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Table of Contents

Society News

Merit Award: Dr. Michael Donoghue; Dr. Jeff Doyle; Dr. James Doyle ..........................70

Charles E. Bessey Award: Dr. Bruce Kirchoff .................................................................72

Young Investigator Award: Dr. Stacey Smith ...................................................................72

The second annual BSA Public Policy Award, BESC Congressional Visits Day 2014 ...77

American Journal of Botany continues Centennial Celebration throughout 2014 ...........81

Whitney R. Reyes Student Travel Award provides funds for to attend Botany 2014  .....87

BSA Science Education News and Notes ......................................................

88

Announcements

Meet the new Editors ........................................................................................................91 

Up close with Theresa Culley ...........................................................................................92

Triarch “Botanical Images” Student Travel Awards .........................................................96

Missouri Botanical Garden Herbarium  ...........................................................................98

Editor’s Choice ..............................................................................................

99 

Reports

Geocaching as a means to teach botany to the public. ...................................................100

Book Reviews

Ecological .......................................................................................................................104

Economic Botany ...........................................................................................................105

Systematics  ....................................................................................................................108

Books Received ...........................................................................................

111

Botany 2014 Invited Speakers ......................................................................

112

July 26 - 30 2014 - The Boise Centre - Boise, Idaho

www.botanyconference.org

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Society News

The Botanical Society of America’s  

2014 Merit Award Winners

Congratulations!

The Botanical Society of America Merit Award is the highest honor our Society bestows. Each year, the 

Merit Award Committee solicits nominations, evaluates candidates, and selects those to receive an award. 

Awardees are chosen based on their outstanding contributions to the mission of our scientific Society. The 

committee identifies recipients who have demonstrated excellence in basic research, education, and public 

policy, or who have provided exceptional service to the professional botanical community, or who may 

have made contributions to a combination of these categories. Based on these stringent criteria, the 2014 

BSA Merit Award recipients are listed in the following pages.

Dr. James Doyle

University of 

California - Davis

Professor James A. (Jim) Doyle is recognized for 

his many distinguished contributions to paleobotany, 

particularly palynology, and to the understanding 

of angiosperm phylogeny.  Doyle and his associates 

demonstrated that, worldwide, the Cretaceous fossil 

record shows the primary adaptive radiation events of 

early angiosperm evolution.  One of his most valuable 

insights, derived from both cladistic analysis and 

stratigraphy, was the observation that angiosperms with 

tricolpate and tricolpate-derived pollen corresponded to 

a clade of angiosperms that included the vast majority of 

living flowering plants.  The existence of such a clade, the 

eudicots, has subsequently been strongly supported by 

molecular analyses, and the concept has made its way into 

modern botany and biology textbooks.  Throughout his 

career and continuing into retirement, Prof. Doyle has shown himself to be an outstanding and inspiring 

teacher, at both the undergraduate and graduate level.  His lectures are meticulously organized, expertly 

delivered, and focused on principles yet packed with details.  His quirky sense of humor emerges and 

students are left amazed by how much they learned. Prof. Doyle trained nine graduate students over his 

career and mentored innumerable other graduate students, postdocs, and faculty colleagues.  

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Plant Science Bulletin 60(2) 2014

Dr. Michael Donoghue is a world-renowned botanist 

and a tireless champion of phylogenetics, evolution, 

and biodiversity research. He is an elected Fellow of the 

National Academy of Sciences (2005) and the American 

Academy of Arts and Sciences (2008), and most recently 

was awarded the prestigious Dahlgren Prize in Botany 

from the Royal Physiographic Society of Sweden 

(2011). Donoghue has consistently been ahead of his 

time—an intellectual leader in the development of new 

theory and approaches in systematics, species concepts, 

character evolution, historical biogeography, lineage 

diversification, and phylogenetic nomenclature. His ideas 

are always provocative; he has consistently rocked the 

boat, inspired debate, and moved all of us toward more 

rigorous thought. 

His prodigious research career (he has published 

hundreds of papers) is matched by his inspired, continual 

service to our community, including many years in the 

Directorships of the Harvard University Herbaria and the Yale Peabody Museum. He has also trained and 

mentored dozens of students and post-doctoral associates, many of whom are now leaders themselves. 

All of his nomination letters make special note of how naturally Michael inspires his colleagues—and the 

botanical community at large—with his ideas and creativity, his enthusiasm, and his enormous generosity.

Dr. Michael Donoghue

Yale University

Dr. Jeffrey Doyle

Cornell University

Dr. Jeffrey Doyle is an internationally recognized leader 

in the fields of theoretical and phylogenetic plant molecular 

systematics and molecular evolution. Over the past several 

decades he has consistently been at the forefront of the 

field of molecular plant systematics, contributing not only 

innovative methods, but also conceptual advances, as well 

as new empirical findings that have led to an improved 

understanding of plant diversity.  One letter-writer notes 

that Dr. Doyle has  “an astonishing…record of insightful and 

sustained scientific achievement and has an immense impact 

on the direction of our field.” Dr. Doyle has made major 

contributions to clarifying evolutionary relationships among 

the legumes, the evolution of nodulation and also on the significance of polyploidy. Importantly, one letter-

writer notes that Dr. Doyle’s “commitment to undergraduate education is every bit as impressive as his 

research and scholarship.”  Dr. Doyle was not only an effective undergraduate teacher but also held a major 

administrative position at Cornell, Director of the Office of Undergraduate Biology,

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Plant Science Bulletin 60(2) 2014

BRUCE K. KIRCHOFF RECEIVES THE 2014 

CHARLES E. BESSEY AWARD 

The 2014 recipient of the Bessey Award is Professor Bruce K. Kirchoff 

(University of North Carolina, Greensboro).  Dr. Kirchoff has been on the 

faculty at Greensboro since 1986 where he has distinguished himself as a 

plant morphologist and botanical educator. He is a former member of the 

BSA Education Committee and served as chair in 1993-94.  His botanical 

education research on image recognition is a direct outgrowth of his 

morphological studies.  

Dr. Kirchoff is transforming the way that students learn through the 

creation of active, visual learning programs and mobile applications. He 

has created, validated, and is in the process of distributing groundbreaking 

software that helps students more easily master complex subjects.  Furthermore, he has collaborated not 

only with scientists in the U.S., but also Europe and Australia, to adapt his visual learning software to local 

problems such as helping Australian veterinary students recognize poisonous plants and providing visual 

identification keys for tropical African woods.  

In 2007 he was the BSA Education Booth Competition winner for Image Quiz: A new approach to 

teaching plant identification through visual learning and his work was showcased in the Education Booth 

at the Botany & Plant Biology 2007 Joint Congress in Chicago.   In 2013 he was the inaugural recipient of 

the American Society of Plant Taxonomists (ASPT) Innovations in Plant Systematics Education Prize and 

this year he was recognized with the University of North Carolina System Board of Governors award for 

Excellence in Teaching.  

Stacey Smith Receives Inaugural BSA 

Emerging Leader Award  

Dr. Stacey Smith is an accomplished researcher with a true commitment 

to education and outreach and a willingness to step into leadership roles. She 

is currently an assistant professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder.  

Smith did her undergraduate work at Virginia Tech, earned a Master’s on 

a Marshall Fellowship at the Universities of Reading and Birmingham, and 

then obtained a PhD in Botany from the University of Wisconsin in 2008.  

After doing a post-doc at Duke University, and spending 3 years on the 

faculty at the University of Nebraska, she took her current position in 2013.  

Over that time Dr. Smith has proven herself to be a prolific researcher, 

with more than 25 publications, including co-authorship of the book, Tree 

Thinking: An Introduction to Phylogenetic Biology.  

Dr. Smith is best known for her work on Iochrominae (Solanaceae), 

a clade that she has turned into a spectacular model system for bridging 

ecological studies of pollination biology with genetic studies of the biochemical and genetic basis of 

floral diversity. In addition, she has collaborated on diverse evolutionary studies and has made important 

contributions in phylogenetic theory.  However, as noted by her nominator, “Stacey is not just a great 

researcher, but also a committed educator.” She has been active in traditional university courses, diverse 

outreach activities especially in a K-12 setting, and as a resource instructor for the OTS Tropical Plant 

Systematics course.  She has also played an important role in identifying the challenge of teaching tree 

thinking and in providing resources to help teachers overcome those challenges. Finally, it has been noted 

that Dr. Smith is “a generous and supportive person who leads by example and draws along many other 

junior (and senior) colleagues in her wake.” Given all these contributions to botany, Dr. Smith is a very 

fitting recipient of the inaugural BSA Emerging Leader Award.  

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Plant Science Bulletin 60(2) 2014

BSA Public Policy Award

The Public Policy Award was established 

in 2012 to support the development of 

tomorrow’s leaders and a better understanding 

of this critical area. The 2014 recipients are: 

Megan Philpott, University of Cincinnati and the 

Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, and Steven 

Callen, Saint Louis University.
 

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. Within the award group is the 

J. S. 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. 

J. S. Karling Graduate 

Student Research Award

Catherine Rushworth, Duke University - 

Advisor, Dr. Thomas Mitchell-Olds, Insights into the 

origin and persistence of apomixis in the Boechera 

holboellii species complex

BSA Graduate Student 

Research Awards

Jason Berg, University of Maryland - Advisor, 

Dr. Elizabeth Zimmer,   A molecular assessment 

of the potentially invasive plant species, Mimulus 

guttatus DC: Estimating genetic divergence, 

migration rates, and selfing rates for naturalized and 

invasive populations in North America and Europe

Andrew A. Crowl, University of Florida and the 

Florida Museum of Natural History - Advisor, Dr. 

Nico Cellinese,  Integrating morphology, cytology, 

niche modeling, and phylogenetics to understand the 

evolutionary history of endemic  Campanula Species 

in the Mediterranean

Jessamine Finch, Northwestern University 

and Chicago Botanic Garden - Advisor, Dr. Kayri 

Havens-Young, The effects of climate change on plant 

regeneration: linking neighborhood size, tolerance 

range, and species responses

Elliot Gardner, Northwestern University 

and Chicago Botanic Garden - Advisor, 

Dr. Nyree Zerega,  Pollination biology of 

domesticated  artocarpus  J.R. Forst. & G. Forst. 

(Moraceae)

Alannie-Grace Grant, University of Pittsburgh - 

Advisor, Dr. Susan Kalisz, Testing the preemptive selfing 

hypothesis—Does self-pollination limit hybridization 

in co-flowering related species?

Kimberly Hansen, Northern Arizona University - 

Advisor, Dr. Tina J Ayers, Reconstructing the evolutionary 

history of Campanulaceae with NextGen sequencing

Carla J. Harper, University of Kansas - Advisor, 

Dr. Thomas N. Taylor, Fungal diversity during the 

Permian and Triassic of Antarctica

Karolina Heyduk, University of Georgia - 

Advisor, Dr. Jim Leebens-Mack,  Physiology and 

evolutionary genomics of CAM photosynthesis 

in Yucca (Asparagaceae)

Brian Hoven, Miami University - Advisor, Dr. 

David L. Gorchov, The effect of emerald ash borer-

caused canopy gaps on understory invasive shrubs 

and forest regeneration

Kelly Ksiazek, Northwestern University and 

Chicago Botanic Garden - Advisor, Dr. Krissa 

Skogen, Pollen movement on urban green roofs

Emily Lewis, Northwestern University and 

Chicago Botanic Garden - Advisor, Dr. Krissa 

Skogen,  Using pollinator foraging distance to 

predict genetic differentiation in hawkmoth and bee-

pollinated Oenothera species

Shih-Hui Liu, Saint Louis University and the 

Missouri Botanical Garden - Advisor, Dr. Jan 

Barber,  Phylogeny of Ludwigia and polyploid 

evolution in section Macrocarpon (Onagraceae)

Blaine Marchant, University of Florida and the 

Florida  Museum of Natural History - Advisors, 

Drs. Douglas and Pamela Soltis, Investigations into 

the fern genome: filling the missing link in land plant 

genome evolution

Renee Petipas, Cornell University - Advisor, Dr. 

Monica Geber,  The contribution of root-associated 

microbes to plant local adaptation

Clayton Visger, University of Florida and the 

Florida Museum of Natural History - Advisors, Drs. 

Douglas and Pamela Soltis, Genomic consequences 

of autopolyploidy: Gene expression in diploid and 

autopolyploid Tolmiea (Saxifragaceae)

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Plant Science Bulletin 60(2) 2014

Emily Warschefsky, Florida International 

University and the Fairchild Tropical Botanic 

Garden - Advisor, Dr. Eric J. B. von Wettberg, Next-

generation domestication genetics of the mango (m. 

indica l.)

Keir Wefferling, University of Wisconsin - 

Milwaukee - Advisor, Dr. Sara Hoot,  Speciation 

and hybridization in  Caltha leptosepala  s.l. 

(Ranunculaceae): Disentangling the subalpine 

marsh-marigold species complex

Kevin Weitemier, Oregon State University -  Advisor, 

Dr. Aaron Liston, Genome-enabled phylogeography 

of a Great Basin milkweed, Asclepias cryptoceras

Brett Younginger, Portland State University - 

Advisor, Dr. Daniel Ballhorn,  The diversity and 

functional role of foliar endophytes in stress-tolerant 

plants

Vernon I. Cheadle Student 

Travel Awards

(BSA in association with the 

Developmental and Structural 

Section)

This award was named in honor of the memory 

and work of Dr. Vernon I. Cheadle.

Carla Harper, University of Kansas - Advisor, 

Dr. Thomas N. Taylor - for the Botany 2014 

presentation: “Foliar fossil fungi: Leaf–fungal 

interactions from the Permian and Triassic of 

Antarctica” Co-authors: Thomas N. Taylor, Michael 

Krings and Edith L. Taylor

Rebecca Koll, University of Florida, Florida 

Museum of Natural History - Advisor, Dr. Steven 

Manchester - for the Botany 2014 presentation: 

“Taxonomic relationships of early and middle 

Permian gigantopterid seed plants in western 

Pangea” Co-author: Steven Manchester

Meghan McKeown, University of Vermont 

- Advisor, Dr. Jill Preston - for the Botany 2014 

presentation: “The Evolution of vernalization 

responsiveness in temperate Pooideae” Co-author: 

Jill Preston

Triarch “Botanical Images” 

Student Travel Awards

This award provides acknowledgement and travel 

support to BSA meetings for outstanding student 

work coupling digital images (botanical) with 

scientific explanations/descriptions designed for 

the general public. See the July American Journal of 

Botany for all submissions.

Daniel McNair, University of Southern 

Mississippi - 1st Place, Graceful aging, $500 Botany 

2014 Student Travel Award

Daniel McNair, University of Southern 

Mississippi - 2nd Place, Last of the longleaf

Abby Glauser, University of Kansas - 

3rd  Place,  Resilience, $250 Botany 2014 Student 

Travel Award

Carla Harper, University of Kansas - 

3rd  Place,  260 million year old (Permian) 

mycorrhizal fungi from Antarctica, $250 Botany 

2014 Student Travel Award

The BSA Undergraduate 

Student Research Awards

The BSA Undergraduate Student Research 

Awards support undergraduate student research 

and are made on the basis of research proposals 

and letters of recommendation. The 2014 award 

recipients are:

Meredith R. Breeden, Fort Lewis College - 

Advisor, Dr. Ross A. McCauley, Pollination biology 

of the narrow endemic  Ipomopsis ramosa, in 

Roaring Fork Canyon, CO

Alice Butler, Bucknell University - Advisor, 

Dr. Chris Martine, Floral development in solanum 

sejunctum and solanum asymmetriphyllum

Matthew Galliart, Kansas State University 

- Advisor, Dr. Loretta Johnson,  Long-term field 

selection of big bluestem ecotypes in reciprocal 

gardens planted across the Great Plains precipitation 

gradient

Ian Gilman, Bucknell University - Advisor, Dr. 

Chris Martine, Field botany and population genetics 

of Draba L. (Brassicaceae) in the Rocky Mountains

Morgan Roche, Bucknell University - Advisor, 

Dr. Chris Martine,  Genetic diversity within and 

among species of dioecious Australian solanum

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Plant Science Bulletin 60(2) 2014

Dylan D. Sedmak,  Ohio State University - 

Advisor, Dr. John Freudenstein, Fungal variability 

and habitat correspondence in the North American 

orchid Cypripedium acaule ait.

