early to mid-March 2020. Schools and
universities closed, the majority of classrooms transitioned to remote learning, and research
labs were shuttered. Many of us have lost friends, family, and/or colleagues to this disease.
As I write this in August 2020, the death toll in the United States continues to climb, even as
many universities are reopening for fall classes. Those of us returning to campuses are faced
with the challenge of implementing new, daunting requirements for enforcing social distancing,
sanitizing classrooms, and wearing personal protective equipment such as goggles and masks,
as well as accommodating students who are unable or unwilling to attend in-person classes.
Others among us are facing another semester of teaching online.
One of the greatest challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the isolation it has created.
Many of us transitioned to working remotely where we missed regular, face-to-face interactions
with students, mentors, and colleagues. In my opinion, it has been easy to feel as though each
of us is alone in facing the challenges presented by the pandemic.
We asked people from across the Society to write briefly about their experiences with COVID-19
in order to document these experiences and to share them with others in the botanical
community. It is my sincerest hope that the readers of PSB will find reading these reflections to
be beneficial.
SPECIAL FEATURES
By Mackenzie Taylor
Editor-in-Chief, PSB
PSB 66 (2) 2020
94
How has the pandemic and its response
changed your job and/or daily routine?
I think many botanical researchers, regardless
of their affiliations, were affected by the
pandemic and efforts to control the spread of
the virus in much the same ways. For myself
and most of my colleagues at the Desert
Botanical Garden, we lost several significant
things:
• Access to our office and laboratory
spaces.
• Access to the Garden’s Living Collection
for scientific purposes (essential staff
continue their comprehensive care for the
Living Collection itself).
• Ability to conduct fieldwork.
• Ability to work with volunteers (the
Garden has more than 700 volunteers
who not only care for plants but also
work in our research labs, herbarium, and
citizen science program).
• Revenue generated by daily visitors
and special events during the height of
the Garden’s typical visitorship (spring
season).
These losses primarily required shifts in the
focus of our efforts. My new efforts were
focused on adjusting project expectations,
Shannon
Fehlberg
Desert Botanical
Garden, Phoenix, AZ
timelines, and budgets; making alternative
project plans under multiple, theoretical
scenarios; transitioning from active data
collection (in the lab or field) to data analysis
and proposal and manuscript writing, and
working with graduate students to finish up
thesis work and defend virtually.
What was your greatest challenge in
adapting to this new format?
For me the greatest challenge in adapting
to these changes is the long work days. To
accommodate working with my kids on their
school work (before summer break) and other
interruptions, I frequently have to work from
sunup to sundown (on and off). The pressure
to accomplish my daily work tasks and put in
my hours, all while taking on additional and
demanding responsibilities, feels unrelenting
and exhausting. These changes come with
other challenges too, like facing uncertainty
in almost every aspect of life and adapting
projects that really can’t meet their goals
without fieldwork, lab work, or volunteers.
What were some surprises you experienced
as the spring/summer went on? What skills
did you pick up along the way?
Some of the most important skills I rely on
during this time are to be very organized in
listing and prioritizing my daily and weekly
goals and using software to track my time
and efforts (I find this to be an excellent
tool in helping me to stay focused). One
important thing I am learning is to accept
my limitations and other people’s limitations
(time, physical, mental)—we all are working
to accomplish what we can in the midst of
difficult circumstances.
Going into the fall, what challenges and
opportunities do you see?
In the spring, when our states and institutions
first began taking measures to limit the spread
of the virus, we all hoped for a summer and
PSB 66 (2) 2020
95
fall season with decreased rates of spread of
the virus and a phasing-in of some of the
things we’d lost. But in my part of the country,
we are not seeing a decreased rate of spread
but rather an alarming increase in the rate
of spread, leading to more uncertainty and
conflict among interests. The pandemic looks
as though it will continue to delay our projects,
shift our focus, increase our responsibilities,
and shrink our budgets. Despite this, I am
moving forward in a determined way to
continue to make progress on all fronts and
take advantage of some of the unexpected
opportunities we have during these times.
I am grateful for the additional time I’ve
been able to spend with my children and the
dramatic change we’ve seen in the pace of life’s
activities. I appreciate that virtual meetings,
workshops, and conferences are providing
chances for learning and interactions that
might not have been possible otherwise. I’m
looking forward to co-teaching a new course
this fall incorporating a smaller class size
and virtual components. As have heard said
among family, friends, and co-workers, this is
an opportunity to learn a new way of doing
things, and that new way is not all bad.
How has the pandemic and the response
changed your job and/or daily routine?
My job has not changed at all—I am the
academic leader of the College of Arts &
Sciences with about 500 faculty and staff
members. All of the end of my academic year
functions such as writing annual reviews of
heads/chairs/staff and budget planning are
the same as always. What really has changed
is my daily routine—I work from home! We
have been using Zoom to communicate and
to schedule meetings large and small. I have
taken over one room and my wife Helen is
working remotely in another room. I have a
lovely spacious house and live next to a lake
with nature trails—so I am lucky.
One additional challenge is that my research
lab has been closed, so my students have had
to work remotely, and I have had to meet
with them via Zoom. They have done well
in that they have worked on analyses of the
large amount of data that they had generated.
Fortunately, now with some limitations, we
can open our lab again.
What was your greatest challenge in
adapting to this new format?
I feel like we are all working harder than ever
dealing with the many changes that have
resulted due to the corona virus situation.
Thus, in my role as dean, I am “on” all of the
time—but I am even more “on” now. Thus, I
John Z. Kiss
University of
North Carolina-
Greensboro,
Greensboro, NC
PSB 66 (2) 2020
96
have to turn off and stop looking at email and
doing other types of work! In some ways, I am
surprised that remote working is working well
for me. I consider myself fortunate as I know
other members of our society cannot adapt so
easily to working remotely.
How did your interactions with your faculty
and/or students change with the shift to
online?
Moving to online meetings with faculty
and the students in my research lab as well
as having committee meetings online have
worked reasonably well. Seeing and talking
to them on Zoom is better than a phone call
or conference call as there are some visual
cues. However, there is still an element that
is missing vs. having face-to-face meetings.
You can lose more subtle signal and prompts.
Personal interaction is still better—humans
are social creatures. At the end of the day, I
miss seeing my staff, faculty, and students!
What were some surprises you experienced
as the spring/summer went on? What skills
did you pick up along the way?
I feel like I am working harder and longer than
ever. Part of this problem is that we all are
dealing with massive changes and planning
for the fall semester: moving things online,
hybrid classes etc. Another issue is that with
online meetings you can have more since there
is no walking time needed between meetings!
I seem to have developed skills with all of the
major online meeting platforms. I also think
that online meetings have made me focus
more and stay on topic.
Going into the fall, how are you feeling
about starting a new year? What challenges
and opportunities do you see?
The University of North Carolina system has
decided to open all public universities in the
state. Surveys show that our students want
to come back to campus, but things will look
different. The university leaders and faculty
have had to institute many changes to make it a
safe environment, and these measures include
maintaining social distancing and keeping a
clean environment. Some of our courses will
go online and others will be in a hybrid format.
I feel positive about seeing students and faculty
on campus again but do have a degree of
trepidation. I also feel we are doing everything
we can to open the university safely but are
likely to see unforeseen challenges. I do not
see the university (and the world) getting back
to normal until we have an effective vaccine
with large scale distribution.
How are you feeling emotionally at this
point?
While I am an optimistic person by nature,
I have concerns about our society at large.
Notwithstanding challenges, while we in
higher education have been privileged in
many ways, I am concerned about the massive
disruption to our society at large: economic
turmoil due to layoffs, problems due to a
limited social safety net, continued health
risks to vulnerable populations, among others.
At the end of the day, I feel positive that our
students, faculty, and staff will emerge from
these challenges as well as our previous
generations, who have had deal with tough
situations in their time.
PSB 66 (2) 2020
97
Shuang-Quan
Huang
Central China
Normal University,
Wuhan, China
How has the pandemic and its response
changed your job and/or daily routine?
The pandemic and its response have not
changed my job too much, but did to the form
of my job as a university professor in Wuhan.
Students and faculty members were not allowed
to study at the campus and the laboratory until
late April. Fortunately, graduate students who
pass the DNA examination and are without an
infection of CoVID-19 virus have been able
to apply to go back to the campus since Mid-
June.
Research: Students and I are interested in
plant reproductive biology, particularly plant-
pollinator interactions, and ecology and
evolution of flowers. Our research includes
work in the field station and in the lab. For
example, one of the PhD students in my lab
is interested in the chemical ecology of pollen
and nectar in spring-flowering plants of
Rhododendron species. The field study of this
year was missed and materials are unavailable
for her further study in the lab. We are looking
forward to conducting a field study in the
field station of our university in Shangri-La,
southwest China in this summer-flowering
season from July to August.
During this spring pandemic, I was trying
to read, write, and revise papers every day.
Nine graduate students (five for a Master’s
degree and four for a PhD) graduated this
June from our research group, the busiest
season in my scientific career. Face-to-face or
oral communications were reduced to nearly
zero, which may allow me to think deeply
without distraction, but had made me dull in
mind, because feedbacks cannot be gained as
rapidly as usual. Generally, I do not like this
style, because debates or even quarrels would
ignite great ideas in our brains. In summary,
the work efficiency of mine during the global
crisis is quite low.
Teaching: I believe that online teaching has
been possible for at least 15 years and the
efficiency of online study seems quite low.
One may expect that students can do other
things during class given that the teacher
could not directly watch them. During the
pandemic online teaching, the students
were actually much more active than usual.
When they had any question, they simply
typed out the question to be noted, letting
me answer the questions immediately. In this
year, all oral defenses for the graduated theses
(dissertations) are communicated virtually
online. This allows colleagues from worldwide
and anyone who can access online, including
students’ parents, to join. From this point, I
really appreciate this interaction mode online.
What was your greatest challenge in
adapting to this new format?
As the outbreak was first realized in Wuhan,
the isolation through a lockdown of the city
had effectively protected people from virus
infection. Staying isolated for a short time
seems fine, but feeling lonely 2 to 3 months
later. In this manner, I really agree the idea that
humans are social animals; one is somehow
living in other people’s eyes, it is what you do
that makes you what you are. Actually, I am
not good at overcoming this challenge, but I
see many people be brave, well behaved, and
friendly. I got emails from western colleagues
who kindly informed whether I needed help
PSB 66 (2) 2020
98
in the early stages of the pandemic. One of
my collaborators, an American evolutionary
biologist, has been infected by the CoVID-19
and isolated in UK in February. I hope he will
fully recover soon.
What were some surprises you experienced
as the spring went on? What skills did you
pick up along the way?
The biggest surprise is that until the vanish of
COVID-19 in Wuhan, none of my relatives
or acquaintances was infected by COVID-19.
I picked up the skill of cooking and
housekeeping, as I have to cook lunch for my
daughter, a high-school student, now staying
at home and learning from online classes. I
note young and old generations playing table
tennis in rooms or outside. The exercise has
become more popular recently in China, as
team sports are not recommended.
Going into the summer/fall, what challenges
and opportunities do you see?
Challenges and opportunities co-exist in the
current situation.
Challenges: We are not sure whether students
can return the university campus and
laboratory to study.
Opportunities: Our university inspires
teachers to teach online and students to study
online. However, experimental studies such as
biology or chemistry are difficult to practice.
We are trying to develop more practical
projects under Virtual Reality (VR) technique
for undergraduate students.
How are you feeling emotionally at this
point?
As nearly half a million people passed because
of deadly virus in the world, I feel that keeping
healthy is essential to all of us at this point.
We humans only can survive on the earth
if we are in harmony with nature, with no
more damages to wildlife and ecosystems. If
everyone treats the earth as his/her own eyes
or as home and own garden, the diverse life
forms will be symbiotic and sustainable in the
green planet.
How has the pandemic and its response
changed your job and/or daily routine?
Thankfully, conservation work was deemed
essential early on in the state of Hawaiʻi
so I have been able to continue field work.
There was only a 2- to 3-week pause on field
work while the state’s, our county’s and our
organizations’ safety protocols were being
figured out. Other than that, office-related
work has changed from my office at our NTBG
headquarters to my home office, which is just
a couple miles away. I still go into the office at
least once a week to process collections. I use
Google Meet and Zoom on a daily basis now.
What was your greatest challenge in
adapting to this new format?
I was never very comfortable communicating
over video conferencing platforms such as
Google Meet and Zoom before this. I got used
to it really quick though and now it feels very
easy and natural.
Seana Walsh
National Tropical
Botanical Garden
,
Kalāheo, HI
PSB 66 (2) 2020
99
What were some surprises you experienced
as the spring/summer went on? What skills
did you pick up along the way?
I was surprised that conferences and meetings
scheduled for late summer and fall were
being cancelled left and right. Didn’t initially
expect that the pandemic would last that long.
I’ve picked up some skills in pre-recording
presentations for conferences! For example,
making sure lighting, sound, and background
are appropriate, having video at eye level,
making it a little more engaging, etc.
Going into the fall, what challenges and
opportunities do you see?
Challenges I see will be as easily maintaining
and building relationships with colleagues
and friends. Also, making new connections
and building new collaborations. Nothing can
replace the connections you make with people
in-person, including the ideas that come up
spontaneously when you’re physically together
and talking in an informal way. Opportunities
I see are connecting more frequently with
colleagues and friends because of this, over
video conferencing platforms, phone, text,
etc. I think we’ll need to connect more in
that way since we won’t be able to see each
other for a while in-person. There is also an
obvious opportunity to work on publishing
those hanging papers with freed-up time due
to cancelled conferences and cancelled field
work for some.
How are you feeling emotionally at this
point?
Being out here on Kauaʻi, I feel very safe at
the moment and am very grateful for that.
We haven’t had any new or active COVID-19
cases in over two months. I’m a little nervous
how things will change once we open up again
for tourism with the way things are in other
parts of the country. I am a little disappointed
that I haven’t been able to, and won’t for the
foreseeable future, connect with colleagues,
family, and friends in-person. I agree that
cancelling travel plans is the safest and
smartest decision at this point, though.
How has the pandemic and the response
changed your job and/or daily routine?
Yes, the pandemic has absolutely changed
my daily routine, but my job is secure (TT
Assistant Professor). There may be upcoming
changes to my job, including a furlough or
pay cut. Additionally, I have an option to
delay my tenure review clock slightly. I have
not yet decided if it is in my benefit to do so.
My daily work routine is mostly sitting at my
dining room table with my roommate (and
occasionally my partner, who is a health care
worker) trying to be considerate about our
various meetings. I also stare at my pantry all
the time and try not to think of all the snacks
I could be eating!
The shift to online teaching was very
fast. What was your greatest challenge in
adapting to this format?
I was in the middle of teaching a Plant
Systematics class which has a large component
of hands-on labs with live plant material and
11 field trips. Most of this was cancelled when
we moved in early March to completely remote
instruction. Converting the class almost
instantaneously was a struggle particularly as
Jason T.
Cantley
San Francisco
State University,
San Francisco, CA
PSB 66 (2) 2020
100
much of my teaching material is not digitized
(ex. herbarium specimens, live plant materials,
plants/habitats at a field site). I struggled most
with providing experiences that would stand in
for the outdoor field experience and exposure
to different native plants. Technology was
also an issue, but mostly, I found our video
meeting platform to be challenging and not
equitable for my student’s home situation. It
was difficult to meet synchronously with my
students. I also believe that many students
had a rough time and their mental health was
challenged in being able to finish the semester.
How did your interactions with your
students change with the shift to online?
In my classes, they became less initially. Our
video meetings were not terribly engaging
and I felt as if I was struggling to reach them.
Eventually, save for a few students, I had found
a rhythm that seemed to work after a few
weeks of trial and error. For my grad students,
I prepped them with as much material as
possible to go home with and we started
weekly lab meetings to simply check-in with
each other. Sometimes interactions with them
were spotty or challenging as they were losing
their jobs or housing, or were struggling to
maintain positive mental health as family
members, friends, and people around the
globe became sick.
What were some surprises you experienced
as the spring/summer went on? What skills
did you pick up along the way?
I’m grateful that San Francisco State University
has several opportunities to prepare for
Fall semester that will be taught almost
exclusively remotely. A group of nearly 70
staff, faculty, lecturers, and graduate teaching
assistants of our Biology department have
committed to revamping high impact / high
enrollment courses to completely reinvent
our lab activities for these classes so that
they are 100% capable of online instruction.
Additionally, we have committed to having a
new lab manual for all of these classes by the
end of the summer with a critical eye towards
student learning outcomes, and diversity,
equity, and inclusion. Also, SF State has a
professional development center, called the
Center for Equity and Excellence in Teaching
and Learning (CEETL), that is running
summer workshop for literally hundreds of
faculty members who will be learning all
kinds of skills for better online engagement
for their remotely instructed fall semester.
These experiences are providing me with a
large set of skills that I believe will make me
a better educator, especially as we move to
remote learning for the fall.
Going into the fall, how are you feeling
about starting a new year? What challenges
and opportunities do you see?
I’m anxious, to be honest. While I feel like I
will be working hard this summer to be able
to deliver an engaging course that meets
remotely, it is still overwhelming. I am trying
not to worry that this class will be like a
new course prep during this important time
point in my path to tenure. I know that the
time I am spending on course development
is in direct tradeoff with my research and lab
productivity. I feel like the Fall will be okay
given the current state of the world and my
preparation, but I recognize the extra work
that I will do to ensure a successful learning
experience for the students that I engage with
in class and within my lab.
How are you feeling emotionally at this
point?
At this point, I feel okay. But I would be lying
if I didn’t say this experience is an emotional
roller coaster. I’ve been doing weekly
reflections with my partner, and sometimes
I’m feeling fine, but other weeks I’m feeling
quite low. Low moments are strongly felt and
noticeable because my productivity tanks.
PSB 66 (2) 2020
101
I fail to schedule meetings and lose track of
important emails or deadlines that I need to
stay on top of. Those weeks are a struggle.
And if I’m being truly honest, those weeks
are correlated with the national mood that I
cannot escape in the middle of San Francisco
where I live. My partner is an emergency
medicine doctor and has had (and might
continue to have) to intubate several SARS-
coV-2 positive patients with rapidly declining
health. Some of those patients have died,
some are still on ventilators, others have
recovered. I worry because he is seeing a lot
of death and his work environment is full of
people who are stressed out, overworked, and
anxious or sick. His direct contact with the
virus puts our household at an elevated risk
of contraction. On top of that, just outside my
apartment windows, I’ve witnessed several
peaceful civil rights protests with thousands
of participants chanting for justice sparked
by the death of Geogre Floyd. Across the
street, a hotel has been converted by the city
into temporary living accommodations for
homeless individuals who need to recover in
quarantine safely away from others. There are
often sirens from police and ambulances every
day. It has not been possible for me to escape
the duel crises that our nation is now facing.
As I write this, daily cases are increasing across
our nation at an alarming rate. California, and
thankfully to a lesser degree San Francisco, is
poised to become one of the next hotspots.
I just hope that we can all stay as healthy as
possible, mitigate as much death as we can,
and weather out the pandemic safely.
How has the pandemic and its response
changed your job and/or daily routine?
The inconvenience of work has been an
adjustment, especially living in a one-bedroom
apartment. It was easy to be distracted working
from home at the beginning, but I adjusted
by turning the dining room space into as
much of a clutter-free office as possible. My
spouse had just moved across the country in
December and we had been apart in the field
for all of that month and much of January. The
apartment was filled with our newly reunited
lives and all of the clutter and boxes that came
with it, so finding and making space was a
challenge. We rented a storage unit to move
overflow. Just before the shutdown and travel
ban, my spouse also traveled to Germany for a
workshop and ended up getting trapped for a
couple extra weeks. That was not ideal, but we
adapted and made the most of it—in fact, this
time apart was quite productive for both of us.
Unlike most of my colleagues, I have been
back at work (in my office) since mid-May.
Returning to work has been interesting. It feels
more like a “work environment” again, but
highly controlled and a little stressful to move
throughout and use shared facilities. Lunch is
difficult to coordinate, I need to bring enough
coffee and water to last throughout the day, and
I am prioritizing office-work (e.g., analyses/
writing) over herbarium and lab work because
I want to minimize shared contact.
Morgan Gostel
Botanical
Research Institute of
Texas (BRIT),
Ft. Worth, TX
PSB 66 (2) 2020
102
My spouse and I welcome this opportunity to
be out of our cramped one-bedroom space,
but we are anxious for and mindful of our
colleagues and their families at home.
What was your greatest challenge in adapt-
ing to this new format?
The distractions and fluidity of work/life
balance were a difficult adjustment. I’m not
sure I ever fully adjusted, but I did eventually
become quite productive and my writing was
prolific for a month at home. It took two weeks
to adjust and then afterward, returning to the
office again was another adjustment. Lost work
opportunities include a lot of canceled travel,
lack of specimen loans to/from herbaria,
and inability to hire students this summer.
Fortunately I have a lot of backlog work that
I can continue with, so I have much to keep
me busy. I am especially concerned for the
next generation of botanists who are missing
important opportunities to learn and develop.
I miss the more engaging aspects of my work—
including conferences, daily interactions
(lunch and social gatherings) with co-workers,
and work with students and volunteers. Our
offices are part of an open/shared layout and
because so many of our normal activities have
shifted to regularly schedule virtual meetings,
there is often excessive noise throughout this
shared space that adds an extra distraction for
work and productivity. Knowing that we are
back to work, we also try to completely restrict
any outside exposure, so we have shifted
all normal activities to delivery and pickup.
Although we try and have succeeded in so
many ways, there are many parts of our work
that cannot be replaced in a virtual format.
What were some surprises you experienced
as the spring/summer went on? What skills
did you pick up along the way?
