PLANT SCIENCE BULLETIN

A Publication of the Botanical Society of America, Inc.

VOLUME 11    APRIL 1965   NUMBER 1

Komarov Botanical Institute, Leningrad

STANWYN G. SHETLER
Smithsonian Institution

It was my good fortune to be able to visit the Komarov Botanical Institute in Leningrad for several days prior to the opening of the Tenth International Botanical Congress in Edinburgh. This Institute embraces all branches of the plant sciences, both applied and theoretical, and is probably the largest and most important botanical institution in the Soviet Union. Moreover it is one of the major botanical centers of the entire world, especially with respect to systematics, phytogeography, and geobotany. Al-together, nearly 700 persons are employed, including a professional staff of about 240 scientists who hold either the Doctor or Candidate of Science degree. The Herbarium now boasts nearly 6 million specimens, making it one of the three or four herbaria in the world exceeding 5 million specimens. It ranks second only, perhaps, to the Herbarium of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, which has about 6.5 million. The Library houses about 900,000 volumes including many exceedingly rare tomes covering all phases of botany. The Institute is a major training center for botanists in the U.S.S.R., having awarded about 275 advanced degrees over the past 20 years.

The Komarov Botanical Institute is one of the oldest botanical institutions in the world. Its earliest beginnings trace back to 1714 and the reign of Peter I, when it began as a medicinal garden for the Imperial Court and Army. Just last year the Institute celebrated its 250th anniversary. During the 19th century it was a botanical center of great national and international importance, having many eminent botanists associated with it. As a botanic garden with unusual glasshouse facilities for tropical and sub-tropical plants, it became one of the most celebrated of Europe.

Despite its illustrious history and impressive resources today, information about the Institute is not readily avail-able at least in the United States, and the real significance of its resources is not widely appreciated. The reasons are in part obvious, of course. The unfortunate realities of the political world have been responsible for the "Botanical Curtain" of sorts that has descended over Russian botany during much of the Soviet Period. Also, there is always the formidable barrier of the Russian language—or the English language, depending on your side. Even so, the Institute's level of international cooperation and participation, though not what it deserves to be, is relatively high at least compared to that of other Russian botanical institutions and considering all factors. For example, botanists of the Institute have not only been in a favorable position to conduct joint expeditions with the Chinese into tropical China and with the Indonesians into remote parts of their islands, but also they have been to Brazil as recently as 1947, under the leadership of the late B. K. Schischkin.

The present time is probably more auspicious for American contacts with the Komarov Institute than at any time during the past 3o-90 years and certainly since the Second World War. The truth is that we are not taking full ad-vantage of the opportunities because of our own timidity, I am convinced. For example, although American botanists literally swarmed over Western Europe to visit botanical research centers large and small while abroad for the Congress last summer, barely a ripple was felt in Leningrad. To my knowledge, I was the only American taxonomist—perhaps the only Western taxonomist—to take this opportunity to study the Komarov's unexampled collections. This seems the more unfortunate because the trip is perfectly feasible. Neither the Russian language nor official red tape need be a barrier.

The success of my own trip prompts me to describe it briefly in print in the hopes that others might be encouraged to make a similar venture. In this age of the "Botanical Jet-Set," travel per se is no longer a problem, and there is nothing to lose and perhaps much to gain by including Leningrad on one's travel itinerary when in Europe. My report covers only the Herbarium of the Institute, because I had no firsthand experience with the other re-search laboratories.

I first became interested in visiting the Komarov Institute several years ago when I began to study the Alaskan flora and the geniis Campanula. The latter interest led me into a friendly correspondence and exchange of scientific books with Dr. Andrey Fedorov, the noted authority on Campanulaceae who wrote the family treatment for Flora SSSR (vol. 24, 1957) and who is currently preparing the treatment for Flora Euro paea. He is also an authority on the Caucasian flora, and more recently his researches have turned to the Old World Tropics. My trip this past summer was planned expressly to make his acquaintance and to examine some Siberian collections of Campanula, which are scarce in American herbaria.

The limited, "official" Soviet-American scientist ex-

PAGE TWO

PLANT SCIENCE BULLETIN
WILLIAM L. STERN, Editor Smithsonian Institution Washington 25, D. C.
EDITORIAL BOARD HARLAN P. BANKS    Cornell University NORMAN H. BOKE   University of Oklahoma SYDNEY S. GREENFIELD    Rutgers University ELSIE QUARTERMAN    Vanderbilt University ERICH STEINER    University of Michigan
APRIL 1965   VOLUME 11	NUMBER 1

CHANGES OF ADDRESS: Notify the Treasurer of the Botanical Societe of America, Inc., Dr. Harlan P. Banks, Department of Botany, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.