Kayla Ventura, University of Florida - Advisor, 

Dr. Pamela Soltis, Identifying the cellular component 

of flower size differences in  Gilia  (Polemoniaceae) 

associated with changes in pollinators

Developmental & Structural 

Section Student Travel Awards

Italo Antonio Cotta Coutinho,  Universidade 

Federal de Vicosa - Advisor, Renata Maria Strozi 

Alves Meira - for the Botany 2014 presentation: 

“Diversity of secretory structures in  Urena 

lobata  L.: ontogenesis, anatomy and biology of the 

secretion” Co-authors: Sara Akemi Ponce Otuki, 

Valéria  Ferreira Fernandes, Renata Maria Strozi 

Alves Meira

Roux Florian, INRA - Advisor, Jana Dlouhá - for 

the Botany 2014 presentation: “Flexible juveniles or 

why trees produce ‘low quality’ wood?” Co-authors: 

Jana Dlouhá, Tancrède Almeras, Meriem Fournier

Rebecca Povilus,  Harvard University - 

Advisor, William Friedman - for the Botany 

2014 presentation: “Pre-fertilization reproductive 

development and floral biology in the remarkable 

water lily, nymphaea thermarum” Co-authors: Juan 

M. Losada, William E. Friedman

Beck Powers, University of Vermont - Advisor, 

Jill Preston - for the Botany 2014 presentation: 

“Evolution of asterid  HANABA TARANU-like genes 

and their role in petal fusion” Co-author: Jill Preston

Ecology Section Student 

Travel Awards

Rachel Germain,  University Of Toronto - 

Advisor, Dr. Benjamin Gilbert - for the Botany 2014 

presentation: “Hidden responses to environmental 

variation: maternal effects reveal species niche 

dimensions” Co-author: Benjamin Gilbert

Jessica Peebles Spencer,  Miami University - 

Advisor, Dr. David L. Gorchov - for the Botany 

2014 presentation: “Effects of the Invasive Shrub, 

Lonicera maackii, and a Generalist Herbivore, 

White-tailed Deer, on Forest Floor Plant Community 

Composition” Co-author: David L. Gorchov

Genetics Section Student 

Research Awards

Genetics Section Student Research Awards 

provide $500 for research funding and an additional 

$500 for attendance at a future BSA meeting.

Kevin Weitemier,  Oregon State University- 

Graduate Student Award - Advisors: Dr. Aaron 

Liston, for the proposal titled “Genome-enabled 

phylogeography of a Great Basin milkweed, Asclepias 

cryptoceras”

Kimberly Hansen, 

Northern Arizona 

University- Masters Student Award - Advisor: Dr. 

Tina Ayers, for the proposal titled “Reconstructing 

the evolutionary history of Campanulaceae with 

NextGen sequencing”

Pteridological Section & 

American Fern Society Student 

Travel Awards

Alyssa Cochran, University of North Carolina, 

Wilmington - Advisor, Dr. Eric Schuettpelz - for 

the Botany 2014 presentation: “Tryonia, a new 

taenitidoid fern genus segregated from Jamesonia 

and Eriosorus (Pteridaceae)” Co-authors: Jefferson 

Prado and Eric Schuettpelz

Jordan Metzgar , University of Alaska, Fairbanks 

- Advisor, Dr. Stefanie Ickert-Bond - for the Botany 

2014 presentation: “From eastern Asia to North 

America: historical biogeography of the parsley ferns 

(Cryptogramma)” Co-author: Stefanie Ickert-Bond

Jerald Pinson,  University of North Carolina, 

Wilmington - Advisor, Dr. Eric Schuettpelz - for 

the Botany 2014 presentation: “Origin of  Vittaria 

appalachiana, the “Appalachian gametophyte”” Co-

author: Eric Schuettpelz

Sally Stevens, Purdue University  - Advisor, Dr. 

Nancy C. Emery - for the Botany 2014 presentation: 

“Home is Where the Heat Is? Temperature and 

Humidity Responses in a Fern Gametophytex” Co-

author: Nancy C. Emery

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Plant Science Bulletin 60(2) 2014

The BSA Young Botanist 

Awards

The purpose of these awards is to offer individual 

recognition to outstanding graduating seniors 

in the plant sciences and to encourage their 

participation in the Botanical Society of America. 

The 2014 “Certificate of Special Achievement” 

award recipients are:

Theresa Barosh, Willamette University, Advisor: 

Dr. Susan Kephart

Allison Bronson, Humboldt State University, 

Advisor: Dr. Alexandru M. Tomescu

Jamie Burnett, Humboldt State University, 

Advisor: Dr. Alexandru M. Tomescu

Katherine Chapel, Miami University, Advisor: 

Dr. Michael A. Vincent

Nels Christensen, Connecticut College, Advisor: 

Dr. T. Page Owen, Jr.

Gemma Dugan, Bucknell University, Advisor: 

Dr. Chris Martine

Vince Fasanello, Bucknell University, Advisor: 

Dr. Chris Martine

Leila Fletcher, Barnard College, Columbia 

University, Advisor: Dr. Hilary Callahan

Anna Freundlich, Bucknell University, Advisor: 

Dr. Chris Martine

Maria Friedman, Humboldt State University, 

Advisor: Dr. Alexandru M. Tomescu

Blake Geraci, University of Florida, Advisor: Dr. 

Pamela S. Soltis

Grace Glynn, Connecticut College, Advisor: Dr. 

T. Page Owen, Jr.

Cody Groen, College of St. Benedict/St. John’s 

University, Advisor: Dr. Stephen G. Saupe, Ph.D.

Anna Herzberger, Eastern Illinois University, 

Advisor: Dr. Scott J. Meiners, Ph.D

Julia Hull, Weber State University, Advisor: Dr. 

Ron Deckert, Ph.D.

Emily Keil, Ohio University, Advisor: Dr. Sarah 

E. Wyatt

Michael LeDuc, Connecticut College, Advisor: 

Dr. T. Page Owen, Jr.

Jessica Mikenas, Oberlin College, Advisor: Dr. 

Michael J. Moore

Luis Mourino, University of Florida, Advisor: 

Dr. Pamela S. Soltis

Taylor J. Nelson, Weber State University, 

Advisor: Dr. Sue Harley

Chelsea Obrebski, Miami University, Advisor: 

Dr. Michael A. Vincent

Rhys Ormond, Willamette University, Advisor: 

Dr. Susan Kephart

Kelsey Phipps, Eastern Illinois University, 

Advisor: Dr. Scott J. Meiners, Ph.D.

Molly Sutton, Weber State University, Advisor: 

Dr. Barb Wachocki

Amanda Thornton, Campbell University, 

Advisor: Dr. Chris Havran

Drew Walters, Fort Lewis College, Advisor: Dr. 

Ross A. McCauley, Ph.D.

The BSA PLANTS Grant Recipients

The PLANTS (Preparing Leaders and Nurturing 

Tomorrow’s Scientists) program recognizes outstanding 

undergraduates from diverse backgrounds and provides 

travel grants and mentoring for these students.

Marilyn Creer,  Alabama A&M University, 

Advisor: Dr. Tatiana Kukhtareva

Gemma Dugan,  Bucknell University, Advisor: 

Dr. Chris Martine

Shawna Faulkner,  Humboldt University, 

Advisor: Dr. Alexandru Tomescu

Michelle Garcia, University of Texas-El Paso, 

Advisor:  Dr. Michael Moody

Aidee Guzman,  University of Wisconsin-

Madison, Advisor: Dr. Eve Emshwiller

Timothy Hieger, University of Kansas, Advisor: 

Dr. Thomas N. Taylor

Shayla Hobbs,  University of Illinois, Advisor: 

Dr. Tina M. Knox

Michelle Jackson,  Smith College, Advisor: Dr. 

Jesse Bellemare

Claudia Christine Marin,  University of 

California Riverside, Advisor: Dr. Milton McGiffen

Sean Pena,  Florida International University, 

Advisor: Dr. Suzanne Koptur

David Pozo Garces,  Central Michigan State 

University, Advisor: Dr. Anna Monfils

Yisu Santamarina,  Florida International 

University, Advisor: Dr. Bradley Bennett

Samuel Torpey,  University of Idaho, Advisor: 

Dr. David Tank

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Plant Science Bulletin 60(2) 2014

BSA students participate in 

Congressional Visits Day 2014

BSA Public Policy Award offers 

unique and personal experience in 

Washington, DC

On April 9-10, BSA graduate student members 

Megan Philpott (University of Cincinnati), Steven 

Callen (Saint Louis University), and Morgan Gostel 

(George Mason University) met with members 

of Congress to discuss the importance of funding 

for basic scientific research through the National 

Science Foundation (NSF). This was the third year 

that BSA student members have participated in this 

annual event, organized by the American Institute 

of Biological Sciences (AIBS) and the Biological and 

Ecological Science Coalition (BESC) for biologists 

to meet with members of congress. 

As a bit of background, this year President 

Obama’s budget proposal requested $7.255 billion in 

appropriations for the National Science Foundation. 

This is 1.2% more than last year’s request. Recently, 

appropriations request letters were submitted to 

House (Representative Butterfield, D–MA) and 

Senate (Senator Markey, D–NC) appropriations 

committees, requesting this amount be increased 

to $7.5 billion for FY 2015, which helps to mitigate 

net losses due to inflation and maintains support 

for important NSF programs. 

Megan and Steven are recipients of the second 

annual BSA Public Policy Award and have 

described their experience below. 

Megan’s experience

Fellow BSA Public Policy Award winner Steven 

Callen and I met with BSA student representative, 

Morgan Gostel, the day before the festivities 

started to get oriented. April 9 kicked off with a 

meeting between the first-time Congressional 

Visits attendees and members of the scientific 

community with extensive experience in public 

policy.  It was a candid look into the day-to-

day world of communicating science to policy-

makers. Afterward, we got a run-down of the 

political climate in Congress right now regarding 

science policy and research, the proposed budgets 

for various scientific research agencies for 2015, 

and how exactly to communicate effectively with 

policy-makers regarding our requests. 

April 10 was the big day to meet with our 

Congress people. I was in a group with two other 

graduate students representing Michigan and 

Pennsylvania, led by Brian Wee, Chief of Strategic 

Alliances for the National Ecological Observatory 

Network.  We each met with the offices of our two 

state senators and state representative, and I led 

the meetings with my Ohio congressmen, Sen. 

Sherrod Brown, Sen. Rob Portman, and Rep. Steve 

Chabot. Our main request was a modest increase 

for the NSF budget in FY2015 to $7.5 billion, up 

from the proposed budget of $7.255 billion. Most 

of the offices we met with seemed very supportive 

of funding basic scientific research in their state, 

but time and time again, legislative staff stressed 

the difficulty of passing any budget increases 

given the current political climate.  According to 

the AIBS, several of the Senator’s offices that CVD 

participants met with signed a “Dear Colleague” 

letter circulated in support of an increased NSF 

budget, so hopefully our meetings had a positive 

impact.

All in all, my involvement with CVD was an 

eye-opening and educational experience. It’s easy 

to get discouraged as a citizen when it feels like 

your elected officials don’t share your priorities, 

but actually going to Capitol Hill and meeting 

Megan Philpott, University of Cincinnati (right), 

with two other graduate students during Congres-

sional Visits Day 2014. 

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Plant Science Bulletin 60(2) 2014

with congressional offices showed that we citizens 

can have a little more impact than just going to 

the polls on Election Day.  I feel inspired to stay 

involved with science advocacy and public policy 

at the federal level, and I’m currently trying to 

get involved at the state level as well. In all, I’m 

incredibly grateful to the BSA for allowing me to 

have such a great experience.

Steven’s experience

Until my visit to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing 

last summer during my 2013 NSF East Asian 

and Pacific Summer Institute Fellowship, I had 

never considered, or even thought about, how 

important science policy and policymakers are 

in directing the landscape of scientific research 

and development in the United States and in 

supporting my own research.  Inspired by that 

embassy visit, I subsequently began to increase 

my awareness and understanding of issues in 

science policy and actively started to find avenues 

for student participation in policy that would 

consequently give me the chance to have an impact 

on the current state and future direction of science 

R&D. Thanks to the Botanical Society of America, 

I was able to take a significant step in that direction 

by immersing myself in part of the science policy 

process by attending CVD this year.

Our group was lead by Richelle Weihe, 

Governmental Grants and Contracts Coordinator 

at the Missouri Botanical Garden, and also 

included Chris Lorentz (from Thomas More 

College in Kentucky) and Don Natvig (from the 

University of New Mexico). Since there were four 

of us representing three states, we were tasked 

with having conversations with Senate and House 

members (or their staff) from Missouri (Sen. 

McCaskill, Sen. Blunt, and Rep. Clay), Kentucky 

(Sen. Paul, Sen. McConnell, and Rep. Massie), and 

New Mexico (Sen. Udall, Sen. Heinrich, and Rep. 

Lujan Grishman).

What was particularly unique about this group 

of Senators and Representatives was the diversity 

of their backgrounds: five are Democrats and four 

are Republicans; two are women; one is African-

American; collectively they come from six different 

religious backgrounds; and, while most are in their 

first term, they have different levels of experience 

in Congress (up to seven terms)!  As a result, it 

was interesting seeing first-hand the different 

ways that each of their offices operated, their levels 

of understanding how science works, and their 

individual perspectives on federal funding for 

science R&D.

For instance, while the office of Sen. McCaskill 

(D-MO) expressed support for federally supported 

science research, though her policy is to generally 

not sign letters of support for any issue, Sen. Rand 

Paul’s (R-KY) office bluntly suggested that the best 

we could hope for, since this is an election year, 

is to maintain status quo until some time in the 

following year, but that his office is generally in 

favor of across-the-board budget cuts (not just to 

the sciences). Alternatively, the office of Sen. Wm. 

Lacy Clay (D-MO) was uniquely transparent in 

their complete support of increased federal funding 

to science research, which actually was evident 

before our meeting, as he had, just days before, 

signed the Butterfield-McKinley Dear Colleague 

Letter in support of a $7.5 million budget for 

NSF for fiscal year 2015 ($245 million more than 

currently proposed by Pres. Obama).

While the entire day was full of excitement and 

“teachable moments” for me, my experience at 

CVD both began and ended with my two biggest 

highlights.  As residents of Missouri, Richelle 

and I were both able to attend Sen. McCaskill’s 

constituent coffee hour (along with vacationers 

and groups advocating for different issues). It was 

a little intimidating meeting with a member of 

Congress for the first time, but I was quickly put 

at ease by Sen. McCaskill’s sense of humor and 

straightforward demeanor.  After listening to her 

Steve Callen, Saint Louis University, meets with 

Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) during Congres-

sional Visits Day 2014

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Plant Science Bulletin 60(2) 2014

tell us about the current state of things in the Senate 

and then having our photo taken with her, we met 

with one of her policy analysts in the hallway and 

were able to get into more detail about the need for 

federal funding for science, how it has been used 

to support our own work, and other ways in which 

federal funding has benefitted science R&D and 

STEM training in Missouri. Our message was well-

received, and, just before we left, I offered myself as 

an eager source of advice on future science policy 

issues.

Toward the end of the day, our group had a 

meeting with Rep. Clay. We were not planning on 

meeting with him, but, to our surprise, he was in 

his office and quickly stepped out to greet us and 

say “hello” before he had to run off to vote. A bit 

mystified by his unexpected appearance, I collected 

myself and was directed into a room to speak 

with one of his legislative assistants, Ms. Noelle 

Lindsay. The two of us bonded immediately as a 

result of some common ground. After I explained 

how federal funding is helping to support my 

dissertation project on an invasive plant species, 

she told me how her dad struggles to remove the 

same plant from his backyard year after year! As 

Richelle and I were leaving the office, Ms. Lindsay, 

laughing, mentioned she was going to text her dad 

that she met someone whose research might help to 

relieve some of his backache.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed CVD, and it has helped 

to solidify my interests in continuing to have a role 

in science policy. While we did our best to get our 

message across during each of our brief 15-minute 

meetings, this is really just the start. As I was told 

in a panel discussion the day before at the ESA, 

the best way to ensure you have a long-term 

impact on science policy is to form relationships 

with the members of Congress and their staff by 

communicating with them clearly and frequently 

and by explaining the ways in which science 

issues are relevant to them and the states they 

represent.   I plan to cultivate the relationships 

I started at this 2014 CVD by writing follow-up 

emails and letters, sending messages to members 

of Congress on social media such as Facebook and 

Twitter, and returning to participate in more CVDs. 

