SPRING 2025 VOLUME 71 NUMBER 1
PLANT SCIENCE
BULLETIN
A PUBLICATION OF THE BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
Register now for Botany 2025!
An interview with new
PSB Editor-in-Chief,
Carolina Siniscalchi
BSA President Jenny
Xiang: Comprehending
Biodiversity
via Curiosity-Driven
Integrative Research
Spring 2025 Volume 71 Number 1
FROM the EDITOR
Greetings, botanists!
I’m so happy to be writing for the first time as the new Editor-in-Chief of Plant Science
Bulletin. PSB has been following and documenting the comings and goings of the Botani-
cal Society of America for the last 70 years, and it feels challenging and inspiring to take on
this responsibility. I hope to be in close contact with you, reader, in the next years to keep
this a space where our community can get together, talk about what is going on with our
membership, catch up about events, read new articles and learn more. Read more about my
vision for the journal on page 4.
I am so grateful for the amazing work that the BSA editorial staff has been doing to help
me transition into the role. Richard Hund, Amy McPherson, and Beth Parada, thank you so
much! I also extend my gratitude to Mackenzie Taylor, PSB’s editor for the last 10 years,
for being so patient with my many questions and guiding me through this process. I’m also
grateful for Marsh Sundberg, our EIC previous to Mackenzie, who has been very welcom-
ing in our communication.
In this volume, we have the pleasure to present the presidential address of our president, Dr.
Jenny Xiang. We also have a large number of book reviews—our reviewers have been busy
in the past months! I hope you enjoy and I’ll see you again soon!
PSB 71 (1) 2025
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
https://2025.botanyconference.org
SOCIETY News
Introducing the New
PSB
Editor-in-Chief, Carolina Siniscalchi ......................................................4
A Look Back at Botany Conferences with Johanne Stogran ...............................................................7
Welcome to the New Botany Conference Coordinator, Lori Strong ..........................................10
Meet the 2025–2027 Early Career Advisory Board! ..........................................................................11
Research Data Sharing in 2025: What You Need to Know .............................................................12
SPECIAL FEATURES
Comprehending Biodiversity via Curiosity-Driven Integrative Research to Aid
Conservation and Identify Resilience to
Climate Change Address of the Incoming BSA President ............................................................15
MEMBERSHIP NEWS
Botany360 Updates ...............................................................................................................................................23
BSA Sponsorship Opportunities ....................................................................................................................23
BSA Spotlight Series ............................................................................................................................................24
SCIENCE EDUCATION
PlantingScience’s Spring 2025 Session is Underway! .......................................................................25
STUDENT SECTION
The Community of the BSA .............................................................................................................................26
Student Botany 2025 Taster ............................................................................................................................26
Student-Centered Events ..................................................................................................................................26
Further Reading and Advocacy ......................................................................................................................27
ANNOUNCEMENTS
In Memoriam - Richard Alan White (1935–2024) ...............................................................................28
BOOK REVIEWS ........................................................................................................................................32
PSB 71 (1) 2025
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SOCIETY NEWS
Dr. Carolina Siniscalchi started serving as
the new editor-in-chief of the PSB in January
2025. She is an Assistant Professor and
Data Science Coordinator in the University
Libraries at Mississippi State University. Her
main areas of botanical research interest are
the macroevolution of the nitrogen-fixation
symbiosis in flowering plants and the systematics
and evolution of the sunflower family. She also
has expertise in data science, bioinformatics,
and research data management. Her strong
background in systematics research and
current position in library science are a unique
combination that will bring new ideas and
directions to the PSB. We welcome Carolina to
this role with the following interview!
What inspired you to pursue the Editor-in-
Chief position for PSB?
Being a member of BSA has been such an
important part of my professional life—
attending Botany conferences, networking,
making connections that turn into
collaborations, making friends, reviewing
papers for the Society’s journals, being
supported by travel and research awards,
working as a reviewing editor for Applications
in Plant Sciences. The list goes on and on.
The possibility of giving back to the Society
and contributing to this publication that
is so dear to many BSA members was my
main motivator. I’m so honored to carry on
Introducing the New
PSB
Editor-in-Chief, Carolina Siniscalchi
the legacy of our previous editor-in-chief,
Mackenzie Taylor, and of all the others that
came before her.
What do you like most about the PSB, and
what features would you like to see more of?
My favorite thing about PSB is that it is
this special place where you can catch up
with everything that is happening at BSA:
reports from all the different committees and
representatives, the news about BSA events,
updates from our student-focused programs,
a lot of creative articles about all sorts of topics,
and of course, the book reviews. Reading
through it shows the amazing diversity of
the human component of our Society and
PSB 71 (1) 2025
5
highlights the values of our membership,
besides the high-quality research done by our
members. Moving forward, I really would like
to see our members embracing PSB as the
venue for dialogue among our community.
You have broad experience in botanical
research, with undergraduate and graduate
degrees from the Universidade de São Paulo
in Brazil and post-graduate work in the U.S.
In addition, you work in data science at
Mississippi State University Libraries. How
do you feel your background will inform the
directions you’ll take the PSB?
I think this broad scope of my professional
career makes me well positioned to reach
out across our field and bring different
perspectives. I want to use my role as editor-in-
chief to highlight the best of our membership
and the truly global impact of the BSA. My
current position working in an academic
library requires me to keep updated on a lot of
issues that are outside of research, so I hope to
bring some of this perspective in as well.
The PSB has been around for 70 years, and
it has changed a lot over that time. What do
you see as the role of this publication going
forward, especially as it relates to engaging
the next generation of botanists and
enthusiasts of plants and allied organisms
generally?
I see two paths I would like to take in my time
as editor-in-chief: the content side and the
technical side.
Content-wise, I think we need to identify some
topics that excite the community and explore
focused issues on them. A great example are
the two volumes on art and botany from 2024.
They were so well received and shared so
widely! I even saw colleagues sharing some of
the articles on Instagram stories! While I have
some ideas for these special issues, I would
love to hear more from you, the reader, on
what you would want to see on the journal.
I’m planning to do a lot of outreach about PSB
at this year’s and future Botany conferences,
identifying talks and posters that can be easily
translated into PSB articles and identifying
potential authors. So, expect to see me and
talk to me if you are attending the conference!
Another idea I want to explore is improving
the connection between some of the amazing
programs that BSA runs, like Planting Science
and PLANTS, with the PSB. For example,
inviting mentees and mentors to write about
the work they are developing for a PSB article.
My vision is that PSB is a vehicle from the
community about the community, so the
more we can integrate the different aspects of
BSA, the better.
On the technical side, I would like to take
some actions to ensure that we are preserving
the legacy of the journal and our authors.
That would involve, for example, attributing
DOIs (digital object identifiers, or a type of
persistent identity) to the articles published in
the newsletter, which would make them more
easily citable and searchable online. Also,
our editorial team has been discussing that it
might be the time to modernize our design a
bit. Hopefully we’ll start on this soon!
What kinds of article submissions would
you like to see in the next 5 years?
I would love to see more articles contributed by
our student members. Many of our professional
members mentor undergraduate students on
PSB 71 (1) 2025
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small research projects that sometimes do not
make into publications—I would love to see
some of these as articles in PSB. I would also
love to see more articles on how plants impact
our lives besides the research we do. In these
few months since I started, it has been really
fun finding books for review and connecting
with reviewers. I would love to see some of
our younger members taking the opportunity
to review books too!
What benefits do you think publishing in
PSB offers to authors, especially those that
are early career?
The Plant Science Bulletin offers an excellent
opportunity to publish articles that fall a bit
outside the scope of traditional scientific
journals. It offers authors a space to be
creative and explore ideas or topics that they
are starting to develop or that they would like
to broadly communicate to our community.
Feature articles at PSB are peer-reviewed,
which helps improve the quality of our
publication. For early-career authors that
might not have published a lot, it is a chance
to get their work out in a lower-pressure way.
Because the publication is free to read and
published online, their work has the potential
to reach a large readership, even beyond BSA
members.
If someone has an idea for an article, or a
special issue, what would you advise as the
next step?
If you have an idea for an article for PSB, the
first step would be to email me at psb@botany.
org. I’ll be happy to discuss your idea and how
it can be made into an article. You can find
information about the types of articles we
publish and instructions for authors at https://
botany.org/PlantScienceBulletin/. I’m looking
forward to hearing from you!
PSB 71 (1) 2025
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A Look Back at Botany Conferences
with Johanne Stogran
Johanne Stogran served as BSA’s Director of
Conferences for 25 years, and she announced
her retirement at the end of 2024. Johanne
(along with her family) was central to why
Botany conferences have earned the reputation
as being friendly, welcoming, and exciting. We
asked Johanne to look back on her career with
the BSA and share her thoughts.
Let’s start at the end. Your 25
th
and final
conference was in Grand Rapids, MI in
2024. How were you feeling as things were
wrapping up?
