Plant Science Bulletin archiveIssue: 1982 v28 No 2 SummerPLANT SCIENCE BULLETINA Publication of the Botanical Society of America, Inc. VOLUME 28, NUMBER 2, APRIL, 1981 Emanuel D. Rudolph, Editor Editorial Board The Plant Science Bulletin is published six times a year, February, April, June, August, October, and December, at The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210. Subscriptions $10.00/yr. Change of address should be sent to Editor. Second class postage paid at Columbus, OH. TABLE OF CONTENTSBOTANICAL SOCIETY YOUNG BOTANISTS RECOGNITION AWARDS BOTANICAL SOCIETY YOUNG BOTANISTS RECOGNITION AWARDSNominations for the Young Botanists Recognition Program for 1982 are requested. The Program is designed to offer individual recognition to outstanding senior undergraduates in the plant sciences and to encourage their participation in the Botanical Society. Awards to successful nominees in the form of Certificates of Recognition, signed by the President of the Society, will be forwarded to the chairperson of the candidate's department for presentation. Nominations, with appropriate documentation, should be forwarded to Dr. Nels R. Lersten, Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, by May 7, 1982. REGISTRATION FOR ANNUAL MEETINGForms are available in the March issue of BioScience or can be obtained from: Dr. David L. Dilcher, Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405 (812/337-9455). WHY THE APPLE?Did Eve really offer the apple to Adam that fateful day in the Garden of Eden? The Bible reports only that she caused him to eat the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. As you may recall, the fruit of the apple is a pome. The Latin is obvious. The romance languages form a bridge as we see that the French word for apple is pomme. The word apple itself is apparently Germanic in origin. It comes to us today by way of Old English and Middle English. The reference in the Bible to fruit tree has come to mean apple. So we see that by common consensus we have come to accept the fruit in the Garden as the apple when, in fact, it may not have been. But, there is more to the apple than that. For example, even the orange is an apple, as in the "Golden Apples of the Hesperides." As you may recall, Hercules was called upon, in order to become immortal, to perform several labors for the King of Mycenae (Eurystheus). After accomplishing ten unbelievable tasks, the eleventh was to secure the Golden Apple of the Hesperides. The Hesperides were the four virgin daughters of Atlas. They were charged with the responsibility of protecting the Golden Apples from plunder. They were aided in their effort by Ladon, a hundred-headed dragon. Hercules prevailed upon Atlas for help and was successful in obtaining the Golden Apples. The fruit of the orange is today referred to as a hesperidium. But, there is more! Again from Greek mythology, we hear the story of the judgment of Paris. At the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, the Goddess Eris (also called the Goddess of Discord), upset over not being invited, threw an apple into the midst of the guests with the notation, "for the fairest." Three goddesses claimed the prize. In this dilemma, it was decided that Paris, the son of the King of Troy, was to be PAGE TEN were Hera (Juno), sister and wife of Zeus (Jupiter); Athena (Minerva), Goddess of the Arts; and Aphrodite (Venus), Goddess of Love. After each had promised the poor lad all sorts of great things, Paris chose the Goddess of Love, Aphrodite to receive the apple. The rejected goddesses ultimately involved themselves in events that led to the nine years of the Trojan War. (Paris ran off with Helen, the wife of the King of Sparta, and it was her face that launched the thousand ships that commenced the war.) The North African city of Carthage had its apple. And, after the wars with Rome (Punic Wars), we refer to the "Apple of Carthage" as the "Punic Apple." The plant, of course, produces not apples but pomegranates. As the common name implies, Punica granatum L. resembles the apple, but differs with its granulate interior. In other languages the apple is used in the descriptive names of other fruits and vegetables. In French, for example, the potato is pomme de terre or apple of the earth. The tomato is pomme d'amour or love apple. Is this