I am most appreciative to the BSA for sponsoring 

my visit; to the ESA, BESC, and AIBS for organizing 

it; and to Morgan for coordinating my trip and 

showing Megan and me around DC.

Morgan’s experience

This year I led a team, which was markedly 

different from my experiences in 2012 and 2013. 

Because this was my third time at the CVD, I was 

able to share my experience from previous years 

with new participants. My team included two other 

graduate students from Arizona State University 

and the University of Delaware. Our team met 

with legislative aides and coordinators from seven 

congressional offices, including both senators from 

Arizona and Delaware, as well as Representatives 

Carney (Delaware) and Sinema (Arizona, 9th). 

I also met with a legislative correspondent from 

Senator Mark Warner’s office (Virginia). The 

week following our meetings, I heard back from 

the legislative correspondent I met with that both 

Virginia Senators (along with 19 other senators, 

including both from Delaware as well) had signed 

the Markey “Dear Colleague” letter requesting 

increased appropriations for the NSF—it makes me 

wonder if our meetings helped make this difference!

The most dramatic difference between the BESC 

this year from my previous two years was the overall 

nature of the meetings. Last year, the President’s 

budget was released on the same day of the event, 

so few members of Congress were familiar with the 

specificity of the appropriations requests. Rhetoric 

surrounding budget priorities was very heated and 

the word “funding” had somewhat of a palpable air 

of intrigue and suspicion surrounding it. This year I 

detected much more of a need to communicate and 

cooperate on the budget and a sense of urgency. 

Among the legislative staffers our team met with, 

all were specialists on science and technology 

policy and included a former post-doctoral AAAS 

Congressional Fellow. We were able to share stories 

about how our work has touched the lives of not 

only a local constituency, but also improves our 

fundamental understanding of biological systems 

at a global scale.

Despite the challenges and opportunities 

observed during the CVD, it is satisfying 

to realize the underlying support for basic 

research and level of understanding among 

many congressional offices that basic research 

is not a partisan issue. What is most shocking is 

the perspective I have gleaned over the past three 

years as a participant in the CVD and how radically 

attitudes toward funding for basic research can 

shift from one year to the next. Despite the shifting 

policy climate, the salience of our message remains 

the same: basic research supports education 

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Plant Science Bulletin 60(2) 2014

and innovation priorities that help develop 

our nation both uni- and multilaterally as a 

leader in science and technology. A continued 

commitment is necessary to maintain a leadership 

role in basic research and it is our job, as botanists, 

to communicate the importance of this role, its 

breadth, and the interconnectedness we share with 

both the biotic and abiotic features of the planet 

that botanical research helps us better understand.

Already in the few weeks following the 2014 

CVD, we have observed some positive response 

to our message, including support in the Senate 

for the Senator Markey “Dear Colleague” 

appropriations letter and just two weeks ago, 

the House voted to pass a bill supporting $7.4 

billion for the National Science Foundation—not 

quite the amount requested by CVD participants 

($7.5 billion), but an increase of $154 million 

from President Obama’s request for 2015. 

What can you do?

Write to your congressional representatives, sign 

up for Public Policy Reports from the American 

Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS, http://

www.aibs.org/public-policy-reports/), and become 

involved! If you can’t make it to Washington, D.C., 

the AIBS organizes an annual event in August called 

the Biological Sciences Congressional District Visits, 

which gives scientists an opportunity to meet locally 

with their representatives and senators to discuss the 

importance of the work you do and federal funding 

that supports it. Registration for the event is free and 

should be opening soon! If you can’t attend in 

person, remember that you can always write your 

representatives and senators to ask for their support 

and/or thank them if they already have supported 

policy that is important to you!

Finally, if you are a graduate student or post-

doc, be sure to keep an eye out for these important 

opportunities to engage in public policy, sponsored 

by the BSA and our Public Policy Committee 

(become a member!) You can expect a call for 

proposals for the 2015 BSA Public Policy Award in 

Fall 2014!

With deep gratitude to the BSA membership 

for supporting important botanical education and 

outreach, as well as the Public Policy Committee’s 

commitment to improving opportunities for public 

policy action,

—Megan Philpott, Steven Callen, and Morgan 

Gostel

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Plant Science Bulletin 60(2) 2014

The 

American Journal of Botany continues Centennial 

Celebration throughout 2014

The celebration of the first 100 years of the American Journal of Botany continues! The last issue of the 

PSB featured interviews with some of the AJB’s most prolific authors over the years: Karl Niklas, Pam and 

Doug Soltis, and Mark Chase. This issue features interviews with more members of this elite group, as the 

following pages show.

The AJB’s unique Centennial Review papers have also been attracting a lot of attention and positive 

comments. These papers take a look at key research from the AJB’s past and re-examines and updates 

the research to find where the field stands now and into the future. The following AJB Centennial Review 

articles are already available and can be accessed for free:

•  “Plant evolution at the interface of paleontology and developmental biology: An organism-centered 

paradigm” by Gar W. Rothwell, Sarah E. Wyatt, and Alexandru M. F. Tomescu [101(6):899, 2014]

•  “Is gene flow the most important evolutionary force in plants?” by Norman C. Ellstrand [101(5):757, 2014] 
•  “Repeated evolution of tricellular (and bicellular) pollen” by Joseph H. Williams, Mackenzie L. Taylor, 

and Brian C. O’Meara [101(4):559, 2014] 

•  “The voice of American botanists: The founding and establishment of the American Journal of Botany, 

‘American botany,’ and the Great War (1906-1935)” by Vassiliki Betty Smocovitis [101(3):389, 2014] 

•  “The nature of serpentine endemism” by Brian L. Anacker [101(2):219, 2014] 
•  “The evolutionary-developmental origins of multicellularity” by Karl J. Niklas [101(1):6, 2014] 
•  “The American Journal of Botany: Into the Second Century of Publication” by Judy Jernstedt 

[101(1):1, 2014] 

These articles are also hosted at botany.org/ajb100, and the site also hosts other free content--- 

nearly 1000 articles from the history of the AJB, as written by the journal’s top 25 contributors! 

The AJB is one of the few surviving plant science publications published by a non-profit scientific society. 

The journal, and its authors, reviewers, editors, readers, and subscribers, are at the heart of the Botanical 

Society of America, and the strength of this connection makes the AJB stand out from many other journals.

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Plant Science Bulletin 60(2) 2014

uniform  floral  development.  Ann  found  mutants 

of  Melilotus alba that were non-papilionoid and 

hence interesting to both of us; I supplied the SEM 

work on it. 

Why have you chosen AJB  as one of the 

journals in which you’ve published throughout 

your career?  

AJB has always been the premier American 

journal in botany, in my opinion. I have had good 

relations and help from all its editors from Norman 

Boke (1970-1974) onward, mostly fair reviews, 

and straightforward procedures toward publication. 

The fact that the journal is so widely distributed 

worldwide is also very important, since my areas 

of research are practiced worldwide.

Shirley’s complete list of AJB publications, which 

are free for viewing throughout 2014, can be found at 

https://botany.org/ajb100/stucker.php.

Shirley Tucker, University of 

California–Santa Barbara

Shirley Tucker has not only published 55 articles 

in the American Journal of Botany over 55 years, 

but has served as BSA President (1986-1987) and 

Program Director (1978). She also won the BSA’s 

highest honor, the BSA Merit Award, in 1989. We 

asked Shirley to look back over her career and some 

of the key research she published in AJB over the 

years. 

The first article you published in AJB was 

“Ontogeny of the Floral Apex of Michelia fuscata” 

in 1960. Take us back to that period—where were 

you, what were you doing, and what were you 

studying/most interested in at the time?  

I was a Research Associate in the Botany 

Department at the University of Minnesota, 

supported halftime on my first NSF research 

grant, which was on floral development in 

Magnoliaceae.  I had completed my PhD at the 

University of California (Davis) and moved to 

Minnesota with my husband Ken, where he 

obtained a position in Entomology. Fortunately 

I could work in the laboratory of Dr. Ernst Abbe, 

with whom I had done an MS degree working on 

Zea mays seedling development. Living material 

of Magnoliaceae was scarce in St. Paul, but a small 

tree of Michelia fuscata in a public greenhouse was 

sufficient  to produce four publications (all in AJB) 

describing its vegetative and floral development as 

well as its odd phyllotaxy. Meanwhile I was also 

preparing my PhD work, on floral ontogeny in 

Drimys winteri, for publication.

Your most recent article in the AJB was “An 

open-flower mutant of Melilotus alba: Potential 

for  floral-dip  transformation  of  a  papilionoid 

legume with a short life cycle?” in 2010. How 

has the thread of your research changed over 

time?

About 1983, my research interest turned 

to  legume  flowers,  at  first  investigating  the 

developmental distinctions among the three 

subfamilies. Fifty-three publications on leguminous 

floral ontogeny resulted, 26 of which were in the 

AJB. Subfamily Caesalpinieae proved most diverse 

in floral ontogeny, and I was fortunate in receiving 

material for this work from west African tropics 

from systematists. This paper by Ann Hirsch and 

her students was among the few papers I published 

on subfamily Papilionoideae, which had relative 

Shirley Tucker, accepting the BSA’s Centennial Award 

in 2006 from Dr. Peter Raven. The award acknowl-

edged and honored outstanding service to the plant 

sciences and the Society.

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Plant Science Bulletin 60(2) 2014

and phylogeny from an organismal perspective, 

and have employed development as a major focus 

throughout.  However, I did not ever expect to be 

able to include information from molecular biology 

and developmental genetics (no such thing for the 

first 20-25 years) in my studies.

In looking back at all of the articles you’ve 

published in AJB, which stand out and why?  

This forces me to look back and remember what I 

was thinking when each of the papers was accepted 

for publication.  I’ll choose my first paper, “Ontogeny 

of the Paleozoic Ovule Callospermarion pusillum,” 

because it allowed me to develop a new approach for 

integrating developmental studies of extinct plants 

with similar studies of living plants.  It also was the 

first project I conceived and implemented entirely on 

my own (only one edit by Tom Taylor), and it gave 

me confidence in my ability to do what I loved doing 

for the rest of my life.

For the same reasons (and to emphasize that it 

wasn’t all downhill from the first), I also really like 

the 2005 article “Evidence of polar auxin flow in 

375 million-year-old fossil wood” with Simcha 

Lev-Yadun, which allowed us to begin inferring 

the role of regulatory genetics in the growth and 

evolution of extinct plants.

Why have you chosen the AJB as one of the 

journals in which you’ve published throughout 

your career? 

The Botanical Society of America is my 

organizational scholastic “home,” and the widely 

read “house journal” is a natural for the audience 

I wish to reach.

To delve deeper into Gar’s extensive research in the 

AJB, please see his full list of articles at botany.

org/ajb100/grothwell.php

Gar Rothwell 

Ohio State University and 

Oregon State University

Gar Rothwell has been a prominent member of 

the BSA for more than 45 years, and over that time, 

he has published nearly 50 articles in the American 

Journal of Botany---including his just-released AJB 

Centennial Review article in the June 2014 issue. He 

shared his thoughts about his research.

  The first article you published in AJB 

was “Ontogeny of the Paleozoic Ovule, 

Callospermarion pusillum”  in 1971.    Take us 

back to that period; where were you, what were 

you doing, and what were you studying/most 

interested in at the time?

I did that paper in the summer between my MS 

and PhD studies at the University of Illinois at 

Chicago when I had a short window of time to do 

a study that others thought unlikely, but that I was 

convinced could succeed.  

Your most recent research article in the AJB 

was “Seed cone anatomy of Cheirolepidiaceae 

(Coniferales): Reinterpreting Pararaucaria 

patagonica Wieland” in 2012. How has the thread 

of your research changed over time?

The scope of my studies has broadened from 

Pennsylvanian age, anatomically preserved fossil 

plant structure, development, and evolution, 

to fossil and living plants of all ages and modes 

of preservation from around the world—but 

otherwise it maintains the same basic emphasis.

In looking back over the course of your 

research, what areas have you consistently 

explored?  What areas did you not expect to 

explore?  

I have consistently explored plant evolution 

Gar Rothwell and his spouse, Ruth Stockey, fol-

lowing Gar’s American Journal of Botany Special 

Lecture at BOTANY 2012.

Gar Rothwell at the 1975 Botany meeting.

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Plant Science Bulletin 60(2) 2014

Daniel Crawford 

University of Kansas

Dr. Daniel Crawford, who has served as BSA 

President in 1996 and received the prestigious BSA 

Merit Award, has been publishing in the American 

Journal of Botany for nearly 45 years. He shared his 

thoughts about publishing his systematics work most 

prominently in the AJB over the years.

Your most recent article in the AJB was 

“Invasive congeners are unlikely to hybridize with 

native Hawaiian Bidens (Asteraceae)” in 2013. 

Tell us a little about how systematics research 

has changed since your first AJB article in 1971 

(“Systematics of the Coreopsis petrophiloides-

Lucida-Teotepecensis Complex”).

One driver of change has been the availability 

of new methods for generating data. In initial 

studies in the ’60s and ’70s, the “new” data were 

comparative secondary chemistry, with enzyme 

electrophoresis and DNA not in the “tool kit” of the 

plant systematist. New methods drove the direction 

of research and the kinds of questions that could 

be addressed. Of course, explicit methods of 

phylogenetic analysis changed the thread of 

research. 

How has the thread of your own research 

changed over this time?

Two constant themes have been studies of a 

particular group of Asteraceae, tribe Coreopsideae, 

and especially the genus Coreopsis, and the origin 

and evolution of island plants. During my first eight 

years on the faculty at the University of Wyoming, I 

did not even contemplate studying plants of oceanic 

islands, but interactions with Tod Stuessy following 

the move to Ohio State initiated and nurtured a 

long-standing interest in island plants. 

In looking back at all of the articles you’ve 

published in AJB, which stand out and why? 

While it is difficult to select among articles 

published in AJB, the two papers summarizing 

allozyme diversity in native and endemic plants of 

the Canary and Juan 

Fernández Islands published in 

2000 and 2001 are especially rewarding (

Francisco-

Ortega et al. “Plant genetic diversity in the Canary 

Islands: a conservation perspective” and Crawford 

et al. “Allozyme diversity in the endemic flowering 

plant species of the Juan Fernández Archipelago, 

Chile: ecological and historical factors with 

implications for conservation”). Both articles are 

the products of collaborative efforts with long-time 

colleagues and friends in the U.S., Chile, and the 

Canaries

. Also, both papers have discussions of the 

conservation of the floras of the two archipelagos. 

Why have you chosen AJB  as one of the 

journals in which you’ve published throughout 

your career?

Since 1971, a substantial number of new journals 

have been established, thus providing more places 

to submit papers. Yet, AJB and Systematic Botany 

have always been my two “home” journals, as I am 

basically a botanist and a systematist. Also, AJB has 

stayed with the trends in making the journal visibly 

more attractive and in incorporating features such 

as special issues centered on topics of current and 

general interest.

Dr. Crawford’s complete list of AJB publications, 

which are free for viewing throughout 2014, can be 

found at https://botany.org/ajb100/dcrawford.php

Daniel Crawford in the late 1980s from Juan 

Fernandez (Robinson Crusoe) Islands, placing plant 

material into liquid nitrogen for use in allozyme and 

DNA studies.

Daniel Crawford, 2014, at the University of Kansas.

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Plant Science Bulletin 60(2) 2014

Paul Mahlberg

Paul Mahlberg has been a member of the BSA 

since 1951—an incredible 63 years! In that time, he 

has published 37 articles between 1961 and 2004. He 

recently expressed his thoughts about his work over 

his career.

The first article you published in AJB was 

“Embryogeny and Histogenesis in Nerium 

oleander. II. Origin and Development of the 

Non-articulated Laticifer” in 1961.  Please take 

us back to that period: what were you studying/

most interested in at the time?