My time management skills definitely
improved and the ability to create new
routines. Expectations in March were not
met for reasons associated with difficulty
of coordinating with colleagues, closure of
herbaria (and corresponding lack of shipping
offices/ability to send or receive loans),
inability to travel, etc. I am fortunate that my
place of work is continuing to operate with
minimal impacts—thanks to hardworking
and committed staff; I’m not surprised, but I
continue to be impressed.
Going into the fall, what challenges and op-
portunities do you see?
There will continue to be challenges for time
management and coordination of activities
both for myself and with colleagues. Additional
conferences and field trips will switch to online
only. Being able to work in the laboratory,
herbarium, or other traditionally shared spaces
will require further coordination. I won’t
be able to sort through a pile of specimens
to make determinations, with a colleague
next to me with whom I can bounce ideas
around. Direct student mentorship will be
challenging and eventually the “back log” will
begin to run out. I'm trying to focus on taking
this time, as before, to focus on work that is
feasible, including writing and fieldwork. My
spouse and I took a trip to southwest Texas
to do fieldwork and are planning another in
September. The laboratory at BRIT has re-
opened on a limited basis and I have begun
working with a volunteer to get some DNA
sequencing completed. We continue to adapt
and manage in this new normal.
How are you feeling emotionally at this
point?
This is a difficult question. Sometimes I feel a
little misanthropic due to the disregard by a
lot of leadership in the United States to this
pandemic. However, my personal situation is
quite unique right now for personal reasons,
so perhaps I’m able to see more of a silver
lining than others. I’m not sure if I feel okay
because I’m willing myself to do so, or if it’s
PSB 66 (2) 2020
103
because I’m able to accept things are the way
they are and trying to go with the flow of this
crazy time. In a way I think I am happy things
have slowed down and am forced to focus
on what is important. My spouse and I are
privileged to have jobs and not have to worry
about taking care of others or coordinating
online school during these extremely difficult
times. I am hyperaware of my friends and
colleagues, though, and their needs. I’m
counting my blessings and allowing this time
to reflect on other parts of my life and focus
on what is important. This pandemic is a
global tragedy—it has been heartbreaking to
watch it unfold—but somehow my eternal
optimism sees a positive outcome in my life
and those of my friends and colleagues. We’ll
get through this with renewed ties, a sharper
focus on what is important, and I hope we will
learn something that endures about where
our values rest.
How has the pandemic and the response
changed your job and/or daily routine?
The pandemic landed me, my husband, and
our two kids (ages 11 and 8) working and
doing school at home for ~3 months. We
converted part of our house to an office and
set up a divided schedule where one parent
was working and one parent was the teacher,
and we would switch half way through the
day. Many days, the parent serving as the
elementary school teacher was also doing
Zoom calls, or even teaching his/her university
class, at the same time.
What was your greatest challenge in
adapting to this new format?
The pandemic has been challenging to so
many people for so many different reasons.
My husband and I are grateful that our jobs
were intact and that we have been able to
remain healthy (so far). Having said that, the
greatest challenge for me was trying to do my
job—the expectations of which didn’t change
much with the pandemic—in roughly half as
much time. The struggle is real: it is extremely
difficult, if not impossible, to work a full-time
job and serve as the teacher/parent of two kids.
Further, the accumulating backlog of stuff—
both at work and at home—that I couldn’t get
to was (and continues to be) overwhelming.
The pace of work hasn’t slowed, but my
capacity to do it has been severely impacted.
How did your interactions with your
colleagues and/or students change with the
shift to online communication?
My lab group started a morning coffee from
8:30 to 9:00 a.m. Mondays through Thursdays,
and then we held our regular lab meeting on
Friday. This has been a joy, to touch base with
people each day, talk about what is going on,
and think about what we were trying to do
that day. My Economic Botany class moved
to Zoom—and my attendance improved!! It
was fun to teach people from home; I really
enjoyed the interaction with students.
What were some surprises you experienced
as the spring/summer went on? What skills
did you pick up along the way?
One of the greatest joys of the pandemic has
Allison Miller
Danforth Plant
Science Center,
St. Louis, MO
PSB 66 (2) 2020
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been rediscovering nature and gardening with
our kids. We live within walking distance of
a major park in St. Louis where we have been
recording bird sightings and plants in bloom
since March. The kids are turning into great
naturalists! Also, our garden has never looked
better—although our dog Cookie is currently
decimating the squashes....
How are you feeling emotionally at this
point?
Exhausted, but grateful for our health, the extra
time with family, and the joy of consciously
taking in the biodiversity that surrounds us
every day.
How has the pandemic and its response
changed your job and/or daily routine?
In some major ways, my daily routine and
that of my lab’s has been significantly altered.
I have ongoing experiments plus imbibed
seeds in my lab and was and so was deemed
essential by my organization. However,
restrictions were in place so that I could only
access the lab two to three days per week. This
was enough to assay and water the imbibed
seeds and monitor the physical facilities of the
ex situ conservation seed collection. I rely on
a half-time staff person, and full-time intern,
plus a small group of dedicated volunteers to
Dustin Wolkis
National Tropical
Botanical Garden,
Kalāheo, HI
help carry out the daily operations in the lab.
The staff person went on leave (unrelated to
COVID-19) just as the world was melting
down, and all volunteer activities were
suspended. I was able to advocate for my
intern to be physically present, so it was just
the two of us trying to do more work in less
time. This has led to reduced operations
overall including less-frequent germination
assays, and halting initiating new experiments
altogether.
What was your greatest challenge in adapt-
ing to this new format?
The greatest challenge by far was figuring out
how to work from home two to three days
per week, while my partner also worked from
home while attempting to provide distance-
learning to our kindergarten-aged son,
Canyon. We worked out a schedule where
she would wear the Kindergarten teacher hat
Monday through Thursday, with me playing
that role on Fridays. Now that that school is
out it is less challenging, but one of us is still
working every day of the week.
What were some surprises you experienced
as the spring/summer went on?
I expected that with limited access to my lab, I
could focus on projects with existing data and
hanging papers. I thought I was going to be
super productive, submitting papers and grant
proposals left and right, leaving me feeling
accomplished and proud. The reality has been
just the opposite. Working from home has
its perks (e.g., eating lunch with family every
day; attending Zoom meetings with your
child), but it just was not nearly as productive
as I had hoped. Since the safe-at-home order
was enacted, I’ve yet to submit one project in
which I am leading.
What skills did you pick up along the way?
Well I’m still trying to figure out a Zoom
background, LOL. My organization is
PSB 66 (2) 2020
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focusing on communication to the general
public, so I have been trying to sharpen my
public outreach writing skills.
Going into the fall, what challenges and
opportunities do you see?
We are planning for volunteers to return to
the lab in early July, including rearranging the
lab space to accommodate social-distancing
practices. The return of volunteers is huge for
my program since I rely so heavily upon them.
New germination experiments will restart,
assays will be conducted more frequently, and
I will be freed up to get back to those papers I
never finished.
How has the pandemic and the response
changed your job and/or daily routine?
As an educator, the pandemic has impacted
my daily routine tremendously. I teach a
mixture of virtual and in person science
courses during the academic year. My virtual
courses were not altered by the pandemic,
but my in-person courses were drastically
changed. Transitioning to remote delivery for
the remainder of the spring 2020 semester
impacted the way in which lectures and labs
were conducted. Students expressed the
disappointment in not being able to interact
with each other as well as myself. However,
I believe my students understood the need
to change our daily routines to help our
community reduce disease transmission.
During the summers, I instruct elementary
science camps at our local museum. We
transitioned our camps to a 100% virtual
platform, which has had many positive
results. Many campers that otherwise would
not be able to attend our science camps
due to distance (i.e., living in another state)
or a physical handicap (e.g., having an
autoimmune disorder) are now able to have
a camp experience through a virtual setting.
I do miss the in-person interactions with
campers, but I have been excited to share
science with elementary aged students across
the United States. Without the transition to
virtual science camps, I would not have had
the opportunity to teach such a diverse group
of young scientists.
What was your greatest challenge in
adapting to this new format?
Being an educator, the greatest challenge has
been finding new ways to teach science outside
of a classroom setting. However, I feel that
challenges help us grow as individuals. This
is especially relevant in education. Sometimes
during challenging times, educators find
themselves redesigning their curricula that
may need a refresher. This benefits us as
educators as well as our students. Therefore, I
have enjoyed this challenge. I am also thankful
my career places me in a position to spread
scientific knowledge while also ensuring
disease transmission in my community is
minimized.
How did your interactions with your
colleagues and/or students change with the
shift to online communication?
Many of my colleagues have come together to
Keri Maricle
North Central
Kansas Technical
College
Hays, KS
PSB 66 (2) 2020
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share new ideas and methods for educating
students during a pandemic. Students have
become more communicative with me as
many of them feel more comfortable asking
questions in a virtual setting. This situation
does not apply to all colleagues and students I
interact with, but I have noticed a shift toward
strengthening of relationships as we feel we
are all in the “same boat” when it comes to
these major changes.
What were some surprises you experienced
as the spring/summer went on? What skills
did you pick up along the way?
I would say the biggest surprise came in
March 2020 when our campus decided to
transition to remote delivery of courses. All
decisions that have come following this one
major decision have not really been surprises
as many of us have accepted that our way of
living and working has and will continue to
change each day. Many of my students and
advisees are taking my courses to enter a
nursing program. Therefore, many of my
students are CNAs working at organizations
and institutions that are at the forefront of
COVID-19. I have gained an entirely new
appreciation for nurses as I have seen what
my students have encountered during this
pandemic as they continue their work.
Going into the fall, how are you feeling
about starting a new year? What challenges
and opportunities do you see?
Living in western Kansas, you come to
understand that science is not always going to
be accepted in your community. I have noticed
just how true this is when interacting friends,
family, co-workers, and students. Many of
the individuals around me have different
interpretations of the current issues, which
have shocked and disgusted me. That being
said, I feel that this new academic year is an
opportunity to not only share the importance
of science (specifically, basic concepts of
epidemiology and immunology), but also a
time to take a stand toward the racial injustice
that is happening in our country. The changes
to my daily life have shown me the importance
of acting and speaking up in the moment
rather than waiting for something to happen.
The pandemic has encouraged me to redefine
my approach toward current scientific and
political issues as I know now how quickly a
lifestyle can change.
How are you feeling emotionally at this
point?
I am greatly concerned about our country’s
decisions, but empowered to know that, as an
educator, I can educate those around me with
the facts. We all have decisions to make in life.
Political leaders may choose to reject science
and visions of equality, but I choose to use my
knowledge to support my students to be better
human beings through education.
How has the pandemic and the response
changed your job and/or daily routine?
Well, I’ve been working at home since mid-
March, making liberal use of Zoom. I see
much less of my colleagues and students, but
much more of my family (which is a silver
lining).
Michael J.
Moore
Oberlin College,
Oberlin, OH
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What was your greatest challenge in
adapting to this new format?
Not being able to interact with students on
campus has been difficult. I can’t read the
classroom nearly as easily, and I worry about
the welfare of some students more than I ever
have.
What were some surprises you experienced
as the spring/summer went on? What skills
did you pick up along the way?
I think the shift to online-only learning in
the spring has had me thinking about ways
to incorporate elements of online learning
to supplement my classroom teaching when,
one day, the world returns to a more normal
routine. In particular, how can I make more
efficient and more impactful use of lecture
time? I have been thinking a lot about how to
lecture less and have more in-class discussions.
I’ve also been very pleasantly surprised at how
effective shifting my Plant Systematics lab
to remote learning was. I was really worried
about the loss of field trips in April and May.
To try to minimize the loss of field work, I had
my students go on individualized, short field
trips at home and post the plants they found
to iNaturalist. They adapted to this extremely
well and learned a tremendous amount on
their own. We still met on Zoom during lab
time, and I still taught plant families and a
few key species, but I was very pleased with
the individual learning at home. Several of
my students from this past spring are still
actively using iNaturalist over the summer,
and collectively they have posted over 500
new plant observations from various parts of
the country.
Going into the fall, how are you feeling
about starting a new year? What challenges
and opportunities do you see?
To be honest, I feel a bit uneasy about the
plans to reopen so many universities to in-
person classes this fall. For several reasons,
I have decided to teach my courses remotely
this fall, and so I will have all the challenges
that come with online learning. I am most
worried about my introductory biology
section, which is composed almost entirely of
first- and second-year students. I have been
brainstorming ways to effectively introduce a
lot of students to biology in an online format.
However, I think my first-year seminar course
should work fairly well in an online-only
format, and I think there might be some cool
ways to incorporate online resources into
the course. Plus, the breakout rooms feature
on Zoom should work well for small-group
discussions, which I like to emphasize.
How are you feeling emotionally at this
point?
Overall, I feel OK. I think the state of the
world right now is taking a bit of a toll, and
the uncertainty of the coming months is not
easy. But we’re all in this together, and I’m
very happy to belong to welcoming and open
professional societies!
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How has the pandemic and the response
changed your job and/or daily routine?
It was certainly an adjustment, at first, to work
almost entirely from home, but I had to visit
the office briefly each week to take care of a few
tasks. However, I became quite comfortable
with the change and had a routine in place,
but I have recently returned to the office full-
time.
The shift to online teaching was very
fast. What was your greatest challenge in
adapting to this format?
My greatest challenge was that I had not
participated in any remote work or meetings,
but I was fortunate to have excellent assistance
from CITR staff on campus. They offered
webinars multiple times each week to help
faculty and staff learn how to use Zoom,
Google Meets, and our Western On-line
platform, and they were readily available to
answer questions and assist with trouble-
shooting.
How did your interactions with your faculty
and/or students change with the shift to
online?
We held our department meetings using
Google Meets. Most of my meetings were
held in this way too, with the exceptions of
large-attendance meetings where Zoom was
employed. My Tropical Ecology class was
able to travel to and from the Galapagos
safely before the shutdown. Prior to the study
abroad experience, we met weekly for lectures
and class discussions, and we resumed this
using Google Meets once classes were back in
session.
What were some surprises you experienced
as the spring/summer went on? What skills
did you pick up along the way?
With eight students, Google Meets worked
well each week, and I lectured with my
PowerPoint slides with this format too. I
learned how to give exams online with our
Western On-line platform, and we quickly
developed a weekly routine of lecture, followed
by class discussion. Students even gave their
individual presentations using Google Meets,
while discussion essays and group reports
were submitted electronically to me via e-mail.
I was surprised to see how much I enjoyed the
on-line exam preparation and administration,
especially when the program can grade a
number of questions automatically. I learned
how to implement Respondus Lockdown
Browser and Respondus Monitor for use by
students during the scheduled exam times.
Going into the fall, how are you feeling
about starting a new year? What challenges
and opportunities do you see?
As a Department Chair, working through
modifications of the fall schedule to be able to
offer face-to-face classes and laboratories with
limited room capacities and social distancing
has been challenging. I want everyone in my
department and on campus to feel safe and be
safe, but many of us know that our plans can
change on a moment’s notice with COVID-19
surging in many parts of the country again.
Ranessa L.
Cooper
Western Illinois
University,
Macomb, IL
PSB 66 (2) 2020
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How are you feeling emotionally at this
point?
I am still mentally tired from such a taxing
spring semester, along with educators and
parents, as we all had an abrupt shift in our
daily and weekly routines. I recall seeing a
phrase about us “all being in the same storm
but a different boat,” and this still resonates
with me. Fall will look different to all of us
in academia, and we will have to hope for the
best yet be prepared for a switch to online and
alternative deliveries.
How has the pandemic and the response
changed your job and/or daily routine?
On the whole I’ve been incredibly lucky and
benefit from amazing privilege. I’m lucky
to still have my job at all! I’m lucky to have
a family situation that is relatively conducive
to working from home. I and my family have
remained relatively healthy. So has everyone
in my lab, thank goodness—I hope that
doesn’t change!
In addition to moving my teaching and
research to 100% online, I had to cancel
a field season, had a pilot study cancelled
halfway through, and today I should be
visiting a colleague to help collect data but
am not allowed to travel. My institution has
responded to the financial pressures by, in
part, not renewing contracts for many non-
tenure track teaching faculty. Consequently,
my teaching load will more than double next
semester. We also have an altered Fall 2020
academic calendar that is not compatible with
the growing season for my plants. I expect
my research productivity and grant proposal
submissions will be substantially decreased.
Thankfully, my institution offers the option to
delay the tenure clock as well as an extension
on the time to spend startup funds.
If these teaching changes are permanent, a
tenure clock extension may not be enough.
For instance, if we keep the new academic
calendar, I will need to re-envision my research
program. I think my tenure and promotion
committee understands this, but I am not so
sure about the upper administrators. I hope
they will recognize that if my job description
permanently changes, then the expectations
for tenure and promotion should also change.
Amid all this uncertainty, I did my best not
to change my daily routine: I still held class
at the same time (with asynchronous options
available). I make sure to meet with my entire
lab group during our usual timeslot and
scheduled additional individual meetings
with my grad students. We moved all of our
work online to data entry and analysis, or
alternatively collecting data from previously
recorded digital images. My students were able
to (virtually) present their posters and all of
the undergrads graduating from my lab either
have well deserved jobs or graduate positions
in the fall. And, I am able to take short breaks,
contribute more to childcare, and do fun
things like eat lunch with my family instead
of at my desk.
Robert Baker
Miami University,
Oxford, OH
PSB 66 (2) 2020
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What was your greatest challenge in
adapting to this new format?
The biggest challenge was and continues to be
uncertainty. Our institutions are not used to
dealing with the rapid pace of the changes we’ve
seen over the past 3 to 4 months. There was
(and still is) a lot of conflicting information.
This past spring, there was no forewarning or
time to plan, and our budgets were frozen so
we were unable to do things like construct and
mail kits to students so they could do labs at
home. While I did (and continue) to do my
best to pivot towards on-line interactions, it’s
hard to do something as simple as design a
course syllabus without knowing whether it
will be in person, online, or hybrid. Designing
research projects involving living organisms
that are robust to these unknowns is even
more challenging.
How did your interactions with your col-
leagues and/or students change with the
shift to online communication?
They decreased both in quantity and quality.
It’s really pushed us to adopt a number of
online collaboration tools that we probably
should have been using all along. Within
my research group there are a few things
I’ve done: first, I’ve made it a point to have
regularly scheduled meetings individually and
in groups with all my lab members. Second,
we tested project management software
(turns out we don’t like to be managed
and I prefer mentoring to managing) and
communication software (turns out we do like
to communicate!). Third, I’m taking a page out
of the Bioinformatics culture of open-source
sharing and extensive documentation and
applying it to our wet lab, growth chamber,
greenhouse, and field studies. Faculty in my
department have an informal virtual lunch
hour, which has been great. And finally, even
as a sometimes-introvert, I’ve increased the
amount of time I spend on Twitter (mostly
lurking) so that I can feel more connected to
my scientific friends and colleagues.
What were some surprises you experienced
as the spring/summer went on? What skills
did you pick up along the way?
One of the best, most exciting things about
being a scientist is solving problems—
improvising, making do, and overcoming
unique obstacles that no other person has
ever encountered before. As a profession, I
think we are uniquely suited to dealing with
new challenges. Tapping in to that problem-
solving reserve has been critical.
Going into the fall, how are you feeling
about starting a new year? What challenges
and opportunities do you see?
Apprehensive. What if my partner and I get
sick at the same time? Who takes care of
the kids? What if we get shut down again,
mid-experiment? What if there are further
visa restrictions and my grad students can’t
leave to visit family or return afterwards?
How can I serve students in countries that
block our online tools while maintaining
FERPA compliance? What if students refuse
to (correctly) wear masks? How can I teach
a 32-student lab in a room that has a new
maximum occupancy of 5? Is it possible to
socially distance as over a thousand people
move through narrow corridors and tight
stairwells within our building? Can I be
productive enough to pass tenure review? One
potential opportunity is that if we restructure
our courses to be deliverable in an online (or
even hybrid) format, that could really increase
the size and diversity of the audience we can
reach.
How are you feeling emotionally at this
point?
Drained.
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Online seminars provide opportunities to
share research, meet people, and learn. In
this era of digital media, the use of video
meetings has increased communication
and collaboration. There are many benefits
of hosting digital seminars (even when
COVID-19 will no longer be a threat). One
major benefit is no one has to travel! This is
not only environmentally friendly, but also
means it is possible to hear about research and
collaborate with international researchers,
without spending large amounts of money.
Virtual seminars are a great way of sharing
ideas across fields with researchers that may
not attend the same conferences. Not to
mention, these seminars develop a community
that is welcoming and encouraging for new
researchers.
Ana Rita Simões and Lauren Eserman have
developed the Convolvulaceae Network
Seminar Series during the past year, which
currently gathers over 100 participants from
nearly 20 countries, from Asia to Brazil. Rocío
Deanna and Chelsea Pretz saw this as a model
An Era of Virtual Seminars:
From Creating One
to a List of Ones to Join
and started a similar seminar series focusing
on research on physaloids (Solanaceae) that,
even being a more specialized and restricted
group, currently included the participation
of almost 50 researchers from America and
Europe. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic,
many other researchers are exploring the idea
of starting virtual seminar series, or joining
existing ones, to stay active. Here, we describe
our story as just one of many ways to continue
to engage in the research community despite
geographical and financial barriers, with
the goal of encouraging other researchers to
pursue these collaborative events.
STARTING A VIRTUAL
SEMINAR
When starting a new seminar, there are many
things to consider. What is the central topic?
How often do you meet? What platform
to use? What’s the best time for everyone?
Should we record? How do we promote our
seminars? With the collective experience
By Chelsea Pretz
1,5
, Rocío Deanna
2
, Lauren Eserman
3
, and Ana Rita Simões
4
1
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado-Boulder, USA
2
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado-Boulder, USA; Instituto
Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal, IMBIV (CONICET-UNC). Córdoba, Argentina; Departamen-
to de Ciencias Farmacéuticas, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas (FCQ, UNC) Córdoba, Argentina
3
Department of Conservation & Research, Atlanta Botanical Garden, Atlanta, GA 30309
4
Department of Identification & Naming (Africa & Madagascar), Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
(United Kingdom)
5
Corresponding author email: chelsea.pretz@colorado.edu
PSB 66 (2) 2020
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from the Convolvulaceae Network and
Physaloid Seminars (now Solanaceae Seminar
Online), we hope to help other groups who
are transitioning to virtual seminars.