why the soldiers and sailors, circa 1940's, used to refer to women as "tomatoes"? Then there are many common names for plants such as the "may apple," Podophylum peltatum L.: "custard apple," Annona reticulata L.; "apple of Peru," Nicandra physalodes Gaertn., etc. Did William Tell really place the apple on his son's head? Was it really the apple that got the attention of Sir Isaac Newton? Is the expanded laryngeal cartilage in man really an Adam's Apple? And then there are the expressions we use to honor the apple; "apple of your eye," "apple pie order," "apple polishing." The apple, indeed! Why couldn't it have been the pear? But, alas, the pear is a pome too. NOTICESNew Chinese Bamboo Journal Teaching Section Slide Exchange Expected Research Laboratory Closing Polish Restrictions Hunt Institute Staff Changes Lindbergh Fund Grantee PAGE ELEVEN stages of a project to establish permanent biological study plots in two ecologically different areas within newly organized national parks in eastern Ecuador. Missouri Botanical Garden Staff Addition Position Change MEETINGS AND COURSESModelling and Environmental Management Conference: Symposium on Cell Fusion: New Statistics Methodology Course: Biogeography and Evolution of Oak Symposium: Developmental and Structural Sections Symposium: Symposium on Adaptations: Tamaulipan Biotic Province Symposium: PAGE TWELVE Numerical Taxonomy Conference: Systematics Section Symposium on Modern Cladistics: Man and the Biosphere Symposium: Shortcourses on Computers in Biology: PROFESSIONAL OPPORTUNITIESPhycologist or Bryologist at University of Iowa We request applications from candidates trained in any aspect of phycology or bryology; we have the resources to support research in evolutionary, ecological, ultra-structural, or biochemical approaches to these disciplines. The Department of Botany has ample office and laboratory space available for this position. Located within the Department are several growth chambers, an excellent TEM facility, and laboratories equipped for physiological and biochemical investigations. A complete SEM and freeze-fracture facility is also available. The Department maintains a collection of living algae and bryophytes as well as an extensive bryophyte herbarium. The Botany Library is housed in the Departmental building. The University of Iowa and the Botany Department participate in the Organization for Tropical Studies and in a freshwater research facility at the Iowa Lakeside Laboratory. Interested candidates should send their curriculum vitae, graduate transcripts, a statement of research plans and accomplishments, and three letters of recommendation to: Dr. Robert W. Embree, The Department of Botany, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242. Screening of applicants will begin on March 31, 1982. The University of Iowa is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. PAGE THIRTEEN and supervision of graduate students at both the M.S. and Ph.D. level are expected. Postdoctoral experience preferred. Teaching duties in introductory botany and field of expertise. Letters of application should be accompanied by a curriculum vitae and reprints. Applicants should also have three referees submit letters of recommendation. Send application to: Dr. Larry S. Roberts, Chairman, Department of Biological Sciences, P.O. Box 4149, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409. An Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer. Plant Taxonomist at University of Maine Postdoctoral Museum Internship The New York Botanical Garden herbarium contains more than 4,000,000 specimens from all groups of plants and has been recognized as a national and international resource serving the research needs of resident staff and the botanical community. The intern will receive the benefit of interaction with a staff of twelve curatorial assistants, ten graduate students, and the following curators: Drs. Rupert C. Barneby, William R. Buck, Arthur Cronquist, Kent Dumont, Noel H. Holmgren, Patricia K. Holmgren, Tetsuo Applications and three letters of recommendation should be sent to: Dr. Patricia K. Holmgren, Director of the Herbarium, New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, New York 10458. The applicant's file should be complete by 15 April 1982. Notification of acceptance will be made no later