SUBSCRIPTIONS for libraries and persons not members of the Botanical Society of America are obtainable at the rate of $2.00 a year. Send orders with checks payable to "Botanical Society of America, Inc." to the Treasurer.

MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR PUBLICATION should be typewritten double-spaced, and sent in duplicate to the Editor. Copy should follow the style of recent issues of the Bulletin.

changes are ill-adapted for the usual taxonomic itinerary that includes many, relatively short herbarium visits. The process of arranging an official visit to the U.S.S.R. is ponderous and much too unpredictable; the vagaries of selection being what they are one is inclined to forget the whole idea of a Russian stopover before he tries. For this reason, I decided to plan an ordinary "tourist" visit to Leningrad with the "ulterior" motive of scientific research. (Actually, I listed my intention right on my visa application.) I was unprepared, however, for the ease with which the tourist approach can succeed.

One cannot improvise a Russian tour as he might a German, or French, or English tour, but must prearrange all major details and prepay all major expenses through any of several American travel agencies accredited with In-tourist, the Russian Government's travel bureau. My trip was arranged by American Express, including the securing of my Russian visa, and they sold me the so-called "De-luxe" (Russians call it Licks.) plan. This is apparently the only option for non-official travellers. One is sold a certificate of credit which when surrendered to Intourist in-side the Soviet Union entitles him to lodging, meals (fixed-allowance tickets), and an interpreter-guide who has the use of a chauffeur-driven car.

From the moment one arrives in the Soviet Union, in this case Leningrad, he is nominally the ward of Intourist, but the first-time visitor to the U.S.S.R. who is not fluent in Russian is only too glad to lean on Intourist and to lean hard. I felt complete freedom to move about in the city and feel that I relied on them only at my own choosing. My guide was very accommodating and helped arrange my schedule as I wanted it, making all advance arrangements with the Botanical Institute for me. I was placed in "Hotel Rossiya" and had a comfortable room. Other Institute visitors should try, however, to be placed in either the "Evropa" or "Astoria." Both are much closer to the Institute and nearer to the hub of city life; in particular, the "Astoria" is more hotel-like to the Westerner.

The Herbarium and Library of the Botanical Institute are housed in a four-story building completed in 1913 for the 200th anniversary of the Principal Botanic Garden of St. Petersburg, which preceded the Institute. The Vascular Plant Herbarium is one of four separate divisions of the Department of Vascular Plants, and the Chief Curator, to whom all correspondence concerning loans and exchanges should be addressed, is Prof. I. T. Vassilczenko. The Department is headed by Prof. A. L. Takhtajan, Corresponding Member of the Armenian Academy of Sciences, who also is in charge of the Laboratory of Paleobotany within the Department. The remaining two divisions of the Department are: Laboratory of Taxonomy and Geography of Vascular Plants (Chief, Andrey A. Fedorov) and Laboratory of Plant Cytology (Chief, M. S. Navashin).

The Vascular Herbarium is comprised of six regional herbaria and the so-called "Duplicate Division," in charge of S. K. Tscherepanov. The six herbaria and their heads are as follows: I) European U.S.S.R., N. N. Tzvelev; 2) Caucasus, An. A. Fedorov; 3) Middle Asia, V. P. Botschanzev; 4) Central Asia, V, Grubov; 5) Siberia and Far East, S. J. Lipschitz; and 6) General, M. E. Kirpicznikov. The General Herbarium covers the entire world outside the U.S.S.R. This regional departmentalization is best suited for floristic-phytogeographic research and least suited for systematic-monographic studies. The origin of this her-barium arrangement is perhaps related to the 3o-year Flora SSSR project just completed last year. Herbarium users must understand this rather complex regional organization and remember that each herbarium has its own curator and staff. It is possibly because of this organization that some visiting foreign botanists in the past have not been given direct access to the herbaria. At times it might have been simpler to bring out the plants, especially for an English-speaking guest, than to explain the system.

Complete access was granted me, and one of the exciting moments of my trip came when I was "turned loose" in the Siberian Herbarium and permitted to consult the cases directly for whatever Campanulaceae I wished to see. The wealth of material was overwhelming, and it was indeed a revel. All the curators I came in contact with very willingly offered me space, equipment, supplies, or any other assistance I needed, and I felt a bit smothered with attention. All that I lacked was a few months of time!

The Herbarium organization is bewildering to the new-comer, and they made every effort to assist me in finding what I needed without my having to move around a lot. The types are kept separate, and they were brought to me. In the Caucasian Herbarium, Dr. Fedorov had gone to the trouble of pulling out, in advance of my arrival, more than Too types and isotypes for me to examine. To save

PAGE THREE

me time, they brought Inc specimens from other herbaria while I worked. With this valuable service I did not find the regional subdivisions unduly handicapping. With respect to monographic work it is worth noting that Dr. A. O. Chater (University of Leicester, England), who was in the midst of a study of Astragalus for Flora Europaea, was given a special office and permitted to bring together there all the specimens he needed from the various herbaria.