I chose for my doctoral study the non-articulated 

laticifer, a most unusual cell type present in a small 

number of angiospermous families. I became 

intrigued by this cell from previous knowledge of it 

during my earlier graduate studies (Master’s degree 

in Botany, University of Wisconsin) and readings 

of the classical literature on this cell type. When 

I entered the Botany Department, University of 

California, Berkeley (1954), and discussed a thesis 

topic with Professor Adriance Foster, I selected this 

cell type for my dissertation. Because the Oleander 

(Nerium oleander L.) and Euphorbia marginata 

Pursh. were generally available in the area, I 

selected them as models for my study.

Perhaps I was intrigued most by the broad 

questions of how a body cell could evolve into 

such an unusual form, and what physiological and/

or genetic phenomena  gave rise to its intrusive 

growth capability. These broad questions remain 

unresolved, in part perhaps because the techniques 

were not yet available to provide full answers to 

them. We learned many details about its features 

but, as we know, answerable questions only lead to 

new questions. I certainly would like to continue 

this quest especially with the new techniques only 

recently available that could probe deeply into 

the laticifer proteins and genes associated with it 

growth and differentiation.

Your most recent article in the AJB was “A 

Chemotaxonomic Analysis of Cannabinoid 

Variation in Cannabis (Cannabaceae)” in 2004. 

How did the thread of your research change over 

time?

My broadened interests in lipopilic secretory 

cells and structures placed emphasis upon secretory 

glands such as those in Cannabis, also a laticifer-

bearing plant. Our gland studies would focus on 

electron microscopic examination of glands during 

development and chemical analyses of the contents 

within the gland. The distinguishing characteristics 

for such a study required an extremely abundant 

number and localized density of glands to facilitate 

their electron microscopic examination, and glands 

of large size and great numbers to probe individual 

glands as well as their concentration so as to aid 

examination of their structure and contents. I also 

acquired a large number of accessions, nearly 200, of 

Cannabis to research as a model for gland character 

and analyses of their specialized lipophilic chemical 

contents. Our studies linked cannabinoid synthesis 

to the gland with its accumulation in the specialized 

secretory cavity rather than in cells of the gland, 

and the genetically defined cannabinoid contents, 

in particular, to strains of distinct geographical 

origin and distribution.

In looking back at all of the articles you’ve 

published in AJB, which ones stand out and why?

My very first article provided the perspective 

of the long-term, perhaps elusive, goal to identify 

those factors that control the differentiation of this 

unique cell type. It was a consideration of many 

early biologically oriented scientists as attested in 

the surprisingly extensive historical literature on 

this cell type. Those early students of laticifer study 

were unable to define the nature of this cell type. 

They were unable to place it into perspective with 

other cell types as they defined them within the 

plant body. And I, too, remain unsatisfied in my 

quest to elucidate those subtle factors that must 

define the origin and development of this cell 

among all other cells of the plant body. Detection of 

Paul Mahlberg from the mid-1960s, shorty after 

completing his PhD, on the campus of University of 

Pittsburgh.

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Plant Science Bulletin 60(2) 2014

other cells of the plant body. Utilization of recently 

developed cell and tissue probes involving protein 

and gene techniques, not available during our 

previous studies, may elucidate the origin and 

relationship of this laticifer among other cells of the 

plant body.

But I do wonder at times—how could I still be 

a part of such studies of this cell type?  Perhaps I 

still haven’t left the laboratory. It reminds me of the 

axiom; there is so much to learn, and so little time.

Why have you chosen AJB as one of the 

journals in which you’ve published throughout 

your career?

I chose the American Journal of Botany for many 

of our publications because I consider it a leading 

journal in the field of botanical sciences. It has an 

international reputation for publishing manuscripts 

of the highest quality. I consider myself to be a 

part of the Journal. Our Journal is international 

in scope and is read by botanists throughout the 

world. It utilizes the highest quality materials for 

preparation resulting in excellent reproduction of 

illustrations provided by authors. These qualities 

contribute to making our Journal one of the finest 

of international science journals.

Dr. Mahlberg’s complete list of AJB publications, 

which are free for viewing throughout 2014, can be 

found at https://botany.org/ajb100/pmahlberg.php

the laticifer as fossil laticifer structures, dating back 

perhaps 50 million years, indicate that it originated 

early in the evolution of angiospermy, but is limited 

in its distribution among these plants.

I remain enthused that further studies on 

laticifers, particularly the non-articulated form, 

will elucidate its phylogenetic relationship with 

Paul Mahlberg, 2013, enjoying retirement in Door 

County, WI.

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Plant Science Bulletin 60(2) 2014

Whitney R. Reyes Student 

Travel Award provides funds 

for BSA Hawai‘i Student 

Chapter members to attend 

Botany 2014 in Boise, Idaho

Whitney Reyes was a bright young scientist 

whose enthusiasm and passion for botany inspired 

many. She studied a variety of plants and had field 

experience in many different ecosystems in Hawai‘i, 

but those who knew her know that her favorites 

were ferns and fungi. Whitney graduated with a 

Bachelor’s degree in Botany from the University 

of Hawai‘i at Mānoa in 2012, with several years of 

research experience in the field and laboratory. She 

is the coauthor of two peer-reviewed publications 

on the ecology and restoration of the endangered 

fern ‘ihi‘ihi (Marsilea villosa), in American Journal 

of Botany  and  Restoration Ecology. Whitney was 

the recipient of a BSA PLANTS Grant in its 

inaugural year (Botany 2010 in Providence, RI). 

She also presented her undergraduate research 

at Botany 2012 in Columbus, OH. Whitney was 

the co-founder and president of the BSA Hawai‘i 

Student Chapter, and in its first year (2011) she 

raised thousands in grant funds to give away native 

Hawaiian plants at local festivals as public outreach 

and education events.

Whitney passed away unexpectedly in October 

2012 and is dearly missed, but she leaves behind 

a rich legacy of botanical science, conservation, 

and outreach. The Botanical Society of America 

was very much her extended family, so it is fitting 

to honor her with a travel grant that provides 

young Hawaiian botanists the opportunity to 

attend Botany meetings in the future. Officers 

and members of the BSA Hawai‘i Student Chapter 

worked hard to raise funds for this grant, both 

locally and at national meetings, beginning with 

Botany 2013. Many generous donations from BSA 

national members have helped to fund this grant in 

Whitney’s memory.

The Hawai‘i Chapter is pleased to announce 

the first winners of the Whitney R. Reyes Student 

Travel Award: Monica Dittbern (Senior, Botany 

Major) and Jason Cantley (PhD Candidate in 

Botany). They will have domestic airfare and 

accommodation expenses covered, up to $1500 

total, to attend Botany 2014 in Boise, ID, where 

they will gain valuable experience, knowledge, and 

opportunities to network with other BSA members. 

The awardees will also give a short presentation 

on their Botany 2014 experience at the first 

BSA Chapter meeting of fall 2014, sharing their 

experience with potential future BSA members. The 

Hawai‘i Chapter would like to sincerely thank the 

BSA membership for their support in the success of 

the Whitney R. Reyes Student Travel Award.
—Dr. Marian Chau, Chair, Whitney R. Reyes 

Student Travel Award Committee

Whitney R. Reyes Student Travel Award winners: 

Jason Cantley (PhD Candidate in Botany) and 

Monica Dittbern (Senior, Botany Major).  The 

plants in the background are native Hawaiian hibis-

cus, koki’o ke’oke’o, Hibiscus arnottianus.   

Photo by Marian Chau.

Whitney R. Reyes

88

BSA Science Education 

News and Notes

BSA Science Education News and Notes is a quarterly update about the BSA’s education efforts and the 

broader education scene.  We invite you to submit news items or ideas for future features.  Contact:  Catrina 

Adams, Acting Director of Education, at CAdams@botany.org or Marshall Sundberg, PSB Editor, at psb@

botany.org.

SOCIETY INITIATIVES AND 

MEMBERS IN ACTION

USA SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING 

FESTIVAL

BSA was well represented at the 2014 USA Science 

and Engineering festival in Washington D.C. in 

late April.  The 3-day festival was enormous and 

extremely well attended. Several thousand people, 

including K-12 students and teachers, families, and 

adults, stopped by our booth to learn about plants, 

plant science careers, and PlantingScience. 

Our volunteers entertained and educated an 

almost constant stream of visitors, engaging them 

with a choice of several activities. A “Guess the 

Plant” scent-identification quiz was very popular. 

(Cinnamon and coffee were the most recognized 

plant scents, while rosemary stumped many!) Few 

visitors were aware of plants’ use of chemicals 

for defense against herbivores, and many were 

surprised to learn how cinnamon bark is harvested.  

Plastic fruits and vegetables were sorted hundreds 

of times by visitors of all ages. Although visitors 

often categorized tomatoes as fruits, bell peppers 

and corn were very rarely placed in the same group. 

Many visitors were shocked to learn how botanists 

define fruits. 

A plant evolution/phylogeny card sorting game 

developed by Phil Gibson and Josh Cooper was 

another popular activity used to teach very basic 

plant evolution concepts. Sorting plant cards 

by image, by a stylized representation of plants’ 

characteristics, and/or by a stylized molecular 

code, visitors could experience how scientists 

organize plants and construct phylogenies. 

Fairhope Graphics (http://www.fairhopegraphics.

com), a neighboring booth offering a poster-sized 

watercolor depiction of the phylogenetic “History 

of Existing Life,” provided a serendipitous visual we 

referred to often. 

Chris Martine’s “Plants are Cool, Too” video 

series was running on a screen for much of the 

event, as well as a video series of “flashcards” for 

identification of common plants of Manassas 

National Battlefield Park courtesy of Greg Perrier. 

We also gave some career advice and information 

to students interested in botany, including a 

parent of an undergraduate student considering 

abandoning pre-med for a career in plant biology, 

several high school students seeking college advice, 

and a number of elementary-aged students who 

were extremely enthusiastic about plants. The 

PlantingScience program intrigued many K-12 

BSA members Phil Gibson, Greg Perrier, Owen Schwartz, and Linda Franklin sharing their love of plants 

with thousands of visitors at the USA Science and Engineering Festival.

89

Plant Science Bulletin 60(2) 2014

teachers in attendance, and we hope to recruit some 

new teachers to the program as a result of the event. 

“Wow, thanks! I learned something new today!” 

was a constant refrain from visitors leaving our 

booth, adults and children alike. 

The booth would not have been possible 

without the help of volunteers Josh Cooper, Linda 

Franklin,  Phil Gibson,  Morgan Gostel,  Kristen 

Hoefke,  Ingrid Jordan-Thaden,  Amy Litt,  Greg 

Perrier, and Owen Schwartz. We’d also like to thank 

members of the Education Committee who helped 

with early planning for the event. We learned a lot 

about logistics that will help us improve our booth 

and plan engaging activities for the future. 

PLANTINGSCIENCE

The PlantingScience team would like to thank 

the many scientists who volunteered their time to 

share their excitement about plant science with 

the 200+ teams participating in PlantingScience 

this spring. It makes such a difference for students 

to have the opportunity to work with and get to 

know scientists as they design projects. Here are 

some thanks students and teachers offered to their 

scientist mentors: 

STUDENT THANKS: 

“

I would like to thank you for all of your advice 

to me and my team. You were a great helper to us! 

I must say, our final conclusion was satisfying in a 

way that we didn’t get what we were expecting and 

learned something new about the growth of spores. 

I had a great time working on the lab and your 

advice was always useful. Thank you VERY much 

for everything.”-greenhorse  (The Herbivores)

“To wrap up the project, I would like to say how 

happy I am to have this experience and participate 

in such a cool project. I never would have fathomed 

I would communicate with you and the students in 

the Netherlands. Thank you for all your help and 

advice throughout our experiments! The whole 

project was really fascinating and I would like 

to do more things like it. Thanks again!”-Gabby 

(The Wolf Pack)  

TEACHER THANKS: 

“The kids have really enjoyed working with 

the scientists this year—some actually checked 

their page on a daily basis to see if their scientist 

communicated with them. For several students 

this experience was a total transformation—one 

of my kids who was reluctant to complete anything 

has been communicating with his scientist and 

researching what his scientist works on so he can 

ask his scientist. He also is a perfect, tuned in, 

interested student. His grades are up all around 

and he will be in my AP Environmental next year. I 

love Planting Science!” -Ms. Lauer

“Hi Mentors! I wanted to thank all of you for 

working with my kids! I have two very diverse 

groups, but they’ve all enjoyed their time working 

on this project...It has been a great learning 

experience for the kids and for me, as well! Who 

knows, perhaps you have inspired some future 

plant scientists!” -Mrs. Buzzell

“Thanks to all the Mentors, Liaisons, and the PS 

Team for everything you are doing to make science 

class come to life for my students! My colleagues 

have told me that they’ve been hearing students 

talk enthusiastically about their projects in the 

halls or in other classes! If they’re talking science 

when they don’t even have to be, that must mean 

the PlantingScience program is making a definite 

impact! :)”-Ms. Schraeder

Student teams developed many excellent and 

ambitious projects this spring. Many teams have 

produced videos to present their project results 

this session. This spring’s star project winners are 

featured on the homepage of www.plantingscience.

org, so please stop by to see what the students have 

been up to. 

Mr. de Graaf has put together a video of 

highlights from this spring’s Netherlands/Florida 

class videoconference, viewable on YouTube: 

http://youtu.be/e-gvWHNj4Es

Inquiring About Plants 

e-book now on sale 

The e-book Inquiring About Plants: A Practical 

Guide to Engaging Science Practices by Gordon Uno, 

Marshall Sundberg, and Claire Hemingway is now 

available. All proceeds from the sale of the $9.99 

e-book will benefit the PlantingScience program.  

http://www.amazon.com/Inquiring-About-Plants-

Practical-Practices-ebook/dp/B00KI2GVD0/

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Plant Science Bulletin 60(2) 2014

DON’T MISS BOTANY 2014: NEW 

FRONTIERS IN BOTANY

An exciting number of education, outreach, and 

training offerings for you to consider: 

Sunday
• 

Workshops on genomics, the PlantED 

digital library, visual learning, developing 

a hands-on distance education botany 

lab course, incorporating the plant fossil 

record into your botany course, software for 

teaching plant ID, preparing digital images 

for publication, and more. 

• 

Professional Development workshops for 

students: Graduate School: how to apply 

and what to expect; Crafting an effective 

elevator speech and communicating 

broader impacts of your work;  networking 

workshop for students and postdocs. 

• 

Firewise! Botany-in-Action Service Project

Tuesday
• 

Vision & Change in Undergraduate Botany 

Education, organized by J. Phil Gibson 

Also, don’t miss the Teaching Section presentations 

and posters, and the PlantingScience mixer. Check 

the website for schedule updates. http://www.2014.

botanyconference.org
  

CHARLES E. BESSEY AWARD

Our congratulations to Bruce Kirchoff, 

University of North Carolina, Greensboro, who is 

the 2014 recipient of the Charles E. Bessey Award.  

Please see the separate announcement on page 72.

UPCOMING OPPORTUNITIES 

TO ENHANCE TEACHING AND 

LEARNING

Attend the Society for the Advancement of 

Biology Education Research (SABER)2014 National 

Meeting, July 17-20 at the University of Minnesota, 

Twin Cities, MN.  Learn more at http://saber-

biologyeducationresearch.wikispaces.com/

National+Meeting+2014.

Make plans to attend the 2nd Life Discovery – 

Doing Science Education Conference, October 3-4 at 

San Jose State University in San Jose, CA. The theme 

for this year’s conference is “Realizing Vision and 

Change, Preparing for Next Generation Biology.” 

Learn more about this upcoming conference at 

http://www.esa.org/ldc/.

Team H2OMuchForYou from Springfield Central High School,  one of 10 Star Project winning 

teams of the Spring 2014 PlantingScience session.

91

Plant Science Bulletin 60(2) 2014

Mackenzie Taylor Named New Editor for

Plant Science Bulletin

Dr. Mackenzie Taylor (Creighton University) has agreed to assume the 

editorship of the Plant Science Bulletin beginning in January 2015 with 

Volume 61. Mackenzie has a strong connection to the Society, having 

served on the Esau awards committee, the BSA investment committee, 

the BSA strategic planning committee, and the AJB editor-in-chief search 

committee. She also served as the first student representative to the BSA 

executive committee.