than 1 May 1982. Research Fellowships in India PAGE FOURTEEN in rupees; and a supplementary research allowance up to 34,000 rupees. The applications deadline is July 1, 1982 with application forms and further information from: Council for International Exchange of Scholars, Attention - Indo-American Fellowship Program, 11 Dupont Circle, Suite 300, Washington, D.C. 20036, telephone (202) 833-4985. DEATHSDr. Robert Louis Hulbary, Professor of Botany and Curator of the Herbarium at the University of Iowa died of a stroke on 23 November 1981. He was born July 24, 1916 in Medelia, Minnesota. His degrees were from the University of Illinois (A.B., 1939) and Columbia University (Ph.D., 1944), and he taught at Columbia from 1943 to 1961 when he moved to the University of Iowa. Culture and development of green algae, plant morphogenesis and reproductive biology of bryophytes were his research interests. BOOK REVIEWSDas, Gaurangakumar. Aspects of Photosynthesis. Publisher Mitra Das, 121/A, Bipin Behari Ganguly Street, Calcutta 700012, India, 1981. 176 + xxvii pages, U.S. $28.00. Available in U.S.A. and Canada from Dr. G.K. Das, P.O. Box 718, Station B, Ottawa, Canada, KIP 5P8. This book is a well-written introduction to photosynthesis for university teachers and students, and research scientists who wish to grasp quickly an understanding of this vital process. It is divided into 3 parts. Part I, "Fundamentals of photosynthesis", consisting of 9 short chapters is a concise presentation of the basic facts of photosynthesis including the chloroplast and its pigments, the two photosystems, electron transport, photophosphorylation and CO2 fixation. Part II, "Controlling factors, genetic role, and bacterial photosynthesis", consists of 3 chapters. The first (Chapter 10) is concerned with the factors affecting higher plant photosynthesis and to this point the book differs from equivalent chapters in textbooks on plant physiology mainly in added details: for example, four pages are devoted to the Mitchell hypothesis of ATP synthesis and the significance of C4 metabolism, photorespiration, and glycolate metabolism occupies 12 pages. The author employs extensive cross-referencing as a teaching device. Chapter 11 on genetic control of chloroplast assembly and chlorophyll biosynthesis introduces a current emphasis of research and Chapter 12 adds bacterial photosynthesis usually left out of plant physiology texts. Part II, "Applied aspects of photosynthesis", is a departure from tradition for books of this sort. The discussion of photosynthesis in relation to nitrogen metabolism (Chapter 13) and fruit development (Chapter 14) is of special interest to students of crop science, and is not included in either of the two short books on photosynthesis, one by Devlin and Barker, the other by Fogg, with which this one is otherwise more or less comparable. In summary, this book is recommended as a convenient and attractive up-to-date summary of photosynthesis, and, through the 22 page bibliography, conveniently separated into books, reviews, and journal references, as initiation to the extensive literature. The book itself is attractively assembled although somewhat marred by the inevitable printer's errors, most of which the author has painstakingly corrected by hand. The text is liberally endowed with diagrams of pathways and chemical structures, and 13 plates of EM pictures, many of them the author's own, are a useful addition. Crum, Howard A. and Louis E. Anderson. Mosses of Eastern North America. 2 Vols. Columbia University Press, 565 West 113th St., New York, NY 10025, 1981. 1328 p., illus. ISBN 0-231-04516-6. $60.00. Major floras appear only once in a generation or less and thus deserve particular notice. This new moss flora is such a replacement for the Moss Flora of North America edited by A. J: Grout (1928-1936) which has been found to be less than adequate by contemporary bryologists. The authors are experienced experts on mosses who teach and have first-hand knowledge of the region. Their stated conservative approach to taxa is pragmatic and suited for those wishing to use the flora for plant identification. It is a traditional detailed flora with familial and generic keys (including some to strictly gametophytic plants), descriptions, distributional and habitat data, cited exsiccati, and