It was really bittersweet! I have absolutely
loved this job, but it was time for something
new. I was deeply honored by all the best
wishes I received at the conference.
How have the conferences changed over the
years since you started in 2000?
The very basics of the conference have not
changed that much. Our major mission is to
give anyone who wants it (with a submitted
abstract)—their 15 minutes of “fame” as they
present their research or ideas to their peers.
The challenges come from the costs of being
able provide a quality product while keeping
the conference affordable for attendees. We
have come a long way from the days of printing
the program and abstract books in a looseleaf
binder! Now most everything is online and
with a robust app.
Johanne and Kevin on a site visit to Alaska,
standing on a frozen lake.
Oh, the places we got to go… not only where
the conferences were held but all the site
visits! Finding just the right place to host our
famed Botany conference. Most of the places
were good, and some not so good! But the
conference always received high marks from
the majority of attendees. I think our attention
to membership satisfaction has always been
reflected in the post-conference survey results.
We have gathered on college campuses, large
cities, smaller cities, conference centers,
convention centers, big hotels, and resorts—
from mountain tops to deserts, botanical
interests are everywhere! Most importantly,
we always met where we could get the most
bang for our buck. Oh, and then there were
the years we all met at our own desks during
COVID.
PSB 71 (1) 2025
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The conference has always been a very
welcoming and supportive place for all,
especially to include the PLANTS students,
AISES, and other programs. Over the years
it has been great to watch as young, nervous
undergraduates come to their first conference
to present their paper or poster, wanting it to
all go well. They come back in the following
years full of confidence and knowledge, and
then a few years later they bring their own
nervous undergraduates with them!
What goes into preparing a conference?
What kind of behind-the-scenes issues are
you dealing with throughout the year prior
to the conference?
There are so many aspects of the conference.
Most of it is behind the scenes. There is the city,
the venue, the hotels, exhibitors, and vendors
to handle—with so many pieces and parts that
all need to be coordinated concerning food
and beverage—so that by the time everyone
arrives on site, it is one well-oiled machine.
Hopefully all the details make for an enjoyable
experience for all attendees.
And there are lots and lots of emails! My focus
has always been on customer service to our
membership, and it has truly been my pleasure
to help attendees with all aspects of how to
attend: the inability to meet deadlines, clarity
on how to submit abstracts, and re-direction
when they wanted to do an oral presentation—
but submitted a poster instead! And a variety
of other problems we can address. I remember
one person that was having a lot of trouble as
a young student, and he was very grateful after
I helped him. I jokingly said, “Just remember
us when you are rich and famous!” I think he
is now a lifetime member!
How key is the Botany Conference Program
Director in your planning? You’ve worked
with Melanie Link-Perez, Amy Litt, David
Spooner, Karen Renzaglia, and Jeff Osbourn
over the years.
We are a team! The Program Director
organizes the content and decides on the
pieces of the program. It was my job to figure
out the logistics and to make it all happen. I
was very fortunate over the years to work with
some amazing people… and now we will be
friends forever!
What was one of your most challenging
conferences and why?
By far, the most challenging was Alaska in
2022. Getting to the hotel and not feeling well,
only to find out that both my husband Kevin
and I had COVID! Running the conference
from a hotel room was not fun, along with the
pressure on my family members (Kathryn,
Jessica, Jamie, and Steve) as well as the BSA
staff to do everything for me.
And then there were the COVID years in 2020
and 2021. Nobody knew what to do, so we
really had to re-invent the wheel. Contracts
for the cities we were scheduled to be in
had to be renegotiated in order to not lose
money. Companies popped up offering online
conference services and platforms, but we
had to find the right one that would help us
preserve the culture of our conference. We got
through 2020 pretty successfully and thought
we were done… only to do it again in 2021! It
was great to be back to normal in Anchorage
(well, for most of you!).
PSB 71 (1) 2025
9
Beyond the challenges, what are some of
your best memories?
So many great memories, and so many great
people. It has been one of the great pleasures
of my life to have had this position!
Your family has always been key to smoothly
run conferences. Would you like to give
some shout-outs to them?
They were always on site in addition to the
BSA staff and their families, working overtime
throughout the week. I had an additional cast
of characters—my amazing family!
I definitely could not have done this without
the support of all of them. They were always
there to do whatever was needed both on
site and before the conference! Four of our
five children have worked various Botany
conferences. Some started when they were
just teenagers and stuck through the end---
but even those marrying into the family were
pressed into duty, like Steve Bornhoeft serving
as our tech guru! And then there is Kevin. He
Celebrating 25 years! Thank you Botany!
was kind of the glue that held it all together on
site, keeping meticulous track of everything
and posting all those directional signs.
The
conferences would have never been successful
without them!
Any final thoughts?
Kevin and I are planning to do more traveling,
and we have gardens to plant! Eight (and one
on the way) grandchildren to hug and spoil!
Lots to look forward to!
Twenty -five years of Botany conference logos designed by Johanne.
PSB 71 (1) 2025
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WELCOME TO THE NEW BOTANY CONFERENCE COORDINATOR,
LORI STRONG
In light of Johanne Stogran’s retirement from BSA as
Conference Director, the Society has selected Lori Strong, the
Senior Meetings Director for Burk & Associates in Herndon,
VA, to coordinate the Botany 2025 conference! Burk &
Associates partners with member-based societies such as the
BSA to provide overall conference management including
location selection, venue and vendor contracts, registration,
and on-site management. Lori and her team have been
working closely with Heather Cacanindin, BSA Executive
Director, and Melanie Link-Perez, Program Director, to
provide a great conference experience. Lori can be reached at
lstrong@burkinc.com.
PSB 71 (1) 2025
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The Botanical Society of America’s Early Career Advisory Board (ECAB) is made up of senior
graduate students and postdocs who engage with and advise the editors of the American
Journal of Botany, Applications in Plant Sciences, and the Plant Science Bulletin. They do this in
a number of ways, including recommending timely topics for review papers and special issues;
sharing questions and advice on peer-review and manuscript preparation; and advising on
broad issues of importance to early-career researchers and the publications team.
To learn more, see
https://botany.org/home/publications/ecab.html.
Meet the 2025–2027
Early Career Advisory Board!
• Lucas Albano, North Carolina State University
• Ana Andruchow-Colombo, University of Kan-
sas
• Gwen Bode, University of Georgia
• Zoë Dennehy-Carr, University of Florida
• Vikas Garhwal, Indian Institute of Science Ed-
ucation and Research (IISER) Kolkata, India
• Kaleb Goff, North Carolina State University
• Matias Köhler, Universidade Federal do Rio
Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil
• Elton John de Lírio, University of São Paulo, Bra-
zil
• Erika Moore-Pollard, University of Memphis
• Yannick Woudstra, Stockholm University, Swe-
den
• Andrea Romero, University of California, River-
side
• Muhammad Shahid, Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Ag-
riculture University Rawalpinid (PMAS-AAUR),
Pakistan; Iowa State University
PSB 71 (1) 2025
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Those of us who have written for or been part
of a grant from a U.S. federal funding agency,
such as the National Science Foundation
(NSF), National Institutes of Health (NIH),
or U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA),
in the last decade have faced the requirement
of submitting a data management plan (DMP)
with the grant proposal. The DMP lays out the
plans for data preservation during and after
the grant period, including plans to share data
publicly. While this document can sometimes
be overlooked as another item in a long list
of requirements to submit a grant, it stems
from regulations put in place by a federal
agency called the Office of Science and Policy
Technology (OSTP), which has an advisory
role to the federal administration.
In 2013, the then-director of OSTP published
a memorandum that started to lay out the
plan to promote public sharing of data and
publications generated with federal revenue.
A permanent link to this memo is found here:
https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/
default/files/microsites/ostp/ostp_public_
access_memo_2013.pdf. In 2022, the OSTP
released an update to this memo (which is
commonly referred to as the Nelson Memo),
Research Data Sharing in 2025:
What You Need to Know
By Carolina M. Siniscalchi
Mississippi State University
Libraries / PSB Editor-in-
Chief
Email: CSiniscalchi@
library.msstate.edu
expanding some of the sharing and public
access requirements. The goal of the Nelson
Memo is to provide free, immediate (without
embargo), and equitable access to research
that is federally funded. This is grounded in
how the quick and widespread sharing of data
and scientific research during the COVID-19
pandemic led to significant advances in some
areas and thus proposes further expanding
data sharing requirements. You can read this
memo at https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.
gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/08-2022-
OSTP-Public-Access-Memo.pdf.
The main takeaways of the 2022 memo are:
data produced as a result of grant funds should
be made publicly accessible immediately upon
publication or at the end of the grant period;
and publications should be publicly accessible
immediately upon publication. There are
further details about persistent identifiers,
like ORCID. The memo set December 2024
as the deadline for agencies to present their
public access plans, and December 2025 as
the implementation deadline. As expected,
most agencies (including NSF and USDA)
released their plans to comply with these new
requirements late last year.