I was met upon arrival at the Herbarium by Dr. Andrey Fedorov who was most generous with his time during my few days in Leningrad. He speaks good English, as do quite a few members of the staff, and he gave me a general tour of the Herbarium and introduced me to many of the botanists. (My own Russian facility is not adequate for sustained conversation, but I found that one really does not need to know Russian to get along well in the Herbarium, although of course it would be a great asset. In fact, it would be a mistake to attempt a long-term visit without some knowledge of Russian.) I was especially pleased to meet Prof. Vassilczenko, Chief Curator, and Dr. Lipschitz, well known for his biographic-bibliographic work on Russian botanists (Botanicorum rossicorum, vols. 1-4, 1947-52. MOSCOW). Many of the professional staff were on vacation or away on business or field-work, among whom was Prof. Takhtajan whose acquaintance I was unable, regretfully, to make.

Dr. Fedorov had library specialists orientate me to the Library, and I was very much impressed with their re-sources. I was a little distressed, however, to learn that the stacks are not open. Most interesting to me was the dual catalog. Russian titles are cataloged separately from foreign titles, and the user must be able to read foreign titles in their original language and script. This eliminates the kind of monstrosities that one finds in our libraries when Cyrillic letters are transliterated into Latin ones. Unfortunately, however, they apparently do not have the funds to continue this dual catalog.

I had the great pleasure of chatting for some time with Prof. Alexandr A. Fedorov, Director of the Komarov Botanical Institute and Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R., who is a brother to Andrey. Andrey served as interpreter, and together they gave me a guided tour of the arboretum and park surrounding the Institute, which attracts upwards to 200,000 visitors annually. Many regional plantings have been established, including a North American planting with some magnificent Colorado blue spruces.

On two occasions, Dr. Andrey Fedorov held an elaborate tea for me in the Caucasian Herbarium, serving open-face caviar, cheese, and meat sandwiches, apricots, and a delicious assortment of pastries. This provided an opportunity for informal banter with him and his assistants, who did their best to coax Russian out of me and chuckled at my informality in eating caviar and sweets alternately.

The real highlight of my visit came on the Sunday after- noon of my stay when Dr. Andrey Fedorov took his wife, assistant, and me for a drive south of Leningrad to sight-see and visit some historical parks. On our way back we stopped in a roadside park where there were tables and chairs and had a picnic supper. They brought along what they described as a "typical Russian summer meal," which included cold ham, cucumbers, tomatoes, black bread, cheese, cabbage-stuffed pastries (kind of piroshki), and cake. They bought lemonade and beer along the way. After supper we took a stroll in the park to a relict stand of virgin Scotch pine. It was the first native Scotch pine I had ever seen, and I had not realized they could be so tall.

The trip was hardly more than an orientation, and I am looking forward to returning at some future time for much longer studies. Considering how many specimens and especially types are to be found at Leningrad, one can only hope that many more American taxonomists will be able to visit the Komarov Botanical Institute in the years to come. In return, we must hope that many Russian taxonomists will be able to visit our own herbaria. Surely this will promote better taxonomy everywhere.

I extend sincere thanks to all those at the Institute who so unselfishly delighted in making my visit a success. I am particularly indebted to Dr. Andrey Fedorov, but special thanks go also to Prof. Alexandr Fedorov, Director, for volunteering many interesting details about the organization and activities of the Institute. Finally, I am grateful to Dr. A. O. Chater for sharing with me his own three-month experiences at the Institute and thereby providing me with a perspective not otherwise possible from such a short visit.

•   Literature Consulted

FEDOROV, AL. A. 1964. "Botanicheskomu institutu im. V. L. Komarova Akademii nauk SSSR 250 let" [To the Botanical Institute in the name of V. L. Komarov of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR—25o years] Botanicheskii Zhurnal 49(11) : I—VIII.

LEBEDEV, D. V., S. J. Lrrscxrrz, AND M. M. LODKINA. 1962. An outline of the history of the V. L. Komarov Botanical Institute of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences. Acad. Sci. U.S.S.R. Press, Leningrad. 48 pp. (Translated by D. M. Kershner and G. E. Ben; edited by P. A. Baranov)

Report of the Secretary 1959-19641

BILLIE L. TURNER

University of Texas

I assumed the Secretaryship of the Society in 195.8, having been appointed by the Council to succeed Professor Harold C. Bold, who had resigned from that office to become the new Editor of the American Journal of Botany. After completing his term of office, I was elected by the So-

1 A report presented to the Council of the Society during meetings at the University of Colorado, August 1964.

PAGE FOUR

ciety to the office of Secretary for the years 1959—196. During this six-year period—a period which saw the membership grow from 'Soo to approximately 2700—a number of significant developments occurred and a number of new problems arose. Since I will address this Council for the last time as Secretary, I would like 1) to outline briefly the major developments within the Society during this period and 2) to propose certain activities that ought to be considered as part of the obligations of the Society.