THE BEGINNING: ASSESS-
MENT OF INTEREST
In early 2018, Ana was living in Brazil and
noticed a growing community of young
Convolvulaceae taxonomists in the country,
although with limited contact with each other
because of the large distance between them.
To help them engage more in discussions,
and help each other with references or
scientific queries, a Whatsapp group was
created with about 15 participants. It was
called Convolvulaceae Network. In May
2019, they gathered for a Workshop of
Young Convolvulaceae Researchers—online,
through Skype—which lasted for an entire
day, with a 15-minute presentation from each
of the Brazilian participants. It was a success
and left everyone craving more. It was also
attended by early career Convolvulaceae
researchers from other countries (Thailand
and DR Congo), who expressed the desire to
participate as well. In 2019, Lauren and Ana
both attended the Botany 2019 conference in
Tucson, Arizona, where they met in person
for the first time, along with Joanna Rifkin
and Irene Liao, and shared their enthusiasm
for Morning Glories (Figure 1). Many ideas
were brainstormed during that week, one of
which was to find a way to bring together
all these researchers working in the family,
especially linking the younger students and
early career researchers who needed more
support, and who were more open to the use
of new technologies. One of these ideas was
to set up a workshop or small conference
where everyone could present their work to
each other. This would have the advantage
of giving students an opportunity to practice
their communication skills, especially in
English, and offer them a platform to promote
their work, which is especially important
for those working on research fields that are
usually published in low-impact journals and
do not always get adequate visibility, such as
taxonomy. It would also be a good chance
to engage in discussions about overlapping
topics (e.g., researchers working on the same
taxa, but on different research questions), and
about competing ideas. The original plan of a
small in-person conference was abandoned
because of lack of funding, a large number of
participants, and difficulties accommodating
everyone’s availability. The best option was to
make the conference online and spread it out
over a few weeks or months, with each week
featuring a different speaker. So what would
be a worldwide Convolvulaceae conference of
one or a few days actually became a seminar
series.
Figure 1. Ana Rita Simões (left) and Lauren
Eserman (right) at Botany Conference 2019 in
Tucson, AZ.
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The increasing rate of research for the
Solanaceae family has led to the development
of global networks of collaboration. To pursue
this, multiple meetings were organized along
the last 50 years, from the International
Solanaceae Conferences starting back in
1976 (Birmingham, UK) to the more recent
SOLgenomics meetings and Latin-American
Symposium of Solanaceae. Even with all the
efforts to integrate different research topics
during these meetings, there are still gaps in
the communication between biodiversity,
genomics, and plant breeder communities.
Chelsea and Rocío noticed an increased
interest in Physalis back in 2017. Several
different research groups started working with
the genus but would not continue to conduct
research, despite the economical potential and
questions that could be answered within the
group. Chelsea and Rocío believed this was
caused by absence of communication among
researchers and confusing taxonomy. This led
them to their taxonomy and nomenclature
work, as well as to thinking about ways in
which to improve communication across
different research communities on the
physaloids. In 2019, Rick Miller invited
Rocío to the Convolvulaceae Network, and
she was impressed about the outstanding
organization of these seminars. This opened
the idea of a similar seminar series for
physaloids, considering that the increase of
goldenberries and groundcherries market
raised the necessity of working across different
questions and communities that needed to be
promoted and interconnected. The onset of
the Physaloid Seminar Series began by polling
other researchers of the Solanaceae family, to
gauge if there was interest in this type of online
seminar. Once Chelsea and Rocío knew there
was more than enough interest, they started
with the organization of these seminars, from
finding a time that worked for most people to
inviting speakers and preparing a schedule.
PICKING A TIME THAT
WORKS FOR MOST
In September 2019, Lauren would inaugurate
the Convolvulaceae seminar series with a talk
on her work on evolution of storage roots, and
10 months later (about 40 weeks), still not all
researchers in the group have presented their
work. The time selected to host the seminars
was 2 p.m. London time, because it was the
only time that allowed all the participants to
be “awake”—very early morning in North and
Central America (6 a.m.), and late evening in
Asia (9 p.m.). This solution was found for the
very first seminar and has not changed since,
because it works perfectly for everyone. The
issue with the wide range of time zones is also
one of the reasons why it would be difficult
to organize a one-week conference or full-
day conference; certainly, some people would
have to participate at inconvenient times (e.g.,
present their work at 2 a.m.).
The timetable, including different time zones
with the correct time for a list of several cities,
was one of the great ideas that Chelsea and
Rocío followed from the Convolvulaceae
Network and applied to the Physaloid
seminars. This table is very important to keep
everyone on board and avoid confusion, and
it is constantly updated as the group grows;
attention is also given to time changes (e.g.,
daylight saving time). The Physaloid seminars
were inaugurated by Rocío in February 2020
with a talk about her work on Physalideae
phylogenetics and evolution. After almost
10 seminars on a biweekly basis, there is an
upcoming expansion to Solanaceae works
that requires more frequent seminars, starting
in July 2020 on a weekly regularity. The
time selected for these seminars was 4 p.m.
London time, in order to not overlap with
the Convolvulaceae seminars, as well as to
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make it possible for the researchers in the U.S.
West Coast (e.g., 8 a.m. in Seattle) to join. Up
to now, this has worked for almost everyone
and, when someone cannot attend, they can
still watch the talks, because they are recorded
and made available on the Physaloid Seminar
YouTube channel.
CREATING THE
STRUCTURE: ESTABLISH
COMMUNICATION AND
PREPARE THE
PLATFORMS
Initially, the presentations of both seminars
(Convolvulaceae and Physaloids) were
delivered on Skype, and participants could
use the chat function to communicate
in between talks and during the week,
exchanging ideas and references. Particularly
for Convolvulaceae, an email address was
arranged to send out the program and manage
participant communications. To avoid an
excess of emails, the monthly program is
sent out to a mailing list at the beginning of
the month and shared on a dedicated Twitter
account (@convolv_network), also created
for this purpose. An existing Convolvulaceae
Facebook group (created by Ana in 2011) is
also used to communicate the program of
the seminar series, as well as the Whatsapp
group that gathers the Brazilian community.
The program includes a list of the talks with
additional information about the speakers, as
well as a table with the correct seminar time,
for each time zone. A website has also been set
up, and participants can now join by signing
up directly via a Google Form Sign-up sheet.
The Physaloid seminars were similarly
developed to Convolvulaceae, but using
Google-Groups, Twitter, and a website,
although there are many other ways to
promote and inform participants (Figure 2). A
Google-Group was set up for communication
to the participants, but instead of sending a
program, an email reminder of every talk is
sent a few days before the seminar. On the
website, presenters were asked to write up a
small abstract that could be reviewed before
the seminar and highlighted during the email.
While these abstracts remain on the website
in the “past seminar” tab, it is also posted on
YouTube with their talk. The researcher can
not only add this seminar as an “invited talk”
to their CV, but also use the link for presenting
their talk to a wider audience. Our hope is
that promotion of researchers’ work will help
strengthen their career along with extending
collaborations beyond country borders and
continents.
Recording the seminars provides more
flexibility, allowing more people to watch
and be connected with the community. You
can record the talks easily in both Skype and
Zoom. However, there are several different
aspects of each tool to be considered. Skype
is free, but there is a limit of 50 people
during the call, though no time limit; Zoom,
however, can freely accommodate up to
100 participants, but there is a time limit of
40 minutes per call (Figure 3; refer to Table
1 for a comparison of online platforms).
When starting the Physaloid seminar, there
were roughly 35 people with around 15 to 20
attending every week, so Chelsea and Rocío
decided to use Skype. Now that the Physaloid
seminar is expanding to include the whole
Solanaceae family, they have transitioned to
Zoom. Many U.S.-based universities have
contracts with Zoom, which removes the time
limit on the Zoom calls and which could be
useful to know before setting up a platform
for these meetings.
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Figure 2. Pictures promoting an upcoming seminar and later the YouTube link to the channel.
PRESENTING RESEARCH
AND OTHER COMMUNITY
BUILDING ACTIVITIES
The Convolvulaceae group grew, and a new
organization system was put into place,
which would not have been possible without
close communication between Lauren and
Ana, as well as effective task division. At the
beginning, Ana would organize the email
correspondence, the program preparation,
and hosting of the seminars, while Lauren
would help promote the events on social
media and contact potential speakers. They
have discussed together, from the outset, all
the decisions and new ideas, and especially
the technological constraints and how to
overcome them. Currently, Lauren and Ana
alternate in hosting the seminars, and Lauren
has set up a new way of participants signing
up, through a Google form, which collates
new participant information onto a Google
Sheet (currently over 100 participants from
22 countries). Ana is still more focused on
the program preparation and contacting
speakers. Both manage the email account,
and, depending on the availability, one or the
other responds to emails and sends out the
program.
In the meantime, since it was not possible to
reconcile everyone’s availability and have a
speaker for every week of the month, some
gaps in the program have urged our creativity,
and the program started to be enriched with
other types of talks: journal club, fun quizzes,
and participation of external speakers. These
have been equally successful and ended up
being a new element of the program and not
incidental. Journal clubs are sporadic and not
regularly organized. Every now and then, if
PSB 66 (2) 2020
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a recent interesting paper is brought to the
attention of the group through the chat, usually
the person who mentions the publication is
asked to prepare a short discussion about it,
and we set up a date for this in the following
month. The quizzes are a more informal
platform, which have been very effective in
socialization between the participants—in
other words, they are a lot of fun. Kahoot is a
user-friendly platform through which you can
create questions with four optional answers.
You can create different sets of questions on
different topics. The quiz is then run on the
host’s screen, through Kahoot’s website (no
installation of programs is required), with
all the participants joining in through their
mobile phones or computers. The Kahoot
platform allows you to choose a chronometer
with how long is allowed to answer each
question, and it manages all the participants’
scores and ranking, updating it in between
the questions. The participants look at the
computer screen for the questions, and they will
have four symbols showing on their phones,
corresponding to the answers, on which they
can easily click throughout the game. At the
end of the questions, Kahoot announces the
winner. So far, Ana has organized two quizzes,
one on general Convolvulaceae knowledge
(from classification to palynology), and
another querying about the speakers and the
presentations themselves. Several participants
sent Ana emails with ideas for questions, and
possible answers, which were incorporated
into the quiz. Lauren also prepared one on
species identification of Ipomoea, and it is
possible that new ideas will come up in the
future; for example, other participants offering
identification quizzes about the species or
genera, or geographical region, that they work
on.
Invited speakers, working on cutting-edge
research fields or closely related taxa as
our dear colleagues from the sister family
Solanaceae, have also become part of the
matrix of the Convolvulaceae seminar series
and helped the group grow and expand on
the scientific range of the discussions. This
also inspires Convolvulaceae researchers to
look at aspects of their work from different
perspectives and try new methodologies.
Figure 3. The Convolvulaceae Network meeting on Zoom.
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Service
People
Limit
Time (Space)
Limit
Some pros
Some cons
Website
Skype
50 people
4 hours per
individual
video call
Easy to join
once the group
is set up; stable;
able to record
Must
screenshare
whole screen
https://www.
skype.com
Zoom
100 people
(webinars
can host up
to 10,000)
40 minutes
per individual
video call;
unlimited with
paid account
Can
screenshare
from only one
tab/position of
screen; can set
up a waiting
room and
break rooms;
high-quality
video and
audio; able to
record
Zoom-
bombing more
common
recently;
requires link
for meeting but
can be set up
as recurrent
https://zoom.
us/zoomrooms
YouTube
None
None
It can have a
wider audience
Discussion can
only be done
through chat
https://www.
youtube.com/
Google-
Groups
>2000 direct
add members
None
Email-based;
stable
Emails are
more formal
and might
discourage
chatting; no
video calls
https://groups.
google.com/
Microsoft
Teams
250 members None
(1Tb + 0.5Gb
per E-licensed
user)
Better for
discussions,
chat; Microsoft
applications
integrated;
works with
Skype too; data
encrypted,
more secure
Only allows
4 people with
video in the
same screen
https://www.
microsoft.
com/en-us/
microsoft-365/
microsoft-
teams/group-
chat-software
Google Meet 100 people
None
Light, fast
interface; only
need to share
a link to start a
meeting; able
to record
Not so easy to
share screen
https://meet.
google.com/
Table 1. Examples of the popular free platforms that seminar series use (upgraded versions
could change the limits in people and time). This is not an extensive list, but rather a starting point.
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FOSTERING A
COMMUNITY: INVITING
SPEAKERS AND
INCLUDING DISCUSSION
PERIODS
Maintaining a diversity of speakers is a major
aspect to keep in mind. With researchers
working on systematics, biochemistry, ecology,
evolution, and breeding, it is important to
recognize and highlight the importance of
these diverse fields of research—not only to
include diversity in research topics, but to
make sure there is an inclusion of people.
This includes inviting researchers in different
career stages, from different institutions, and
from different corners of the world, while
always considering gender equality. To foster
an inclusive community of international
researchers, the Convolvulaceae Network
Seminar Series occasionally have speakers
present in their native language with slides
in English. This allows researchers whose
proficiency in English is improving but
would be more comfortable speaking in
their native language to present their work
to an international audience. Two talks have
been presented in Portuguese so far, and Ana
has assisted the speaker with translation.
The Physaloid seminar is very fortunate to
have strong female leaders in the family for
early career researchers to aspire to, such as
Sandra Knapp, Stacey Smith, Tiina Sarkinen,
Mahinda Martinez, Gloria Barboza, and Lynn
Bohs, just to name a few. With the expansion
to include the whole family, Andres Orejuela,
a researcher from Colombia (and PhD student
at Edinburgh), will increase the participation
of Latin American researchers to the seminars,
since there is a large diversity of research done
in Solanaceae in South America due to it being
the center of diversity of the family.
Both the Convolvulaceae seminar and the
Physaloid seminar include time for discussion
after the presentation. While this is a time
for questions about the presentation, it also
allows time to discuss concepts and broader
questions about the field the researchers are
studying. Allowing this time for questions
and discussion makes the community learn
and grow together, along with providing the
presenter feedback to improve their research.
It also provides a place for researchers to learn
how to talk to other researchers from other
fields that will later strengthen collaboration
and give a sense to young researchers about
the community dynamics.
SECURITY ISSUES AND
TRANSITIONS TO
DIFFERENT STREAMING
SERVICES
After using a platform for a while, you might
realize due to the size, security issues, or for
other reasons that you would like to transition
to other services. For instance, Skype has
recently posed a significant constraint,
which is the limitation of 50 participants
in a call. Although it is rarely the case that
more than 50 participants participate in
the actual call, the fact that there are more
than 50 participants in the chat group itself
excludes the possibility of making the call.
This meant excluding participants at the start
of every weekly meeting, and then re-adding
them after the call, which was a clumsy and
exhausting process for the Convolvulaceae
Network. Lauren and Ana started exploring
new possibilities, and, having benefited from
exchanging ideas with Rocío and Chelsea,
decided to move toward solutions to the
technological problems to these seminar
series. Currently, the Convolvulaceae seminar
PSB 66 (2) 2020
119
series are based on a Microsoft (MS) Teams
chat, where the actual talks take place and are
recorded in Zoom, with the discussions taking
place afterward in MS Teams video calls.
MS Teams comes with its own headaches.
Many people receive the invite and cannot
login. It keeps giving them an error message
(“Link is no longer valid”) or it simply freezes
their computer every time they try to log in. It
is very random, because most people seem to
join without problems, and others consistently
run into the same message; this suggests there
is some technical issue that is not obvious,
and it has generated a lot of frustration. This
experience of trying to join a group without
success can lead to giving up joining.
Security can be a problem with some platforms.
Zoom has what is called “zoombombing”—
when a person not a part of the group will
enter the chat just to be disruptive. There
are a few things you can do to ensure this
doesn’t happen: (1) do not post the link on the
internet, (2) require a password for login, and
(3) have a waiting room and only let people
with their full name since bombers usually
use single names.
PULLING IT ALL TOGETHER
Once everything is put into place and
presenters have been invited, it’s time for your
seminar! While starting a seminar is hard
work, it does not stop once things are going.
There will be weekly tasks such as uploading
videos, promotion, and website changes. As
with everything, you have to find a balance
with helpfulness and time management. This
will look different for each group. While
putting together a successful seminar is hard
work, it is ultimately rewarding to work and
hear about research within a group of plants
you love to think about!
If you are looking to attend virtual seminars,
be sure to check out Table 2 on the following
page.
PSB 66 (2) 2020
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Topic
Contact
Meeting
Times
Platform
Website
Convolv
Network
Ana Rita
Simões
& Lauren
Eserman
Weekly,
Fridays
7 a.m.
GMT-6
Zoom, Microsoft
teams
https://sites.google.com/view/
convolvulaceae-network
Solanaceae
Seminar
Chelsea
Pretz, Andres
Orejuela, &
Rocio Deanna
Weekly,
Fridays,
9 a.m.
GMT-6
Zoom, Google-
Groups, YouTube
channel
https://physaloidseminars.
weebly.com/upcoming-
seminars.html
https://www.youtube.
com/channel/UCBKAYT-
QFTMDZfHFho9VAqQ/
EvoEco
Andreas
Sutter et al.
Mondays,
9 a.m.
GMT-7
YouTube channel
https://twitter.com/
EvoEcoSeminars
https://www.youtube.
com/channel/
Gabriela Auge
et al.
Mondays,
2 p.m.
GMT-3
Zoom, Google-
Groups, YouTube
channel
https://argplantwomen.weebly.
com/
Polyploid
Webinar Mike Barker
Mondays,
11 a.m.
GMT-7
Zoom
https://www.barkerlab.net/
polyweb
Frederick
“Erick”
Matsen
Monthly
YouTube channel
http://phyloseminar.org/
https://www.youtube.com/
user/phyloseminar/feed
Linnean
Society
Seminars
learning@</p>
linnean.org
Periodically Zoom
https://www.linnean.org/
meetings-and-events/
podcasts-of-events
Table 2. A list of Digital Seminars. (This is a dynamic table. To see the most up-to-date list of on-
line seminars, go to: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1U9AOVwxga-n7T_fO-JROL7GdE-
B30VP30EUga4tTb9pjA/edit#gid=0).
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Topic
Contact
Meeting
Times
Platform
Website
Plantchat
Bi-monthly tchat (twitter)
https://twitter.com/
itsplantchat?lang=en
Virtual
Genomics
Social
Hour
Athena
Lam alam@</p>
calacademy.
org
Fridays
11 a.m.
-12:30 p.m.
GMT-7
Everyweek
YouTube channel +
Google Hangout
https://www.calacademy.org/
virtual-genomic-social-hour
University
of
Michigan
Thursday
Seminars
YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/pla
ylist?list=PLY8QfwKxxfG5m5
mkB3f3nNO5bF0cYKXqV
UCLA
Periodically YouTube
https://www.youtube.
com/channel/
Melastome
Seminars
Once a
Month
Zoom
https://melastomeseminars.
weebly.com/
Table 2 (continued)
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123
SCIENCE EDUCATION
By Dr. Catrina Adams,
Education Director
During March of the Spring 2020
PlantingScience Session, as a global pandemic
led to the shutdown of schools across the
United States and around the world, teachers
who had started or had planned to start their
lessons with PlantingScience quickly had to
decide how to navigate remote schooling for
an indeterminate amount of time. Teachers
emailed us asking what they should do
and how to continue, whether they should
continue, or whether they should scrap their
plans for open-inquiry plant projects in the
classroom. In the confusion of the first couple
of weeks of March, it was unclear whether any
of the schools across the U.S. would open again
in the spring, leading to teachers requesting
that we temporarily close their online groups
with the hope that they would be back in a few
weeks.
Summary of Spring 2020: How
Teachers Managed PlantingScience
During a Pandemic
We sent the following options to teachers as
they considered their remote learning lesson
plans:
• Keep projects going as usual. If schools
are open, your students can keep plugging
away at projects in the classroom and com-
municating with their mentors as usual.
• Keep projects going from home. De-
pending on the module, where you are in
your projects, and internet accessibility for
students, your students could potentially
take home the projects, or at least commu-
nicate questions and ideas to mentors dur-
ing the time they are home from school. If
you choose to have students communicat-
ing from home, please keep an eye on the
communications to make sure they stay
appropriate. Please remind your students
that they should not contact mentors
outside of the PlantingScience platform.
• “Pause” the group and come back later
this Spring. We can archive your group
until you are ready to come back to the
platform. Archiving the group will stop
those automatic «At-Risk» emails that
come when projects have a lack of activ-
ity, plus no one (not students or men-
tors) would be able to log into proj-
ects to make any changes or new posts.
Dr. Jodi Creasap Gee,
Education Technology
Coordinator
PSB 66 (2) 2020
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• End the projects and say good-
bye. Depending on where the class is with
the projects, it might make the most sense
from your perspective to finish up and
post thank you’s and goodbyes. Students
could potentially post conclusions before
the end of the session, when we archive all
groups.
It seemed that some teachers were grateful to
be able to focus on other lessons and come
back to PlantingScience another time, while
others embraced the opportunity for students
to engage in deeper conversations with their
scientist mentors about interruptions to their
research and how to navigate such disruptions.
Many scientists were able to work on data
analysis, and many were forced to modify
their plans—either by reducing collection
numbers or by reducing the number of people
in the collection team. The key to many of
these conversations, we noticed, was that
students learned that scientists have to be
adaptable—global pandemic or not—in order
to get their work done. They also learned that
science is a process and that it is not always
a simple cookie-cutter formula to answer the
important questions.