NSF released a draft for comments of their
new Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures
Guide (PAPPG) last December. The main
changes in data and publication sharing in
this draft document are that data sharing and
management plans will not have a page limit
anymore; they will be submitted through a
specific web application (still not released);
research data and publications are expected
PSB 71 (1) 2025
13
to be made freely available upon publication;
and research products should have a retention
time of at least two years. No specifications are
made about where data should be deposited,
leaving it up to the researcher to decide the
place where the data will be more likely to
be discovered and used. We should expect
a definitive version of the PAPPG later this
year. The main changes for USDA projects
are the establishment of dedicated data and
publication repositories: Ag Data Commons
and PubAg.
One important point to notice is that even
though the new requirements mention that
publications should be available immediately
upon publication, this does not imply that
authors need to pay for open access publication
fees. If they decide to go this route, they
can budget publication costs within grants.
However, for the sake of federal requirements,
green open access, or self-archiving, is allowed.
For those unfamiliar with the concept, green
open access consists of depositing an author-
approved copy of a manuscript (usually the
post peer-reviewed manuscript, without
any journal-specific formatting) in a public
or institutional repository, if allowed by
the publisher. A brief introduction can be
found here: https://open-access.network/en/
information/open-access-primers/green-and-
gold.
It is not easy to predict what will happen
with the OSTP and funding agencies’ public
access policies with the upheaval the U.S.
is going through right now. I personally
think it is important to be prepared to
implement open and public access changes
to our research workflows independently
of federal requirements, since sharing
data allows for better research practices in
terms of community oversight and shared
knowledge and progress. If you are feeling
lost and confused about this topic and want
more information, look up the research data
librarian or the scholarly communication
librarian at your university’s library (specific
job titles may vary). These folks keep a close
eye on publication and data developments
and can help guide you through writing data
management plans, finding repositories, and
investigating open access options. As a data
librarian myself, I’ll do my best to keep the
BSA community informed about new issues
as they develop.
PSB 71 (1) 2025
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PSB 71 (1) 2025
15
SPECIAL FEATURES
By Qiu-Yun (Jenny)
Xiang
North Carolina State
University, Raleigh, NC 27695
This article by BSA President Qiu-Yun (Jenny)
Xiang is based on her BSA Incoming President
Address at Botany 2024.
Mounting evidence indicates that biodiversity
is being negatively impacted by global
changes brought on by human activities.
Studies have shown that elevated CO
2
levels,
climate warming and drought, and intensified
land use interactively reduce biodiversity and
alter or degrade ecosystem functions. The
role of biodiversity in promoting ecosystem
functioning and in regulating responses to
global changes has been demonstrated in
empirical studies (Hong et al., 2022; Zhang et
al., 2023).
Comprehending Biodiversity via Curiosity-
Driven Integrative Research to Aid
Conservation and Identify Resilience to
Climate Change
Address of the Incoming BSA President
Conservation of biodiversity requires a global
effort and must be multi-trophic and scaled
to sustain ecosystem functions and services.
Biodiversity (the total variation of life in space
and time embodying various dimensions,
e.g., taxonomic, functional, phylogenetic,
and genetic; Willig and Presley, 2013) is the
outcome of evolution over time in response to
past environmental variation and changes. The
Earth’s current biodiversity is the evolutionary
outcome of past biodiversity and will evolve
to become future biodiversity in response to
current and future environmental changes
and variation (Prisco and Convey, 2012).
Understanding the origin and evolution of
biodiversity, its spatiotemporal patterns,
and the governing processes and drivers is,
therefore, essential for conservating present
biodiversity and predicting future biodiversity.
Specimen collections and big data-based
integrative studies of biodiversity across
taxonomic hierarchies at regional and
PSB 71 (1) 2025
16
continental scales hold great promise for
helping us understand spatial biodiversity
patterns and identifying areas of resilience
as priorities for conservation. For example,
Lu et al. (2023) integrated species richness
and phylogenetic diversity with distribution
data to evaluate the spatial diversity patterns
of flowering plants in China. They (Lu et al.,
2023) identified 42 areas that hosted 97.1%
of species richness (23,394/24,095), 96.5%
of endemic species (11,841/12,274), 100% of
threatened species (2613/2613), and 99.3% of
the phylogenetic diversity for flowering plants
involved in the study. Forty-four percent of
the species and 95.7% of the genera native
to China were included in the phylogeny.
The areas covered only 13.3% of China’s land
area. Their findings have provided a valuable
framework for planning the establishment of
national park protection system in China.
Another example is the study by Tordoni
and colleagues (2024) that integrated the
biodiversity of seed plants worldwide
across three dimensions—species richness,
phylogenetic diversity, and functional
diversity—to develop an integrative μ-diversity
index that is more sensitive in describing
species diversity patterns. By assessing the
biodiversity of different dimensions and
μ-diversity and assessing relationship between
plant μ-diversity and environmental, historical,
and anthropogenic data, the authors (Tordoni
et al., 2024) identified biodiversity-rich
areas/countries and determined that climate
variability and actual evapotranspiration
were the most important determinants of
μ-diversity and individual diversity. They
concluded that historical climate stability and
water-energy dynamics strongly affect species
diversity. In another example, Anderson et al.
(2023) integrated comprehensive information
from biodiversity, diversity of connected
topoclimates, human impacts, and diversity of
geophysical settings to construct a connected
network of land covering 34.5% of the
conterminous United States for conservation.
The network is to provide resilient habitat for
species while supporting dynamic shifts in
ranges and changes in ecosystem composition
to sustain biodiversity under a changing climate.
From an evolutionary perspective, landscapes
need to allow in situ natural selection and
capture high levels of genetic variation
essential for responding to the direct and
indirect effects of climate change (Sgro et al.,
2011). At a small scale, comparative studies on
the evolution of individual species and their
properties can reveal evolutionary resilience,
for example, high genetic diversity, adaptive
genetic diversity, adaptive functional traits,
and ongoing evolutionary processes and
drivers that ensure the ability of populations
to persist in their current state and to undergo
evolutionary adaptation in response to
changing environmental conditions (Sgro
et al., 2011). Such knowledge is invaluable
for conserving the taxa studied and the
communities they inhabit. That knowledge
provides baseline information for large-
scale ecological analyses and modeling and
for potential engineering of ecosystems so
that they can maintain sustainable services.
Genetic diversity, evolutionary trajectories
of species, populations, adaptive traits, and
evolutionary processes not only affect the
persistence of species, but also influence
community ecology and ecosystem function.
Integrative studies of ‘model clades’ (arenas
within which detailed studies, undertaken
from multiple angles; Donoghue and Edwards,
2022) spanning infra- and interspecific levels
across disciplines can shed light on the
PSB 71 (1) 2025
17
capacity and potential of a species and its
relatives to persist during extreme climate
events. Detailed studies of populations and
species of ‘model clades’ from multiple angles
can reveal potential critical traits, genes, or
genetic components, and the evolutionary
and ecological processes for surviving in
adverse conditions. The information obtained
can be applied to models to predict whether
a particular community can sustain changing
environments and provide information on
what species or taxa to select for restoring the
function of a diversity-depleted community.
Small-scale studies provide the data to allow
for more accurate predictions of changes
in the distribution of species under climate
changes through more sophisticated modeling
incorporating functional traits. Multi-faceted
data from many ‘model’ clades will also permit
refined evaluations of spatial patterns of
biodiversity from previous large-scale analyses
that were constrained by various aspects,
such as missing data, incomplete species
sampling, inconsistent species delineation,
and/or limited knowledge of the properties of
individual species and their interactions with
each other and so forth.
Under a phylogenetic framework,
comparative analyses of biological properties
and environmental variables of habitats of the
species in the ‘model clades’ can reveal how
changes in specific properties evolved over time
and perhaps what their associated biotic and
abiotic drivers were. Traits and genes resilient
to past climate and other environmental
changes may be identified. Such information
is similarly valuable for conserving the taxa
studied and the communities in which they
occur. As species and communities evolve in
response to a changing climate, how they and
their communities evolved in the past will
inform us of the direction they are likely to
take in the future.
One may declare a species or species group to be
a ‘model’ based on multifaceted studies driven
by curiosity and funding. Curiosity is the
great incentive that drives integrative studies.
It can be stimulated in many ways—from
reading the literature, attending conference
presentations and seminars, experimental
results, observation in the field, and questions
raised by colleagues and students. Organisms
we see in nature may plant the seed of curiosity
in the heart, motivating questions about what
they are, what they do, what roles they play
in the ecosystem, and how they connect
and interact with each other and with other
species. Such curiosity easily drives novel
research beyond traditional fields, fostering
deeper understanding through collaborations
and through interdisciplinary approaches.