Mackenzie is an excellent young researcher (PhD in 2011) with nine 

published journal articles, including co-author of an AJB Centennial Review 

article in the April American Journal of Botany, a book chapter and several education and outreach publications.

Dr. Taylor indicated that as a student she read every issue of Plant Science Bulletin “from cover to cover” 

and continues to value it as a source of information about the Society and a resource for teaching.  Her 

vision for the future of the Bulletin is both as a vehicle for maintaining connections across different fields 

of botany, including education and outreach, and as an access point for people outside the society. She 

foresees strategies for expanding the reach of the PSB through social media, and the possible addition of 

student- or postdoc-driven sections of the Bulletin while continuing to make sure that the Bulletin speaks 

broadly for the society in terms of teaching, outreach, and research.  

Pam Diggle named new Editor-in-Chief of 

American Journal of Botany

The  American Journal of Botany is pleased to announce that Pamela 

Diggle (University of Connecticut) will serve as the new Editor-in-Chief for 

the journal beginning in January 2015. 

Pam is a plant evolutionary biologist who just recently (2014) became the 

Associate Head of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at 

the University of Connecticut having come from the Department of Ecology 

and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado (1997-2013), and 

being a Visiting Professor in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary 

Biology at Harvard University (2011-2013). Pam has an outstanding service 

record for the Botanical Society of America. Her association with the society 

began when she was a graduate student – in 1987 she won the Katherine 

Esau Award, and she has since served the society in many capacities, from 

being a member for a variety of committees to assuming leadership roles such as Chair of the Development and 

Structure Section (2002-2004), Council Representative (2003-2007), Society Secretary (2009-2011) and, most 

recently and most notably, as President of the Society (2013-2014).  

Pam has had a very active research career for the past three decades, and she continues to pursue a wide array of 

interests in plant biology.  While focusing on plant development and evolution, Pam’s research touches on a broad 

span of disciplines, from morphology, development, ecology, evolution, genetics, and floral development, as well 

as a number of different plant species.  

Her publications have been in high-profile, broad-based, and high-quality journals, such as Proceedings of the 

National Academy of Sciences and New Phytologist, and of course the American Journal of Botany. In fact, as an 

active researcher and prodigious author of 49 scientific papers, Pam has published 19 articles in the American 

Journal of Botany since 1983 and her BSA presidential address from the 2013 Botany Meeting in New Orleans was 

published in the Plant Science Bulletin (issue 59: 150-157). 

Pam clearly understands the value of high quality research and will bring both the perspective of an author as 

well as the experience as an editor to the table in the publication process. She has collaborated with many students, 

post-docs, and colleagues in her research and publications and has served as editor for the Annals of Botany and 

International Journal of Plant Sciences, making her an excellent fit to serve as Editor-in-Chief for the American 

Journal of Botany. 

Meet the new Editors!

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Plant Science Bulletin 60(2) 2014

Up Close with Theresa 

Culley: The Latest on the BSA’s 

Newest Journal, 

Applications 

in Plant Sciences 

The PSB’s Chris Martine catches up with Theresa 

Culley, editor-in-chief of Applications in Plant 

Sciences, to talk about the journal’s first year and a 

half of publication and to find out what’s coming up.

CM: If most BSA members are like me, they’ve 

heard a lot of buzz about APPS, but are not 

100% certain how to define what it is. Can you 

summarize what the mission of the journal is? 

And explain why the BSA made the move to start 

a new journal like it?  

TC: I am really excited by APPS because it is a 

great opportunity for plant scientists to share their 

technological discoveries.  The mission of APPS 

is to disseminate newly developed, innovative 

tools and protocols in the plant sciences—this 

includes genetics as well as all other areas (such as 

ecology and morphology), and also encompasses 

the breadth of botany, from angiosperms and 

gymnosperms to ferns, mosses, lichens, fungi, and 

algae. As such, we are more inclusive than other 

technique journals that focus on only a single 

area of the plant sciences. The journal is also open 

access, so that it is accessible without a subscription 

to readers worldwide. I believe that this broader 

coverage and accessibility makes APPS of interest 

to many plant biologists, while still providing in-

depth detail within individual articles. 

Why did the BSA start APPS? Although the 

journal was officially launched in 2013, the idea 

for it first came about years earlier when the BSA 

Strategic Planning Committee recognized the need 

for a new publishing outlet for innovative tools and 

techniques. At that time, it was becoming difficult 

to publish primer notes because of new restrictions 

imposed by some journals. For example, 

monomorphic primers were often excluded and 

at least one journal began grouping primer notes 

into summary articles instead of individual papers 

(so authors had to transfer first authorship to a 

journal consortium). Concerned about how this 

might impact research and scientists, Pam Soltis, 

Kent Holsinger, and I developed the basic concept 

of a new publishing alternative during a cab ride to 

the airport after the Strategic Planning meeting. It 

first appeared in 2009 as an online-only section of 

the American Journal of Botany, called Primer Notes 

and Protocols in the Plant Sciences. It immediately 

drew in a number of submissions, but over time we 

realized the potential for the online section to be 

much more than a repository for genetic markers. 

In 2012, the BSA made the decision to spin off the 

online section as APPS in part so that papers could 

address all areas of the plant sciences. Although we 

continue to welcome molecular biology and genetic 

submissions and we still accept primer notes, we 

have also purposely expanded into other areas of 

the plant sciences. So if you have a new technique 

that you would like to share, please let us know!

CM: You’ve been APPS’s editor-in-chief since 

its first issue in January 2013. What excites you 

both as an editor and as a reader of APPS?

TC: As an editor, it is incredibly exciting to see 

the many different techniques, protocols, and ideas 

that other researchers have developed and wish to 

share with others. I am also amazed by the sense 

of community that many authors have in wishing 

to publish their work to assist others. On at least 

one occasion, I heard a researcher mention that he 

wanted to help others not make the same mistakes 

he did. To me, this is the very essence of what APPS 

is all about—to facilitate communication among 

plant biologists in moving our respective fields 

forward. I also greatly enjoy working with such a 

wonderful group of Associate Editors, Reviewing 

Editors, and of course, our excellent support staff, 

including our Managing Editor, Beth Parada.

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Plant Science Bulletin 60(2) 2014

As a reader of APPS, I am constantly looking for 

new techniques and applications that I can use in 

my own work, whether it be in genetics, pollination 

biology, or ecophysiology. One of the best features 

of APPS is that it is not specific to one field of plant 

biology, but instead covers everything! In addition, 

articles in APPS are especially bench- or field-

friendly. For example, protocol articles have step-

by-step, “tear-out”-ready instructions (including a 

list of materials) that can be used immediately by 

the reader, and in several cases, videos illustrate 

difficult-to-describe techniques (just a click away). 

CM: What kind of readership and distribution 

is  APPS currently receiving (i.e., number of 

hits, and areas of the world where APPS is being 

highly read)? 

TC: As an online-only publication freely available 

on BioOne, APPS has a worldwide distribution. For 

example, APPS received 38,078 online hits during 

2013, and in January 2014, received nearly 13,000 

hits that month alone. During 2013, nearly half of 

access to the full-text of articles came from within 

the United States, followed by China, Canada, 

Brazil, India, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, 

and Australia; hits were also recorded from 111 

other countries!

CM: Where is APPS currently indexed?
TC: In addition to being available through the 

BioOne website, APPS is currently indexed in CAB 

Abstracts, AGRICOLA, CrossRef, Google Scholar, 

the Directory of Open Access Journals, and 

WorldCat. I am pleased to report that the journal 

was recently accepted for inclusion in PubMed 

Central, where full-text articles will soon appear, 

and abstracts will be available in PubMed itself by 

June. We are also being evaluated for indexing by 

the Science Citation Index/Web of Science (owned 

by Thomson Reuters, which also provides journal 

impact factors). The timeframe for selection in 

SCI is longer than for most indexing services as 

they take time to assess factors like timeliness of 

publication, stature of authors publishing with 

the journal, and the overall contribution that the 

journal is making within the scientific community. 

We are in regular contact with Thomson Reuters 

and hope to have news this summer. 

CM: What is the process of submission and 

how likely is it that a paper may be accepted? 

TC: It is relatively easy to submit a manuscript to 

APPS, as described in the Instructions for Authors 

[available at: http://botany.org/APPS/

APPS_Author_Instructions.html]. Manuscripts are 

submitted online at our site on Editorial Manager 

[http://www.editorialmanager.com/apps/] and 

are assigned to an Associate Editor, who invites at 

least two outside reviewers. In the case of Primer 

Notes, a member of the APPS Reviewing Editor 

Board is also involved with manuscript review. 

Manuscripts are accepted following a positive 

review and after authors have suitably addressed 

all comments. Currently, our average time from 

submission to first decision is four weeks, although 

specially invited manuscripts are placed on a fast 

track. Manuscripts move into the production stage 

soon after acceptance and are available online at 

BioOne after the galley proof is approved. Our 

current acceptance rate of manuscripts is about 

81%; we prescreen papers carefully, and have 

clear instructions for authors, which helps authors 

prepare acceptable papers.

CM: What articles stand out to you from the 

first 18 issues of APPS? (As part of this, what do 

you think makes a good APPS submission?) 

TC: This is not easy to answer, as we have 

published a number of really interesting papers 

in our first year and a half of publication. But if I 

had to pick, I enjoyed Gee’s article on microCT and 

3D visualization of fossilized conifer seed cones 

[Vol. 1, Issue 11]. This paper involves multiple 

elements of what I consider a good article—it 

addresses a concrete problem in plant biology (how 

to look inside silicified conifer seed cones without 

damaging them) and presents a reasonable and 

well-written solution, complete with sample data 

and accompanying videos. One of my other favorite 

articles also appears to be popular with others—the 

article from our second issue by Stull et al. [2013], “A 

targeted enrichment strategy for massively parallel 

sequencing of angiosperm plastid genomes,” is our 

most frequently downloaded paper with nearly 

3,400 hits. I also find it interesting that several of 

our top 15 most-accessed articles include non-

genetic papers, such as using high-resolution time-

lapse photography for ecosystem research [Nichols 

et al., 2013; Vol. 1, Issue 9], how to better measure 

and quantify color variation [Smith, 2014; Vol. 2, 

Issue 3], and using dendrometer bands to measure 

growth in trees [Anemaet & Middleton, 2013; Vol. 

1, Issue 9]. 

CM: What can readers look forward to in 

upcoming issues?

TC: One of the perks of my job is that I know 

what will be appearing shortly and I am especially 

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Plant Science Bulletin 60(2) 2014

many different journals and I can see where it can 

be difficult to tell the respectable, peer-reviewed 

journals apart from predatory journals with a 

questionable track record. So I consider it essential 

that we continue to spread the word that APPS is 

a forward-thinking, peer-reviewed, online journal 

with a solid publication record, backed by the BSA.

CM: What kinds of submissions are you 

looking for at this point, and how do you see APPS 

evolving over the next few years? (The perception 

of some is that APPS is only for molecular-based 

techniques. Is this the case?) 

TC: Although APPS originally focused on 

molecular and genetic techniques, it has now 

become so much more, and I see the journal 

continuing to grow and encompass all areas of 

the plant sciences, while still serving as a home 

for molecular-based methods. Personally, I would 

really like to see more review papers that address 

topics of interest to other plant biologists and 

that will serve as an entry point for researchers 

just starting in the field. For example, a review 

paper focusing on methods to measure plant 

volatiles could potentially be a valuable resource 

for pollination ecologists wishing to quantify floral 

scents, chemical ecologists examining responses 

to plant damage, and even bioprospectors seeking 

new medicinal sources. We are actively soliciting 

ideas from the community on review papers or 

methods focusing on areas where they see a gap in 

current scholarship. My vision for APPS is that it 

would become a valued resource as scientists seek 

new approaches and techniques to advance their 

own research programs or break into a new area of 

botany that they otherwise might have avoided. 

CM: What makes APPS different from other 

journals? As an author, why should one choose 

APPS as a landing spot over other places for a 

methods paper? 

TC: Compared to other journals, APPS has a 

much broader scope across all fields of the plant 

sciences, its articles are easily accessible because 

of Open Access, and APPS receives strong support 

as a publication of the BSA. Authors also benefit 

because  APPS uses Creative Commons licensing, 

meaning that authors retain the copyright to the 

article. Another benefit to authors is that certain 

articles can be highlighted with a press release, 

which we distribute through EurekAlert!, the BSA 

Facebook page, and Twitter feed, among other 

avenues. In addition, we also provide an opportunity 

for advanced graduate students and post-docs to 

enthusiastic about the next few issues. Currently we 

are putting together our very first Special Issue that 

will be focused on Bioinformatic and Biometric 

Methods in Plant Morphology, representing a 

colloquium at Botany 2013 organized by Surangi 

Punyasena and Selena Smith. This issue is slated 

to appear later this summer. I am also excited by 

a protocol article appearing in the June issue on 

3D plant cell architecture using a specialized SEM 

method, and a review article for July on sequence-

related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) markers. 

We also have received many promising responses 

to our recent Call for Papers. So upcoming issues 

will certainly be interesting and will include more 

protocols, application articles, and review papers.

CM: What are the challenges of publishing an 

online-only, open access journal like APPS? And 

how about the benefits? Is there something about 

the type of journal that APPS is that makes it 

more appropriate as an e-journal? 

TC: Yes, publishing as an online-only journal 

certainly has benefits and disadvantages. One benefit 

is that our online-only status allows us to publish 

articles quickly and to quickly respond to the needs 

of our authors. We also have a greater flexibility 

in incorporating multimedia content which can 

greatly enhance the reader’s experience. We can 

also more fully track reader access to individual 

articles relative to all other articles in a volume; 

this can be helpful for authors needing to show 

their administrators the importance of their papers 

within the scientific community. For example, some 

APPS articles now have Altmetric scores (think of 

an impact factor, of sorts, for an article rather than 

a journal). [For more about Altmetrics, see the 

sidebar.] Our open access status is critical because it 

enables researchers from all over the world to easily 

download APPS articles with the click of a button, 

without having to pay fees. This means that APPS 

articles have a potentially wider readership than 

articles at subscription-based journals. Members 

of the BSA also receive a substantial discount on 

the open access fee, so it ends up being a very good 

deal all around. Ultimately, I would like APPS to be 

a resource that researchers can easily access on a 

mobile device at the bench or in the field to follow 

step-by-step techniques; being both online and 

open access fits perfectly with this vision. 

The main challenge of being an online-only 

journal is the need to stand out from the ever-

increasing number of online-only journals today. 

As an author, I am flooded daily with emails from 

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Plant Science Bulletin 60(2) 2014

receive training in the editorial process as Reviewing Editors, who are mentored by Associate Editors. This 

experience enables Reviewing Editors to better understand the inner workings of the publishing process 

so they can become better authors themselves. So, I strongly recommend APPS as the best landing spot 

for those authors with great ideas who are looking for a relatively fast publication outlet and who wish to 

publish in an innovative, responsive journal that has a broad international readership, along with strong 

author support. At APPS, we are always interested in hearing new ideas, so please contact us with your 

suggestions for future publications—we are listening! 

A Crash Course in Article-Level Metrics and Altmetrics

Traditionally, impact of scholarly research has been measured at the journal level (i.e., impact factor) 

by tracking citations of articles published in a particular journal. However, as online publication of 

research has become the norm, it’s become possible (and desirable) to track the impact of individual 

articles separate from the journal of publication. Thus, article-level metrics (ALM) were born.  ALMs 

incorporate citations, but also track usage stats (article views and downloads) and mentions in 

contemporary data sources like news coverage, blog posts, tweets, and Facebook likes.

Altmetrics differ from ALMs in that they do not track article citations; instead, they measure article-

level impact through those newer data sources: social media (Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc.), blogs, 

social bookmarking (e.g., Mendeley, CiteULike), online comments in scientific publications, and 

inclusion in mainstream media (including both English and non-English newspapers and magazines).