In my opinion, the Secretary's job is mostly routine. It is the Presidents who should and have provided effective leadership; it is the Council that provides wisdom in action; and it is the Treasurer, Editors, and Business Manager who provide sound fiscal policy. In particular, the office of President is critical, and for this reason the Council should make every effort to see that the best possible slate of candidates is presented to the Society for election. During my term of office, it has been my privilege to work under an extraordinary succession of Presidents. To them I am personally deeply indebted, for they have provided not only leadership, but also inspiration.

Therefore, in compiling the major developments within the Society during the past six years I would like to re-late these to the Presidents who were associated with the events of those years. In the list that follows, I have included only those activities of major significance to the Society for the year concerned. There were many other activities by numerous individuals which in sum perhaps outweigh in import those listed, and only brevity dictates that these be omitted.

1958: President—Fares W. WENT

1. The Bylaws were amended so as to establish a new category of Retired Members for those who, after 25 years of continuous membership, might upon petition, remain active in the Society without payment of dues. Such membership did not include a subscription to the Journal.

2. Since the Society was operating in the red, Regular Membership dues were raised from $7.00 to $io.00 and dues for graduate students from $5.00 to $6.00.

1959: President—WILLIAM C. STEERE

1. Bylaws were again modified to permit Retired Members (totaling about 300) to receive the Journal at half the rate of Regular Members.

2. Developmental Section established.

3. Career Bulletin (1st edition) appeared. Five thousand copies distributed.

4. Decision to continue Summer Institute for Botany Teachers (first inaugurated in pre-sputnik days).

5. Society operating in black again; prophecies of drop in membership not forthcoming.

1960: President—KENNETH V. THIMANN

1. A major study committee appointed (with N.S.F. sup-port) to explore the feasibility of establishing a Federation of Plant Science Societies under the aegis of the A.I.B.S.

2. Council decided again to publish abstracts of papers presented before the sections of the Society. An important decision, for this action drew some of the smaller plant science societies into closer association with the Botanical Society.

1961: President—VERNON I. CIIEADLE

1. Office of Program Director established by the Council; an important step, for it provided for the coordination of a widening circle of activities by the Society.

2. Council received a favorable report from its commit-tee to consider the establishment of a National Tropical Botanical Garden in Hawaii and decided to take an active part in establishing such a Garden.

3. Second edition of Career Bulletin printed; over 40,000 copies distributed.

1962: President—G. LEDYARD STEBBINS

1. Awards of $250.00 each from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the New York Botanical Garden for a five-year period were made available to the Society for presentation at its annual meetings.

2. The proposed Federation of Plant Science Societies did not materialize owing, in large measure, to the projected reorganizational plans of the A.I.B.S.

3. Decision made to incorporate into the Bylaws of the Society the new office of Program Director.

1963: President—CONSTANTINE J. ALEXOPOULOS

1. Council decided to publish an inclusive program with the abstracts for publication in the Journal—this to be sent to all members of the Society.

2. Society approved the new Bylaws of the reorganized A.I.B.S. and pledged its continuing support of that organization.

3. Botanical Society obtained N.S.F. and A.E.C. funds to provide grants for travel of botanists to the Tenth Inter-national Botanical Congress in Edinburgh.

1964: President—PAUL J. KRAMER

1. An invitation of the Society to the International Botanical Congress to hold their 1969 meetings in the United States was accepted.

2. First integrated Botanical Program for the A.I.B.S. meetings from the Program. Director's office.

3. A new Section on the History of Botany established.

Looking to, the future, I would outline these problems:

1. Need for revision of the Bylaws so that various botanical disciplines are better represented on the Council. Invite as voting members to our Council, members from other botanical or botanically oriented societies (Bryological, Fern, Genetics, and Evolution).

2. Re-evaluation of the methods whereby officers of the Society are elected.

3. A much more active Membership Committee, with regional subcommittee chairmen.

4. Publication of an annual or biennial guide to grad-

PAGE FIVE

uate programs in botany in the United States, along the lines of that published by the American Chemical Society.

5. Publication of a more expanded version of the Botanical Programs at the A.I.B.S. meetings (as a supplement to the American Journal of Botany) to include abstracts and programs of all the purely botanical groups such as the Bryological Society and Fern Society. Perhaps this could he handled through the Program Director's office.