For example, when seeing species producing
large white inflorescences and small flowers
frequently growing together and overlapping
in blooming times in the same location
(Figure 1), one may wonder what makes them
converge on this morphology and phenology?
Is there a common developmental, genetic,
and chemical basis for such behavior? Do they
compete for pollinators? Is it possible that
one may mimic the other for some unknown
survival benefit? How does their blooming
time vary with climate change? What microbes
and animals interact with these species? How
different are they in secondary metabolites?
In flowers? In vegetative parts? Is their genetic
makeup or the environment more important
in determining the metabolites they produce?
What will happen if these plants are removed
from the community?
PSB 71 (1) 2025
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When seeing interesting venation patterns
in a plant (Figure 2), one may wonder if this
pattern also occurs in other species. How are
venation patterns related to leaf function and
resilience to climate change? To what extent
does venation structure in a community
predict the function of an ecosystem? How
many kinds of venation patterns have evolved
in flowering plants, and how are they mapped
onto angiosperm phylogeny? What drives
an evolutionary change in venation patterns,
and how much do we know about the genetic
control of vein patterning? And finally, which
of these questions have been addressed in
previous studies?
Curiosity-driven research is fun and self-
motivated for both PIs and students. One
can integrate data from development and
molecular genetics over a phylogeny to
search for the ontological and molecular
bases of structural evolution. For example, a
former graduate student’s curiosities about
genetic changes leading to the evolutionary
divergence of inflorescence types in the Cornus
L. (dogwood) clade (Figure 3) motivated our
multidisciplinary studies of representative
species that integrated evolution, development,
gene expression, and gene functional analyses
via collaborations. Those studies revealed
evolutionary changes in the morphology of the
early development of inflorescences and the
expression of candidate genes controlling the
morphology that determine the framework
of different architectures (head, condensed
compound dichasia, umbel, and elongate
compound cymes) (Feng et al., 2011; Liu et al.,
2013, 2016, 2019; Ma et al., 2017). We derived
a TFL1 (Terminal Flower Locus 1) and AP1
(APETALA1) homologous gene-based model
to explain the variation in inflorescences
in Cornus (Ma et al., 2017), which offered a
hypothesis for testing in other flowering plant
groups with determinate inflorescences.
Figure 2. Glechoma hederacea L. (Photo by
Jenny Xiang.)
Figure 1. Achillea millefolia L., Daucus carota L., Cornus amomum Miller, Sambucus canaden-
sis L. (Photos by Jenny Xiang.)
PSB 71 (1) 2025
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Many more studies are needed to fully
understand the genetic network and
environmental factors regulating the
development of inflorescences in Cornus.
Another interesting and important aspect
that needs to be studied is the ecological
and evolutionary impact of changes in
inflorescence architecture in response to
climate change in closely related species.
We also had fun in multidisciplinary studies
of the tree, Cornus florida L. (flowering
dogwood; Figure 4) via collaborations
driven by curiosities of the genetic diversity
in response to the threat of fungal diseases;
changes in distribution in response to global
warming; local adaptation; and genes,
metabolites, and microbes that may be
associated with disease resistance. We used
tools from population genomics, evolutionary
ecological genomics, metabolomics, and
metagenomics to gain knowledge on these
aspects (Call et al., 2015, Pais et al., 2017,
2018, 2020, 2024). We identified candidate
loci selected by nature for adaptation to local
abiotic environments, including temperature
changes, secondary metabolites and genes
likely associated with immunity to threatening
fungal diseases, and foliar microbe diversity
interacting with the species and differences
of microbial communities between plants in
visually healthy and diseased sites.
One can undertake many studies driven by
curiosity to collect data from different layers for
the species in a focal clade to provide baseline
information for large-scale analyses. However,
linking information across layers is essential for
acquiring a comprehensive understanding of
biodiversity and identifying factors regulating
responses to environmental change. Although
it remains challenging, comparative analyses
over phylogenetic frameworks offer one way
for connecting information across layers and
Figure 3. Inflorescence types characterizing four subclades of Cornus L. (Modified from Ma et al., 2017).
PSB 71 (1) 2025
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between traits of the same layer to reveal
potential causal biotic and/or abiotic factors
driving evolution. For example, Thorson
and colleagues (2023) integrated methods
from comparative phylogenetic analyses
and structural equation models to identify
direct and indirect associations among 35
continuous and categorical traits representing
life history, reproductive, morphological, and
behavioral features for all (>32,000) described
fishes worldwide. Their findings suggested
that a one-degree Celsius increase in the
environment was associated with an average
3.5% increase in natural mortality.
By integrating data from climate, distribution,
and soil nutrients, evolutionary changes
in functional traits, genetic network, and
molecular changes that are associated with
abiotic factors can be identified within
clades through phylogenetic mapping and
association analysis. Key evolutionary changes
in networks at different layers may be inferred.
Those occurring on the same branches can
be connected to provide comprehensive and
‘hierarchical’ information for developing
integrative mathematical models to predict the
effects of property changes in lower (micro-)
layer on the connected properties of higher
(macro-) layers or micro changes underlying
observed macro changes (Cavigelli et al., 2021).
Models are an important way to reintegrate
our understanding of how molecules,
cells, organs, organisms, populations, and
ecosystems function (Dornhaus et al.,
2021). To foster mathematical modeling
integrating multifaceted data for complex
biological systems, collaboration between
biologists, mathematicians, and computer
programmers is needed and a workforce with
interdisciplinary background and skills need
to be trained (White et al., 2021).
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Cameron. 2023. A resilient and connected network
of sites to sustain biodiversity under a changing cli-
mate. Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences 120:
e2204434119.
Call, A., Y. X. Sun, Y. Yu, P. Pearman, R. Trigiano, D. T.
Thomas, I. Carbon, and Q.-Y.(J.) Xiang. 2015. Popula-
tion structure and Pleistocene biogeography of Cornus
florida L. (Cornaceae) - integrating phylogeography
and ecological niche modeling. Journal of Systematics
and Evolution 54: 136-151.
Cavigelli, S., J. Leips, Q.-Y.(J.) Xiang, D. Lemke, and N.
Konow. 2021. Next steps in integrative biology: Map-
ping interactive processes across levels of biological
organization. Integrative and Comparative Biology. 61:
2066-2074.
Donoghue, M., and E. Edwards. 2022. Clade Biology,
phylogenetic biology, and systematics. Plant Science
Bulletin 68: 7-11.
Dornhaus, A., B. Smith, K. Hristova, and L. B. Buckley.
2021. How can we fully realize the potential of math-
ematical and biological models to reintegrate biology?
Integrative and Comparative Biology 61: 2244-2254.
Feng, C. M., Q.-Y.(J.) Xiang, and R. G. Franks. 2011.
Phylogeny-based developmental analyses illuminate
evolution of inflorescence architectures in dogwoods
(Cornus s. l., Cornaceae) New Phytologist 191: 850-869.
Figure 4. Cornus florida L. (photo by Jenny
Xiang).
PSB 71 (1) 2025
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Hong, P., B. Schmid, F. E. Laender, N. Eisenhauer, X.
Zhang, H. Chen, D. Craven, et al. 2022. Biodiversity
promotes ecosystem functioning despite environmen-
tal change. Ecology Letters 25: 555–569.
Liu, J., R. G. Franks, C. M. Feng, X. Liu, C. X. Fu, and
Q.-Y.(J.) Xiang. 2013. Characterization of the sequence
and expression pattern of LFY homologs from dog-
woods species (Cornus L.) with divergent inflorescence
architectures. Annals of Botany 112: 1629-1641.
Liu, X., J. Zhang, A. Abuahmad, R. G. Franks, D.-Y. Xie,
and Q.-Y.(J.) Xiang. 2016. Analysis of TFL1 homologs
in dogwood species (Cornus L.) indicates functional
conservation in control of transition to flowering. Plan-
ta 243: 1129-1141.
Liu, X., J. Zhang, D. Y. Xie, R. G. Franks, and Q.-Y.(J.)
Xiang. 2019. Functional characterization of Termi-
nal Flower1 homolog in Cornus canadensis by genetic
transformation. Plant Cell Report 38: 333–343.
Lu, L., L. Zhao, H. Hu, B. Liu, Y. Yang, Y. You, D. Peng,
et al., 2023. A comprehensive evaluation of flowering
plant diversity and conservation priority for national
park planning in China. Fundamental Research 3: 939–
950.
Ma, Q., X. Liu, R. G. Franks, and Q.-Y.(J.) Xiang. 2017.
Alterations of CorTFL1 and CorAP1 expression cor-
relate with major evolutionary shifts of inflorescence
architecture in Cornus L. (Cornaceae) – a model for
variation of determinate inflorescences. New Phytolo-
gist 216: 519-535.