Altmetric scores are provided for APPS articles through Altmetric.com. These appear as a “badge” 

in the abstract and full-text view on the right-hand side of the article text (see Figure). Clicking on the 

badge brings up details of where the article has been mentioned.

If you’re interested in delving deeper into article-level metrics, see the primer from the Scholarly 

Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) at: http://www.sparc.arl.org/sites/default/

files/sparc-alm-primer.pdf

1st Place,  

Graceful aging  

Daniel McNair 

University of Southern Mississippi  

 2nd Place 

Longleaf pine in the DeSoto National 

Forest

Daniel McNair 

University of Southern Mississippi 

Triarch "Botanical Images" 

Student Travel Awards

Established by Dr. Paul Conant, and supported by TRIARCH Incorporated,  this award provides 

acknowledgement and travel support to BSA meetings for outstanding student work coupling digital 

images (botanical) with scientific explanations/descriptions designed for the general public.

Toothache grass, named for the numbing effect of the 

isobutylamides it contains, is endemic to the Coastal Plain of the 

southeastern United States where it grows in wet pine savannas. Like 

many other plants within the longleaf pine ecosystem, toothache 

grass usually flowers in response to fire. Young inflorescences 

appear relatively straight but begin to curl as they age and drop 

their seeds.

This photograph was taken in the DeSoto National Forest in 

Mississippi, one of the few remaining tracks of intact longleaf pine 

savanna. Within a one mile radius of this particular location, the 

candling of Red-cockaded Woodpeckers can be seen on 100-year- 

old pines, gopher tortoise burrows litter the tops of sandy hills, and 

pitcher plant bogs thrive in response to controlled fires (naturally 

occurring fires rarely reach the now fragmented savannas). Less 

than 3% of longleaf pine ecosystems remain intact.

The remains of a toothache grass 

inflorescence

See all the 2014 entries at  

botany.org/PlantImages/ConantSTA2014.php

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Plant Science Bulletin 60(2) 2014

3rd Place  Abby Glauser

University of Kansas 

Resilience 

3rd Place  

Carla Harper 

University of Kansas 

Native to the southwestern United States, Juniperus osteosperma, 

the Utah Juniper, has evolved several strategies to endure the harsh 

conditions of desert ecosystems. This particular Utah Juniper was 

found nestled near the canyon rim in Black Canyon of the Gunnison 

National Park, where it must periodically withstand extreme heat, 

drought, and intense winds. First in its line of defense against arid 

conditions is the growth of a taproot. Extending up to 25 feet in 

depth, this large root grows vertically downward into the earth in 

search of moisture. The taproot also provides stability for the tree. 

In fact, even when toppled by wind or storms the Utah Juniper may continue to grow. Additional roots 

may extend laterally up to 100 feet away from their source to scavenge for limited resources, which allow 

these trees to be very competitive and often more successful than neighboring vegetation. The beautifully 

twisting trunk and branches of the Utah Juniper are the result of a drought resistance strategy, as well. The 

tree is capable of self-pruning, sacrificing entire limbs to conserve resources and instead allocate them to 

survival. Blocking the flow of nutrients to specific areas stops growth and kills the tissue, resulting in the 

aesthetically captivating morphology for which this desert species is commonly recognized.

Mycorrhizal (mycos = fungus, rhiza = root) associations are a type of mutualistic symbiotic relationship 

between a fungus and a plant. Each partner benefits from this exchange, i.e., the plant receives nutrients from the 

fungus, and the fungus receives carbon from the plant. This plant-fungal relationship occurs in ~80-90% of plant 

families living today. This ancient relationship has been found in ~400-million-year-old plants. It has also been 

hypothesized that mycorrhizae were essential to the establishment of early plants on land, and were as crucial in 

paleoecosystems as they are today. As the field and study of fossil fungi advances, we are becoming increasingly 

aware that fossil mycorrhizae are associated with many ancient plants. Permian (~260-million-year-old) Antarctic 

fossils provide exceptional examples of anatomically preserved plants. Included within these ancient groups are 

the Glossopterids. Glossopteris is a type of extinct plant called a seed-fern, a plant that had fern-like leaves, but 

produced seeds (ferns today only produce spores) that lived during the Permian. It was also an important fossil 

used as evidence for the theory of continental drift. This image represents the first mycorrhizal association with 

seed ferns, specifically Glossopteris. The picture is a longitudinal section of a young Glossopteris rootlet with 

coiling mycorrhizal fungal hyphae within and penetrating through root cells. The image is a composite of 50+ 

microscope images, digitally stitched together using Adobe Photoshop. Today, mycorrhizae are classified into two 

principle morphologies: Arum-type and Paris-type. Due to the coiling nature of the fungus, this mycorrhiza is a 

Paris-type and is the oldest in the fossil record. This important discovery provides insight into the evolution and 

microbial interactions of the Glossopterids and seed ferns during the Permian of Antarctica.

260 million year old (Permian) vesicular 

arbuscular Paris-type mycorrhizal fungi 

in the seed fern Glossopteris, from 

Antarctica

 The Utah Juniper twisting upward from the 

desert soil

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Plant Science Bulletin 60(2) 2014

Missouri Botanical  

Garden Herbarium Collection 

Reaches 6.5 Million Specimens

Garden researcher’s newly 

described genus is latest specimen

(ST. LOUIS) The Missouri Botanical Garden’s 

Herbarium collection reached 6.5 million 

specimens with the addition of a new genus 

described by Garden curator Dr. Carmen Ulloa 

in collaboration with Dr. Fabián Michelangeli and 

Karla Sosa of The New York Botanical Garden. 

Their discovery, “Quipuanthus, a New Genus of 

Melastomataceae from the foothills of the Andes 

in Ecuador and Peru” was recently published in the 

scientific journal Systematic Botany.

In November 2012, Ulloa and her colleagues 

were examining melastome specimens in the 

herbarium when they discovered some specimens 

with peculiar inflorescences from a rosette-like 

plant that did not match any currently known name 

species in the plant family. The collections, some 

gathered more than three decades ago, had been 

moved from one genus to another without a suitable 

match. The researchers discovered the flowers had 

a single series of stamens, a rare characteristic in 

the melastome family that usually has stamens 

in double the number of petals. Additional 

morphological studies, along with anatomical and 

molecular research, led the authors to describe this 

new genus with only one known species named 

Quipuanthus epipetricus Michelangeli & C.Ulloa.

“The Garden’s herbarium is one of the largest 

and fastest growing in the world and an essential 

foundation for botanical research,” said Dr. James 

Solomon, herbarium curator. “The herbarium 

allows researchers from all over the world to 

compare dried plant specimens that grow in 

different regions side by side resulting in exciting 

discoveries such as this one.”

The authors chose a combination of the Quecha 

word  quipu (meaning record-keeping cords) and 

the Greek word anthos (flower) to formally name 

their discovery. Quipu were long-knotted strings 

of fiber used by pre-colonial Andean societies to 

encode information. The species name epipetricus 

refers to the fact that all collections of this herb have 

been found growing on rocks.

“The overall appearance of the flowers and fruits 

arranged like knots on strings and the unique 

combination of characters in this genus reminded 

us of this enigmatic record system used by Andean 

societies long before the arrival of the Spanish 

writing system,” said Ulloa. 

Only two populations of the species are known 

and both are located on the foothills of the 

Eastern Andes Mountains: one in Ecuador and 

one in northern Peru. It has been recognized as 

Endangered according to the conservation status 

by the International Union for Conservation 

of Nature. The collection commemorating this 

herbarium milestone that lead to this discovery 

was collected in Peru in 1996 during a Missouri 

Botanical Garden–sponsored expedition.

The Missouri Botanical Garden is one of the 

three largest plant science programs in the world. 

The Garden focuses its work on areas that are rich in 

biodiversity yet threatened by habitat destruction, 

and operates the world’s most active research and 

training programs in tropical botany. Garden 

scientists collaborate with local institutions, schools 

and indigenous peoples to understand plants, create 

awareness, offer alternatives and craft conservation 

strategies. The Missouri Botanical Garden is striving 

for a world that can sustain us without sacrificing 

prosperity for future generations, a world where 

people share a commitment to managing biological 

diversity for the common benefit. Learn more at 

www.mobot.org.

99

Putting PhDs to work: Career planning for today’s scientist.  

Hobin, Jennifer A., Philip S. Clifford, Ben M. Dunn, Susan Rich and Louis B. Justement.  2014. 

CBE-Life Sciences Education 13:49-53.I

Individual development plan (IDP)?  What is this?  As a mentor of graduate students, I should know—

but I didn’t.  Graduate students and post-docs should know—but most don’t.  We all acknowledge 

that it’s not like the old days where we, the professors, were basically concerned only with training our 

replacements for academic positions.  What other options are available?  That’s where the IDP comes into 

play.  According to this paper, fewer than 50% of post-docs and only 20% of mentors are even aware of 

IDPs, but for those who reported creating an IDP, the process helped to identify skills and abilities that 

could match young scientists to a variety of careers outside of traditional academe.  Although not a “nuts 

and bolts” outline of how to create an IDP, the paper does provide a number of recommendations for post-

docs/graduate students and mentors to begin the process, as well as the necessary references to proceed.

Development of a meiosis concept inventory.  

Kalas, Pamela, Angie O’Neill, Carol Pollock, and Gülnur Birol. 2013. CBE-Life Sciences Educa-

tion 12: 655-664.

Meiosis: we teach it in every introductory class from high school through college and review it in many 

upper division and graduate courses.  Yet, how many graduate students could actually diagram the salient 

features of this nuclear division on a prelim exam?  In my experience, about 50% provide an adequate 

response.  In this paper the authors identify six basic underlying concepts responsible for the difficulty 

students have in understanding the process.  The instrument they developed is an excellent formative 

tool to identify specific problems confronting your students and thus make it easier for you to target 

remediation or refine your teaching approaches.  

Editor’s Choice Review

100

Geocaching as a means to teach 

botany to the public

Dirk Albach

Botanical Garden

Carl von Ossietzky-Universität Oldenburg

Philosophenweg 39-41

D-26121 Oldenburg, Germany

DOI: 10.3732/psb.1400001

Submitted 27 January 2014.

Accepted 7 April 2014.

Acknowledgments: The author thanks Simone 

Heinke for establishing the geocaches at the 

Botanical Garden Oldenburg.

Do you find it difficult to get your students to 

go to the library? Or to get them excited about 

studying course material about botany when they 

think everything they need to know is in their 

smartphones? Isn´t it even more challenging to get 

the general public to use botany books in the library 

and raise interest in botany? Yes, but now ways to 

include smartphones and GPS devices in education 

suddenly make plants cool to study and attractive 

for a broader audience. There are many applications 

and worldwide initiatives that use smartphones 

and GPS devices to teach students in elementary 

schools (Huang, Lin, and Cheng, 2010), high 

schools (March, 2012) and universities (Santos, 

Hernández-Leo, and Blat, in press) about plants. 

One aspect all those initiatives have in common 

is that they are established in regular courses, and 

students have the incentive to get a good grade at 

the end. But smartphones and GPS devices may 

also hold promise for educating the general public. 

What is their incentive? For many people searching 

for and finding a treasure outside is incentive 

enough. And they are willing to go some distance 

literally and intellectually for the most prized ones 

in a relatively new activity called geocaching. 

Geocaching has become a favorite outdoor 

activity of more than 6 million people around the 

world (www.geocaching.com) since its invention by 

American Dave Ulmer in the forests near Portland, 

Oregon in May 2000 (http://geocaching.gpsgames.

org). It is a modern type of treasure hunting in 

which participants search for more than 2 million 

Reports

containers of various kinds, called “caches.” 

Geocaching requires a GPS-enabled device and 

internet access to acquire the information (GPS 

coordinates) about the cache’s location. Several 

internet sites provide such cache information, with 

www.geocaching.com being by far the largest. On 

the site, you search for a cache in the area you would 

like to go and note the coordinates and all other 

information given. Then you go out in the field and 

navigate to the coordinates. The location of a cache 

can be in a crowded place or in a very isolated spot. 

Finding the cache at the coordinates may still be a 

considerable task since they are hidden from sight 

for the normal public strolling by. 

Caches can be as small as a few milliliters and as 

large as 20 liters. They can be nondescript capsule 

or small artworks. Once you have found the cache, 

you sign in the log book within the cache. They 

usually contain also some kind of treasure, usually 

small toys, which may be exchanged but not taken 

away without replacement, so that others can enjoy 

the feeling of finding a hidden treasure. Once you 

have found a cache, you may log it at the respective 

internet site and record your finding as well as 

provide information on how you liked the cache 

and how difficult it was to find it. Traditional caches 

are simple containers directly at the coordinates 

given, but there are also more complex and more 

creative ways of hiding the caches. 

Whole books have been written about 

geocaching, its technology (Sherman, 2004) 

and its application in education (Lo, 2010). 

Geocaching has been recognized as a good method 

for accidental, informal learning (Clough, 2010) 

for a group of people who may be interested not 

only in experiencing nature, but also in learning 

about it (Schneider, Silverberg, and Chavez, 2011). 

Therefore, many national parks, nature reserves, 

and archaeological parks have installed geocaches 

as a new way to transmit knowledge about their 

sites. I would argue that geocaching also offers 

opportunities for small botanical gardens and 

botany institutions. Here, I explain what we have 

established at the Botanischer Garten Oldenburg 

and comment on our experiences. 

Several different types of caches could be used 

in a botanical garden to get more people from 

the general public to come to the garden and 

learn about plants. Traditional caches, with their 

coordinates given on geocaching websites, are a 

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Plant Science Bulletin 60(2) 2014

feeling that they have learned something about 

some important native trees.

Another multi-mystery cache starts at the 

dining hall of the University of Oldenburg. From 

there, geocachers are directed about one mile to 

the Botanical Garden, since they were “told” at 

the internet site (under the title “Not am Herd” [= 

emergency at the stove]) that they need to provide 

six edible items for the dining hall chef from the 

Oldenburg Botanical Garden. They are also given 

the coordinates of the final cache (located in the 

botanical garden) at N53 08.ABC E 08 11.DEF. 

Once they find the edible plants in the garden small 

signs at the plant (such as A=8) will help them 

complete the coordinates. This cache is a great

 way to make people stroll around the garden and 

actually look for plants they may only know from 

their table, such as bamboo, vanilla (Fig. 2), potato, 

rice, or various spices. To counter the problem of 

plants being available only part of the year, we have 

designed both a summer and a winter version of the 

cache.

The success of this cache stimulated us to plan 

a geocache called “Botanik 1.1” (= Botany 101). 

Here, the starting coordinates are placed right in 

the lecture hall of the university, but participants 

don´t actually have to physically go there. Instead 

they are directed to the PDF file on our university 

website with the first botany lesson. At the end of 

each lesson, geocachers will be directed to another 

good way to attract people to places in the garden 

that are rarely visited. For example, to attract public 

to a little-known downtown orchard, in which local 

conservationist exhibit traditional fruit varieties, 

we have installed a traditional cache there at N 

53° 07.358 E 008° 12.257. Multi-caches have their 

starting point given on a website, and once there, 

participants get the next set of coordinates; this 

is the preferred cache for a nature trail. Mystery 

caches do not provide complete coordinates but 

instead a riddle must be solved or questions must 

be answered to obtain them. More than 2 million 

caches exist worldwide, and in a city like Oldenburg 

with about 160,000 inhabitants, there are close to 

500 caches, with 15 in the 2 square kilometers 

around the botanical garden (Fig. 1).

Together with a local nature conservation 

group, we have installed a multi-mystery cache 

(“Oldenburger Baumpfad” [= Oldenburg tree 

trail]) along eight prominent trees within the 

city of Oldenburg, Germany. Starting at N53 

08.902 E8 12.701 near a birch tree, geocachers 

must solve multiple-choice questions about the 

tree to complete the coordinates N53 08.A38 E8 

12.5B3, where A and B can be determined only by 

answering the questions.  To do this, the treasure-

hunters must really look at the tree and touch and/

or smell it. For example, which of the detail photos 

(downloadable from the geocaching site) does not 

belong to birch? Photo 1 (A =5), photo 2 (A =7), 

photo 3 (A =8), or photo 4 (A =0)? At the end, not 

just the treasure awaits the geocacher, but also the 

Fig. 1: Map of Oldenburg with caches in the vicinity of the Botanical Garden Oldenburg (from www. 

geocaching.com).