Historical Section of the Botanical
Society of America

JERRY STANNARD

Rutgers University, Newark

At the business meeting of the Council, 26 August 1963, Dr. William A. Jensen, Program Director of the Society, was asked to form a committee to investigate the possibility and advisability of a new section to be devoted to the history of botany. The committee, composed of Drs. Arthur W. Galston, Arthur E. Schwarting, Jerry Stannard, Philip R. White and Conway Zirkle, reported favorably on the formation of a new section. Bylaws of the proposed section were drawn up by the committee and submitted to the Council in the form of a motion that the Council accept the Bylaws and formally create a Historical Section. By the unanimous vote of the Council, the motion was passed. Thus, at Boulder, Colorado, 23 August 1964, the Historical Section was created. It becomes the tenth section of the Society.

Because a business meeting of the Section could not be scheduled in advance of the Council's action, the Council instructed the above-mentioned committee to recommend a slate of officers for the first year. The recommendations of the committee were approved and were accepted by the Council at the same time as the Section was organized. The officers appointed for the first year are:

Chairman: Edmund W. Sinnott Vice-Chairman: Conway Zirkle Secretary-Treasurer: Jerry Stannard

(No recommendation was made by the committee for the post of Representative on the Editorial Board of the American Journal of Botany and temporarily it remains unfilled). In succeeding years, officers of the Section will be elected in accordance with the Bylaws presented below.

The establishment of the Historical Section represents the convergence of several different yet related lines of influence. Although there has long been an interest in the lives and accomplishments of early, particularly American, botanists, history of botany, as such, as not been prosecuted vigorously in the United States. Historical papers have appeared only at infrequent intervals in the section meetings, and as a teaching subject, the history of botany is almost non-existent. There is, to he certain, a

sizeable literature on the history of botany, again with an emphasis in early American botany, but a high percentage of it has been written by persons untrained in botany, and often unaware of the problems, techniques, and terminology of recent developments. While these papers, appearing in a wide range of historical, literary, and art journals, have undoubtedly called attention to the importance of an historical approach, botanists have not taken the fullest advantage of the widespread interest in the history of their own discipline. In Europe, on the contrary, scholarly historical papers have often been written by botanists who, utilizing their historical and philological training, have been able to command a wider field of subject matter. These papers frequently have been presented at the annual meetings of the various national and local botanical societies and have been published in botanical journals.

There remains a second major influence leading up to the creation of the Section. This has been the effect, particularly noted since the close of the Second World War, of the history of science. Along with the history of medicine, the history of science is a respectable academic discipline, and, as a teaching subject, it is now presented regularly at many of the major American universities. The most important consequence of the rise of the history of science, is that the interdisciplinary approach holds promise for a better understanding of science for the non-scientist. By the same token, the scientists, in this case the botanist, can better appreciate some of the cultural and extra-scientific forces that have shaped botanical research in the past. These varied influences have produced an environment favorable to an expanded and organized approach to the oldest of scientific disciplines.

Response to these stimuli has taken a variety of forms and they can be detected in numerous ways. There has been a heightened interest by many botanists in a better understanding of specific details concerning the work of earlier investigators. In recent years the history of botany has received considerable attention from several large institutions, scholarly hooks and papers are appearing at a faster rate than ever before, publishers have announced plans for facsimile and reprint editions of several of the unobtainable classics, and finally, steps have been taken to proceed with the frequently postponed and long-awaited Source Book in the History of Botany. In turn, this has led to a reconsideration of the role of history in present botanical programs. It was felt by many, that a wider acquaintance with the more fundamental discoveries in the plant sciences would benefit teaching and research alike. Though seldom voiced officially, the desire has of-ten been expressed for the formation of some body or agency by which history could be placed on an equal footing with the other botanical disciplines and specialities. Suggestions were received over the past few years, not all of them practicable, that an instrument be fashioned to provide an outlet for those botanists whose professional

PAGE SIX

duties included an interest in the earlier stages of their own projects.

One of the greatest needs in the history of botany is to know what has been written. This is a difficulty which confronts all of us and it is an obstacle which cannot be overcome by present search methods and bibliographic tools. Papers, often of considerable importance, are widely scattered over scores of journals, not all of which are botanical or even biological publications. The modern botanist, striving to keep abreast of the literature in his own research areas, has little time or inclination to search the older, and especially the non-botanical literature, in the expectation of turning up something of relevance.

The Historical Section is an attempt to meet these difficulties and to alleviate where possible, some of the obstacles. The annual meetings cannot hope to redress the situation in its entirety. But they will provide a central clearing house for an exchange of ideas among the historically-minded botanists. Recent advances in historical studies can be examined and work in progress reported to a critical audience. But above all else, an outlet is provided for those who, for whatever reason, are interested in the history of their subject.

Perhaps the best means of indicating the purpose and scope of the Section is to append the Bylaws.