Pais, A. L., R. W. Whetten, and Q.-Y.(J.) Xiang. 2017.
Ecological genomics of local adaptation in Cornus
florida L. by Genotyping by Sequencing. Evolution and
Ecology 7: 441–465.
Pais, A. L., X.(S.) Li, and Q.-Y.(J.) Xiang. 2018. Discov-
ering variation of secondary metabolite diversity and
its relationship with disease resistance in Cornus florida
L. Ecology and Evolution 8: 5619–5636.
Pais, A., R. W. Whetten, and Q.-Y.(J.) Xiang. 2020.
Population structure, landscape genomics, and genetic
signatures of adaptation to exotic disease pressure in
Cornus florida L. – insights from GWAS and GBS data.
Journal of Systematics and Evolution 58: 546–570.
Pais, A., J. Ristano, R. Whetten, and Q.-Y.(J.) Xiang.
2024. Metagenomic study reveals hidden relationships
among fungal diversity, variation of plant disease, and
genetic distance in Cornus florida (Cornaceae). Fron-
tiers in Plant Science 14: 1282188.
Prisco, G., and P. Convey. 2012. Adaptation and Evolu-
tion in Marine Environments, Vol. 1, Pages 3-18. DOI:
10.1007/978-3-642-27352-0_1.
Sgro, C. M., A. J. Andrew, and A. A. Hoffmann, 2011.
Building evolutionary resilience for conserving biodi-
versity under climate change. Evolutionary Applications
4: 326-337.
Thorson, J. T., A. A. Maureaud, R. Frelat, B. Merigot,
J. S. Bigman, S. R. Friedman, M. L. D. Palomares, et
al. 2023. Identifying direct and indirect associations
among traits by merging phylogenetic comparative
methods and structural equations models. Methods in
Ecology and Evolution 14: 1259–1275.
Tordoni, E., C. P. Carmona, A. Toussaint, R. Tamme,
and M. Pärtel. 2024. Global patterns and determinants
of multiple facets of plant diversity. Global Ecology
and Biogeography 33: e13823.
White, K. A., K. D. McEntire, N. R. Buan, L. Robin-
son, and E. Barbar. 2021. Charting a new frontier in-
tegrating mathematical modeling in complex biologi-
cal systems from molecules to ecosystems. Integrative
and Comparative Biology 61: 2255-2266.
Willig, M. R., and S. J. Presley. 2013. Latitudinal Gra-
dients of Biodiversity. In S. A. Levin (Ed.), Encyclo-
pedia of Biodiversity (2nd ed.), Vol. 4, pp. 612-626.
Academic Press. DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-384719-
5.00086-1.
Zhang, R., D. Tian, J. Wang, and S. Niu. 2023. Critical
role of multidimensional biodiversity in contributing to
ecosystem sustainability under global change. Geogra-
phy and Sustainability 4: 232-243.
PSB 71 (1) 2025
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PSB 71 (1) 2025
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By
Amelia Neely
BSA Membership &
Communications
Manager
E-mail: ANeely@
botany.org
MEMBERSHIP NEWS
Botany360 is a series of programming that
connects our botanical community during the
360 days outside of Botany Conferences. The
Botany360 event calendar is a tool to highlight
those events. The goal of this program is to
connect the botanical science community
throughout the year with professional
development, discussion sessions, and
networking and social opportunities. To see
the calendar visit www.botany.org/calendar.
If you want to coordinate a Botany360 event,
email aneely@botany.org.
Recent Botany360 event recordings:
• NFS Workshop for GRFP
2024
(September 26, 2024)
h t t p s : / / w w w . y o u t u b e . c o m /
watch?v=uSVp279V7w0
• Applying to Grad School
2024 (October 3, 2024)
h t t p s : / / w w w . y o u t u b e . c o m /
watch?v=la0z9yVu6n8
Botany360 Updates
• Prepping for PLANTS: An Informa-
tional Webinar about the PLANTS
Travel Awards for Underrepresent-
ed Undergrads (January 24, 2025)
h t t p s : / / w w w . y o u t u b e . c o m /
w a t c h ? v = w I - F 6 K b u 0 X M
BSA SPONSORSHIP
OPPORTUNITIES
Do you know a business or organization that
would benefit from being in front of over 3000
botanical scientists from over 70 countries,
and over 48,500 followers on social media? The
BSA Business Office has many opportunities
for sponsorship including:
• Sponsored Membership Matters newsletter ar-
ticles and footer ads
• BSA website banner ads
• Hosting Botany360 events
• Botany360 event logo advertisement during
event, a slide before/after event, or time to
discuss product at beginning or end of event
• Sponsored social media ads
• Advertisement space in the Plant Science Bulletin
Because we value our community, the above
opportunities are limited with the hope of
being informative without being intrusive.
Sponsorships will allow BSA to fulfill our
strategic plan goal of being financially
responsible during this time of economic shifts.
To find out more about sponsorship
opportunities, email
bsa-manager@botany.org
.
PSB 71 (1) 2025
24
BSA SPOTLIGHT SERIES
The BSA Spotlight Series highlights early-career and professional scientists in the BSA
community and shares both scientific goals and achievements, as well as personal interests of
the botanical scientists, so you can get to know your BSA community better.
Here are the latest Spotlights:
• Adam Abdullahi
, Graduate Stu-
dent, University of Pennsylvania
https://botany.org/home/careers-jobs/
careers-in-botany/bsa-spotlight-se-
ries/adam-abdullahi.html
• Benjamin Ajayi, Graduate Stu-
dent, Florida State University
https://botany.org/home/careers-jobs/
careers-in-botany/bsa-spotlight-se-
ries/benjamin-ajayi.html
• Vikas Garhwal, Graduate Student,
Indian Institute of Science Educa-
tion and Research Kolkata, India
https://botany.org/home/careers-jobs/
careers-in-botany/bsa-spotlight-se-
ries/vikas-garhwal.html
• Nora Mitchell, Faculty, Univer-
sity of Wisconsin - Eau Claire
https://botany.org/home/careers-jobs/
careers-in-botany/bsa-spotlight-se-
ries/nora-mitchell.html
• Dennis Wm. Stevenson, Fac-
ulty, New York Botanical Garden
https://botany.org/home/careers-jobs/
careers-in-botany/bsa-spotlight-se-
ries/dennis-wm-stevenson.html.
• Naomi Volain, Car-
toonist, Self-Employed
https://botany.org/home/careers-jobs/
careers-in-botany/bsa-spotlight-se-
ries/naomi-volain.html
Would you like to nominate yourself or another BSA member to be in the Spotlight Series?
Fill out the form at https://forms.gle/vivajCaCaqQrDL648.
PSB 71 (1) 2025
25
SCIENCE EDUCATION
By Dr. Catrina Adams,
Education Director
Jennifer Hartley,
Education Programs
Supervisor
The Spring 2025 session of PlantingScience
kicked off on February 10, bringing together
students, teachers, and mentors for another
exciting season of plant science exploration.
This session, we are working with 17 dedicated
teachers from across the United States,
supporting 26 class periods and approximately
120 student teams.
Students are investigating a variety of
themes, including seed germination, food
production, potato soft rot, and genetic
expression under different environmental
conditions. These projects provide hands-on
learning experiences that deepen students’
understanding of plant biology and scientific
inquiry.
None of this would be possible without
our incredible liaisons and mentors, who
are guiding students as they develop their
PlantingScience’s Spring 2025
Session is Underway!
projects and explore new scientific concepts.
Their support and expertise are invaluable to
the success of this program.
The current session will run until April 30. Stay
tuned for our Star Projects announcement,
where we will highlight some of the most
outstanding student research from this season!
Thank you to everyone involved in making
this session a success!
PSB 71 (1) 2025
26
STUDENT SECTION
By Josh Felton and
Benjamin Aderemi Ajayi
BSA Student Representatives
With the new administration threatening
diversity, equity, inclusion, and access
initiatives, scientific funding, and resources
in the U.S., we want to remind our student
members that the BSA is here for you. There is
immense power in community, and we remain
committed to fostering an inclusive global
network that advances botanical science for
the benefit of people and the environment.
Scientific funding and infrastructure are
critical to that mission.
That said, many of us are grappling with the
question of what we can do to fight back.
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer, but if
you have the bandwidth, consider joining or
starting advocacy groups at your institution,
calling your representatives, and, most
importantly, picking one local action and
following through. Small steps matter.
STUDENT BOTANY 2025 TASTER
The Botany conference is just around the
corner, and we can’t wait to see you in Palm
Springs! Keep an eye on your email in the
coming months for details on our Botany360
event in May: Make the Most of Botany2025: A
Student Conference Guide. Don’t miss it!