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Plant Science Bulletin 60(2) 2014

PDF file with a new lesson, and each time a question 

must be answered to get the internet address of the 

next lesson. For example, in the lesson on leaves,all 

the different leaf tissues are explained and cross-

references with a letter. At the end, a diagram 

of a leaf cross-section is given with numbers for 

each tissue (Fig. 3). To get the correct address of 

the next lesson, the numbers in the diagram have 

to be matched and replaced by the letters in the 

text. We have assembled eight lessons regarding 

the following “Botany 101” topics: essential 

characters of life, essential characters of plants, 

evolution of plants (introducing mosses, ferns, 

gymnosperms, angiosperms as the maingroups 

of land plants and explaining their species 

richness and characteristics), the basic bauplan of 

angiosperms (what are roots, stems, leaves and how 

can they be modified?), energy budget (explaining 

the basics of photosynthesis), water balance (how 

is it transported in the plant?), and reproduction 

(what different pollination types and fruit types are 

there?). After finishing the last lesson, “students” 

are directed to a PDF congratulating them and 

providing the coordinates of the real cache. So, after 

studying for about 45 to 60 minutes in front of the 

computer performing this exercise, it is time to go 

outside, find the cache, and enjoy some real plants.

A great part of geocaching is that after finding 

a treasure, people will register and sign when they 

have completed a cache and give comments on it. 

In the one-and-a-half years since the start of this 

program, we had 52 (tree trail), 58 (Botany 101), 

60 (Emergency at the stove), and 165 (orchard) 

geocachers recording that they found the cache. 

Based on an additional survey, we learned that 

the geocachers are two thirds male, 80% with a 

university degree, and on average 40 years old. 

About 15% responded that they hadn´t known 

about the Botanical Garden, and 40% visited the 

garden for the first time. Thirty percent promised 

to return even without a new cache.

The success of a cache is visible by checking 

how many participants called the cache a favorite. 

For every ten caches logged, geocachers are 

allowed to call one a favorite. For our caches, the 

traditional cache at the orchard had 20% favorite 

rating, whereas the mystery caches (Botany 101, 

Emergency at the stove) had 30% and the tree 

trail through Oldenburg as much as a 35% favorite 

rating. Apart from these statistics, the internet site is 

a great way to get feedback and a good opportunity 

to improve your caches. In particular, you get 

immediate feedback when the cache or hints are 

destroyed. Also, geocachers reported when they 

considered parts too difficult. For our “Botany 101“ 

course, many people responded how fascinating it 

was to learn about plants in such a challenging and 

rewarding way, even if solving the whole lecture 

series took some participants more than an hour. 

So, do you finally want to meet your “students”? 

Then plan an event cache! Our event cache at the 

end of November attracted a group of more than 

40 geocachers. Like everyone else, geocachers like 

to socialize with others who share their hobby. 

Therefore, event caches are given with coordinates 

as well as the time and date when people will gather 

with food and drink and share their experiences 

with each other. And they are more than willing to 

give you feedback on your caches and what kind 

Fig. 3: Leaf cross-section used for the “exam” in the lec-

ture on leaves (figure from Nabors and Schiebe [2007]).

Fig.2: Geocacher searching for vanilla in our tropical 

greenhouse.

103

Plant Science Bulletin 60(2) 2014

of lesson they would like to learn about next time. 

Feedback at our event cache and at the geocaching 

website demonstrated that we attracted a group of 

people rarely seen in a botanical garden before and 

most were enthusiastic about what they learned 

about plants. So, maybe we should plan for Botany 

201 next year.

Literature cited

Clough, G. 2010. Geolearners: Location-based 

informal learning with mobile and social 

technologies. IEEE Transactions on Learning 

Technologies 3: 33-44.

Huang, Y.-M., Y.-T. Lin, and S.-C. Cheng. 2010. 

Effectiveness of a Mobile Plant Learning 

System in a science curriculum in Taiwanese 

elementary education. Computers & Education 

54: 47-58.

Lo, B. 2010. GPS and Geocaching in Education. 

International Society for Technology in 

Education.

March, K. A. 2012. Backyard Botany: Using GPS 

Technology in the Science Classroom. The 

American Biology Teacher 74: 172-177.

Nabors, M. W., and R. Scheibe. 2007. Botanik. 

Pearson Deutschland GmbH.

Santos, P., D. Hernández-Leo, and J. Blat. In press. 

To be or not to be in situ outdoors, and other 

implications for design and implementation, 

in geolocated mobile learning. Pervasive and 

Mobile Computing.

Schneider, I. E., K. E. Silverberg, and D. Chavez. 

2011. Geocachers: Benefits sought and 

environmental attitudes. LARNet - The Cyber 

Journal of Applied Leisure and Recreation 

Research 14: 1-11.

Sherman, E. 2004. Geocaching: hike and seek with 

your GPS. Apress, Berkeley, CA, USA.

104

Book Reviews

Ecological

Plant and Animal Endemism in California .....................................................................104

Economic Botany

Caper: The Genus Capparis  ...........................................................................................105

Honey in Traditional and Modern Medicine ..................................................................106

The Savage Garden: Cultivating Carnivorous Plants, revised edition ...........................107

Systematics

Colorado Rocky Mountain Wildflowers. App for Apple and Android ...........................108

The Ferns and Lycophytes of Texas ...............................................................................109

Ecological

Plant and Animal Endemism in 

California

Susan P. Harrison

2013. ISBN-13: 978-0-520-27554-6

Cloth, US$49.95. 189 pp. 

University of California Press, Oakland, 

California, USA

California is a hotspot, not only in the world 

of popular culture, but also in the biotic realm. 

About 70% of the state is contained in its own 

biogeographic region, the California Floristic 

Province; this province reaches up into Oregon and 

sweeps down into Baja California. This is one of 

five regions on the globe where the Mediterranean 

climate, and hence Mediterranean flora, is found. 

Something about a long hot dry summer and a 

rainy cool winter results in outstanding botanical 

diversity; indeed, the California Floristic Province 

contains 20% of the world’s vascular plants in only 

2% of the world’s land area. 
Endemism is the restriction of a taxon to a particular 

geographic area. In the California Floristic 

Province, high endemism equals biotic richness. 

Of the combined total of 6,506 genera and species 

known in the state of California, 2,264 species, or 

nearly 35%, are endemic. If considering taxa only 

on the species level, 28% are endemic. This high 

biodiversity extends itself to the animal kingdom 

as well, as fish, amphibians, and a few groups of 

invertebrates also show high levels of endemism in 

California. Indeed, with these numbers, one could 

see how high endemism gives this state its biotic 

uniqueness and justifies it as a biological hotspot.
Plant and Animal Endemism in California by Susan 

P. Harrison is an engaging treatise on biological 

endemism in the 31st state of the Union. The book is 

divided into six major topics: the biotic uniqueness 

of the California flora and fauna; the history of 

geology, climate, and floristics; the patterns and 

causes of plant endemism; animal endemism in 

California; biological conservation; and synthesis 

and conclusions.
Taking a closer look, this 189-page volume opens 

by explaining what endemism is, clarifying its 

meaning and definition, and then describes 

patterns of species richness and endemism on 

the state, regional, and global levels. The second 

chapter recounts previous theories on the origins 

and development of the California flora that were 

mainly put forth by Raven and Axelrod in their 

scholarly treatise in 1978. In Chapter 3, these 

now classical ideas are examined in the light of 

new scientific studies on the geologic history of 

California; development of the Mediterranean 

climate as a driving force for plant adaptations 

to long, hot, dry summers; internal barriers that 

may promote endemism; and long-term climatic 

stability. The fourth chapter covers animal 

endemism, while the fifth chapter discusses the 

urgent need for conservation as well as conservation 

issues concerning an endemics-rich region such as 

the California Floristic Province.
While Harrison’s discussion on endemism is 

fascinating throughout the book, it turns out 

that the last chapter—the one with the dry title 

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Plant Science Bulletin 60(2) 2014

of “Synthesis and Conclusions”—has the juiciest 

contents. For it is Chapter 6 that contains the 

intriguing results of Harrison’s many years of work 

on California endemism. At the risk of being a 

“spoiler,” I will mention only a few teasers here (skip 

to the next paragraph if you don’t want me to give 

away the ending): Plant endemism does not seem to 

stimulate animal endemism. Plants are not animals 

and were affected differently by the forces driving 

endemism. Elevated speciation and low extinction 

rates played important roles, while biogeographic 

barriers did not. In fact, geomorphological 

heterogeneity, which is always associated with 

present-day California (think: beaches and rocky 

shorelines, deserts, foothills, rugged mountain 

ranges, and fertile wide-bottomed valleys), is not 

the key to the high endemism in this state.
Plant and Animal Endemism in California is a well-

written and well-documented scholarly treatise 

on biological endemism in the California Floristic 

Province. The development of topics is logical and 

seamless, taking the reader smoothly through the 

book. It helps to have such good explanatory figures 

and tables. In the first four chapters of the book, 

hardly a page goes by without such an illustration. 

There are over 24 black-and-white figures, which 

are mostly maps, but also include graphs, charts, 

drawings, and photos, as well as 15 tables. The last 

30 pages of the volume are dedicated to listing the 

thousands of plant species that are endemic to the 

California Floristic Province, organized by family 

and with a note on their present-day biogeography 

(i.e., found in California, Oregon, or Baja).
I love the retro look of this hardbound book. In its 

size and graphic design, it has the clean lines of a 

1960s primer in California—my formative years in 

school. The book cover is thick and creamy to the 

touch. Featured on the front is a photo of three plant 

genera rich in California endemic species: Allium 

falcifolium (sickle-leaved onion), Sedum oreganum 

(Oregon stonecrop), and Lewisia cotyledon 

(Siskiyou bitterroot). The pop of fresh color 

provided by the striped pink and white flowers and 

deep pink inflorescence peduncle of the bitterroot, 

the rosy pink leaves of the two succulents, and the 

spring green of the leaves is accentuated by the pink 

and green stripes at the bottom of the book cover.
While the subject matter of this book will be most 

appealing to specialists and students in botany, 

ecology, and biogeography, Plant and Animal 

Endemism in California will also be of great use 

to zoologists interested in California endemism. 

Similarly, the chapter on conservation is a must 

for policymakers and nature lovers who value the 

biotic richness and uniqueness of this western 

state. Furthermore, the list price of less than $50 

for this scholarly and beautifully hardbound book 

makes it easy for libraries and museums all over the 

world to obtain this volume, especially during these 

financially restrictive times.
The main reason, though, to get your hands on a 

copy of Plant and Animal Endemism in California 

is because it is a landmark in the study of plant and 

animal endemism that will surely form the basis for 

future studies to come in ecology, biogeography, 

floristics, and endemism.
 –Carole T. Gee, on sabbatical at Huntington Botani-

cal Gardens, San Marino, California, and at the 

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los 

Angeles, California, USA

Economic Botany

Caper: The Genus Capparis

Ephraim Philip Lansky, Helena Maaria 

Paavilainen, and Shifra Lansky

2013. ISBN-13: 978-1-4398-6136-3

Hardcover, US$129.95. xxiv + 317 pp. 

Traditional Herbal Medicines for Modern 

Times vol. 12

CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, USA

Mythopoesis. No, I had never seen this word 

either. According to the dictionary, the title of 

Chapter 1 means “the creation of myths.” Okay, 

though I wouldn’t have thought a serious piece 

of academic research would care much about 

myth-making. The authors are concerned with 

explaining the derivation of the common name 

and the genus name of the book’s title, which they 

claim both derive from the word for goat (language 

unspecified). Only this much is surely true, that the 

word caper is derived from the Latin capparis. 
In Latin, the domesticated goat is Capra aegagrus, 

and the word comes into English in, for example, 

Isle of Capri. I can find no dictionary, including 

the  Oxford English Dictionary, that derives caper 

(in the sense of “stunt” or “criminal behavior”) or 

caprice  (“whim”) from the Latin for goat. In any 

case, Quattrocchi, in CRC World Dictionary of 

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Plant Science Bulletin 60(2) 2014

Plant Names, suggests that the Latin capparis is 

derived from the Greek kapros,  meaning  “a wild 

boar, provided with tusks.” This etymology at 

least keeps the vowels and consonants in order, 

which the authors’ myth-making does not. The 

source of the foodstuff capers, the flower buds 

of  Capparis spinosa, is a shrub with its stipules 

converted to hard, sharp spines—tusks, with a bit 

of imagination. (Chapter 28 is a page and a half 

of recipes for capers. The “recipes” are devoid of 

any measurements whatever, and are addressed to 

creative cooks and chefs.)
The authors assert that there are between 250 and 

400 species in the genus, mostly tropical. That 

range of numbers immediately says that there is 

no modern monograph available. This raises the 

question of how the sixty or so species covered in 

detail in this book were identified. It appears that 

the authors simply adopted the name used in the 

article they are citing, as is common in the literature 

of plant biochemistry and herbal medicine—these 

are the topics that occupy the bulk of the book. 

The various species contain an extensive array of 

phytochemicals that may be effective against all 

manner of inflammations, as well as high blood 

pressure, seizures, and even Alzheimer’s disease. 

The literature is very large, and the authors give the 

full literature citation at the end of each chapter, 

rather than at the end of the book before the index. 

This leads to some duplication, but I think readers 

will appreciate this approach, just as they and 

librarians will appreciate that article titles and the 

titles of both periodicals and books are given in full, 

without abbreviations.
The book closes with Chapter 29, “Breaking 

Advances in Medical Capparology,” and Chapter 

30, “Centers of Capparology” (meaning universities 

and research institutions). The neologism 

“capparology” combines a Latin root with a Greek 

suffix, perhaps unavoidably. Kaprology, anyone?
–Neil A. Harriman, Biology Department, University 

of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, USA. 

harriman@uwosh.edu

Honey in Traditional and Modern 

Medicine

Laïd Boukraâ (ed.)

2014. ISBN-13: 978-1-4398-4016-0 (Cloth, 

US$139.95. 470 pp.)

eISBN-13: 978-1-4398-4017-7 (e-book 

US$97.00) 

Traditional Herbal Medicines for Modern 

Times vol. 11

CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, USA

Honey in Traditional and Modern Medicine 

provides a comprehensive look at the traditional 

and medicinal applications of honey. The volume 

nicely bridges the gap between modern applications 

of honey and its ancient and traditional uses. The 

editor has done a commendable job in bringing 

together academics, researchers, and investigators 

from around the globe working on medicinal 

aspects of honey research. 
The volume comprises 19 chapters, with a 

smooth transition between ethnomedicinal 

and traditional studies on honey to modern-

day medicinal applications. Uses of honey in 

different branches of modern medicine (such as 

pediatrics, gastrointestinal and cardiovascular 

diseases, diabetic ulcers, and cancer, to mention 

only a few) are well documented. Traditional 

medicinal uses of honey are documented from 

cultures across the globe, with a chapter devoted 

to Ayurvedic medicine. Two chapters that illustrate 

the diversity of subjects covered in the volume are 

“Biochemistry and Physicochemical Properties 

of Honey,” which explores the latest approaches 

of chemical analysis of honey, and “Mad Honey: 

The Reality,” which was an interesting read from 

both a historical and a medicinal perspective. Each 

chapter stands independently, providing tables, 

schematic charts, graphs, word diagrams, and 

illustrations. The division of chapters into different 

subtopics adds variety and interest for readers, and 

color illustrations help to explain key concepts. In 

addition, the bibliography provided at the end of 

each chapter, along with the helpful index at the 

end of the book, will be quite useful for researchers. 
This volume highlights how honey has become 

an important component of the nutraceutical and 

functional food industry—covering its culinary 

uses, promoting honey as a source of nutrients, and 

describing its use across the globe in modern drug 

107

Plant Science Bulletin 60(2) 2014

formulations. Some repetitions of information 

were observed across different chapters, but that 

is not unexpected in a multi-chapter, multi-author 

volume on a narrow topic. One shortcoming 

is the lack of any mention of the use of honey in 

traditional Chinese medicine or its use in South 

and Central American tribal medicinal practices. 