Sarah Tabor (teacher, in a forum post to her
mentors):
I have asked all students to continue
to communicate with mentors until
the termination of this project. At this
point, I think the value in this project is
the opportunity for students to discuss
this unprecedented situation with their
mentors. Any science that isn’t directly
related to SARS-CoV-2 seems to have
come to a halt. Mentors, I thank you for
your time and efforts in communicating
with my students. I hope you are all
healthy and sheltering in a safe place.
Kate Sidlar (scientist mentor, in a post to her
student team members):
Well, this is certainly unexpected.
But the unexpected is just something
you have to learn to expect in science.
Learning to adapt is a very important
skill! I remember having a grade 6
science project on plants all go moldy, so
I changed my project to be about mold
growth!
When I was working on my Master’s
project, I spent 6 months in the lab
preparing specimens for a specific type
of testing. Then when I was ready to
submit the samples to be tested, the
company didn’t offer the test anymore.
So I had to come up with other ways to
analyze my data.
We can never really know what’s going
to happen, but we can try to adapt to
what’s happened.
With that said, I’m going to keep
checking in until the end of the project.
You are welcome to ask me any questions
you want about studying science,
researching, what kind of school it takes
to be a scientist, or anything else you can
think of. You can also ask me anything
you want about any kind of science,
and I’ll try to find some answers for you
or point you in the right direction to
find some yourself! Although I studied
biology (fungi specifically) for my
Master’s degree, my job now involves
a lot of chemistry and physics as well,
so get creative with your questions!
Even random little things you’ve always
wondered about could have some really
interesting science behind it, so let the
questions fly!
PSB 66 (2) 2020
125
Kelly Kerr (scientist mentor, in a post to her
student team members):
How is everyone holding up with the
Covid-19 disruptions? I thought I’d share
some of the impacts it’s been having on
my life and research to commiserate.
Since my research involves a lot of field
work (e.g. camping, hiking, living in the
woods for weeks at a time collecting
samples) in the spring and summer, I’m
very worried that I won’t be able to get
a lot of the work done I had planned.
While a lot of public land (i.e. forests)
in Utah and Colorado are still open, my
University also shut down and no one
is allowed to work in the labs. So even
if I go to the forest, I may not be able
to measure my samples in the lab once I
collect them.
I also had 2 conferences planned this
summer to talk about my research. One
has been cancelled—the other one is in
August but the organizers are already
talking about it being in an online
format.
Working from home is a real challenge
for me—I don’t have the best discipline
to stay focused and on task. But it has
led to a lot of fun hobby exploration. I’ve
been playing the banjo a lot, baking lots
of bread (working on some sourdough
now), painting, and reading a lot of
books. Oh, and of course catching up
on some Netflix. I have a weekly zoom
hangout with some good friends, and
we’ve started a movie club while under
“quarantine” too.
Anyway, while this pandemic is
unprecedented, disruptions to science
are unfortunately common—especially
when you work with live specimens like
plants. Two summers ago, the forest in
CO I work in was largely on fire and I
could not access many of the sites. So
there are big gaps in that dataset too! I
think we do our best to learn from the
mistakes, and try to gather what data
we can.
Hope you all are well! Feel free to share/
discuss your thoughts if you’d like.
Happy to chat about anything.
Many students whose teachers decided to
continue with PlantingScience also posted
about their experiences during the COVID19
pandemic. While a few expressed joy at being
away from school, most shared their thoughts
about how much they missed school (gasp!)
and their friends. As anyone who has or
works with children know, the disruptions
throughout their lives are creating no small
amount of consternation, confusion, and
disorientation, regardless of age. These
feelings were expressed and explored to some
extent on the PlantingScience platform during
the last 6 weeks of the session.
7Dani (student, posting to their team’s page):
Since our last check-in, I haven’t seen
my plants or even my classmates for
that matter. We are on our second week
of online schooling and needless to say,
I very much wish to go back (Never
thought I would say that). We have left
our plants to die and it seems like there
is nothing we can do about it at the time
being. Has this happened to you with any
of your research? What have you been
doing with your time off? Are you able
to do research remotely? Has the corona
affected you in any way differently like
has a friend or family member got it?
Hope you are safe and well.
PSB 66 (2) 2020
126
4Emma (student, posting to their team’s page):
Hi! As few people have already said
our school was closed during our
spring break until the 10
th
of April but
it will most likely be for the rest of the
year. I wish we would have had the
chance to finish the experiment and I
want to thank you for all of the help
that you gave us. Are you still able to
do your labs and experiments? How is
your quarantine going? I am starting
to get bored of doing the same things
over and over again Luckily our
school and teachers have the ability
to teach us over technology so we are
still able to get some sort of education.
My brother keeps asking me to play
baseball all the time and I’ve read a
lot of books. Anyway I hope that you
are finding a way to stay sane during
this time! Again, thank you for being
willing to help us with this project.
Maahir (student, posting to their team’s page):
I can’t believe everything that has
happened because of the pandemic. That
made it really hard to communicate
and spun my world around and I am
sure it has happened to others too. My
conclusions on my seed work are that
leaving the second and third batches of
seeds stay in the sun helped jumpstart
their growth. Not one seed molded
and everyone single hypocotyl formed
in at most five days. I used to think
that sunlight was just a small factor of
germination but now I realize that it
made a bigger difference than I thought
it would. I still wonder about so many
things and will continue to learn more
about plants. I would like to wrap this
by thanking you Emily for helping me
through and sparking my plant interests.
It was fun to talk about other topics too!
You seem like an amazing person and
I hope that you have a happy life and
wish for all of us to keep on trucking
through this tough time.
This was so fun!
A worldwide pandemic has disrupted every
aspect of our lives, including schooling,
which has been challenging for children who
are used to those social interactions, meal
plans, and structure, among other benefits.
Pediatricians initially recommend that K-12
students go back to school this fall, as the
benefits outweigh the detriments (pending
students’ underlying personal and family
health concerns. However, they later added
the caveat that in-person school should
happen only if it can be done in a way to
keep everyone – students, teachers, staff,
administrators, etc. – safe and healthy.
Knowing that this fall will likely look nothing
like last fall, PlantingScience staff continue to
prepare for a fall session to support teachers
in their efforts to teach their middle and high
school students the process of science through
hands-on plant science research projects.
We are currently reassessing our modules
to determine how—if at all—we can enable
teachers to run them through remote learning
strategies.
PSB 66 (2) 2020
127
Resources for Teaching Botany
Online
When the COVID-19 global pandemic forced universities to shift very quickly to online
teaching, many were left seeking help and needing resources. The BSA was quick to create
and provide online resources that are continually being updated. Go to https://botany.org/
home/resources/online_resources.html to explore these resources!
PSB 66 (2) 2020
128
129
STUDENT SECTION
Student Experiences During
COVID-19 Lockdown
In early May 2020, we put out a call for the BSA student members to share their experiences
during the COVID-19 lockdown. So many of you have responded to our call, and we want
to give a big “Thank You” to all of you. When we put all the responses into a word cloud (see
next page), a few words stood out among all the responses, and they are the words that are so
tightly connected to all of our lives right now: COVID-19, research, lab, work, home, online.
We appreciate the honesty in all the responses about their struggles and coping mechanisms,
and we hope you will find them helpful for you to get through this chaotic time as well, because
we are truly all in this together.
By Min Ya, Shelly Gaynor, and Imeña Valdes, BSA Student Representatives
PSB 66 (2) 2020
130
Allison DeHaas
Undergraduate
Student,
Widener University
As a
senior
in undergrad, I was
finishing up
writing my thesis
when all of the chaos that
is COVID-19 ensued. I had done most of the
work, but the few things I had left to do required
my Research Advisor and I had to share her
computer because she had access to the data
analysis program I needed to use, and I did
not. Due to social distancing, we were unable
to do this. I was able to make do with what we
had—using previous figures from posters, but
it definitely interrupted the process and plan
we had outlined. On top of that, the flowers
that we study were in full bloom and I was
unable to visit them because the arboretum
was closed! Once I finally finished my senior
thesis, I had the unique opportunity to do
my
thesis defense via Zoom. In all of this,
I’ve found the best way to cope is to just be
honest with those around you about how you
are doing. It isn’t always easy to be vulnerable
and share, but I’ve found that everyone t
ends
to relate. Right now, we are all doing the best
we can with what we have!
Chelsea Pretz
Graduate Student
University of Colorado, Boulder
;@chelsea_pretz
Staying inside so much has probably given me
vitamin D-deficiency, but I learned to be cat-
like and sit by windows. I have also learned
what bias-tape is and how to make it, so I
could make a homemade cloth mask.
Kate Volk
Graduate Student
I’ve found that, more than ever, my motivation
is all over the place. Some days I’m a go-getter;
some days I need a lot of breaks; some days I
can’t focus at all. Some tricks I’ve developed
for those un-focused days are making daily
to-do lists and checking things off as I go.
Even if the list doesn’t consist of classwork
and research, but rather “take 10 min break.”
I’ve found that checking the box off gives me
a little push to do the next thing on the list.
Also, when taking breaks, heading outside
really refreshes me.
Tracey Simmons
Post-Doc Student
;@traceyssimmons
With the campus closed due to COVID-19, I
can no longer access our lab. Some things can
PSB 66 (2) 2020
131
be done remotely, but there is no substitute
for the energy that comes from working in
the same room. The loss of that safe and
supportive space is difficult. My advice is to
treat yourself with kindness during this time.
Take the gentle care you would give a growing
plant and turn that care back onto yourself.
Drink water, soak in the sunlight, and take
some deep breaths. Your work will be there
when we return, so put your mental health
first now. We will get through this together.
Nannie L. Persson
Graduate Student,
University Museum of Bergen
The decision to close our university due to
COVID-19 came very fast and I didn’t even
have time to get my laptop or the literature I
needed. I live alone, abroad, and suddenly felt
completely shut out from the world. I was able
to get my things the next day, though, and it
turns out I made the right decision to bring
home my big screen, since we’ve now had a
home office for two months and will probably
have over the summer. My workplace is very
important to me, and if I don’t like it, my
concentration is bad. I was granted access to
the molecular lab after 1.5 months and had
long conversations with three colleagues that
day. When I got back home, I was exhausted,
and it was the same exhaustion I had felt
every day after work prior to the shutdown.
Thus, during these two months, I’ve gone
from thinking I was an introvert, to longing
for people more than I’ve ever done before,
to realize that I am indeed an introvert and
I appreciate my home office. Especially since
my deadline to deliver my thesis is in less than
six months and I need not to be disturbed.
Minya
Graduate Student
;@0_minyaaa
I was a teaching fellow for a class (Biology
of Plants) this semester and transitioning to
online teaching had been the most challenging
thing. This class has a weekly 3-hour lab
component and it’s always students’ favorite
part because that’s where they get to look at and
dissect all sorts of plants. Changing in-person
labs into online labs has not been satisfying
no matter how many online materials we
prepare or what methods we try. However, the
most difficult part was not adjusting course
materials but adjusting myself. I knew my
students understood things and were enjoying
the lab when I taught the lab in person, but
I felt insecure when speaking through the
camera because I don’t have the connection
to the students anymore. The semester has
ended and I appreciate all my students being
so great, but I wish I could figure out a way to
make the situation better both for them and
for myself.
PSB 66 (2) 2020
132
Justin Williams
Graduate Student
Lots of writing! Thank god for the online her-
baria consortia and databases! Currently TA-
ing an online field course...hmmm.
Bashir Bolaji TIAMIYU
Graduate Student,
Wuhan Botanical Garden
Chinese Academy of Science
;@timmybash001
Getting to Wuhan Botanical Garden as a
new graduate student (Ph.D.) in January
and there was lockdown a few days later, it
was an awful experience that brought some
inconvenience, in the beginning, however,
with the help of the management team, and
my supervisor, I was able to adapt to the
new surrounding and the reality on-ground.
I decided to channel my energy towards
reviewing relevant literature for my proposed
research. As a resident in Wuhan, initially it
was a traumatic experience, but as time passed
by, the psychological pressure eased. I tried to
stay healthy through regular exercises, watch
movies and communicate with loved ones
back in Nigeria.
Sukuan Liu
Graduate Student
Yes. I was possibly exposed and became in-
fected back in China in mid
-December....
Deva Raj Khanal
Graduate Student
;@karkatdrk
From the beginning of spring semester
2020,
I had just started my research project: Genus
Salsola’s complexity for my MS studies at
South Dakota State University. However,
with the effect of COVID-19, I had stopped
my lab work. But, in this pandemic situation,
I am learning computational things from
home, which will be very useful for my
research project soon. For this, I am also
taking an online course. I hope to return to
my normal lab work and play with DNA data
very soon.
Jacob Ewald
Graduate Student
California State
University, Chico
I am a first-year graduate student at Chico
State University in Chico, California. I have
been quite fortunate in being able to adapt
to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a commuter
living about 75 miles away from campus, I
PSB 66 (2) 2020
133
already had to be flexible to pursue my edu-
cation. When the statewide orders shut down
the campus, I was still collecting seeds from
ripening fruits from 40 greenhouse-grown
monkeyflower specimens. Realizing I would
quickly lose access to these specimens, I
transported them from Chico State to my
home in Redding, CA, where I continued to
collect their seeds. If the shutdown order had
come earlier (say, when I still needed to col-
lect seeds from my original 270 plants), my
research would have been greatly impacted,
as I would not have been able to transport
them all. Fieldwork, too, has been able to
continue in a properly regulated fashion. I ac-
quired university permission to collect mon-
keyflower DNA samples from the field, but
once the proper safety precautions had been
discussed, I was able to conduct my fieldwork
with only a short delay. Overall, it has taken
some flexibility and unorthodox methods, but
my research is forging ahead.
Simone Lim-Hing
Graduate Student
University of Georgia
;@simonelimhing
I think the biggest impact the pandemic has
had on me is the psychological one. While I
have the privilege to work safely from home
and maintain my stipend, many of my friends
and family are not. I am constantly worried
about the safety of others, like my mother, for
example, who is an essential worker at a de-
tention center that has a COVID-19 outbreak.
On the other hand, this lockdown has taught
me to appreciate the things around me more,
like my partner, pets, and books!
Kathryn Mercier
Graduate Student
City College of New York
and the New York Botanical Garden
;@kpmercier
I’ve been relatively lucky in regard to CO-
VID-19. My family and I are all still working
and healthy. I have been able to shelter-in-
place with my parents, surrounded by Flori-
da biodiversity and empty hiking trails. Yet,
this coronavirus has taken many firsts of my
dissertation career. It took my first season of
fieldwork. It took my first Botany meeting. In
the fall, it will likely take my first in-person
teaching experience. It can be difficult not
to feel dejected. But I try to remember that
I have also gained some firsts. I have seen
friends from across the country defend their
dissertation through virtual meetings. I have
taken up the guitar. I will be teaching online
and attending a virtual Botany meeting. De-
spite the feeling of missing out, I will still be
able to have these firsts, virtually or eventu-
ally.
PSB 66 (2) 2020
134
J
oanna Lumbsden-Pinto
Graduate Student
Bringing so much uncertainty in my last field-
work season in the summer so I needed to
come up with contingency plans.
Grace Brock
Recent graduate of a BA
I’ve just graduated in mid-May with a BA
in Botany and Creative Writing. The transi-
tion to online coursework during my last few
months as an undergrad was quite unexpect-
ed. I’ve stayed in close contact with all of my
friends through texting and video conferenc-
ing, but checking in on the plants that I’ve
helped research for the past 3 years has prov-
en more difficult once non-essential workers
were asked to stay at home. One thing that has
made the transition easier is the weekly Snap-
chat video updates that my labmate sends to
me from inside the greenhouse! As for coping
with missing out on in-person lectures, noth-
ing can really perfectly substitute for it. In-
stead, I’ve been delving through all of my old
botany notebooks to pull out the topics that
interest me most. Rather than spending this
last semester physically attending lectures,
I’ve been creating my own mini-lectures at
home. I hope to someday work in the field of
science communication and if nothing else,
this extended time at my house has given
me the chance to work on potential topics to
someday write about. Lastly, I have found it
valuable to take advantage of all of my free
time by reading. It’s a wonderful de-stressor
to put yourself into another world for a while.
Right now, I’m reading Jurassic Park, and
then I’m moving onto the Lord of the Rings
trilogy!
Bethany Nichols
Graduate Student
;@Frondsbenefits
Being isolated at home means I don’t get to
interact with other students and talking to oth-
ers is often what inspires my work. One of
my PhD chapters now has to be a literature
review because I can’t get into the lab. How-
ever, my garden and house plants have never
looked better and I’m connecting more with
the wildflowers growing around my house.
I’ve even started a plant blog to help me keep
learning and writing.
Shelly Gaynor
Graduate Student
University of Florida
;@Shelly Gaynor
COVID-19 has really impacted my research
progress. My fieldwork was delayed. Though
my university may allow fieldwork in a few
weeks, I worry that it wouldn’t be safe to go. I
am slowly finding my footing and figuring out
how to move forward despite these delays.
PSB 66 (2) 2020
135
GETTING TO KNOW YOUR
NEW STUDENT
REPRESENTATIVE:
IMEÑA VALDES
When did you join BSA and what motivated
you to do so?
While at Florida International University,
my undergrad advisor, Dr. Suzanne Koptur,
encouraged me to apply for the PLANTS
program in 2015. I had such a great experience
at the Botany meeting, especially as a PLANTS
student. Since then I have promoted BSA
and the PLANTS program to many friends
so they could have similar experiences while
networking for their future.
What motivated you to run for the position
of Student Representative to the Board of
Directors, and what do you plan to do as the
student representative of BSA?
Because of the consistently great experiences
I have had while attending Botany meetings,
I wanted to do my part and contribute to
the Society. I want other underrepresented
students to have access to the tools I was
provided and a chance to meet incredible
scientists that can serve as mentors as they
navigate through STEM. The current Black
Lives Matter movement makes it abundantly
clear that we need to make science more
inclusive and safer for Black, Brown, and
Indigenous students. I envision using my
position as a sort of liaison between students,
particularly those who are underrepresented,
and the rest of the board.
What’s your research about and how did you
discover your research interest?
My research focuses on understanding
and evaluating pollinator preferences and
support in order to provide information on
best practices in landscaping and restoration
regarding the development of nativars.
I discovered my love for plant–animal
interactions in undergrad while talking to a
friend about narrowing down my interests
so I could be placed in a lab for a semester to
complete a USDA scholarship requirement. At
first it was a casual interest but soon enough I
was hooked, and I continued in Dr. Koptur’s
lab until I graduated in 2018.
What sorts of hobbies do you have?
I enjoy baking; taking care of my growing
houseplant collection; traveling; chiseling
away the imperialist, capitalist, white
supremacist patriarchy; and petting other
people’s dogs.
PSB 66 (2) 2020
136
Prior to the COVID-19 shutdown in the United
States, we collected perspectives via Twitter for
our planned workshop on time management.
Since the shutdown, time management has
been a struggle
and we aren’t ready to teach it!
Instead, here we share some tips we gathered
on managing time. Particularly, we called for
answers to three main questions:
1. How do you keep track of everything
you have to do?
2. What do you do when you can’t com-
plete your to-do list?
3. How do you manage procrastination?
We also posted the links to the original
tweets below so that you can see the original
responses. Please feel free to contact us if
you want to share your time management
strategies!
Time Management Tips:
Before and During a Pandemic
1. How do you keep track of everything you
have to do? (https://bit.ly/3krEjXs)
To-Do List
• Pen/Paper or Notebooks
• Sticky Notes (e.g., Kanban boards)
• Whiteboard
• Planners
º Normal Planner
º Passion Planners
¤ Erasable pen *
¤ Post-Its in a Planner
• Bullet Journals
Personal Task Manager
• AmazinMarivin ($6 per month)
• ToDoist (Free or $3 per month)
º Can set reminders at times, link
to phone too.
• Omnifocus ($9.99 per month)
º Mac or iOS only
• GoodNotes ($7.99 for app)
Summary of responses:
Digital To-Do
• Google Keep
• OneNote
• Trello
• WorkFlowy ($4.99 per month)
• GoodNotes ($7.99 for app)
Calendars
• GoogleCalendar
º Todolist Pro doesn’t integrate well!
º Google task
• Outlook Calendar
• Synced Calendars between devices
PSB 66 (2) 2020
137
During the pandemic, did your strategy
change?
During the pandemic, did your strategy
change?
2. What do you do when you can’t complete
your to-do list?
(https://bit.ly/2ZFwDsz)
The responses had three main themes:
• Break your to-do list into manageable
items (rank and organize this list).
• Identify feasible goals.
• It is okay if you do not get everything done.
PSB 66 (2) 2020
138
3. How do you manage procrastination?
(https://bit.ly/3kuTcbt)
Response summary: Procrastination is part
of life.
• Schedule chunks of time for long tasks.
• Remember to schedule breaks!
During the pandemic, did your strategy change?
139
THANK YOU, TARAN!
A big THANK YOU to Taran Lichtenberger,
one of two BSA Student Social Media Liaisons
hired last year to promote BSA’s mission, via a
student voice, on our social media platforms.
Taran’s focus was on Facebook and Instagram,
where she grew our audiences over 7% on
Facebook and an amazing 82% on Instagram.
Taran has been instrumental in helping to
shape the BSA Liaison position for future
students, including co-creating a detailed
MEMBERSHIP NEWS
By
Amelia Neely
BSA Membership
& Communications
Manager
E-mail: ANeely@</i>
botany.org
liaison handbook. We wish Taran well as she
starts her next chapter as the Community
Engagement Manager for Budburst, a
community science program of the Chicago
Botanical Garden.
The BSA Student Social Media Liaison
positions, which were originally developed
as two, one-year positions, are now two, two-
year staggered positions in order to maintain
continuity in tone and purpose. We are
thankful to Jared Meek for agreeing to stay
in this position for a second year. We are in
the process of hiring the second liaison at this
time.