Conference at a Glance
Here’s a summary of the conference schedule:
Saturday, July 26 – Sunday, July 27: Field
Trips
Sunday, July 27: Workshops, Plenary Lecture,
All Society Mixer
Monday, July 28: Poster Session
Monday, July 27 – Wednesday, July 30: Oral
presentations and events
Wednesday evening, July 30: Conference-
wide celebration!
STUDENT-CENTERED EVENTS
Join us for the many student-centered
conference events, including a workshop, a
Careers in Botany Panel, a Student Social, and
a Student Chapter Meet-up:
The Community of the BSA
PSB 71 (1) 2025
27
Make sure to come to our Botany360
event (https://botany.org/home/resources/
botany360.html) to hear about the following
items:
• General Conference Tips
• Budgeting for the Conference
• Volunteer Opportunities at the Con-
ference
• Presenting at the Conference
• Networking Tips
FURTHER READING
AND ADVOCACY
If you are feeling lost in all of the political
news, consider subscribing to the newsletter
Making Sense of it All, which provides weekly
updates on the state of science and higher ed
in the U.S.
https://buttondown.com/liminalcreations
If you are interested in science communication,
consider writing an opinion piece for your
local or hometown newspaper. Science
Homecoming’s goal is to encourage scientists
to return to their hometowns by writing
brief opinion pieces in their local newspaper,
advocating for investment in American
science.
https://sciencehomecoming.com/
Finally, if you are interested in talking points
regarding advocacy or want a template of
a message to send to your representatives,
check out this document from the American
Institute of Biological Sciences.
h t t p s : / / a i b s o r g - m y . s h a r e p o i n t .
com/:w:/g/personal/jpandey_aibs_org/
EQ4DLGZBHVpCjIGj27DgsCgBbe-IFWmN
pJasldPLBaCELQ?rtime=9U5wK6Zg3Ug
Feel free to reach out to us on BlueSky @
botanyballer.bsky.social and @ajayibenmi.
bsky.social or via email feltonjosh@icloud.
com and aderemibenjamin@gmail.com if you
have any questions or comments about how
our Society can best support you.
PSB 71 (1) 2025
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
IN MEMORIAM
Richard Alan White
(“Dick”), a long-time
professor of botany at Duke University, died
peacefully on August 10, 2024 at home,
surrounded by his family. He was 88. Dick was
a plant anatomist, especially interested in the
vascular anatomy of ferns.
Dick was born on October 25, 1935, to
Alpheus Rayburn White and Katharine
Eleanor (Mullaney) White. Born and raised
in Philadelphia, he attended the local public
schools and graduated from John Bartram
High School in 1953. During those years he
spent considerable time “botanizing” in the
famous Bartram’s Garden.
RICHARD ALAN WHITE
(1935–2024)
He received his undergraduate and master’s
degrees from Temple University and was the
recipient of a city scholarship. He credited
Temple’s Don M. Benedict with stimulating
his interest in botany, which continued
during subsequent years at the University of
Michigan. Dick received his doctorate degree
from the University of Michigan under a
Danforth Scholar Foundation Fellowship; his
doctoral committee chairman was Dr. Charles
B. Beck. His dissertation topic, a comparative
study of fern xylem elements, was influenced
by a course with Dr. Warren H. Wagner, Jr.
with whom he travelled to Hawaii as a field
assistant in the summer of 1961. This was his
introduction to the field collection of tropical
ferns, which became a major part of his later
research activities.
His dissertation in 1962, A Comparative Study
of the Tracheary Elements of the Ferns, led to
several early publications. His first publication,
while he was still a student, reported for the
first time the existence of vessel members in
the water fern Marsilea (White, R. A. 1961.
Vessels in roots of Marsilea. Science 133: 1073-
1074).
Following his graduation from Michigan, Dick
spent a post-doctoral year at the University
of Manchester, England, sponsored by a
National Science Foundation award. There, he
worked in the laboratory of C. W. Wardlaw,
where he explored the more experimental and
developmental aspects of fern morphology.
Other early publications resulted from this
work.
PSB 71 (1) 2025
29
In 1963 he accepted a position as Assistant
Professor of Botany at Duke University, where
he spent his entire professional career. He
rose to the rank of Professor of Botany and
served two terms as Chair of the Department
of Botany.
Dick was an award-winning teacher who
found joy and fulfillment in teaching at both
the undergraduate and graduate levels. He
was known for his “hands-on” Plant Anatomy
lab course where students learned paraffin
microtechnique and completed individual
research projects. He also enjoyed teaching
non-major students a “Plants and Humans”
course.
Over the years at Duke, Dick maintained an
active research program. Numerous graduate
students received their advanced degrees
under his guidance. His students worked on a
diversity of projects, including topics beyond
pteridophyte anatomy. Topics ranged from
peristome development of mosses to floral
development of Zingiberales, from tree fern
anatomy to systematics of Haemodoraceae.
Dick’s own research focused primarily on the
anatomy of tree ferns.
Beginning in the late 1960s, Dick’s interest in
the anatomy of tree ferns resulted in numerous
research trips supported by the National
Science Foundation and Duke University,
which included travels to Hawaii, Costa
Rica, Venezuela, Juan Fernandez Islands,
New Zealand, New Caledonia, New Guinea,
Malaysia, St. Helena, and the Galapagos.
He was often accompanied by student field
assistants and his cousin Bob Soeder.
Live tree fern specimens that he collected are
growing at The Atlanta Botanical Gardens
and the Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens in
Belmont, NC; preserved material has been
deposited at The New York Botanical Gardens
and the Duke University Herbarium.
Dick White in 1976 with the rare Juan Fernandez endemic Thyrsopteris elegans.
PSB 71 (1) 2025
30
Dick’s studies primarily examined shoot
vascular patterns of ferns, focusing on the
stelar ontogeny of young sporophytes. Salient
publications include:
• McAlpin, B. W., and R. A. White.
1974. Shoot organization in the
Filicales: the promeristem. Ameri-
can Journal of Botany 61: 562-579.
While initially somewhat controver-
sial, McAlpin argued that fern apical
meristems are complex, zoned struc-
tures comparable to the meristems of
seed plants, downplaying the earlier
focus on the single apical cell and its
derivative segments. In 1977, Bierhorst
criticized this and similar studies, reaf-
firming the traditional importance of
apical cells in fern meristems. In 1995,
White and Turner concluded that
fern meristems are both histologically
zoned and have apical cells and regular
segmentation and suggested that the
opposing views emphasized different
real aspects of the same structures.
• White, R. A. 1979. Experimental in-
vestigations of fern sporophyte devel-
opment. In: A. F. Dyer (Ed.). The Ex-
perimental Biology of Ferns, 505-541.
Academic Press, London.
• White, R. A. 1984. Comparative devel-
opment of vascular tissue patterns in
the shoot apex of ferns. In: R. A. White
and W. C. Dickison (Eds.). Contem-
porary problems in plant anatomy,
53-107. Academic Press, New York.
Dick proposed that complex protoxy-
lem systems of fern steles reflect un-
derlying similarities with seed plant
eusteles.
• White, R. A., and M. D. Turn-
er. 1988. Calochlaena, a new ge-
nus of dicksonioid ferns. Ameri-
can Fern Journal 78: 86-95.
Described a previously overlooked
genus-level clade within the tree ferns.
• White, R. A., and M. D. Turner. 1995.
Anatomy and development of the fern
sporophyte. The Botanical Review 61:
281-305.
• White, R. A., and W. H. Weidlich.
1995. Organization of the vascu-
lar system in the stems of Diplazium
and Blechnum (Filicales). Ameri-
can Journal of Botany 82: 982-991.
Dick suggested that fern dictyosteles
were in some ways comparable to seed
plant steles.
Dick continued to publish in retirement as
emeritus:
• White, R. A., and M. D. Turner. 2012.
The anatomy and occurrence of foliar
nectaries in Cyathea (Cyatheaceae).
American Fern Journal 102: 91-113.
This study reported the widespread
occurrence of foliar nectaries in the
genus Cyathea.
• Kao, T, K. M. Pryer, M. D. Turner, R. A.
White, and P. Korall. 2015. Origins of
the endemic scaly tree ferns on the Galá-
pagos and Cocos Islands. International
Journal of Plant Sciences 176: 869-879.
Documented the independent origins
of the four island Cyathea species from
different mainland ancestors.
PSB 71 (1) 2025
31
Dick’s last publication combined his long-
standing interests in tree fern anatomy and
anatomy of young sporophytes:
• White, R. A., and M. D. Turner.
2017. The comparative anatomy
of Hymenophyllopsis and Cyathea
(Cyatheaceae): A striking case of
heterochrony in fern evolution.
American Fern Journal 107: 30-57.
The origin of ‘’Hymenophyllopsis’’ from
typical Cyathea ancestors involved a
drastic reduction in size and complex-
ity, coupled with the precocious pro-
duction of spores. This is an example
of paedomorphosis; adult Hymeno-
phyllopsis plants as precociously fer-
tile, permanent ‘’young sporophytes’’
of tree ferns.