Suggested improvements to increase usability 

for future editions include dividing the volume 

into three or four thematic subsections, as well as 

the addition of a short section at the end of each 

chapter highlighting key summary points. 
This volume will be extremely useful as a reference 

volume for both undergraduate and postgraduate 

students in the disciplines of apiculture, economic 

zoology and botany, economic geography, biological 

chemistry, food sciences and food technology, 

ethnobotany, ethnomedicine, preventive and social 

medicine, and pharmacology. It will also be useful 

for general readers who are interested in exploring 

both traditional and modern applications of 

honey for promoting better health. The editor 

deserves special credit for maintaining a balance of 

information throughout the volume that prevents 

the content from becoming overwhelming and 

hence provides an enjoyable reading experience 

and resource. 
–Saikat Kumar Basu, Department of Biological Sci-

ences, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta, 

Canada

The Savage Garden: Cultivating 

Carnivorous Plants, revised edition

Peter D’Amato

2013. ISBN-13: 978-1-60774-410-8

Paperback, US$25.99. 384 pp.

Ten Speed Press, Emeryville, California, USA

Upon opening the newly revised edition of The 

Savage Garden: Cultivating Carnivorous Plants, one 

risks falling into a mesmerizing pitcher plant or 

getting stuck on a dainty but deadly sundew leaf. 

This is exactly what author Peter D’Amato intended, 

as the entrapped reader has no choice but to read on 

and learn more about these remarkable organisms. 

Throughout this book, vivid photographs of “CPs” 

and the author’s entertaining and colorful prose 

highlight a beautiful, diverse, and often unfamiliar 

group of plants.

Like the original The Savage Garden (D’Amato, 

1998), this revised version is organized into 

three major sections. The first provides general 

information about cultivating carnivorous plants: 

soil ingredients, light and water requirements, 

fertilizing and feeding, and pest control. The 

second section discusses where to grow these 

plants, including information about spaces as 

varied as outdoor bog gardens, windowsills, and 

greenhouses. Both chapters assume little or no 

prior horticultural experience, and thus the book 

is quite beginner friendly. The third section is by 

far the longest, and contains information about 

the carnivorous plants available to gardeners. Each 

chapter in this section addresses a particular genus, 

providing historical information, brief descriptions 

of species and some cultivars, and extremely 

thorough propagation and cultivation instructions. 

These instructions are judiciously illustrated to 

clarify unique pollination or vegetative propagation 

techniques. The dimensions of The Savage Garden 

contribute to its utility as a horticultural reference: 

The book measures 23 × 15 × 2.5 centimeters (9 × 6 

× 1 inches) and weighs 868 grams (1.9 pounds), an 

ideal size to be carried through the nursery while 

examining potential purchases.
The revised version has several significant 

advantages over its predecessor. All measurements 

are now in both US customary and SI units, which 

should make this useful book accessible to a wider 

audience. Spelling mistakes from the original 

(Myers-Rice, 1998) have been corrected, although 

a few typographical errors are present in the new 

version. Dozens of species and cultivars discovered 

or registered since the first publication are included 

here, as are many new color photographs. Most 

importantly, though, the authoritative cultivation 

recommendations that stem from D’Amato’s 

decades of experience remain the central focus of 

the book. 
Although this book is an excellent horticultural 

resource, it is not without flaws and limitations. It 

is quite clear that most of the book is drawn from 

the author’s extensive personal experience, but 

D’Amato still frequently references other works, 

including several taxonomic monographs. A 

reference list at the end of the book would make it 

easier for readers to locate these primary sources. 

(A brief “Selected Reading” list was included as 

an appendix to the first edition of The Savage 

Garden, but was removed in the revised edition.) 

The descriptions and photographs provided for 

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Plant Science Bulletin 60(2) 2014

some species are not sufficient for identification. 

Finally, D’Amato’s brief treatment of carnivorous 

plant evolution makes no mention of adaptation 

or selection, and never addresses any hypotheses 

about why carnivory has evolved. Furthermore, 

the phylogenetic diversity of carnivorous plants 

(and therefore the idea that carnivory has arisen 

multiple times in plant evolutionary history) 

is not discussed. At several points the author 

hints at relationships between carnivorous plant 

genera, but relatedness at the family or order level 

is not explicitly discussed. While knowing that 

American pitcher plants are in the Ericales while 

tropical pitcher plants are in the Caryophyllales is 

not essential for proper cultivation, it does make 

gardening more interesting.
However, these faults should not be given too 

much weight. This book is not meant to be an 

introduction to the scientific literature, nor an 

exhaustive identification resource, nor a book 

about evolution. In the introduction to The Savage 

Garden, Peter D’Amato emphasizes that his book is 

“a practical guide to growing carnivorous plants.” 

The flaws discussed above do not detract from that 

objective in the slightest, although their omission 

may be a missed opportunity to use horticulture 

as a medium for broader education about botany. 

For a carnivorous plant bibliography or discussion 

of evolution, Carnivorous Plants and Their Habitats 

(McPherson, 2010) is a good place to begin, but 

for a book about cultivation The Savage Garden is 

essential. 
As a wonderful horticultural resource and an 

introduction to the morphological diversity of 

carnivorous plants, this book belongs on the shelf 

of gardeners, greenhouse managers, and anyone 

broadly interested in botany. Now that I’ve read 

it, I can provide more than guesses the next time 

a friend asks me how to keep a Venus flytrap alive.
–Ian D. Medeiros, College of the Atlantic, Bar Har-

bor, Maine, USA

LITERATURE CITED

D’AMATO, P. 1998. The Savage Garden: Cultivating 

Carnivorous Plants. Ten Speed Press, 

Emeryville, California, USA.

MCPHERSON, S. 2010. Carnivorous Plants and 

Their Habitats, Vols. 1 & 2. Redfern Natural 

History Productions, Poole, Dorset, United 

Kingdom. 

MEYERS-RICE, B. 1998. Book Review. Carnivorous 

Plant Newsletter 27(3): 72–73.

SYSTEMATICS

Colorado Rocky Mountain Wild-

flowers. App for Apple and Android

Al Schneider and Whitney Tilt  2012. 

US$9.99  High Country Apps:  http://www.

highcountryapps.com/

Botanical enthusiasts have varying levels of 

experience. Some are casual weekend hikers looking 

to identify the flowers they are photographing, 

while others are professional botanists who spend 

their careers identifying specimens. The “Colorado 

Rocky Mountain Wildflowers” app created by 

Al Schneider and Whitney Tilt is an excellent 

resource, particularly for those on the more casual 

end of this spectrum. I was excited to review this 

after many visits to Schneider’s website (http://

www.swcoloradowildflowers.com/) and was 

pleased to find that the app has the same excellent 

photos, thorough descriptions, and interesting 

commentary. There are numerous images for most 

of the plant species, including photos of habitat, 

growth form, flowers, and fruits. Distribution 

maps and habitat information help the user 

evaluate where the plant can be found. Experts 

and amateurs alike will appreciate these features. 

Unlike the website, the app is extremely portable as 

it loads onto an iPhone, iPad, Android, or Kindle 

Fire device and can be taken far from internet 

availability. This alone is worth the cost for me. 
While this app has features that anyone will 

appreciate, it is directed more toward casual users. 

Botanical experts will find that the app lacks the 

dichotomous keys necessary to key difficult species 

and, since it only directly covers 520 species, experts 

may be frustrated that the app may not include 

a species of interest. The app relies on a multi-

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Plant Science Bulletin 60(2) 2014

entry key where the user inputs characteristics of 

the plant (such as flower color, plant habit, leaf 

shape, and a host of other characteristics) and the 

app creates a list of potential species. Schneider 

and Tilt are clearly expert botanists who have 

worked hard to make these keys accessible to the 

general public. Their app is better than many other 

popular wildflower guides and the large number 

of characteristics in the multi-entry key allows the 

user to rapidly narrow down possible species. The 

commentary page often describes similar species, 

allowing easy comparison of plants that may 

superficially look similar. While the keys are useful 

and likely sufficient for most casual botanists, as 

someone who teaches plant identification I miss 

the inclusion of technical keys and the lack of 

exhaustive coverage of plants of the area. 
The app covers most of the common species in the 

Rocky Mountains. The authors have hand-selected 

species, but the app is far from exhaustive and the 

target area could use clarification. The inclusion 

of some foothill species and the lack of certain 

high alpine species make it difficult to assess what 

the boundaries of this guide are. For example, 

Penstemon mensarum is a common species at 9,000 

feet on the Grand Mesa in western Colorado, but a 

botanist on the Grand Mesa will not find it in the 

app. Most casual users may not need an exhaustive 

key, but if you are set on identifying a plant and it 

is a member of a difficult taxonomic group with 

many endemic species, such as a Penstemon, the 

app will not be sufficient to confidently key it to 

species. This app is useful for general interest and 

will satisfy most curious minds but will not be a 

stand-alone tool for more serious botanists. 
For $9.99, this app is a wonderful investment and 

starting place for beginning botanists. It is much 

less intimidating than technical keys, and those 

using it will be satisfied when they can confidently 

key out their plants. The photographs, commentary, 

and portability mean that this app is likely the first 

and last tool that casual botanical enthusiasts might 

use to identify a plant. As a professional botanist 

and someone who teaches plant identification 

courses, this application will not replace the 

technical keys and floras that are the heart of our 

profession. In the future, it would be wonderful if 

Schneider and Tilt combined the stellar pictures 

and commentary already present in this app with 

one of the wonderful technical keys available for 

understanding and identifying the plants of the 

Colorado Rockies. I hope both for myself and for 

my students that this dream soon becomes a reality!
–Stephen Stern, Department of Biological Sciences, 

Colorado Mesa University, Grand Junction, Colo-

rado, USA

The Ferns and Lycophytes of Texas

George M. Diggs Jr. and Barney L. Lipscomb

2014. ISBN-13: 978-1-889878-37-9

Flexbound, US$29.95. xii + 380 pp. 

Botanical Research Institute of Texas and 

Austin College, Fort Worth, Texas, USA 

Cover 2: Vegetational areas of Texas
Front endpaper: Areas of high fern and lycophyte 

diversity [with county names]
Back endpaper: Families and genera [with page 

numbers]
Cover 3: Summary data and comparisons with 

other pteridophyte floras 

These are listed here because they are excellent uses 

of what would otherwise be blank space. The full-

color cover that extends across the spine to cover 

4 is titled “Fern Habitat in the Pineywoods of East 

Texas”. It features Osmundastrum cinnamomeum 

and (on cover 4 and on p. 46) the Eastern phoebe; 

the species are all explained on p. iv. The Texas leaf-

cutter ant is barely visible on the cover 1 flap, but it 

is shown in the upper left portion of the illustration 

opposite of page 1. (The cover painting, when 

replicated within the book, is a mirror image.) It’s 

a beautiful picture, and one can almost hear  the 

midsummer swarms of mosquitoes in this bald-

cypress swamp. A county locator of Texas, given on 

pp. 378–379, is essential because there are 254 of 

them.
There are 127 recognized species in this work, and 

it is claimed that this is the most of any state in 

the continental United States. I think that’s true; 

however, Texas (268,820 square miles) is 4.5 times 

as large as Georgia (59,425 square miles), which 

claims 119 species (Snyder and Bruce, 1986). The 

Texans’ claim is strained.
A feature I’ve never seen in a fern book is Table 1: 

Texas “Record-Holders” and “Prize Winners.” This 

includes “Worst Weed,” Salvinia molesta, which 

also wins the prize for “Fastest Reproducer,” and 

110

Plant Science Bulletin 60(2) 2014

of publication or production notes relevant to the 

edition”), wherein the technical details of book 

creation and production are explained—the art 

and science behind it all. Here, it is not brief. There 

were 1500 copies printed; buy one, before they’re 

all gone.
Biographical details of the authors, including exact 

dates of birth, are given on p. 376. Page 377 gives 

“biographies” of Austin College (Diggs) and BRIT 

(Lipscomb). Their book is a credit to the long-

established educational and research traditions of 

both institutions. It is a fine piece of scholarship 

that will appeal to the specialist as well as to fern 

lovers in general.
–Neil A. Harriman, Biology Department, University 

of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, USA. 

harriman@uwosh.edu

LITERATURE CITED

Snyder, L. H. Jr., and J. G. Bruce. 1986. Field 

Guide to the Ferns and other Pteridophytes of 

Georgia. University of Georgia Press, Athens, 

Georgia, USA.

“Oldest Species,” Onoclea sensibilis; this latter, it is 

explained on p. 175, is essentially unchanged from 

57-million-year-old Paleocene fossils,.
The molecular evidence for the overall classification 

adopted in this book is reviewed extensively and 

lucidly. Both the generic names and the specific 

epithets for each recognized species are translated 

or explained. Even the common names are 

explained, to the extent possible. One appreciates 

that the family names, which are Latin plurals, are 

treated grammatically as plural.
Every species is illustrated in a line drawing, together 

with one or more color photographs in most cases. 

The Texas distribution is shown by county dot-

maps, and the general distribution in the USA is 

shown by dots or shading, as appropriate. Further 

distributional details are appended to the species’ 

descriptions. In the descriptions, words that might 

be unfamiliar to the reader (such as “lithophytic,” 

“rhizophores,” and other such arcana) are defined 

in plain English. There is a full-scale glossary as 

well.
There is a section toward the end of the volume 

(p. 375) labeled Colophon (“A brief description 

111

The Ferns and Lycophytes of Texas.  2014.  Diggs, George M. Jr. and Barney L. 

Lipscomb.  ISBN 978-1-889878-37-9 (Flex US$29.95) 392pp.  Botanical Research 

Institute of Texas, 1700 University Drive, Fort Worth, Texas 76107.

A Field Guide to California Lichens. 2014.   Sharnoff, Stephen.  ISBN 978-0-300-

19500-2 (flex US$32.50) 434pp.  Yale University Press, P.O. Box 209040, New Haven, 

CT 06520-9040.

Field Guide to the Sedges of the Pacific Northwest, 2

nd

 ed.  2014.  Wilson, Barbara 

L., Richard Brainerd, Danna Lytjen, Bruce Newhouse, and Nick Otting.  2014.  ISBN 

978-0-87071-729-1 (paper US$35.00) 432pp.  Oregon State University Press, 121 The 

Valley Library, Corvallis, OR 97331-4501.

Genera Palmarum: The Evolution and Classification of Palms.  Dransfield, John, 

Natalie W. Uhl, Conny B. Asmussen, William J. Baker, Madeline M. Harley and Carl 

E. Lewis.  2014.  ISBN 978-1-84246-182-2 (Cloth US$170.00) 732 pp.  International 

Palm Society, Kew.  Distributed by University of Chicago Press, 1427 East 60

th

 Street, 

Chicago, IL 60637.

The Genus Tulipa: Tulips of the World.  Everett, Diana.  2013. ISBN 978-1-84246-

481-6 (Cloth US$112.00) 380pp.  Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.  Distributed by 

University of Chicago Press, 1427 East 60

th

 Street, Chicago, IL 60637.

Handbook of Plant and Crop Physiology, 3

rd

 ed.  Pessarakli, Mohammad (Ed.)   2014.  

ISBN 978-1-4665-5328-6 (Cloth US$199.95) 993 pp.  CRC Press, Taylor and Francis 

Group, 6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300.  Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742.  

The Olmsted Parks of Louisville: A Botanical Field Guide.  Haragan, Patricia 

Dalton.  2014.  ISBN 978-0-8131-4454-2  (Flex US$50.00) 472pp.  University Press of 

Kentucky, 663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, KY 40508.

Photosynthesis in the Marine Environment.  Sven Beer, Mats Bjork, John Beardall.  

2014. ISBN: 978-1-119-97957-9 (Paper US$89.95) 224 pages.  Wiley-Blackwell.

Sustainable Landscaping: Principles and Practices.  Loehrlein, Marietta.  2014  ISBN 

13-978-1-4665-9320-6 (Cloth  US$89.95) 305 pp.  CRC Press, Taylor and Francis 

Group, 6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300.  Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742.

Books Received

112

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Charles Mann

Pelton Award Lecture

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Kaplan Lecture

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Annals of Botany 

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BSA President Elect

Thomas Ranker

ASPT President Elect

Patrick Herendeen

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