ARTICLE I   PURPOSE

The objectives of this section shall be:

i. To promote general interest and encourage research in the history of botany.

2. To stress the importance of the history of botany in relation to current and anticipated research trends in botany.

3. To establish closer relations between botanists and historians of science and medicine engaged in research in or the teaching of the history of botany.

4. To assist in the dissemination of knowledge of the history of botany.

5. To cooperate whenever desirable and possible with other organizations in achieving these ends, and

6. To arrange whenever feasible a suitable program on subjects dealing with the history of botany in connection with the annual meetings of the Botanical Society of America, Inc.

ARTICLE II   OFFICERS

1. The officers shall be a Chairman, a Vice-Chairman, a Secretary-Treasurer, and a Representative on the Editorial Board of the American Journal of Botany. There shall be an Executive Council which shall include in addition to these officers, the immediate Past Chair-man. The Secretary-Treasurer shall serve for a period of three years; the Representative on the Editorial Board of the American journal of Botany shall be elected for a period of three years; the other officers shall serve one year. The Vice-Chairman will succeed to the Chairmanship.

2. The Secretary-Treasurer shall represent the Section on the Council of the Botanical Society of America, Inc.

3. The Chairman shalt preside at all meetings of the Section, shall appoint all committees, and shall perform all other functions customary and prescribed for that office.

4. An annual session shall be held each year and shall be announced in the regular printed program of the Botanical Society of America, Inc. The officers of the Section shall be elected at this annual business session.

5. Candidates for office shall be presented by a nominating committee of three, appointed by the Chairman.

ARTICLE III   SPECIAL MEETING

The section may arrange special meetings whenever desirable and possible.

ARTICLE IV MEMBERSHIP

1. Any member in good standing in the Botanical Society of America, Inc. may become a member of the Section upon notice to the Secretary-Treasurer of the Section. The Secretary-Treasurer shall maintain the active membership roll of the Section by circularizing the members listed at least once every three years regarding their interest in continuing affiliations with the Section.

2. Section members shall pay no regularly stated dues. Special assessments as required to defray incidental expenses of the Section over a stipulated period of time, in no event at a rate to exceed $$r.00 per annum, may be authorized by vote at the annual session.

ARTICLE V AMENDMENTS

These Bylaws may be amended by a three-quarters vote of those voting members present at a scheduled business meeting.

As the Bylaws indicate, an annual meeting will be held in conjunction with the meeting of the Society. This Au-gust the Section will hold its first regularly-scheduled session. Plans are now being made for the program, which is open to any member of the Society who may wish to present a paper on a historical subject. Those who desire further information or who wish to submit papers, are advised to contact the Secretary-Treasurer of the Historical Section as soon as possible.

News and Notes

ANNOUNCEMENTS

A third international meeting sponsored by UNESCO was held in Sāo Paulo, Brazil, December 14-18, for the purpose of establishing a Commission to initiate and carry out a program for a flora of the New World tropics. Representatives from Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Mexico, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States served as delegates.

The ORGANIZATION FOR FLORA NEOTROPICA (O.F.N.) was

constituted by this Commission. It is to be a corporate body with official and legal headquarters at The New York Botanical Garden. The initial panel of officers is: Dr. Alcides R. Teixeira, Instituto de Botanica, Sāo Paulo, President; Dr. Joseph Lanjouw, State University of Utrecht, Netherlands, Vice-President; Dr. Efraim Hernandez-Xolocotzi, Escuela Nacional de Agricultura de Chapingo, Mexico, Secretary; Dr. F. Raymond Fosberg, Pacific Vegetation Project, National Research Council, Washington, D. C., Treasurer; Dr. Bassett Maguire, New York Botanical Gar-den, Executive Director; Dr. Jose Cuatrecasas, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C., Scientific Director (higher plants); Dr. Rolf Singer, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina, Scientific Director (lower plants).

The governing Executive Board consists of Dr. Jose Cuatrecasas; Dr. Ram6n Ferreyra, San Marcos University, Lima, Peru; Dr. F. Raymond Fosberg; Dr. Angel L. Cabrera, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina; Dr. Efraim Hernandez-Xolocotzi; Dr. Bassett Maguire; Dr. Joseph Lanjouw; Sir 'George Taylor, Royal Botanic Gar-dens, Kew, England; and Dr. Alcides R. Teixeira.

The primary object of the Organization for Flora Neotropica will be to prepare and publish floras in mono-

PAGE SEVEN

graph form for all of the plants of the Western Hemisphere tropics. Monographs will be prepared for a flora in which the flowering plants, largely woody, comprise an estimated ioo,000 species. Of non-vascular plants, mosses, lichens, fungi, algae, there will be represented possibly an additional ioo,000 species. It is clearly recognized that an undertaking of this scope will require the efforts of many botanists doing extended field work and intensive library and herbarium research over a period of many years. Indeed, it is envisioned that the completion of such a Flora Neotropica will require the coordinated efforts of the world's leading institutions and the work of generations of their staffs.