good line illustrations at various magnifications. The user needs some knowledge of mosses before initial use because the introductory entry to families is a phylogenetic synopsis rather than a traditional key. The region covered is the Eastern Deciduous Forest, Peninsular Florida, the Central Prairies, and the Hudson Bay lowlands; however, some species of the Boreal Forest and Rocky Mountain Region are included. This is a significant work that will be essential for any serious study of mosses and any library with botanical holdings. Users, whether bryologists or not, will find a mine of information about moss morphology, distribution and habitats, taxonomic history, interpretation, and literature. It is truly a flora for our generation at a reasonable price. PAGE FIFTEEN RECENT BOTANICAL BOOKSMargulis, Lynn and Karlene V. Schwartz. Five Kingdoms; An Illustrated Guide to the Phyla of Life on Earth. W. H. Freeman and Co., 660 Market St., San Francisco, CA 94104, 1982. 338 p., illus. ISBN 0-7167-1212-1 cloth; 0-7167-1213-X paper. $24.95 cloth. (The world of living organisms is divided into five kingdoms; Monera, Protoctista, Fungi, Animalia, and Plantae, and each is subdivided into phyla that are arranged in an order from the simplest to the most complex and illustrated with examples of organisms, well pictured and habitats indicated.) Mierhof, Annette. The Dried Flower Book; Growing, Picking, Drying, Arranging. Elsevier-Dutton Publishing Co., 2 Park Ave., New York, NY 10016, 1981. 96 p., illus. ISBN 0-525-09573-X cloth; 0-525-47700-4 paper. $26.00 cloth; $13.50 paper. (A practical book with delicate color drawings by Marijke den Boer-Vlamings that gives information about particular plants useful for drying.) Olien, C. R. and M. N. Smith, eds. Analysis and Improvement of Plant Cold Hardiness. CRC Press, 2000 N.W. 24th St., Boca Raton, FL 33431, 1981. 215 p., illus. ISBN 0-8493-5397-1. $59.95. (A mix of papers dealing with the theory, practice, and experimental results of hardiness, mostly in winter cereals, provides an important summary of current knowledge which could lead to better management practice.) Radford, Albert E., Deborah Kay Strady Otte, Lee J. Otte, Jimmy R. Massey, Paul D. Whitson, and Contributors. Natural Heritage; Classification, Inventory, and Information. University of North Carolina Press, Box 2288, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, 1981. xxi + 485 p., ISBN 0-8078-1463-6. $25.00. (A holistic approach to the inventorying of natural areas using ecological principles and giving actual examples of prepared reports which should be useful to those involved in such surveys.) Rentoul, J. N. Growing Orchids, Cymbidiums and Slippers. University of Washington Press, Seattle, WA 98105, 1980. 172 p., illus. ISBN 0-295-95839-1. $29.95. (A well-illustrated guide to the history of and methods of cultivation of these orchids with color pictures of many species and hybrids.) Rose, D. A. and D. A. Charles-Edwards, eds. Mathematics and Plant Physiology. Academic Press, 24-28 Oval Rd., London NW1 7DX, England, 1981. xviii + 320 p., illus. ISBN 0-12-596880-9. $69.00. (This volume, in the Experimental Botany series of monographs devoted to papers presented at a symposium in 1980 of the Crop Science Model Builders' Group of the Agricultural Research Council, considers mathematical approaches and models applied to processes at the cell and organ levels, at the plant and crop levels, and to techniques of modeling.) Sullivan, Gene A. and Richard H. Daley, comps. Directory to Resources on Wildflower Propagation. National Council of State Garden Clubs, Inc., 4401 Magnolia Ave., St. Louis, MO 63166. 1981. 331 p. paper. $3.00. (Arranged by the 6 regions of Rickett's Wildflowers of the United States, this guide for potential roadside wildflower plantings is arranged in each region by flower, with information about propagation and habitat, with lists of researchers knowledgeable about each species, and with selected references.) Synge, Hugh, ed. The Biological Aspects of Rare Plant Conservation. John Wiley and Sons, One Wiley Drive, Somerset, NJ 08873, 1981. xxvii + 558 p., illus. ISBN 0-471-28004-6. $71.50. (A mix of conference papers considers different countries' programs, surveys, assessments, and problems, including those of tropical forests; the ecology of rarity, establishment and reestablishment is provided by theory and practice papers some of which should be read by all conservationists; and a bibliography of Red Data Books and threatened plant lists of various countries together with a description of the IUCN Red Data Book categories form useful appendices.) Swain, Roger B. Earthly Pleasures; Tales from a Biologist's Garden. Charles Scribner's Sons, 597 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10017, 1981. 