If you have anything you would like to see
promoted on the BSA social media channels,
e-
mail socialmedia@botany.org
.
NEW 3-YEAR POST-DOC
MEMBERSHIPS
The BSA renewal season is just around the
corner starting in October (BSA memberships
run on an annual cycle, Jan-Dec). New this
year, post-doc members will have the option
of a 3-year post-doc membership! For a
discounted rate of $105 (a savings of $15),
post-docs can keep this membership level
for the full three years even if their post-doc
status changes.
Three-year Student and 3-year Professional
membership levels are available now, so don’t
miss out on the opportunity to pay once and
stay connected for three years when you renew
your membership this fall!
PSB 66 (2) 2020
140
GIFT MEMBERSHIPS
For only $10, gift memberships are an
affordable way to share the benefits of being
part of the BSA community with students
or developing nations colleagues. Visit www.
botany.org, click Membership on the top
menu, and then click Gift Memberships to get
started.
MEMBERSHIP MATTERS
ENEWSLETTER
As a member benefit, BSA members receive
the monthly eNewsletter, Membership
Matters. The newsletter includes society news
and awards you do not want to miss. If you
do not currently receive a copy of Membership
Matters, and wish to start receiving them,
please contact Amelia Neely at aneely@</p>
botany.org.
NEW FROM PRINCETON
Plants That Cure
Plants as a Source for
Medicines, from Pharmaceuticals
to Herbal Remedies
Elizabeth A. Dauncey
& Melanie-Jayne R. Howes
Cloth $29.95
Visit press.princeton.edu/exhibits/botany
Receive 30% off plus free shipping sitewide
through 9/30/20 with coupon code BOT20
Pollination
The Enduring Relationship
between Plant and Pollinator
Timothy Walker
Cloth $29.95
Summer Wildflowers
of the Northeast
A Natural History
Carol Gracie
Cloth $29.95
The Gardener’s
Botanical
An Encyclopedia of Latin Plant
Names - with More than
5,000 Entries
Ross Bayton
Cloth $29.95
PSB 66 (2) 2020
141
FROM THE
PSB
ARCHIVES
60 years ago
William Campbell Steere gave the Address of the retiring President of the Botanical Society of America at
the meeting held in Oklahoma State University, Stillwater. His remarks are included in Plant Science Bul-
letin and discuss the unique conditions for plants in arctic regions. He provides an important perspective
as we consider the rapidly changing conditions in the arctic today. He introduces the talk:
“I selected the topic, ‘Botanical Problems in Arctic America,’ as being timely because of the recent admis-
sion of Alaska to the Union as the 49th State, because of the large amount of publicity given to the activi-
ties of the International Geophysical Year in arctic and antarctic regions, and because of the increasing
importance of our northern outposts in the military defense of this continent. Moreover, after eight field
seasons in arctic and subarctic Canada, Alaska and Lappland, I have developed some ideas and some
questions that may well be of interest to a group of my botanical colleagues.
--Steere, William Campbell. “Botanical Problems in Arctic America” PSB 6(4): 1-5.
50 years ago
“A freak hurricane on January 4, 1970 resulted in extensive damage to one of the worlds’ leading botanical
establishments. The loss to botany of such a famous and important collection transcends national bound-
aries and it is felt that many of the institutions and individuals who have benefited from the Gardens
and its associated facilities such as the Treub Laboratory and the Herbarium Bogoriense may wish to do
something tangible to help.
”
--“Botanic Gardens at Bogor Damaged by a Hurricane” PSB 16(3): 8-9.
40 years ago
Joe E. Winstead discusses some situations that can negatively affect the experience of presenters, mod-
erators, and the audience at scientific conferences. This demonstrates the fact, that while technology has
changed, giving a quality presentation is a perpetual struggle.
“It never ceases to amaze me that individuals with scientific training can hand a set of slides to the pro-
jectionist (usually an undergraduate) expecting that person to know immediately how the slides are to
be placed in the projector to appear on the screen. What happened to rehearsal time and the courtesy of
marking slides by number and with indications of which corner is to face the projectionist? One or more
slides often appear upside down or backwards and the speaker implies or states that the projectionist was
at fault.
. . .
Finally, it seems to be rare to find a moderator who will take 30 seconds to commend the academic hos-
tage who operated the projector by at least introducing them by name and, if a student, mentioning the
major area of study. Having been a faceless non-identity in the old days, I feel a special kinship to those
that have to hear every paper along with the moderator.”
--
Winstead, Joe E. “Disconsolate Observations at Paper Sessions or The Unselling of Information.”
PSB 26(3): 17-18
PSB 66 (2) 2020
142
The BSA is pleased to announce the publication
of an exciting special collection of articles in
our Open Access journal, Applications in Plant
Sciences, that highlights machine learning in
plant sciences.
Machine learning—the science of enabling
computers to learn without being explicitly
programmed—is becoming so prevalent that
we often use it without even knowing it. The
autocorrect on your cell phone, the ads you see
as you browse online, and self-driving cars are
all common examples of machine learning,
as are personalized medicine and precision
agriculture.
The field of machine learning is advancing
rapidly as computer scientists develop more
efficient algorithms and more powerful
computing platforms. Plant scientists
are now increasingly applying machine
learning to biological problems including
species identification, plant phenology, and
comparative genomics.
The special collection in APPS, organized by
editors Pam Soltis, Gil Nelson, Emily Meineke,
and Alina Zare, was published across the
June and July 2020 issues. The papers fall
into two broad categories: the first focusing
on applications to images of herbarium
specimens, on topics from phenology to
herbivory; and the second including papers
that address a broader range of topics, data,
and biological scale.
All articles are freely available at https://
bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/
toc/10.1002/(ISSN)2168-0450.machine-
learning-in-plant-biology. We especially
encourage you to check out the issue
introduction (https://bsapubs.onlinelibrary.
wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/aps3.11371),
which provides a thoughtful overview of the
16 featured articles, as well as a snapshot of
the current promise and challenges of this
emerging field.
New approaches involving machine learning
have the potential to change how we study
plants and even the questions we can ask.
We hope that the papers presented in this
collection encourage further progress on the
emerging applications of machine learning to
plant biology.
MACHINE LEARNING IN PLANT BIOLOGY:
A NEW SPECIAL COLLECTION IN
APPS
143
ANNOUNCEMENTS
In Memoriam
W. ARTHUR (“ART”)
WHISTLER
W. Arthur (“Art”) Whistler, an eminent
botanical expert of the South Pacific islands,
died on April 2, 2020 due to COVID-19. His
death was the third in Hawaii from the disease.
Art was originally from Trona, California,
a small desert town near Death Valley with
vegetation that stands in stark contrast to
the tropical flora that he studied for four
decades. Although Art had visited Samoa
in the late 1960s as a Peace Corps volunteer,
his botanical story begins with him earning
a PhD from the University of Hawaii in
1979, supervised in part by the legendary
vegetation ecologist Dieter Mueller-Dombois.
Art’s major publication from his dissertation
titled “The vegetation of Eastern Samoa” was
published in 1980 and continues to influence
all vegetation work in the American Samoa
portion of the archipelago. Subsequent to
his PhD, Art established and maintained
affiliations with the University of Hawaii
Botany Department, the Bishop Museum, and
the National Tropical Botanical Garden.
Instead of pursuing an academic career, Art
established a consulting firm, Isle Botanica.
He leveraged the private sector to pursue his
botanical interests, not only as a consultant,
but also by publishing his botanical accounts
in guide books, which were sold across
the Pacific. These books have been widely
disseminated and include titles such as
Polynesian Herbal Medicine, Wayside Plants of
the Islands, Rainforest Trees of Samoa, Plants
of the Canoe People, Samoan Herbal Medicine,
Flowers of the Pacific Island Seashore, and The
Samoan Rainforest among others.
Despite his focus on consulting and writing
botanical guidebooks, Art authored a
large
number of peer-reviewed journal
articles, including accounts of vegetation of
Pacific islands, ethnobotanical treatments,
and taxonomic revisions such as for the
Art Whistler (right) with Siaifoi Fa’aumu (seat-
ed) and Edward Webb (left) in a small patch
of montane forest at the top of Olosega island,
Manu’a, American Samoa. Circa 1997.
PSB 66 (2) 2020
144
genera Psychotria and Syzygium in Samoa.
He also made numerous commissioned
inventories
, perhaps most importantly the
botanical inventory of forests that were
proposed—and later became—the National
Park
of American Samoa. Art’s long-term
professional goal, and which he was in the
process of finalizing upon his death, was
to publish the Flora of Samoa. This flora,
which is being published by the National
Tropical Botanical Garden in Hawaii, will be
the crowning achievement of his more than
40 years of experience and collection in the
Samoan archipelago.
I met Art in 1996 when I was en route to
American Samoa to serve as a botanist for
the Government of American Samoa. I still
recall that first meeting and the advice he
gave me, which was that although American
Samoa was changing rapidly on the surface,
the culture remained deep and should be
unfailingly respected. This was sage advice
and it reflected Art’s acknowledgment that
foreign botanists—palagis in the Samoan
language—are guests in the island nations and
we should never forget that. Indeed this was
one of the reasons Art was so highly regarded
in Samoa. He treated people with respect
and enthusiastically mentored and trained
Samoan colleagues who he hoped would take
the mantle of Samoan botanical explorations
forward. His books, arguably his products that
have gained the most traction, were written
with the average person in mind, and designed
to entice the readers to engage with plants.
They were, moreover written to chronicle the
local knowledge of plants, their names and
uses, across the Pacific as lifestyles change and
that information becomes threatened with
extinction. Thus, Art committed his life’s work
to improved taxonomy of Pacific island plants
but with a parallel and equally important goal
of making that information available to all
people, not just the academic world, so that
people may be inspired to maintain or rekindle
their cultural connections to the remarkable
plants of the Pacific islands.
Over the course of our 20+ year friendship, I
would occasionally send Art photos of Samoan
plant specimens, almost always sterile and
sometimes of seedlings, to ask his help with
identification. Without exception, Art gladly
gave his opinion along with his reasoning
and any caveats. Not only did he enjoy the
puzzles that plants offered every day, but as
I describe above he supported anyone who
had an interest in Pacific island plants. He
was generous with his time and expertise. The
last time I spoke with Art was in December
2019, when I called him from a small remnant
patch of Tava (Pometia pinnata) lowland
forest on the island of Tutuila, American
Samoa. We discussed field identification of
two Dysoxylum tree species (Meliaceae) and
the characteristics of the stinging hairs on the
rare tree Dendrocnide harveyi (Urticaceae). As
always, Art was happy to chat about Samoan
plants and I remember wishing he could
have been in the forest as we inventoried the
trees in that small but important forest patch.
Indeed, he will be sorely missed, but his legacy
guarantees him a prominent place in the
annals of Pacific island botany.
Edward L. Webb, PhD
Department of Biological Sciences
National University of Singapore
PSB 66 (2) 2020
145
2019. ISBN
9781789141429.
Hardcover, £16.00;
$27.00. 264 pp.
Reaktion Books,
Ltd., London,
UK, distributed
by University of
Chicago Press,
Chicago, IL.
{Ed. Note: Dorothea Bedigian, who has contributed
book reviews to Plant Science Bulletin for years,
recently provided a review of the 2019 book
“Mulberry” by Peter Coles that surpassed the typical
review in terms of depth and research. Because of
this unique take, we’ve chosen to publish this as a
full article. Thanks to Dorothea for her work.}
The material culture of mulberry, including
its service to sericulture, paper making,
for its wood, fruit, healing properties,
and its inspiration to artists and writers is
documented in Mulberry (see the Book
Review section for full info). Author Peter
Coles describes the trees botanically and
societally, with 100 effective illustrations (95
in color) that are, in my view, among its most
valuable features. There are reference notes to
each chapter, a select bibliography, and 6-page
Index. Coles is a freelance science writer,
fine art photographer and translator, and a
Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Urban and
Community Research, Goldsmiths, University
of London.
It was startling to encounter the full-page
illustration (p. 192) with the caption, ‘Mulberry
pattern textile by Moda Fabric,’ because the
stems have thorns, the berries have sepals, and
the leaves with serrate margins are uniformly
tripartite, opposing Coles’ photograph of
a mulberry and leaf on p. 196! Instead, the
striking textile depicted is Rubus L., with
sepals at the base of the aggregate drupe(lets),
i.e., many carpels from one flower. Rather,
Morus L. has many separate flowers/fruits
fused together (a syncarp, compound), and
the perianth is part of the fleshiness, so there
are no distinct/recognizable sepals. While
some Morus leaves are lobed, they are not
compound.
I looked forward eagerly to reading Mulberry
because mulberries were an essential part
of my childhood. On summer Sundays we
would travel to a nearby wooded area to
harvest a week’s supply of fresh black and
white mulberries; in winter, dried mulberries
would substitute. Mulberries relate to my
Armenian heritage; I recall grandparents’
childhood memories of treasured traditions
in Western Armenia, harvesting the fruit by
stretching a large sheet held by four corners,
while someone climbed the tree to shake its
limbs, releasing the ripe fruit.
It is unfortunate that despite Coles’
international focus, this detailed work
neglects substantial geographical aspects
and omits considerable regional expertise
An extended review of
Mulberry
by Peter Coles
By Dorothea Bedigian
PSB 66 (2) 2020
146
about mulberry. My disappointment is Coles’
shocking omission of Armenian culture that
venerates, and is identified so completely
with, mulberry, involving food, drink, and
silk manufacture. Coles identifies mulberry
pekmez (
պեկմեզ
) the concentrated fruit
must, widely used as syrup by Armenians
(often mixed with tahini), as a Turkish item.
However, long before the Mongol invasions of
Anatolia, the Armenian Highlands were a site
of major agricultural innovations (Bedigian,
2011). Coles credits mulberry foodstuffs to
the colonial conquerors, a case of cultural
appropriation, thereby erasing history,
ignoring contributions of Armenians, among
the original peoples of the region after the fall
of the Kingdom of Urartu, near the end of the
7
th
century BCE, many centuries before the
Ottoman conquest. This report seeks to rectify
the disservice done with these significant gaps.
Although Coles does not delve into these
details, black mulberry (Morus nigra L.)
appears to have originated in the mountainous
areas of Mesopotamia and Persia, coinciding
with the center of its diversity: the south
Caucasus countries, Armenia, and northern
Persia (Grieve, 1931; Yaltirik, 1982; Jansen
et al., 1991; Westwood, 1995; Tutin, 1996;
Browicz, 2000). Iran is viewed as its center
of origin (Koyuncu, 2004; Koyuncu et al.,
2004, p. 125). According to Markarian (1978),
mulberry (evidently M. alba L., because the
preceding sentence was about its Chinese
origin) was introduced to Armenia in the 16th
century, in 1710. Safar Vaselian transplanted
the first mulberry from Russia (Tereki vicinity,
Terek Soviet Republic).
The root of the Armenian term tut
(թութ)
originates from the Aramaic tūtā (Chicago
Assyrian Dictionary, 2006), a loanword also
used in present-day Arabic, Azerbaijani,
Croatian, Hindi, Georgian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz,
Pashto, Persian, Romanian, Tajik, Turkish,
and Uzbek, reflecting its transfer along the
Silk Road.
There is a long textual tradition of mulberries
in Armenia. Mkhitʻar Gōsh, an Armenian
scholar, writer, public figure, and priest, was
among the stars of the Armenian Renaissance
prior to the Turco-Mongol Invasions of the
late 12th to early 13th centuries. His Fables
(Bayizian, 1987), include a metaphorical
rivalry between mulberry and olive: each
boasted of its strength(s), the olive of its
evergreen condition, and plentitude of fruit—
especially since its fruit is made of oil, oil is
made of light, and light dispels darkness. The
mulberry boasted of the sweetness of its fruit
and the fact that its leaves make silk. Worms are
born and cloth comes from it—cloth enjoyed
by kings and princes. The olive challenged
the mulberry, arguing that its fruit passed too
quickly, became diseased, was discretionary
versus necessary, and that [people] removed
[silk clothing] at night, but still left their lamp
lit.
An Armenian creation myth describes the
origin of mulberry, its place in the natural
and social world. It illustrates the importance
of mulberry in Armenian culture, offering a
fantastical tale of how it came to be (Najarian,
2013).
Once upon a time, a silkworm wove a special
dress for a girl. It was incredibly thin, light,
with stunning lace. It was no ordinary dress.
It possessed some magic powers: the woman
who wore it became even more attractive.
Additionally, any woman who wore the
dress could go without food for days. After a
woman wore it, she lent it to her friend. Her
friend used it, then shared it with another
friend. They all rejoiced, seeing their beauty
proliferated.
PSB 66 (2) 2020
147
One day, the king chose one of these women
to become his wife. She then stipulated
that henceforth she alone would wear the
beautiful dress; she would never share it.
Her friends were taken aback, saddened by
her selfishness. Some grew angry, so they
went to the palace, began to shout, threw
stones at the windows, and eventually
stormed the palace; finding the new queen
cowering in a corner, they ripped the dress
from her hands and tore it to shreds.
Suddenly, before the enraged women’s eyes,
the hem of the dress turned into a tree trunk
with many branches. The shreds of the torn
dress flew up to the branches of the tree and
turned into swollen buds, that expanded
broad leaves, forming a dense canopy. That
was how the mulberry tree was born.
Mulberry was ubiquitous throughout historical
Armenia, in cuisine and lifestyle. Armenians
consumed mulberry fruits fresh and made
jams and syrup or molasses, prepared by
straining mulberry juice, then boiling and
thickening it. Traditionally that was used in
place of sugar, an uncommon commodity,
found only among the wealthy. Mulberry
seasons yogurt and flavors wine. Mulberries
are distilled for a coveted commercial product:
the powerful (57–65%) alcoholic beverage tti
oghi that was widely produced as moonshine
at home, across Armenia. Mulberry’s sweet
aromatic juice doshab is believed to possess
healing powers against pneumonia, angina,
and the common cold. When dried, doshab
forms the fruit leather pekmez. Mulberries
are famously esteemed by residents of Goris,
Syunik Province, who mount a National
Mulberry Festival annually, in July.
Early travelers’ accounts are an invaluable
resource to reconstruct Armenian cultural life
before the massacres (1894–1915). Ainsworth
(1842) includes 10 entries about mulberry
plantations and groves amidst vineyards,
gardens of mulberry, fig, and pomegranate
trees: “Someone climbed the mulberry tree
and shook the branches, letting down enough
fruit to feed 20 persons” (p. 190). Taylor (1868,
p. 330) observed “fine gardens of mulberry,
apricot and walnut.”
Writing about Arabgir, Knight (1854, p.
408) noted: “built amidst a forest of fruit-
trees, among which the White Mulberry is
most common. The fruit of the mulberry is
eaten fresh, or used for making brandy, or
it is made into a sweetmeat called pekmez,
which is common all through Armenia”;
about Anatolia (Knight, 1854, p. 335): “Olive
and mulberry trees are extensively cultivated
for the production of oil and silk”; about
Amasia (Knight 1854, p. 271): “there are
numerous mulberry plantations, as silk forms
an important article of export”; about Hazero
in the Tigris plain near Bitlis (Knight, 1854,
p. 515): “mulberry and Lombardy poplar
flourish in the district.” At the valley of Eghin,
mountains rise rapidly to around 400 ft, the
lower slopes rising in terraces above the
narrow valley laid out in gardens and planted
with trees (Knight, 1854, p. 512): “the trees are
mostly white mulberry, the fruit of which is
eaten fresh, or dried and distilled for brandy,
or else boiled into a conserve”; mountains
surrounding the basin of Lake Van on the
south (Knight, 1854, p. 517) are “clothed with
woods of oak, and along the rivers are walnut
trees, raspberries, mulberries, and vines.”
The city of Van was widely admired as a
“garden city,” owing to its impressive 80-km
long stone-lined irrigation canal constructed
during King Menua’s reign, around 810-786
BCE (Bedigian, 2011), that ferried freshwater
from the Artos Mountains to water the
vineyards and orchards tucked behind mud
walls. American missionary and physician
PSB 66 (2) 2020
148
Moses Parmalee reported (1888): “As we
approached Van, at the western extremity of
the lake, the villages of the Armenians became
more numerous... the dwelling-houses in
the gardens are embowered in most charming
orchards of mulberry and other fruit trees.”
Protestant missionary Susan Wheeler (1877,
pp. 39-40) provides extensive firsthand culi-
nary detail:
“White mulberry is very abundant there
and is much used. It is the first fruit that
ripens, and the people relish the sweet fruit
after the long fast in the spring, when they
have little variety in their food. When they
are ripe the women bring out large sheets
and spread them under the trees, which
are then shaken, and the ripe fruit is easily
gathered. The berries are put into a large
copper boiler, a fire is kindled near the
place, and the boiler is supported by large
stones on each side of the fire. The fruit
is cooked for several hours, and strained
through a cotton bag, till all the juice is
pressed out. This is put into shallow copper
vessels, whitened with tin, and placed on
the flat roofs of the houses, where it remains
for days to evaporate in the sun. Then it is
put into a narrow-necked earthen vessel,
the mouth of which is covered with wet
leather, and the molasses is ready. Bread
and molasses is the morning meal of many
a poor Armenian family. They also prepare
a sort of sweet meat of this molasses.
They stir starch or fine flour into the fresh
syrup, boil it till it becomes a paste, and
then spread it on their cloth, and dry it
for winter. Sometimes they put nuts upon
it while it is fresh, or when it is partly dry,
rolling up the nuts, strung on strings, in
these thin layers. Its appearance, very much
like a sausage when rolled so, gives its name
“sweet sausage” (
Անուշ սուջուխ
). Rojig
(sharots) [‘strung in a row,’ as in beads] is
prepared by stringing walnuts, then dipping
the string into a preparation of molasses
and flour paste, and then allowed to dry
[forming fruit leather around the walnuts].