The Organization for Flora Neotropica may become affiliated with the Association for Tropical Biology, and the A.T.B. Bulletin may carry notes and discussions ancillary and peripheral to Flora Neotropica monographs.

As one of the host institutions, The New York Botanical Garden will be a base for the conduct of operational planning and procedures, and a center for the execution of herbarium research and field work. The University of Buenos Aires and the Smithsonian Institution will also become centers for the conduct of scientific research and will play host to the Scientific Directors. Facilities of all major botanical research institutions will be sought for this program and cooperation of their staffs is invited. As the organization and operation of the O.F.N. develop, the botanical public will be kept informed.

The Council of the Botanical Society of America, at its recent Colorado meetings, accepted a proposal from THE

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HISTORY OF SCIENCE COLLECTION

that the archival material of the Society be placed on permanent deposit in that Collection. The archival material includes a complete set of minutes of the Society from the year 1894 to the present. The University of Texas will microfilm the entire set of minutes for use by the Secretary of the Society. In addition, the Secretary can obtain, free of charge, photocopies of selected materials upon request. All records will be bound and maintained in a fireproof room under the supervision of a competent librarian.

In connection with the above, an inventory was made of the Society's Miscellaneous Publications. It was found that the following numbers (for the years 1910 to 1927) were missing: 51 through 58, 61, 62, 65, 68, 69, 71, 72, 74, and 77. In the early years, these publications contained the annual program and oftentimes a list of members. If any members locate any of the missing numbers, the Secretary would be pleased to add these to the series so that the archival material might be as complete as possible. Any member who might have additional archival materials bearing on the development of the Botanical Society of America, such as old group photographs of the Society, are also urged to send these to the Secretary for deposition.

On Sunday, October 25, the new RESEARCH BUILDING AT THE SANTA BARBARA BOTANIC GARDEN was officially opened.

This facility, a two story structure, is connected by a breeze-way to the Library-Administration Building, and overlooks the arroyo section of the Garden. There are four laboratories, three of which are occupied by members of the staff and associates of the Garden who are doing research in cytology, dendrology, and taxonomy. The four laboratory, presently uncommitted, is available for visiting investigators. At the north end of the building there are two offices for members of the staff and a public information office. The lower level houses shops for garden maintenance and a room designed specifically for seed storage.

The building was constructed with the aid of grants from the National Science Foundation and the Santa Barbara Foundation as well as with contributions from individual trustees and friends of the Garden. Botanists interested in occupying space in the new building while conducting re-search in Southern California can obtain information by writing to the Director of the Santa Barbara Botanic Gar-den, Santa Barbara, California.

GEORGE H. M. LAWRENCE, Director of the Hunt Botanical Library, Pittsburgh has been elected President of the American Society of Plant Taxonomists for 1965 and ROBERT K. GODFREY of Florida State University, Tallahassee has been elected to serve a seven-year term on the Council of the Society. Other officers appointed by the Council for 1965 are: LAWRENCE R. HECKARD (University of California, Berkeley), Secretary; RICHARD W. POHL (Iowa State University, Ames), Treasurer; ROBERT W. LONG (University of South Florida, Tampa), Treasurer-elect.

The GEORGE R. COOLEY AWARD OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY

OF PLANT TAXONOMISTS for meritorious work published on

the flora of the Southeastern United States has been given to Ruth S. Breen, Florida State University, Tallahassee, for her recent book, Mosses of Florida.

The Botanical Society of America announces that the

annual NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN AWARD FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE FUNDAMENTAL ASPECTS OF BOTANY will

be made at the meeting of the Society at Urbana, Illinois, in August 1965. The award is to be made in accordance with the following policies: I. The award is to be made for contributions to basic botany. 2. Ordinarily, the contribution receiving the award should be in the form of written material. It may be a book or a scientific paper. 3. The award should be made to a botanist; he need not be a member of the Botanical Society of America. 4. The award is not to be restricted precisely to publications of the year of the award, but the contribution should be of relatively recent date. The publication or publications should be new in material or should synthesize old material in a masterful way. The Awards Committee invites nominations and asks that they, together with supporting material, be sent to Harold C. Bold, Department of Botany, University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712, by May 15, 1965.