In recent years, Dick worked to complete a
long-term project of his: a biography of F. O.
Bower, the influential British pteridologist
of the late 19
th
and early
20
th
centuries
.
This
manuscript is expected to be published.
He spent sabbatical years in Dunedin, New
Zealand and Edinburgh, Scotland, as well as
in Cambridge and Durham, England.
Dick was appointed Dean of Duke’s Faculty of
Arts and Sciences and Dean of Trinity College
in 1985, and in 1990 he also became the Vice
Provost for Undergraduate Education, serving
in these roles until 1997.
In 1999 he became the Executive Director of
Sarah P. Duke Gardens and helped continue
the gardens’ development. In 2000, Dick was
appointed University Marshal.
In 2001, Duke University dedicated the
Richard White Lecture Hall in his honor.
Dick was given the title of the “University
Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of
Botany” in 2005.
A fossil fern genus, Dickwhitea, was named for
him in 2006 in relation to his 1995 suggestion
that fern steles show underlying similarities to
sympodial systems of eustelar seed plants.
Dick was also a volunteer in the community,
active in Sister Cities International of Durham,
The Senior Tar Heel Legislature and the
Orange County Advisory Board on Aging. His
leisure activities included listening to classical
music, reading, and enjoying the pond and
woods surrounding his home of more than 50
years in rural Orange County, NC.
Dick is survived by his loving wife of 59 years,
Norma; his sister Marilyn Lechler; three
wonderful children: Richard (Sandi) White,
Karen (Wade) White-Tong, and Susan (Brian
Smith) White; four outstanding grandchildren:
Hannah White, Alexandra Tong, and Mason
and Spencer Smith; and three incredible
step-grandchildren: Taylor Penn, Tori Penn,
and Wade Penn. He was predeceased by his
parents and his brother Walter Charles White.
He was loved by many in both his professional
and personal life including his nephews,
nieces, cousins, colleagues, and students. Dick
will be remembered for his good humor and
as a wonderful son, husband, brother, father,
and grandfather. He will be missed by many.
Gifts in his memory can be made to Trinity
College, Duke University; Duke University
Chapel; and the Sarah P. Duke Gardens, Duke
University.
—By Melvin D. Turner, Norma White, and
Susan White
PSB 71 (1) 2025
32
BOOK REVIEWS
The Herbal Year: Folklore, History, and Remedies
Introduction to Plants in Central Somaliland
Isolated Wonder: A Scientist in the Robinson Crusoe Islands
The Light Eaters: How The Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding
of Life on Earth.
A Little Queer Natural History
Nashville Native Orchids: Astonishing Science and Mysterious Folklore
Nature’s Ghosts: The World We Lost and How to Bring It Back
Orchid Review 2024 Annual
Plant Collectors in Angola. Botany, Exploration, and History in South-Tropical Africa
Saving the World: How Forests Inspired Global Efforts to Stop Climate Change from 1770
to the Present.
Scent: A Natural History of Fragrance.
Trees and Forests of Tropical Asia: Exploring Tapovan
Wild Forest Home: Stories of Conservation in the Pacific Northwest
The Herbal Year: Folklore,
History, and Remedies
Christina Hart-Davies
2024. ISBN: 978-0-300-26586-6
US$26 (Hardback); 256 pp.
Yale University Press
I feel like I did the American
thing when I started reading
this book in that I was
surprised that, it being from Yale University
Press, it was not focused on North America.
But there is a lot of overlap with naturalized
species and species that are similar to
their European counterparts. The book is
beautifully illustrated by the author with
drawings on a lot of its pages. The chapters
include an introduction, foods as medicine,
spring, early summer, high summer, autumn,
winter, colds and flu, further reading,
acknowledgements and abbreviations, and
an index. Each chapter includes a quote from
various authors and historical figures to set
the tone for that chapter. I definitely learned
some things, including that Egyptians had the
first writings of herb use.
Many of the descriptions include references
and anecdotes—my favorite being the
reference to “Johnny Appleseed” within the
foods as medicine chapter. He was one of my
favorite folk heroes growing up, being based
on a real person; he really did bring apples
out into the territories in the early days of the
United States. Each species that is discussed
includes historical uses for the plant and, in
some cases, if those uses have been able to
be confirmed through scientific testing. The
author uses a mixture of onion and honey to
soothe a cough and described how soldiers’
wounds were treated with garlic in World War II.
The spring chapter discusses how there is
research into the use of certain violets to
treat cancer, which is inspiring and shows the
importance of retaining biodiversity. Plantain
leaves can be used on insect bites and stings,
which I had not previously heard and will
need to try. In early summer we find some
commonly and well-known species such as
mint to settle stomachs and poppies for pain
relief. I was not familiar with yarrow as a
PSB 71 (1) 2025
33
wound treatment, so that was an interesting
anecdote.
Next we move into high summer, where we
find my first word of caution in the use of
common names. The author does a good job
of including the scientific names for reference
along with a common name, although
Meadowsweet in the book (Filipendula
ulmaria) is a very different species to the
meadowsweet that we commonly see in the
U.S. (Spiraea alba). So when using any guide,
it’s always good to check multiple references
and make sure you have the right species.
Further on in the chapter is a story about
skullcaps (Scutellaria sp.) being used to treat
rabies in the past, which requires further
study. In Autumn we find another common
name discrepancy with partridgeberry being
(Vaccinium vitis-idaea), but I’ve always known
partridgeberry as Mitchella repens. The North
American partridgeberry has been used in
teas for different ailments of its own.
Winter gives us wintergreen (Gaultheria
procumbens), which has a common name
counterpart the other way around with the
Pyrola genus in Europe. An oil made from
the leaves has been used to relieve pain.
Witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) is still
commercially available and can be found
in some pharmacy aisles to treat external
inflammation. I was surprised to not find
Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum) until the
colds & flu chapter since I’ve read about it
being used to set bones during the American
Revolution but not as a cold remedy, which
was apparently a common practice of Native
Americans. A species I would have expected to
see was jewelweed Impatiens sp., which can be
used on poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans)
to relieve the itching, and they can sometimes
be found in proximity to one another.
There are a lot more species covered than
the ones I chose to discuss and interesting
historical references or anecdotes to be
discovered. I think that some people would
benefit by pairing this book with a field
guide or more descriptive text in terms of
identification because you want to be sure
of an identification before you try to use
something and that you followed the advice
of seeking a professional’s guidance. The book
includes a disclaimer in the front that should
be taken seriously, especially if you plan on
taking anything internally.
REFERENCES
Foster, S., and J. A. Duke. 2000. Eastern/central me-
dicinal plants and herbs of eastern and central northern
America, ed 2. Peterson Field Guides. Houghton Mif-
flin Company, New York, NY.
—David W. MacDougall, CWB®, PWS Con-
sulting Biologist
Introduction to Plants in
Central Somaliland. Hord-
hac ku saabsan dhirta
ka baxa badhtamaha
Soomaalilaand (ed 2)
Ahmed Ibrahim Awale, Faisal
Jama Gelle, and Helen Pickering
2024. ISBN: 978-1-889878-76-8
US$29.00 (flex bind.); 148 pp.
Brit Press, Fort Worth Botanic Garden, Botanical
Research Institute of Texas, Fort Worth, TX, USA
A small photographic guidebook for the non-
specialist about some native and naturalized
plants of Central Somaliland, including
the coastal plain, Golis Mountains and
the Hargeisa plateau, has been reissued to
include a few more photographs and correct
a few errors from the first edition. We meet
the plants in central Somaliland with an
eye-catching cover photograph of Adenium
PSB 71 (1) 2025
34
somalense, familiar to this reader through its
relative, Adenium hongkel observed during
fieldwork in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains, which
“transforms the Nuba Mountains into a
magician’s rose garden at the time of its
flowering” (Kirk, 1946). A translation of its
Arabic name shajarat al simm is “poison tree”;
it is used by the Nuba for arrow poison (Broun
and Massey, 1929).
The first illustrated guide to Somaliland’s plants
begins with a short paragraph summarizing
Somaliland’s recent history, followed by an
illustrated summary of the country’s climate,
landforms, and ecological zones, with basic
maps. Thirteen pages of introductory material
are followed by 120 pages illustrating 150
species, arranged alphabetically by plant
family. Some accounts occupy a whole page;
others only a half-page. All include at least
one color photograph; a brief, non-technical
description and a statement of the species’
habitat and global distribution; plus names
of each species: its Latin binomial, an English
name, and a Somali name. Every page has
bilingual text, in English and Somali. Both
inside covers open with a wide landscape
panorama. The back cover closes with an
especially useful feature: an actual size ruler
with units in centimeters and inches. There
are three blank pages with lines for notes at
the end of the book. The back matter includes
a few references, a glossary of nearly 75 words,
and two short indices: one for Somali names,
the other for Latin binomials. Nomenclature
follows Plants of the World Online (POWO),
effective March 2023.