This kind of sweet paste is often brought
in with the sherbet and offered to guests. I
often brought home my pockets full of this
bastic.”
Taylor (1868, p. 311) stated: “[Kharpert]
gardens abound in fine fruit trees; the
mulberry, however, is the most profitable, its
fruit being made into a kind of thick paste,
called ‘Pesteek,’ largely exported, and into raki,
a villainous spirit, largely consumed in the
town and villages. A little silk is also raised; but
this branch of industry is as yet in its infancy.”
Lynch (1901, p. 391) also wrote admiringly
about Kharpert where “the mulberry grows
in such profusion that the silk crop is often of
considerable value.”
We must also consider the weavers craft, using
the silk produced by silkworms bred with
mulberry leaves. Hadjian (2018) uncovered
historical evidence showing that Bitlis
Armenians (ancestral home of my paternal
grandparents) always had several mulberry
trees in the garden, a remainder of the fact
that Bitlis was on the Silk Route. Beyond silk
production, Bitlis exported silk carpets and
fabrics to France and Italy.
Years later, an editorial in The New Armenia
(1920) testifies: “Speaking of the decrease in
the production of silk…this industry is in
full decline. The principal producing factors
have been wrecked, the population which
specialized in the rearing of silkworms
displaced, and the mulberry plantations
uprooted wholesale. Everything has been
done to deal a death-blow to a once flourishing
industry. [...] There is a slight inaccuracy in
the above statement. To say that all this has
been ‘destroyed by the war’ is not strictly
accurate… neither of the above-mentioned
silk producing regions was anywhere near the
PSB 66 (2) 2020
149
fighting area. The real truth is that the Turkish
Government availed itself of the state of war to
carry out its favorite policy of exterminating
the Greek and Armenian population, in
whose hands the silk industry chiefly is.”
Shirinian (1997) apprises David Kherdian’s
celebration of being alive, as in The Fast (an
amusing introduction to the person’s regard
for the delicacy of rojik) and ‘Mulberry Trees’
(finding one’s roots while staining one’s fingers
with ripe mulberries):
When
as a small boy
I saw them ripen against
the early summer sun
I stopped alone for an hour and ate until
my fingers
took an ancient purple stain
until something remembered
a small, knotty tree
in a barren, rocky landscape
before an older, quieter sun
and I went home a little
sadder, a little gladdened
and standing on the porch
my mother and father
saw their Armenian son.
Thus, Kherdian connects with his heritage,
and from the Diaspora in America, he is
suddenly transformed through tapping into
the larger collective memory of the Armenian
people. The mulberry tree in America
reminds him of one in the old country he
could never have known except discursively,
perhaps through his parents’ stories. As a
result, he is both saddened because of its loss,
and he is happy because of the experience that
seems to have confirmed his identity. At the
end of the poem, through a transposition, he
places himself in his parents’ point of view
and calls himself “their Armenian son.” This
third-person transposition is the result of
Kherdian’s reinterpreting his past, trying to
make it complete and meaningful. Kherdian,
at this point, has arrived at a crucial moment
in his life, when he is able to look back and see
himself clearly in relation to his parents and
their Armenian heritage.
Atom Yarjanian, pen name Siamanto (1875-
1915), among the most influential Armenian
writers, poets, and national heroes of the 20th
century, was one of the intellectuals arrested
by Ottoman Turkish authorities on April 24,
1915 and subsequently slain. Excerpted here
is a portion of his lament, ‘The Mulberry Tree,’
which depicts the atrocities committed by the
Ottoman Turkish government, characterizing
the momentous political and cultural upheaval
in the history of the Armenian people. ‘The
Mulberry Tree’ gives voice to a woman who
has gone mad, upon seeing her grandson
killed.
They’ve even cut down my mulberry tree.
Give me death. They’ve cut my mulberry
tree.
I planted it the day my grandson was born.
They’ve cut my mulberry tree.
Woe to his memory. It grew tall before my
eyes just like him –
It was seven years old, and I was sitting in
its shade with my grandson in my arms
singing.
They’ve even cut my mulberry tree.
Look, they sawed it at the roots.
Where is the cart with the corpses? I still
hear it squeak.
I want to be thrown into it next to my
grandson.
There’s still a place on the cart.
LITERATURE CITED
Ainsworth, W. F. 1842. Travels and Researches in Asia
Minor, Mesopotamia, Chaldea and Armenia, Vol. 2: 25,
45, 53, 148, 190, 219, 316. John W. Parker: London.
Bayizian, E. A. (Ed.) 1987. The Fables of Mkhitar
Ghosh. Bedrosian R, transl. Ashod Press, NY.
PSB 66 (2) 2020
150
Bedigian, D. 2011. Sesame cultivation and irrigation in
the Kingdom of Urartu (Ararat), Armenian Highlands,
and its aftermath: major agricultural innovation. In:
Bedigian D. (Ed.): Sesame: the genus Sesamum, pp.
367–388. CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, Boca
Raton, FL.
Browicz, M. 2000. Where is the place of origin of
Morus nigra (Moraceae)? Fragm Flor Geobot 45(1-2):
273–280.
Chicago Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute
of the University of Chicago. 2006. “T”. 18: 498.
Grieve, M. 1931. A Modern Herbal. Website: https://
botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/m/mulcom62.html.
Hadjian, A. 2018. Secret Nation: The Hidden Arme-
nians of Turkey. Bloomsbury Publishing, UK.
Jansen, P. C. M., J. Jukema, L. P. A. Oyen, and T. G.
van Lingen. 1991. Morus nigra L. In: Verheij E. W. M.,
and R. E. Coronel RE (Eds): Plant Resources of South-
East Asia No 2: Edible fruits and nuts. PROSEA Foun-
dation, Bogor, Indonesia.
Knight, C. 1854. The English Cyclopedia: Geography.
A New Dictionary of Universal Knowledge. Bradbury
and Evans, London.
Koyuncu, F. 2004. Morphological and agronomical
characterization of native black mulberry (Morus nigra
L.) in Sütçüler, Turkey. PGR Newsletter, FAO Biover-
sity No. 138: 32–35.
Koyuncu, F., M. A. Koyuncu, F. Yıldırım, and E. Vural.
2004. Evaluation of black mulberry (Morus nigra L.)
genotypes from Lakes Region, Turkey. Europ J Hort
Sci 69: 125–131.
Lynch, H. F. B. 1901. Armenia, Travels and Studies.
The Turkish Provinces. Longmans, Green, and Com-
pany, NY and Bombay. Vol. 2: 52, 285, 327, 391.
Markarian, A. 1978. Tuteni (Morus). Armenian Soviet
Encyclopedia. Vol. 4: 183. Erevan. [in Armenian].
Najarian, T. 2013. Legend of the mulberry tree. Ar-
menian Legends and Tales. Website: https://tamarna-
jarian.wordpress.com/2013/02/08/armenian-legends-
legend-of-the-mulberry-tree/
The New Armenia. 1920. 12: 79–80.
Parmalee, M. P. 1888. Home and Work by the Rivers of
Eden. American Sunday School Union, Philadelphia.
Shirinian, L. 1997. David Kherdian and the ethno-au-
tobiographical impulse: Rediscovering the past. ME-
LUS 22: 77–89.
Siamanto. 1996. Bloody News from My Friend: Po-
ems by Siamanto. Balakian P, Yaghlian N, transl., pp
67–69. Wayne State University Press, Detroit, MI.
Taylor, J. G. 1868. Journal of a tour in Armenia, Kurd-
istan, and Upper Mesopotamia, with notes of research-
es in the Deyrsim Dagh, in 1866. Journal of the Royal
Geographic Society of London 38: 280–361.
Tutin, G. T. 1996. Morus L. In: Tutin, G. T., N. A. Burg-
es, A. O. Chater, J. R. Edmondson, V. H. Heywood, D.
M. Moore, D. H. Valentine, et al. (Eds). Flora Europa,
Vol 1. Psilotaceae to Platanaceae, 2
nd
ed. Cambridge
University Press.
Westwood, M. N. 1995. Temperate-Zone Pomology
Physiology and Culture, pp. 86-87. Timber Press, Port-
land, OR.
Wheeler, S. A. 1877. Daughters of Armenia. American
Tract Society, New York, NY.
Yaltirik, F. 1982. Morus. In: Davis, P. H. et al. (Eds).
Flora of Turkey. Edinburgh University Press. Vol. 7:
641–642.
PSB 66 (2) 2020
151
152
BOOK REVIEWS
Bark Anatomy of Trees and Shrubs in the Temperate Northern Hemisphere .....................152
Chasing Centuries ...................................................................................................................................................154
Food Production in Native North America An Archaeological Perspective
and
Feeding Cahokia Early Agriculture in the North American Heartland ............................156
Guide to the Vascular Flora of Picture Creek Diabase Barrens ..................................................157
The History of Lancetilla Botanical Garden. ..........................................................................................158
John Gill Lemmon - Andersonville Survivor and California Botanist .........................................160
Lichen Study Guide for Oklahoma and Surrounding States ...........................................................162
Making Eden How Plants Transformed a Barren Planet ..................................................................163
Mulberry .........................................................................................................................................................................164
The Natural History of The Bahamas: A Field Guide ..........................................................................165
The Nature of Plant Communities ..............................................................................................................165
The Tree Story ..........................................................................................................................................................167
Wild Yet Tasty: A Guide to Edible Plants of Eastern Kentucky ......................................................169
Wildflowers and Ferns of Red River Gorge and the Greater Red River Basin ....................170
Bark Anatomy of Trees
and Shrubs in the
Temperate Northern
Hemisphere
Fritz H. Schweingruber,
Peter Steiger, and Annett
Börner
2019.
ISBN 978-3-030-14055-7
Hardcover €145,59; eBook,
€117,69; 394 pp. + vi
Springer International
Publishing
The first anatomical image of a plant structure
ever published represents the porous bark of
oak (Hooke, 1665). Since then, our anatomical
understanding of bark—and in particular
phloem—was enriched in structural details
and vital plant processes undergoing in the
bark were unraveled. The important book
from Esau (1969) summarizes phloem-related
knowledge of the mid-20th century. More
recently, an illustrated and annotated glossary
of terms enriched our capability to describe
barks (Angyalossy et al., 2016). The bases are
now set for more systematic bark anatomical
descriptions of trees, shrubs, and herbs.
The authors of this book are well qualified to
undertake this effort. Fritz H. Schweingruber
contributed with his deep understanding on
plant anatomical variability. Peter Steiger is
a landscape architect with a strong interest
in plant ecology and photography. Annett
Börner has been working in the field of
scientific publishing and book design for
more than 15 years.
They compiled a well-produced atlas.
Underlining the importance of bark in plant
life, the introduction supports the need for
the book. Two following chapters describe
general bark macroscopic and microscopic
appearance introducing specific terminology.
Then, every two-page spread describes bark
macroscopic and microscopic variability
within each species. The trees and shrubs
species included in the book, most from
the deciduous temperate forest in Europe,
PSB 66 (2) 2020
153
encompasses species from the Mediterranean
region, Eastern Asia, and Northern America.
With more than 180 species described in
the book, the reader is transported from the
Mediterranean lowlands to boreal forests, and
up to the subalpine and subarctic regions of
the Northern Hemisphere.
Each species description includes scientific
name and common names in English,
German, French, Italian, and Spanish. Plant
habitat, life-form, as well as leaves, flowers,
and fruits appearance are described. The bark
anatomical descriptions report details on the
phloem cells occurrence and distribution.
The anatomical description of rhytidome
and cortex is also detailed. While the text is
simple and short but still very informative,
the colorful pictures are impressive. A general
species description includes a picture to show
the plant in its ecological context, and its
flower and leaves details. Two macroscopic
bark pictures represent young (twig/
branches) and old (stem) bark appearance.
Two to four low- and high-magnification
anatomical pictures provide an anatomical
overview of the phloem. Microscopic view in
polarized light underlines crystals occurrence
and distribution. All anatomical images are
double-stained with a blend of safranin and
astrablue. In doing so, lignified (red) and less-
lignified (blue) cell walls can be easily spotted.
All anatomical thin sections were prepared
using a sliding microtome, as described in a
dedicated chapter.
The intended audience includes a very wide
range of readers. Scientists and professionals
of various disciplines from archaeology to
ecophysiology, soils science to plant ecology
will benefit from the book. Aiming to
demonstrate the macroscopic and anatomical
variability of bark, the authors also suggest it
can be used in helping to identify prehistorical
and historical plant remains. However, there
is no identification aid in the book, and
the bark identification process is left to the
reader’s ability to identify key anatomical
features while flipping through the book. The
layout consistently repeated in each species
description helps the process. The reference
and recommended reading lists are valuable
examples of ‘must-have’ books for the bark
anatomist—including the book by Crivellaro
and Schweingruber (2015) that is cited in the
text, but not included in the reference.
A unique point of the book is the ability
to link ecosystems to the within plant bark
variability. The variability of external bark
appearance along the plant stem is informative
about the aging process occurring in barks.
As the anatomical structure of the bark highly
contributes to its outer aspect, the approach
to microscopic bark variability is rich in
high-quality images, which is a rare feature
in bark anatomy books. Having both the
macro- and micro-appearance of bark within
the same page allows the reader to assess the
association between the internal and external
bark structure. Thus, the book provides a
unique bark macroscopic and microscopic
viewpoint to the field of plant anatomy. In
integrating bark macroscopical aspect with
bark anatomy, the huge variability of bark
structure can here be seen as the result of
an anatomical driving process of new cells
formation by the cambium, cells enlargement,
development of subsequent phellogens, and
the origin of patterned cracks or abscission
layers as beautifully illustrated on p. 6.
Even if I would find it difficult to use the
book to orient myself in the identification
of an unknown bark, the images of bark
demonstrate the multiple ways it is constructed
in plant stems. In this respect the book is a
huge step forward, setting the base for future
PSB 66 (2) 2020
154
similar works. The reader will appreciate the
plant descriptions and photographs, which
help to link the microscopic views to the scale
at which we may have known the plants in our
hikes and, in some cases, in our gardens.
LITERATURE CITED
Angyalossy, V., M. R. Pace, R. F. Evert, C. R. Mar-
cati, A. A. Oskolski, T. Terrazas, E. Kotina, et al. 2016.
IAWA list of microscopic bark features. IAWA Journal
37: 517–615.
Crivellaro, A., and F. Schweingruber. 2015. Stem ana-
tomical features of Dicotyledons. Xylem, Phloem,
Cortex and Periderm Characteristics for Ecological
and Taxonomical Analyses. Kessel Publishing House.
Esau, K. 1969. The Phloem: Encyclopedia of Plant
Anatomy. Springer.
Hooke, R. 1665. Micrographia, or, Some physiologi-
cal descriptions of minute bodies made by magnify-
ing glasses: with observations and inquiries thereupon.
London, Printed by J. Martyn and J. Allestry.
-Alan Crivellaro, University of Cambridge,
Cambridge, UK. E-mail: alan.crivellaro@geog.
cam.ac.uk
Chasing Centuries:
The Search for
Ancient Agave
Cultivars Across the
Desert Southwest
Ron Parker
2019.
ISBN: 978-1941384480
Paperback US$19.99;
176 pp.
Sunbelt Publications
It may be safe to say that this reviewer has had
her horticultural horizons broadened by Ron
Parker’s engaging work with agave in Chasing
Centuries: The Search for Ancient Agave
Cultivars Across the Desert Southwest. Parker’s
book is so concentrated with information
and photography that a reader might believe
an agave would spring forth from its pages if
water, inadvertently, spilled onto the binding.
Chasing Centuries’ ten chapters are nestled
under three sections: The Historical Perspective
(Chapters 1-3), Agaves of the Region (Chapters
4-6), and Notes from the Field (Chapters 7-10).
In Part I: The Historical Perspective, Parker’s
writing is akin to the story weavers of old.
Parker verbally transports us on a historical
tour of early American Paleo-Indian
cultures inclusive of their dwellings, farming
techniques, and agave cultivation. One may
hearken to hear Parker crumble the stone
underfoot as he walks the reader through
the ancient villages, irrigation networks, and
traditional agave uses of the pre-Columbian
Native American Hohokam, Sinagua, and
Salado cultures. The lush photography,
featured in more than half of the book,
enhances this reading experience. As a nature
study historian, this section of historical
perspective is particularly interesting to
my contextual side of researching the past,
applying this knowledge to the present, and
educating toward the future.
Agaves of the Region, Part II is the largest
and most comprehensive of the three
sections with its decidedly more scientific
bend toward taxonomy, hybridization, and
vegetative characteristics of agave in Arizona.
Parker offers his keen insight into pollinator
dilemmas, plant blooming strategies in
subversive conditions, and plant adaptations
of the 12 naturally occurring agave species of
the state. The agave plants are simultaneously
beautiful and beastly in appearance. Parker’s
attention to detail with each of the 12
cultivar emphasizes his expertise while his
conversational writing style engages, rather
than intimidates, the reader. This section
of Chasing Centuries is more akin to a field
identification manual with field notes, specie
PSB 66 (2) 2020
155
descriptors, and clear photographs of each
of the 12 cultivars. It would not be remiss for
any agave adventurer to squeeze this book
into their backpack to aid their search in the
Arizona backcountry. When reflecting back
on the first section of Parker’s book, after
completing the second section, one cannot
but marvel at the ingenuity of the Native
American ancestors who learned to grow and
glean from this plant.
The remaining four chapters of Parker’s book
are in Section III: Notes from the Field. This
section is a reflective discourse of Parker’s
pursuit of the ancient cultigens singular in
their characteristics. In deciphering the
complicated agave biological history, and
ancient cultural history associated with the
botanical work, our author is fully aware that
time, which has passed for the agave ancestors
growing near remnants of ancient dwellings,
continues to march forward. One gets from
Parker the sense of a hope in continued
engagement with his work; however, he is not
unrealistic to suggest a finite end to the most
vulnerable cultigens. This reviewer hopes that
interest piqued about agave from this book will
continue to lend Parker, and others, to search
for another connection to the antediluvian
cultures that met the challenges to provide
for their communities living in such austere
conditions.
Parker ends his book on a cautionary note
for the reader. High extinction risks for agave
groves in the mountainous desert environs of
Arizona continuously challenge the remaining
cultigens. Climate changes, insect infestation,
and precarious governmental policies are also
added to the stew in this pot of trouble. Parker
examples his own explorations and research
as testament to the decline. That said, Parker
emphasizes the wonderful work by colleagues
at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix to
continue interest, education, and propagation
strategies. Rounding off the book is a table of
the Arizona agaves with the subgenus, status,
size, elevation, and more, listed for researcher
and explorer alike. Parker provides a clear
reference trail with additional resources
for the curious researcher in the glossary,
endnotes, and bibliography.
As one who lived a short time in Sierra
Vista, Arizona, almost three decades ago,
Chasing Centuries brought back wonderful
memories of the Huachuca Mountains and
dry desert stretches between towns. It was
with the pummeling of torrential rain, with
the coming of the July monsoon season,
that quenched the land and satiated life.
I remember the yucca and agave, almost
bursting forth, in the change of season. It was
so beautiful, and so foreign, to an easterner’s
eyes. Parker completely engages the reader
in his adventures and thereby connects the
reader to their own senses and memories. Be
it horticultural students, scientific researchers,
or plant enthusiasts, Chasing Centuries would
be at home, equally, on one’s coffee table or in
one’s academic office library.
- Karen Penders St. Clair, PhD
PSB 66 (2) 2020
156
Food Production in
Native North America
An Archaeological
Perspective
Kristen J. Gremillion
2018.
ISBN: 978-0-9328-3957-2
Paperback
US$31.95;
194
pp. + x
Society for American
Archaeology Current Per-
spectives. The Society for
American Archaeology Press. Washington, DC
AND
Feeding Cahokia
Early Agriculture in the
North American
Heartland
Gayle J. Fritz
2019.
ISBN: 978-0-8173-2005-8
Cloth US$59.95; 232 pp. +
xiv
The University of Alabama
Press. Tuscaloosa, Alabama
These two books are authored by recognized
authorities in archeology and anthropology.
Both treatments deal with forgotten crops. For
the ethnobotanist this is especially interesting
because indigenous plants known as the
Eastern Agricultural Complex (EAC) were
selected by Native Americans as crops. This is a
rare example of autochthonous crop evolution
in North America. Gremillion and Fritz’s work
is a major contribution to documenting the
process of artificial selection, transforming
native flora into agronomic value.
The image of Native Americans as strictly
hunter-gathers is modulated by extensive
research documenting the role of agriculture
in Central and Eastern North America
in roughly corresponding to the eastern
deciduous forest. Just as they describe the
history of the EAC, they document the decline
and demise of the crops and, for some, the
extinction of cultivars. By 1000 AD maize had
spread to much of Eastern North America.
Both authors discuss the spread of maize and
its role in supplanting cultivation of other,
native species.
Species comprising the EAC are from
diverse plant families and weedy in their
behavior yielding seeds/fruits with high oil or
carbohydrate content. Most of them thrive in
the rich disturbed soil of river bottomlands.
The importance of adequate technology in
the study of archeological sites is described in
both books. This includes flotation methods
for material obtained from food caches,
paleofaeces, carbonized plant remains, and
stable isotope analysis of bones.
My review centers on botanical aspects, but
there is a wealth of information on Native
American agriculture and culture during
different historical periods, epochs, and
cultures.
Both volumes are valuable resources for
the ethnobotanist. Gremillion emphasizes
anthropology while carefully documenting
crop details. For example, she discusses
foraging for wild plants in the chapter titled
“Food Production Without Farming,” using
examples from the Pacific Northwest. In the
chapter on food production after European
contact, appropriately titled “A World of
Difference,” Gremillion discusses the role of
missions and plantations in the introduction
of crops new to the hemisphere and the impact
of this irruption on indigenous agriculture.