198 p.. illus. ISBN 0-684-16657-7. $10.95. (A series of informative and well written essays, many for the general reader, and delightfully illustrated by Laszlo Kubinyi.) Turian, G. and H. R. Hohl, eds. The Fungal Spore: Morphogenetic Controls. Academic Press Inc., 24-28 Oval Rd., London NW1 7DX, England, 1981. xiii + 670 p., illus. ISBN 0-12-703680-6. $67.00. (The proceedings of the Third International Fungal Spore Symposium held in Switzerland in 1980 has papers that concentrate on ultra-structural morphogenesis and controls, from the gene level to those of the environment, in the initiation, formation and germination of spores of the major fungal groups.) U.S. Department of Agriculture. Directory of Agricultural Research Collections in the United States. Available free from: Executive Secretary, Joint Council on Food and PAGE SIXTEEN Agricultural Sciences, USDA, Room 351-A, Administration Building, 14th and Independence Ave., S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250, 1981. 56 p. paper. (Almost half of the described collections are of plants and fungi.) Wade, L. K. Phenology of Cultivated Rhododendrons in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. ISBS, Inc., P.O. Box 1632, Beaverton, OR 97075, 1979. vii + 225 p. ISSN 0703-1432 paper. $8.25. (Phenological data on every cultivated species and hybrids growing in different parts of British Columbia.) Ayres, P. G., ed. Effects of Disease on the Physiology of the Growing Plant. Cambridge University Press, 32 East 57th St., New York, NY 10022, 1982. ix + 228 p., illus. ISBN 0-521-23306-2 cloth, 0-521-29898-9 paper. No prices given. (Proceedings of a seminar of the Society for Experimental Biology held in London in 1980 provides information that relates plant pathology to plant physiology and indicates the considerable practical importance of such an approach.) Brooker, S. G., R. C. Cambie and R. C. Cooper. New Zealand Medicinal Plants. Heinemann publishers (N.Z.) Ltd., P.O. Box 36004, Auckland 9, New Zealand, 1981. 117 p., illus. ISBN 0-86863-382-8. $29.00 (U.S.). (A second improved edition, the first was a handbook of the Auckland War Memorial Museum in 1961, considers all the native and introduced plants that have been reported to have been used medicinally providing for each an illustration, usually in color, and information about Maori or European uses and pharmacological chemistry.) Dean, H. L. Biology of Plants Laboratory Exercises. 5th ed. William C. Brown Co., 2460 Kerper Blvd., Dubuque, IA 52001, 1982. xi + 274 p., illus. ISBN 0-697-04708-3. No price given. (A new edition of a manual for a two semester course that has rewritten exercise introductions and updated terminology.) Dibben, Martyn J. The Chemosystematics of the Lichen Genus Pertusaria in North America North of Mexico. Milwaukee Public Museum, 800 West Wells St., Milwaukee, WI 53233, Publications in Biology and Geology no. 5, July 28, 1980. iv + 162 p. ISBN 0-89326-036-3 paper. $22.50. (A fine monograph of the North American species of a common worldwide crustose lichen genus, which uses modern techniques and provides detailed descriptions, good keys, maps and illustrations and is one of the few recent treatments of microlichens.) Estes, James R., Ronald J. Tyrl and Jere N. Brunken, eds. Grasses and Grasslands, Systematics and Ecology. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, OK 73019, 1982. 312 p., illus . ISBN 0-8061-1778-8 paper. $12.50. (The proceedings of a symposium sponsored by the American Society of Plant Taxonomists, the Ecological Society of America and the Botanical Society of America held at the AIBS annual meeting in 1979 provides a splendid introduction to current evolutionary thinking about the systematics and ecology of grasses and the communities in which they occur from the starting paper of G. L. Stebbins to the ending one of R. C. Anderson.) |