The committee on the DARBAKER PRIZE OF THE BOTAN-

PAGE EIGHT

ICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA will accept nominations for an award to be announced at the annual meeting of the Society at Urbana, Illinois, in August 1965. Under the terms of the bequest, the award is to be made for "meritorious work in the study of the algae." Persons not members of the Botanical Society are also eligible for the award. The Committee will base its judgment primarily on the papers published by the nominee during the last two full calendar years previous to the closing date for nominations. At present, the award will be limited to residents of North America. Only papers published in the English language will be considered. The value of the Prize for 1965 will depend on the income from the trust fund but is expected to be about $250. Previous recipients are M. B. Allen, E. Y. Dawson, P. Green, R. Krauss, R. Lewin, J. Myers, R. Scagel, P. Silva, R. Starr, and J. Stein. Nominations for the 1965 award, accompanied by a statement of the merits of the case and by reprints of the publications supporting the candidacy, must be received by June 1, 1965, by the Chairman of the Committee, Dr. Paul G. Green, Department of Cytology, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, New Hampshire.

The new PLANT RESEARCH LABORATORY established at Michigan State University in conjunction with the Atomic Energy Commission has initiated its research programs and is inviting applications for graduate study leading toward the Ph.D. degree and for postdoctoral research associate-ships in various areas of basic plant science. Graduate degrees will he awarded through the appropriate academic department of the University. The Laboratory, under the direction of Prof. Anton Lang, is presently housed in adequate temporary quarters and will move into its own building in the spring or summer of 1966. Inquiries concerning the programs of the laboratory should be directed to Dr. Lloyd G. Wilson, Assistant to the Director, MSU/AEC Plant Research Laboratory, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48823. Applications for ad-mission to graduate study should be addressed to the Director of Admissions, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48823.

The Division of Radiation and Organisms of the Smithsonian Institution has been recently reconstituted as the SMITHSONIAN RADIATION BIOLOGY LABORATORY. Although established as a division of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, the laboratory functions separately and has achieved prominence as a center for research in radiation biology. The Laboratory will be an independent unit re-porting to the Assistant Secretary for Science of the Smithsonian. The Radiation Biology Laboratory is under Dr. William H. Klein, Director and Dr. W. Shropshire, Assistant Director. The present staff of 33 consists of senior level researchers, visiting postdoctoral scientists, graduate students, and a supporting staff of technicians and engineers.

Future meetings of the AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF BIoLom-CAL SCIENCES are as follows: 1965, University of Illinois,

Urbana, August 15–20; 1966, University of Maryland, College Park, August 14–19; 1967, Texas A. & M. College, College Station, tentatively, last week in August; 1968, Ohio State University, Columbus.

PERSONALIA

DR. STANLEY A. CAIN, formerly Chairman of the School of Natural Resources at the University of Michigan, has been appointed Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish and Wildlife by President Lyndon Johnson.

WALTER E. LOOMIS, Professor of Plant Physiology at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, is spending the year as Visiting Professor of Botany at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

PROFESSOR EMERITUS H. B. TUKEY of Michigan State University, has been elected a Vice-President (Foreign Honorary) of the Royal Horticultural Society of England.

Appointment of WILLIAM L. STERN as Chairman of the Smithsonian Institution's Department of Botany, which includes the U.S. National Herbarium, was announced recently. He succeeds Dr. Jason R. Swallen. DR. TI-IOMAS R. SODERSTROM was appointed Curator of the Division of Grasses, a position which also was formerly held by Dr. Swallen.

The Department of Botany and Plant Pathology at the University of Maine has appointed the following as Lecturers in Botany; MRS. WANDA K. FARR of Farr Cytochemical Laboratory, Camden, Maine; DR. PHILIP R. WHITE, Senior Staff Scientist, Roscoe B. Jackson Memorial Laboratory, Bar Harbor, Maine; and DR. ALEX Snrco, Forest Pathologist, U. S. Forest Service, Laconia, New Hampshire.

Recent address changes: AMY J. GILMARTIN from San Diego Natural History Museum to Department of Botany, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822; ELMAR E. LEPPIK from Iowa State University to New Crops Research Branch, Plant Industry Station, Beltsville, Maryland 20705; ALFRED R. LoEBLIcH from University of California to Department of Marine Biology, Scripps Institute of Oceanography, La Jolla, California 92038.

REQUEST FOR RESEARCH MATERIALS

Wanted for research purposes: seeds, spores or other propagating material of diploid-polyploid pairs of species or series of species (mosses, ferns, or higher plants). Long series, e.g., iX, 2X, 4X, 6X, 8X, 12X, etc., and/or high polyploids (IoX or above) along with a diploid counterpart would be especially useful. Colchicine-induced or natural auto-polyploids, along with the parental diploid, would be of great interest. Haploids are also wanted. We would welcome any material with a somatic chromosome count over too with or without lower chromosome number material of the same species or of closely related taxa. Material with chromosome numbers below 2n=10 is also needed. Anyone having such material is requested to write stating what is available to: Arnold H. Sparrow, Biology Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York.