This is an authoritative yet accessible book
reflecting the distinguished career of the
author. It is well indexed with extensive
references.
PSB 66 (2) 2020
157
“Feeding Cahokia” could be considered a
detailed regional study of many of the topics
included in Food Production in Native North
America. Cahokia was a Native American
megapolis near the Mississippi River east of
Saint Louis with a well-established agricultural
system and concomitant social structure.
I found the discussions of species used as
crops interesting because of my studies
of edible native plants. These include
Chenopodium berlandieri, Iva annua, and
Hordeum pusillum and other species of the
EAC. Artificial selection for I. annua resulted
in larger achenes. Unfortunately, these large-
fruited varieties have been lost and are now
appropriately called a forgotten crop. Even
the weedy expression of I. annua is difficult to
locate, as I learned after looking for it in two
states.
After reading about C. berlandieri I located
a sizeable population and collected the
abundant seeds. Though nutritious, they are
tedious to clean and had an unremarkable
taste. My culinary experience with I. annua
was similar.
There are numerous images in “Feeding
Cahokia” of varying quality. As a microscopist
I always chaff at SEM images of a single seed
like those in this work. A cluster of a few
seeds, especially small seeds. gives the viewer
a better impression of the variability in size,
shape, and ornamentation than a SEM picture
of one seed.
These two volumes are valuable contributions
to an often-overlooked aspect of crop
development and will be of value to
ethnobotanists as well as the target audience
of anthropologists and archeologists.
On a broader scale, understanding the
Eastern Agricultural Complex may, in the
words of Gremillion, “...bring diversity and
sustainability back to modern agriculture,
and perhaps will lead to a greater appreciation
of ancient agricultural traditions like those of
Native America.”
I highly recommend both books.
-Lytton John Musselman, Old Dominion Uni-
versity, Norfolk, VA
Guide to the Vascular
Flora of Picture Creek
Diabase Barrens
By Jennifer S. Stanley, Alex-
ander Krings, Jon M. Stucky,
and Richard R. Braham
2019.
ISBN: 978-1889878522
Soft cover US$45; 367 pp.
Botanical Research Institute
of Texas Press, Fort Worth,
Texas
The Guide to the Vascular Flora of Picture
Creek Diabase Barrens arose as an outgrowth
of the authors’ efforts to voucher the floristic
diversity of Picture Creek Diabase Barrens,
an area known to be rich in rare species
but not comprehensively surveyed or well-
collected. It opens with an extensive overview
of the site; its geology, soils, history, etc.; and
a classification of the plant communities
found there. The relationships between soils,
vegetative communities, and terrain are made
clear through well-chosen illustrations, and
the accompanying maps of communities and
soils make it easy to understand the layout of
the barrens.
This section is followed by color photographs
illustrating the taxa described in the book,
emphasizing diagnostic features (e.g., most
Carex spp. are illustrated with a photograph
of a perigynium against a millimeter scale).
The plates are followed by dichotomous keys
PSB 66 (2) 2020
158
to the flora of the barrens; while adapted
from published from more comprehensive
published floras, the authors have taken
advantage of the limited scope of this work,
and even the higher levels of the key mostly
make use of easily observed morphological
characters. The illustrations accompanying
the key are the only discordant note; the use
of public domain art to illustrate overall plant
features and habit, rather than commissioning
drawings de novo, is understandable, but the
relative simplicity of the drawings (largely
taken from Britton & Brown, 1913) contrasts
somewhat jarringly with the detail in the
photographic plates. The frequency and typical
habitat on-site is given for each taxon, as well
as bloom time, supporting vouchers when
available, conservation status, and a slightly
cryptic symbolic reference to previously
published plant lists for the site.
The authors aver that the guide is designed for
both specialists and a more general audience. I
feel they have succeeded in doing so: the lucid
keys and well-chosen photographs make this
about as easy to navigate for a non-specialist
as can reasonably be expected. However, the
casual reader might be forgiven for asking
whether a single, albeit interesting, floristic
community warrants so detailed a book,
at a density of about 0.9 pages per acre—
surely a case of gross overspecialization? As
an admitted devotee of edaphic grassland
ecosystems, I would disagree! While the
vouchering of the site flora and compilation of
a checklist for Picture Creek is a worthy project
of itself, the leading sections of the book make
it a valuable tool for site management and
maintenance.
We now recognize that protecting fragments
of biodiversity like Picture Creek is a duty that
cannot be supported solely by government
agencies or expert naturalists. Broad
coalitions of volunteers are necessary to
protect, maintain, and restore these habitats.
In my own experience of helping to maintain
serpentine barrens, assessing habitat and
identifying taxa of conservation concern is
one of the most formidable tasks for non-
specialist volunteers. A focused guide, like
the present work, is much less intimidating
to the lay volunteer than a regional flora,
and the mapping and detailed description of
communities makes it possible for a visitor
to assess and interpret the landscape. The
authors are to be commended for their efforts
to render this unique landscape legible and
approachable to both novice and expert.
-Christopher Hoess, Chair, Friends of the State
Line Serpentine Barrens
Historia del Jardñn
Botñnico de Lancetilla,
Honduras (The History
of Lancetilla Botanical
Garden, Honduras)
Donald L. Hazlett
2017. ISBN-10: 1889878537
Softcover $24.00; 140 pp.
Botanical Research Institute
of Texas Press, Fort Worth,
Texas
While reading The History of Lancetilla
Botanical Garden, Honduras, I received the
Sonoran Quarterly, a mailed publication
sent by the Desert Botanical Garden to its
members. In the mailing I learned that the
Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona
now has a new scientific facility to protect
plants of the Sonoran Desert and is funded
largely with philanthropic donations. I then
returned to the Lancetilla Botanical Garden
(LBG), where the story contrasts sharply
with that of the Desert Botanical Garden and
other established botanical centers. Lancetilla
Botanical Garden is not well-known, nor is it
PSB 66 (2) 2020
159
well-funded, but it is interesting, important,
and deserving of our attention.
The History of Lancetilla Botanical Garden is
a sturdy little book written by ethnobotanist
Donald L. Hazlett and published by the
Botanical Research Institute of Texas. The
text is printed in Spanish and English and is
interspersed with drawings and color photos.
Due to its brevity and slight choppiness, it is
difficult to establish a rhythm while reading
the history of the LBG. Hazlett’s book doesn’t
quite know what it wants to be. It isn’t a
guide book and it is not a thorough history
book; rather it is a little bit of everything,
including folk legends, descriptions of plants,
recollections of work by the author, and
tributes to important local guides. For the
most part, Hazlett recounts visits to Lancetilla
in 1973 as a Peace Corps volunteer and later as
the director of Lancetilla from 1978 through
1980. Although he continued to be associated
with Lancetilla after 1980, it is unclear why
Hazlett’s tenure was so short and what his
connection to the LBG was after he returned
to the United States.
If you search the internet for Lancetilla
Botanical Garden, there really is not too
much to find. The Garden does have a website
(http://jblancetilla.org/welcome_ingles.
htm), but the information about its history is
limited to four paragraphs. The website does
have, however, a detailed map of the protected
area—something that the book lacks. Because
of its sparse website presence, The History of
Lancetilla Botanical Garden is the definitive
source for the garden at the present time.
Unfortunately, with the death of Hazlett on
January 5, 2019, it is unlikely that there will be
a revised edition anytime soon.
Lancetilla is not a town or city, but the
name for a valley found along the north
coast of Honduras. The Lancetilla Plant
Experimentation Station, slightly more
than 4100 acres in size, was established here
by the United Fruit Company (UFC) in
1926. Overall, the station served as testing
grounds for plantation crops, namely disease-
resistant strains of bananas. The first director
hired by UFC was William Popenoe who is
known for his work with avocados and later
for his directorship of the Pan-American
Agricultural School in Zamorano, Honduras
in 1941. Hazlett situates Popenoe and the early
history of the LBG in a timeline at the end of
the book. Here, there are short descriptions
of places and people, but this is not a go-to
source for the history of banana research in
Central America.
Hazlett does mention how the UFC exploited
workers and bribed government officials, but
he does not dwell on the dark side of the banana
business in the Honduras. Unlike authors
who have critically examined multinational
fruit companies for their labor practices and
land exploitation, Hazlett writes from the
perspective of a botanist who has worked and
lived at the plantation site and has benefitted
from the early actions of the UFC. It is safe
to say that the economic muscle of the UFC
helped protect the valley, its forests, and its
watershed from human encroachment. This is
noteworthy today since the Lancetilla Valley
is situated close to the coastal city of Tela, a
tourist destination complete with golf courses,
resorts, and real estate agents.
In 1974, the UFC relinquished its
experimental field station and turned over
the land and buildings to the Honduran
Forestry School. During this time Hazlett
helped shift the focus of the LBG from large-
scale plantation research to that of growing
tropical fruits for Honduran orchards and
home gardens. The bulk of the book reflects
upon this time and is a bit scattered in terms
of notes and recollections. Hazlett’s writing
focuses on tributes and stories—from local
guides who have helped him complete an
accurate inventory of plant life, to toucans and
PSB 66 (2) 2020
160
John Gill Lemmon:
Andersonville
Survivor and California
Botanist
Brad Agnew and Kelly
Agnew
2020.
ISBN 9781695040212
Paperback US$24.95;
573 pp.
Independently Published
Brad Agnew and Kelly Agnew’s John Gill
Lemmon: Andersonville Survivor and
California Botanist is an interesting book about
the botanical pursuits of Californians John Gill
Lemmon (1832-1908) and his wife Sara Allen
Plummer Lemmon (1836-1923) in the mid-
to late 19th century. The title of this book does
not represent the scope of John Lemmon’s
capture in two American Civil War (1861-
1865) Confederate prisoner of war camps;
nor that Lemmon studied, and obtained,
botanica in several other western states (New
Mexico, Arizona, Texas, and Oregon) other
than California. The Agnew and Agnew book
is thorough, and chronological, in the detail
of Lemmon’s extraordinary life, and it will
appeal to American Civil War history buffs,
botanical historians, and archival researchers
equally.
John Gill Lemmon possessed an innate detail
to attention in his military career, botanical
pursuits, and entomological study. Lemmon
lived his life balancing both his remarkably
good- and sobering bad luck as he struggled
for gainful employment for the generous
portion of his adult life. His botanical quests
gave him a sense of purpose and drive after
his debilitating war experiences left him
physically and emotionally depleted. As his
life story unfolds, Lemmon vacillates between
self-pity and self-righteousness to earn a
living, live a meaningful life, and create a
strychnine poisoning. Interspersed with this
are descriptions of local plants, with common,
family, genus, and species names given.
For botany historians, the book provides
information on noted botanists who worked
at Lancetilla or were associated with the
LBG in some way. These include New York
Botanical Garden collectors Percy Wilson
and Elizabeth Mitchell in the early 1900s and
Paul C. Standley, who published The Flora of
the Lancetilla Valley, Honduras in 1931, and at
the same time expressed his concerns about
the increasing loss of biological diversity at
the experimental station. Also working in
Lancetilla were noted tropical plant disease
experts Otto Reinking and Paul House.
Reinking introduced a number of Southeast
Asian plants into the Lancetilla Valley,
including the African oil palm from Malaysia.
Botanist Paul H. Allen served as the third
director of the experimental field station
(1960-1963) and is remembered for his work
with new banana breeds in Southeast Asia
and orchid systematics in Central America.
Bamboo researchers J. H. Perman and Floyd
A. McClure helped introduce several species
of bamboo plants to Lancetilla, and more
recently, Honduran botanists Cirilo Nelson
and Antonio Molina are recognized for their
plant taxonomy work in Central America.
Like many small botanical gardens, the LBG
has seen its share of struggles. Fortunately
for us, Hazlett was able to document some
of these struggles before his untimely death.
Reading the book reminds us of how dogged
an approach it is for those involved with
the protection of land, plants, and animals
in botanical gardens that are severely
underfunded, understaffed, and faced with a
tenuous future.
-Karen L. Wellner, Biology Department, Chan-
dler-Gilbert Community College, Chandler,
Arizona
PSB 66 (2) 2020
161
appreciated moreso when one realizes that
the Lemmons risked life and limb through
aggressive environmental assaults to attain
any, and all, of their specimens. They carried
their equipment and specimens on their backs,
suffered through their individual medical
conditions, and slept on pine boughs for
months at a time to acquire their quarry. So
intertwined were each with the other that, in
the years immediately following John’s death,
Sara’s mental health unraveled to startling
degrees and her last years were a heartache to
read.
The first portion of this biographical book
is about John Lemmon’s early life, and more
poignantly, about his POW experiences in
the Andersonville and Florence Confederate
prisoner of war camps during the American
Civil War. This section is an exciting
read, and yet, very sobering. The authors’
structured chronological order in their
research have these military anecdotes roll
into the second portion of the book with
Lemmon’s contributions to botany including
his fanatical quest for accolades with the
botanical academics of his time. Equally as
detailed as his Civil War years, Lemmon’s
botanical life story might be further divided
into his botanical pursuits as a bachelor, and
of those years he and Sara Plummer worked in
harmony. The Epilogue of the Agnews’ book is
a necessary completion to the Lemmons’ story
after John Lemmon’s demise on November
24, 1908. Here the authors complete the
circle of life for the couple with the telling of
Sara Lemmon’s complete mental breakdown
and last sorrowful years. The comprehensive
Endnotes, Bibliography, and Index are sound
and thorough, and will more than adequately
aid any researcher for further study.
The repeated comparison of the Lemmons as
a married couple dedicated to their science
reminds this reviewer of the detailed research
lasting legacy. Often these three objectives
are at odds with each other, with Lemmon, or
with those who knew him socially, familially,
or professionally.
Lemmon’s professional connections in the
botanical world of the late 19
th
century are
impressive. Foremost is Asa Gray (1810–1888),
botanist and Harvard professor, who figured
prominently in Lemmon’s career from the first
letter of admiration Lemmon exchanged with
Gray in 1873 until the latter’s death in 1888.
Professor Gray served as mentor to Lemmon
by trying to carefully instruct Lemmon in the
growth of his western botanical collections.
Gray provided sources of remuneration for
Lemmon’s work, and professional contacts
to Lemmon for increased opportunities to
provide botanical specimens at cost. Through
Gray’s correspondence with Lemmon we feel
the exasperation and frustration of Lemmon’s
difficult personality, yet also recognize the
herculean efforts Lemmon made in traveling,
identifying, and cataloguing his herbarium.
Lemmon’s marriage to Sara Allen Plummer
in 1880 was a definite joy in an otherwise
challenging life. Sara Allen Plummer Lemmon
was a true beacon of solace in her husband’s
life. She was inquisitive, daring, a Women’s
Rights advocate, and successful in her efforts
advocating for the Golden Poppy to become the
State flower of California (on March 2, 1903).
Throughout their marriage the Lemmons
lived in an emotional, physical, and academic
symbiosis with each other. The botanical
accomplishments of John and Sara Lemmon
are almost one in the same because they
worked so closely with each other. Together
their accomplishments are staggering. For
example, they labored for months to label and
present 900 species of plants procured from
California for their state’s participation in the
New Orleans Exposition of 1884. This feat is
PSB 66 (2) 2020
162
I did on contemporaries of the Lemmons. I
conducted extensive research on the archival
papers and original autobiographical
manuscript of entomologist Professor John
H. and Anna Botsford Comstock, nature
educator, both of Cornell University. The
Comstocks may be considered part of the
East Coast faction of agrarian scholars with
whom Asa Gray harbored. That such a
biography of the Lemmons, and the turn-of-
the-century West Coast faction of botanists
now exists in one tome, is beneficial to
researchers and historians alike. This
reviewer would also like to acknowledge the
industrious efforts Sue Agnew contributed to
the Agnew familial effort with the research,
compilation, and writing of this book. The
undertaking of this project was no small task.
I thoroughly enjoyed Agnew and Agnew’s
book, and respect their research efforts to
bring the accomplishments of the Lemmons
back to us.
--Karen Penders St. Clair, Ph.D.
Lichen Study Guide for Oklahoma and
Surrounding States
Sheila A. Strawn
2017.
ISBN: 978-1-889878-55-3.
Flexibound US$25; 80 pp.
Botanical Research Institute of Texas Press, Fort
Worth, TX
Lichens are a microscopic universe of
complex species interactions between fungi
and algae. Their inherent beauty, diversity,
and abundance have firmly established
lichens in the hearts of mycologists around the
world. Lichens also open new era of research
with a special focus on their metabolites.
“Lichen Study Guide for Oklahoma and
Surrounding States”
offers readers a
comprehensive field guide consisting of 68
pages
and is easily
pocketable. The book
abounds with
beautiful photographs and keys
for identification of lichens. The purpose of
this guide is to encourage large-scale studies
of lichens in this region and in surrounding
states with similar habitat by explaining the
basic characteristics needed to understand
lichen biology and identification.
This guide
is comprehensive and helpful for study of
lichens all over
the
globe. The introduction
is well written and up-to-date. It also focuses
on
the
importance of lichens, especially their
role in solving immunological problems, land
management, climatic change,
and
biodiversity.
It guides finding and collecting lichens and
the tools required for it
with comprehensive
knowledge of
observing and documenting
lichens, followed by their identification. It also
explains how to preserve and store lichens in
herbaria. The most fascinating part is chemical
and UV tests for identification supplemented
with bright color contrast slides. It also
includes detailed information about lichen
morphology and anatomy. Common features
such as thallus types, color, reproductive
structures, substrates for growth, and stepwise
procedures are
thoroughly illustrated.
These
are well explained by colorful photographs
of lichen from Oklahoma and surrounding
states.
The book is well written and up-to-date. I
am particularly fond of the “Practice keys
for the lichen identification,” which is a
concise explanation for an amateur
scientist/
mycologist
about how to identify lichens from
all over the world based on thallus characters
and chemical tests. Shelia A. Strawn has done
PSB 66 (2) 2020
163
a tremendous job of capturing the beauty
and diversity of the lichen of Oklahoma
and surrounding states with a wide array of
high-quality pictures that typically show each
character from several angles. The book ends
with a quick identification guide for common
lichen genera of the region. It is also decorated
with an appendix containing websites with
sources for lichen study.
The target audience for this impressive work
is clearly
the
one focusing on identification
of lichens and appreciation of their diversity.
Those with such interests will not wish to
do without this guide. The book is highly
recommended for undergraduate students,
field explorers, and libraries of all mycology
fans. The book’s combination of aesthetically
appealing and scientifically accurate color
photographs and extensive descriptions
makes it a standard reference work for lichen
identification in not only in Oklahoma, but
also around the globe.
-Dr. Arooj Naseer, Assistant Professor in Bota-
ny, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
Making Eden: How
Plants Transformed a
Barren Planet
David Beerling
2019;
ISBN-10: 019879830X; ISBN-
13: 978-0198798309
Hardcover US$27.95;
272 pp.
Oxford University Press
The evolution of plants has transformed the
Earth. Once photosynthetic organisms came
onto the evolutionary scene, the atmosphere
changed due to the presence of oxygen. The
life of humans and all animals still is intimately
tied to the success of plants. Yet, most of our
society suffers from a lack of knowledge from
plants or a so-called “plant blindness.” This
book attempts to remedy the problem and to
introduce plant biology to a broader audience.
After a brief introductory chapter, the second
chapter focuses on the evolution of land
plants. The theory of endosymbiosis has
enhanced our understanding of the evolution
of plants. The controversies around the
acceptance of this theory are considered. The
major groups of plants, life histories, and their
evolutionary relationships are also discussed.
While I found this early chapter interesting, I
am a botanist, but I started to ask if this book
would truly appeal to a general audience as it
is touted to be.
The author goes on to discuss the genomics
revolution of the past decade and the insights
it brought us regarding plant evolution.
The genome of a plant can be viewed as a
molecular “living fossil.” While this chapter
starts broadly and in an interesting manner,
it gets too technical with a good dose of
name dropping of plant molecular geneticists
throughout recent history.
The next discussion is on the rise of and the
importance of the “evo-devo” branch of plant
biology. This field compares the developmental
processes of different organisms in order to
infer the ancestral relationships among them
and how developmental processes evolved.
The example used is the KNOX–ARP
relationships across land plants. The KNOX
and ARP genes are reported to be involved in
the evolution of leaf form in different species.
Again, I found this part of the book interesting
but question its broad appeal to non-botanists.
Stomatal pores, referred to as “gas valves,” are
also considered in detail. These structures
are especially important for the successful
transition to land plants as they control water
balance and the avoidance of desiccation.
When considering the height of redwood
PSB 66 (2) 2020
164
trees, the author notes that this “humble”
small structure is important for allowing
these amazing trees to survive and thrive.
The function and the genetic basis of stomatal
function is discussed in detail.
In the chapter “Ancestral Alliances,”
the co-evolution of plants and fungi is
considered. The history of the discovery of
these symbiotic relationships in the fossil
record is reviewed as well as the excitement
generated by the scientists at the time of
its introduction. However, there also was a
great deal of skepticism as occurred when
the endosymbiotic theory was first proposed.
The historical parts of the book do make for
interesting reading and may be appealing for
a more general group.
I found the last chapter on ecological
devastation and climate change to be the
most compelling and suspect it also will have
the broadest appeal. Because humans are
very successful animals, we are devastating
the resources of the Earth, which is resulting
in species decline and significant loss of
biodiversity. The end of the book considers
our future and how we can survive as a
species in harmony with plants if we act on
conservation imperatives.
Particularly at this moment, we do need non-
scientists to understand important concepts
in science, especially in relation to climate
change. We also want non-botanists to better
understand and appreciate the role of plants in
our history and civilization. Thus, the author
has the noble goal of making these topics
accessible to the general public. I enjoyed
reading this book and found some gems of
insights. While I see a lot of interesting ideas,
the book may have too much terminology and
jargon to make it live up to its aspiration of
appealing to a more general audience.
-John Z. Kiss, Department of Biology, UNC-
Greensboro, Greensboro NC
Mulberry
Peter Coles
2019. ISBN
9781789141429.
Hardcover, £16.00; $27.00.
264 pp.
Reaktion Books, Ltd.,
London, UK, distributed
by University of Chicago
Press, Chicago, IL.
{For this review by Dorothea Bedigian, see p. 145.}
The Natural History of
The Bahamas: A Field
Guide
Dave Currie, Joseph M. Wun-
derle Jr., Ethan Freid, David
N. Ewert, and D. Jean Lodge
2019.
ISBN-13: 978-1501713675
Paperback US$34.99; 464 pp.
Cornell University Press,
Ithaca, NY
Natural history field guides are the literary
equivalent of a Swiss army knife. These tomes
do not set out to treat one element of the natural
history extensively, but instead, provide broad
treatments of the fauna, flora, and habitats
affiliated with a region. The Natural History of
The Bahamas: A Field Guide provides a sorely
needed resource covering the terrestrial and
coastal flora and fauna of the Bahamas. The
intent of such guides is to provide an entrance
into the world of birding, herpetology, etc.
Guidebooks permit one to enjoy everyday
encounters with the most common organisms
in your backyard or ones protected in one
of the national parks in the Bahamas. In all
honesty, if it were not for guidebooks, many
of us would not have the careers in botany. If
Correll and Correll’s (1981) 1692-page flora
was your starting point for exploring the
PSB 66 (2) 2020
165
flora of the Bahamas as a high-school student
in a Bahamian National Trust (BNT) Young
Navigator Program, you probably would
bypass that interest. Give a student a guide,
provide them with a chance to learn a bit
about plant morphology and taxonomy, and
send them out to explore. That is how you
start to grow a botanist.
The guide begins with a nicely presented
coverage of the habitats, climates, and
ecological communities and transitions into
treatments of fungi, plants, invertebrates, fish,
amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.
Each section begins with an overview of the
natural history and figures elucidating the key
characteristics needed to identify taxa. Species
descriptions consist of common and Latin
names, ranges, and descriptions. All species
are illustrated in color. The invertebrates
are lavishly photographed, and this guide
provides a nice coverage useful to identify
some of the more common pollinators. The
treatment of fungi is honest in informing the
reader of the need of mycological studies of
Bahamian fungi. This illustrates yet one more
valuable attribute of natural history field
guides, uncovering the groups of organisms
that are in dire need of investigation.
The plants are treated by Ethan Freid, resident
Botanist at the Leon Levy Native Plant Preserve,
Eleuthra, and long-time affiliate with the
BNT. Ethan knows the Bahamian flora from
Bimini to Inagua and has contributed greatly
to building the next generation of Bahamian
botanists. The coverage he has provided for
the guide includes the most common species
from throughout the archipelago. I teach an
economic botany and ecology courses on San
Salvador Island. I would not hesitate to use this
guide as an entry point for students learning
the more common elements of the Bahamian
flora. Along with the web resources presented,
and prepared by Ethan and the Leon Levy staff
(http://www.levypreserve.org/), you can offer
a solid botanical field course in the Bahamas.
The Natural History of The Bahamas: A
Field Guide should be in every classroom
in the Bahamas, and it supports a number
of important standards of the Bahamian
curricula. Most importantly, it is a tool needed
by all Bahamians affiliated with conservation
initiatives in the Bahamas. This is particularly
true for the BNT and its management of
more than 32 national parks protecting over
2 million acres of marine and terrestrial
environments. Likewise, the tourist who
wants to skip the cruise and explore the real
Bahamas can toss a copy of this guide in their
backpack and venture out into the natural
beauty of these extraordinary islands.
LITERATURE CITED
Correll, D. S, and H. B. Correll. 1982. Flora of the Ba-
hama Archipelago.
Lubrecht & Cramer Ltd.
-Melanie L DeVore, Professor of Biology,
Department of Biological and Environmental
Sciences, Georgia College, Milledgeville, GA
The Nature of Plant
Communities
J. Bastow Wilson, Andrew
D.Q. Agnew, and Stephen H.
Roxburgh
2019.
ISBN:
9781108612265
Hardcover US$64.99;
370 pp.
Cambridge University Press
The aim of this book is to go beyond the
simple characterization of plant communities
to the forces that structure plant communities.
The authors sought to offer a new viewpoint
to challenge others to think differently about
PSB 66 (2) 2020
166
temporal and spatial, in plants (as many see
plants as less lively than animals!). This is a
new way, for me, of considering long-lasting
(perhaps “climax”) communities.
Disturbance, succession, resistance, resilience,
and stability are all considered in the next
section on community-level processes. Many
examples of communities with which I was
previously unfamiliar* are discussed, as well as
some ideas: cyclic succession (though maybe
this is just like a dynamic equilibrium?),
switches (that lead to alternative stable states),
and retrogressive succession. This section
includes a discussion of stability, and whether
or not it occurs in the real world.
In the discussion of niches, the authors
discuss the alpha and beta niches of plant
species – alpha being the traits of the plant
species itself, beta being the environmental
features/habitat. After considering these for
individual species, the authors consider how
the coincidence of plants in communities is
affected by the filtering of the species and their
subsequent competition and coexistence. The
organization of the book in this way is logical
and plausible.
I always thought ‘guild’ was defined first by
Root (1967) as ‘a group of species using similar
resources in a similar way’, but since most
plants use the same resources, that was not the
original intent. I learned that Drude (1885)
coined the term for a group of species moving
from one region to another. Schimper (1903)
used the term to mean a synusia (such as a
stratum within a community in a forest. And
one of the first experimental plant ecologists,
Tansley, used it to describe ‘guilds of the same
dependent life form, such…as lianes”. Much
more like a group of species working toward
the same end, as a group of human workers in
the same trade.
plant community ecology. I find they were
successful! This book is coauthored by two
prominent, retired professors of Botany
(one who worked in New Zealand, the other
in northern Europe and the Middle East)
and the PhD protégé of one, whose is now
an ecologist at CSIRO in Australia. It is of
decided interest to those of us who have
become plant ecologists with primarily New
World influences.
As with many classic works, this one begins
with autecology, considering the physiological
adaptations and movements of plants,
and the challenging question with these
modular organisms: what is an individual?
Modular growth, plasticity in response to
the environment, selecting for changes in the
genotype that manifest in altered phenotype.
They go on to consider interactions between
species important in plant communities:
facilitation, interference, but no mention
of tolerance (that in most textbooks on the
subject say is necessary for coexistence in
communities). They spend some time on
the importance of litter, a product of plants
that is useful to many as well. There is a very
interesting table of possible mechanisms of
herbivore- and pathogen-mediated plant–
plant interactions, with discussion elaborating
the mechanisms with many examples.
But the apparent omission of ‘tolerance’ is
addressed by the chapter titled “Mechanisms
of Coexistence,” with the first discussion of
alpha niches and their differentiations to
permit coexistence. This section also covers
fires and other disturbances, pest pressure,
and circular interference networks. It is in this
section that I learn what Spatial Mass Effect
is: the constant immigration of a species into
a patch where its population is maintained
(i.e., the ‘sink effect’). Zoologists will not be
surprised by the inclusion of ‘inertia’, both
PSB 66 (2) 2020
167
How species interact in communities and
the effects on genotypes of the species feeling
various influences from others and their
environment brings us back to character
displacement. Some attention is even paid
to other trophic levels at the end of the
book, although early on the authors provide
the disclaimer that although animals are
important, this is a book about plants!
One interesting section of the book considers
exotic species as community structure probes.
In studying how and why exotic species
outcompete natives in certain situations, the
strengths and weaknesses of native species in
their natural interactions with other species
may be revealed. Why and why not introduced
species become invasive or merely naturalized
can be due to plant–plant interactions but also
plants’ interactions with other biota, from
fungi to various animals.
The volume builds to review the theories of
community composition (Clements, Gleason,
Whittaker, Hubbell, Grime, Tilman),
comparing and contrasting them in their
validity and applicability in different situations.
In the final section, Synthesis, the authors
review Heterogeneity, Community Structure,
and Assembly Rules, and the Processes that
govern plant community structure.
The book begins with a glossary that nearly
put me off reading the entire work, since some
of the definitions were not very useful. Maybe
this section would have been better located at
the end of the book. The one that particularly
annoyed me was the definition of a leaf, which
was just a quote from F.G. Gregory cited by
L. Croizat in his Principia Botanica: “Although
no satisfactory definition of a leaf is possible,
I shall assume that we all know what we
are talking about.” However, included were
abbreviations and acronyms that some use
constantly without adequate definition—
quite useful, I think. And some other other
definitions brought up phrases with which I
was unfamiliar*, such as “altruistic facilitation,”
“cyclic succession,” “ombrotrophic,” “spatial
mass effect,” and “subvention.” If these are
unfamiliar to you also, you might want to
check out this volume! For anyone working in
the large field of plant ecology, and teaching
courses in ecology and other topics, this book
may provide some new food for thought. It
might be used in a graduate seminar course
or as background reading for students new to
the field as they are developing their career
foundations and graduate research plans.
* Maybe some of my unfamiliarity is due to my area
of expertise in plant ecology (evolutionary and
population ecology, plant/animal interactions),
but I have lectured Plant Ecology at the undergrad
and grad level since 1982.
-Suzanne Koptur, PhD, Florida International
University, Miami, FL
Tree Story: The History
of the World Written in
Rings
Valerie Trouet
2020. ISBN: 9781421437774
Hardbound US$27.00;
246+iii pp.
Johns Hopkins University
Press
What do Genghis Khan, sunspots, Belgian
beer, a Stradivari violin, plagues, Frankenstein,
shipwrecks, and fall of the Roman Empire
have in common? Tree rings. Tree rings are
scribes of history.
This book explains how tree rings can
document weather, sunspots, volcanos, human
events, and many more phenomena both past
and present. Well written with clarity and
humor, it draws on the extensive research of
PSB 66 (2) 2020
168
the author and her tree ring research around
the world, providing information both
authoritative and accessible.
Valerie Trouet is on the faculty of the
Laboratory for Tree Ring Research at the
University of Arizona. She deftly takes the
reader to this most unlikely place for tree ring
research—a desert—explaining why the lab
was located there and then from the Sonoran
Desert to expeditions around the world. Her
descriptions of the sites and field experiences
are a worthy natural history journal on their
own.
Trouet describes the global search for
interpretable rings from trees as well as old
buildings, logs, stumps, and charcoal that can
provide a timeline year by year—even season
by season—reaching back thousands of years.
In fact, she makes the case that tree rings are
the most accurate record of climate. These
data are corroborated with ice cores, coral
dating, and several other measures of yearly
growth.
There are 17 chapters, and the final chapter
addresses global climate change. This is a
relevant aspect of tree ring research because
it sets present conditions in the context of
thousands of years of data showing cycles of
drought or varying temperatures and how
that affects humans.
The other chapters each address an
archeological, weather, or historical question
for which dendrochronology can provide
insight. For example, the chapter “After the
Gold Rush” treats the role of regular small-
scale fires in California. The frequency of these
was changed from regularly burned patches
by indigenous peoples, whose populations
were decimated by European diseases. The
result was few fires, then fuel built up, stoking
hotter and more devasting fires. To determine
the natural frequency of fires, a tree ring
history from fire scars was assembled for the
past 3000 years. These scars are best studied
in the stump of trees recognized by fire scars
or “cat faces.” (Cat faces in the South mean the
scars on old turpentine trees that do look like
cat faces, unlike the scars in the western trees
using—inexplicably to the author—the same
term). Of more recent interest is the history
of fires in California since the establishment
of the U.S. Forest Service in 1905 and the
resultant development of the “Smoky Bear
Effect,” which caused what the author calls a
“fire deficit” that also led to the build-up of
fuel. In other words, the lack of frequent low-
intensity fires increases fire extent and heat
leading to the disastrous California wildfires
of recent years. In addition, Trouet analyzed
the effects of El Niño and El Niña as reflected
in tree rings. I was disappointed that research
in the longleaf ecosystem of the Southeastern
United States, a fire-dependent system, was
not included.
One of the features of the book is the
author’s description of the development of
her academic career—post-doc, publication
rejection, sometimes the only woman
working on a project, the powerful gain of
collaborative work, and especially the way she
models how a scientist asks questions based
on hypotheses developed from published data
and field observations, collects and analyzes
data, publishes, and deals with the public.
For this reason, Tree Story is a great read for
young scientists as well as providing a most
readable and enjoyable presentation of tree
ring research for a wide audience. The book
is a must-read for dendrology, ethnobotany,
and climate change students as well as anyone
interested in the relationship of history with
weather. If tree rings are the scribes of history,
Valerie Trouet is their chief scrivener. Highly
recommended.
-Lytton John Musselman, Blackwater Ecolog-
ic Preserve, Old Dominion University, Nor-
folk, VA
PSB 66 (2) 2020
169
Wild Yet Tasty: A
Guide to Edible Plants
of Eastern Kentucky
Dan Dourson and Judy
Dourson
2019. ISBN: 978-1-94-
966903-9
Paperback US$14.95; 44
pp.
Kentucky Press
This slim volume discusses 21 edible plants
plus the common morel (Morchella, a genus
of sac fungi), with one page devoted to each
species. The common and scientific name
(usually) is provided along with a paragraph
on identification and habitat and another
paragraph about the edible parts. The best
time to harvest is indicated, and each species
is illustrated with one or more drawings. Two
pages in the front of the book offer a pictorial
description of terms related to flower structure
or leaf arrangement as used in the text.
I have mixed opinions about the book.
On the positive side, the writing follows a
conversational style that is often engaging
and entertaining. For example, many hikers
will be familiar with the experience of being
snagged by the prickly vines of greenbriers
(Smilax); the authors urge, “So next time
you’re backpacking in Eastern Kentucky and
a Greenbrier snags your leg, just reach over
and take a bite out of it!!” [Note: the two
exclamation points are, in fact, as written in
the book.] I may heed this suggestion next
time I find myself tangled up trailside.
On the negative side, I was disappointed
in this book as a guide to edible plants. A
“Note of caution” regarding the consumption
of wild edible plants on the copyright page
admonishes readers to “be more familiar with
the species than you are with your own name!”
Certainly, this is excellent advice. However,
I think the information and illustrations
for much of the book are insufficient for
confident identification of the species without
prior knowledge of them. Typographical
errors throughout are distracting, as are a few
more “technical” errors. (An illustration of
“basic root types” would more accurately be
called “underground storage organs,” and the
scientific name for sumacs is incorrectly listed
as Asimina species—which are pawpaws—
instead of the correct genus, which is Rhus.)
Every species included is widespread and
common throughout eastern North America.
I’m not sure why the book is billed as a guide
specifically for Eastern Kentucky, except that
the authors have many years of experience in
the Red River Gorge watershed of east-central
Kentucky. Perhaps the suggestion that the
contents are specific to the region makes the
book more attractive to visitors who come
to eastern Kentucky for various outdoor
recreational pursuits. Non-native and invasive
edible species like garlic mustard (Alliaria
petiolata) are notably absent.
All complaints aside, the book does support
the authors’ goal of “rekindling…that sense of
wonder we all had as kids” and, although it is a
bit pricey for the limited content, people may
be interested in adding it to their personal
botanical libraries as a source of some folksy
commentary about a few well-known edible
plants.
-Melanie Link-Pérez, Eastern Kentucky Uni-
versity
PSB 66 (2) 2020
170
Wildflowers and Ferns
of Red River Gorge
and the Greater Red
River Basin
Dan Dourson and Judy
Dourson
2019.
ISBN: 978-1-9496-6900-8
Paperback US$39.95;
488 pp.
Kentucky Press
The Red River Gorge (RRG) and its watershed
are a botanical hotspot and a popular tourist
destination, drawing more than half a million
visitors to east-central Kentucky annually.
Since I was planning to take my Plant
Systematics class to the RRG during a spring
semester fieldtrip, I was eager to review this
book by Dourson and Dourson focusing
on the ferns and wildflowers of the area.
Although the shift to remote instruction due
to the COVID-19 pandemic prevented me
from visiting RRG with my class this spring,
I’ve enjoyed studying its flora by perusing this
book.
When the package containing the review
copy arrived, I was immediately enamored
by the physical attributes of the book inside.
Although a paperback, the rugged cover
mimics those of many vintage hardbound
botanical texts, with the appearance of a green
cloth cover worn around the edges from
frequent use—the hallmarks of a favorite
book that has accompanied its owner on
many a happy exploration of its subject. The
book is the perfect size to slip into a field
bag and to thumb through while on the trail;
conveniently, the book lays open flat when on
a table.
Several dozen pages at the beginning of the
book provide interesting context in which to
consider the vegetation of the region. A chapter
on the prehistoric history (written by Johnny
Faulkner) details the early human habitation
of the sandstone cliffs and rock shelters of
the RRG and discusses artifacts, petroglyphs,
and other evidence that documents human
presence from nearly 13,000 years ago. A
chapter on cultural history (written by Alan
Cornette) describes resource extraction and
its impact on the vegetation—for example, the
burning of pitch pine and short-leaf pine to
produce tar (pitch) in tar kilns, extraction of
saltpeter, and timber harvesting all influenced
forest composition. A chapter written by
Halard Lescinsky provides an overview of the
400-million-year geological history of the Red
River Watershed and helps readers interpret
the limestone and sandstone features that
characterize the region. All these background
chapters are generously illustrated with full-
color photographs and figures.
The bulk of the book is devoted to
presentation of the ferns and lycophytes (56
pages) and the herbaceous wildflowers (263
pages) of the Red River Basin. These species
accounts are preceded by a short section that
describes the basic habitats present along with
a diagram of the habitat profile of RRG (for
example, riparian, lower slope, limestone cliff,
sandstone ridgetop). Abbreviations for the
habitat designations are included in the species
accounts. Each species is accompanied by at
least one full-color photograph, and both the
common and scientific names are provided.
Along with habitat and morphological
descriptions, species accounts often include
information about frequency, usefulness to
humans or wildlife, or how to distinguish
from similar species.
All 51 species of ferns in Red River Basin
are beautifully illustrated by Elijah Hicks;
these illustrations are often annotated and
complement the color photographs. The ferns
are grouped according to their relative size
and typical habitat, such as “Large Wetland
Ferns” or “Medium Woodland Ferns.” The
“Rock Loving Ferns” are further parsed
PSB 66 (2) 2020
171
according to limestone and/or sandstone,
ultimately bringing the number of headings
to more than 20, which seems unwieldy but
possibly facilitates comparison between
species that may share a habitat. I admit I
found some headings to be quite charming:
“Exceedingly Tiny Rock Loving Gametophyte
Ferns (sandstone)” for the Appalachian
gametophyte or Shoestring fern (Vittaria
appalachiana), and “Peculiar-Looking
Woodland Ferns” for Climbing fern (Lygodium
palmatum) and Southern adder’s tongue fern
(Ophioglossum pyncostichum). There are also
a couple pages of wonderful illustrations
comparing spleenworts (Asplenium) with
proportionate scaling, including a full
page illustrating the relationships among
Appalachian spleenworts of RRG. Overall,
the photographs, illustrations, and text do a
great job of emphasizing important characters
for identification for the ferns, horsetails, and
clubmosses.
Coverage of the wildflowers is organized
alphabetically by family with no separation
between monocots and eudicots. Within
a family, I could discern no particular
arrangement of species. There is a “Color
Key” where users can first choose the flower
color of an unknown plant and then choose
the appropriate season to find a list of page
numbers with potential matches. Provided
the unknown specimen is covered in the
book, this possibly works well for many plants
but not for those with 16+ pages to consider
(for a spring-blooming white flower, a user
may need to consult 71 pages!). The stunning
full-color photographs (mostly by Dan
Dourson) are outstanding in their usefulness
for identification via image comparison. The
writing in the species accounts is lively and
engaging—for example, Virginia bluebells
(Mertensia virginica) are described as “eye-
catching gems” with “flamboyant bell-shaped
flowers.”
There is scant representation of grasses,
sedges, and rushes with only six pages
devoted to them. Woody vines, shrubs, and
trees receive slightly more coverage than the
graminoids, and the photos emphasize the
flower or inflorescence and often don’t include
many vegetative features. These are not really
criticisms, since these plants are beyond the
primary scope of the book. It concludes with
a species list (compiled by Julian Campbell)
for 1573 vascular plants known from the Red
River Basin along with indications of their
native ranges, indices of common names and
scientific names, and safety tips that include
photos of venomous snakes and arthropods to
watch for in the RRG.
Overall, I think this field guide will be useful
for anyone botanizing in the region; for those
like myself who use technical dichotomous
keys, the images in this book will be a helpful
supplement. Importantly, the Red River
Basin contains five ecoregions and more
than half of Kentucky’s native or naturally
occurring vascular plants; thus, many of the
species covered in its pages are found beyond
the limits of the watershed. This book is an
excellent addition to any collection of books
on the flora of Kentucky or eastern North
America. Anyone who loves photographs
of wildflowers or ferns will enjoy looking
through these pages.
-Melanie Link-Pérez, Eastern Kentucky
University
PSB 66 (2) 2020
172
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in the membership
Address Editorial Matters (only) to:
Mackenzie Taylor, Editor
Department of Biology
Creighton University
2500 California Plaza
Omaha, NE 68178
Phone 402-280-2157
psb@botany.org
Plant Science Bulletin
Summer 2020 Volume 66 Number 2
Thank you to Dr. Emily Rollinson for creating this
word cloud representing conference attendees' Twitter
comments during the week of Botany 2020 - Virtual!
If you were a registered attendee to the conference,
remember you have access to the recorded talks for
the next year! You can go back in using your unique
link* and view and review all the talks and posters!
Enjoy!
*the link you used during the conference.
If you need it, email johanne@botany.org
View on Issuu.com