There is considerable variation in the amount of
attention, via pages of photographs, allocated
to each plant family; the largest numbers are:
Acanthaceae (6 pp.), Apocynaceae (14 pp.),
Asteraceae (8 pp.), and Leguminosae (14 pp.).
Most photographs are high-resolution images.
Ahmed Ibrahim Awale is an environmentalist,
the chairman of the Somaliland Biodiversity
Foundation, as well as Candlelight for
Environment, Education and Health. He
lectures on environmental science at the
University of Hargeisa, and he is the author
of several books including Environment
in Crisis: Selected Essays on the Somali
Environment. Faisal Jama Gelle works at the
University of Hargeisa, where he manages
the Biodiversity Museum for the Somaliland
Biodiversity Foundation and teaches plant
taxonomy. Helen Pickering is affiliated
with the Herbarium, Library, and Art and
Archives, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and
has contributed to photographic guides of
wildflowers from Nicaragua, Oman, and the
Victoria Falls.
It is disappointing that the Pedaliaceae
are represented in this volume solely by
Pterodiscus kellerianus, with pink flowers; it’s
also surprising that notes about its distribution
indicate only Ethiopia. This is puzzling since
the book’s title is about Somalia; my ACCESS
database of Pedaliaceae includes 21 herbarium
vouchers of P. kellerianus from Somalia, and
one from Kenya. Interestingly, the original
description (Schinz, 1896) states that the
flowers are yellow, whereas the flowers in
the photograph (p. 113) are pink. Ihlenfeldt
attempted to describe their diversity (2001,
2002, 2006a, 2006b) but concludes that the
species P. kellerianus is very variable. The leaves
are strictly pinnatified, but also lanceolate.
Flower color is yellow as well as pink.
Based on herbarium vouchers, Somalia is
rich in Pterodiscus species; others include P.
coeruleus, P. purpureus, P. ruspolii, P. sac-
catus, P. somaliensis, and P. undulatus. It is
unfortunate that the photographs of the flow-
ers in this example were taken late in the day,
when the flowers had wilted, depriving read-
PSB 71 (1) 2025
35
ers of details from an open corolla, necessary
to identify species.
REFERENCES
Broun, A. F., and R. E. Massey. 1929. Flora of the
Sudan. Thomas Murby and Co., London.
Ihlenfeldt, H. D. 2001. Fitting pieces together – Ptero-
discus Hooker (Pedaliaceae) in tropical NE Africa. A
case study, 63-74. In: I. Friis, O. Ryding, Eds., Bio-
diversity Research in the Horn of Africa Region: Pro-
ceedings of the Third International Symposium on the
Flora of Ethiopia and Eritrea at the Carlsberg Acad-
emy, Copenhagen, August 25-27, 1999. Royal Danish
Academy of Sciences and Letters, Copenhagen.
Ihlenfeldt, H. D. 2002. Pedaliaceae. In: U. Eggli (Ed.),
Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants. Vol. Dicoty-
ledons, 351-360. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg,
GmbH.
Ihlenfeldt, H. D. 2006a. Pedaliaceae. In: I. Hedberg, S.
Edwards, E. Persson, E. Kelbessa, S. Demissew (Eds.),
Flora of Ethiopia and Eritrea 5: 335-344. The National
Herbarium, Biology Department, Science Faculty, Ad-
dis Ababa University, Addis Ababa.
Ihlenfeldt, H. D. 2006b. Pedaliaceae. In: M. Thulin
(Ed.), Flora of Somalia 3: 366-374. Royal Botanic
Gardens, Kew.
Kirk, R. 1946. Some vegetable poisons of the Sudan.
Sudan Notes and Records 27: 127-152.
Schinz, H. 1896. Pedaliaceae. Bulletin de l’herbier
Boissier, Geneva 4: 453-455.
Isolated Wonder: A Scientist
in the Robinson Crusoe
Islands
Tod F. Stuessy
2024. ISBN- 978-1935641285
US$30.00 (Paperback); 312 pp.
Missouri Botanical Garden Press,
St. Louis, MO 63110
Las Islas de Juan Fernández (Robinson
Crusoe Islands) lie approximately 600 km
from Valparaiso, Chile. Currently a national
park, the Islands became unveiled to the
world at large when Daniel Defoe penned
“Robinson Crusoe.” The Juan Fernández
Islands are indeed isolated wonders harboring
two endemic families (Lactoridaceae and
Thyrsopteridaceae), 12 genera, and 126
species. This kind of classic island laboratory
was ideally suited for the creativity, cross-
cultural competencies, and research talents of
Tod Stuessy.
In “Isolated Wonder: A Scientist in the
Robinson Crusoe Islands,” Stuessy shares the
steps required to establish a shared research
program with his home institutions, The Ohio
State University and the University of Vienna,
and colleagues at University of Concepción.
The collaboration among these institutions,
and invited research participants (e.g., Greg
Anderson, University of Connecticut), is
chronicled in the book. Stuessy’s collaborator
at Ohio State, and later the University
of Kansas, Daniel Crawford, was a key
participant in shaping the Robinson Crusoe
Island research program. It is no surprise the
book is dedicated to him. From flavonoids to
plastid phylogenomics, Crawford kept pace
with the latest tools. Over a 40-year period (12
expeditions), this synergistic research team
produced numerous scientific publications.
What “Isolated Wonder” does is share the
natural history of the island and its remarkable
flora, in the context of stories focusing on
human interactions, challenges, and failures,
which come with doing fieldwork in a remote
region. Sections of this text seem as if you
are reading from Stuessy’s personal diary. On
the other hand, this frank style contributes to
what I believe makes “Isolated Wonder” an
excellent reading book for a lab group.
If you are a graduate student, postdoctoral
researcher, or a fortunate individual landing
a faculty line at a university, you should read
this book. Stuessy is a gifted teacher and
one of his favorite tools in the classroom is
the case study. I must come clean here and
share with the reader that he was my doctoral
PSB 71 (1) 2025
36
advisor. I did not work on the Islands; my love
has always been for continental high-elevation
floras, extant or fossil. This entire text is a case
study on how to build a research program,
forge collaborations, and develop and build
cross-cultural collaborative competencies.
However, it is also a guide for discovering your
own life equation for happiness by balancing
all the elements in your life.
–
Melanie L DeVore, Professor of Biology,
Department of Biological and Environmental
Sciences, Georgia College, Milledgeville, GA
31061
The Light Eaters: How the
Unseen World of Plant
Intelligence Offers a New
Understanding of Life on
Earth
Zoë Schlanger
2024. ISBN: 978-0-06-307385-2
US$29.99 (Hardback); 291 pp.
HarperCollins, New York, NY
Non-botanists as well as botanists of all ages
can enjoy reading The Light Eaters, a new
book by Zoë Schlanger, a staff writer at The
Atlantic magazine, where she covers climate
change. It is a persuasive tribute to plants for
their ingenuity and resourcefulness, from the
viewpoint of an observer, not a professional
botanist.
A variety of consequential questions are
included, e.g., in what way science changes its
mind. Schlanger writes empathetically about
the struggles of botanists whose theories were
ridiculed but later upheld. David Rhoades is
one example in the field of plant transference.
Rhoades (1985) reported that plants send out
distress signals via volatile chemicals released
in response to damage of their leaves, which
can cause chemical changes in neighboring,
undamaged plants that render the undamaged
plants less suitable as food for leaf-chewing
insects. The dynamic interplay between
herbivore offensive feeding strategies and
plant defensive mechanisms plays a crucial
role in understanding herbivore population
fluctuations and broader ecological theory.
Plant communication is examined throughout
the book. Wout van Hoven, a South African
wildlife nutritionist, received an alarm,
also in 1985, about dead kudu scattered
across various game lodges. After the kudu
population density had increased in response
to the popularity of hosting safari hunting,
the kudu diet of Acacia leaves caused those
trees’ leaves to become depleted. That led to a
response by the species to increase leaf tannin
content from 4% to 12%, thereby ensuring
those leaves were unpalatable to kudu.
Schlanger seems fascinated with incidents
related to phytochemistry, for example, the
protection received by birches by the transfer
of secondary compound from Rhododendron
tomentosum as defense from weevils—followed
by a related concern that pollution appears to
sabotage plants’ abilities to send and interpret
these sophisticated signals. An example from
industrial agriculture is the trend to grow vast
tracts in monoculture of a single crop such as
corn as grown commercially, diminishing its
ability to summon beneficial predators.
Schlanger remarks on phenomena
including sex switching by gingkoes as
well as epigenetics, the impact that specific
environments have to modify genes such
that the genetic changes persist through
generations. A stunning example is that beach
evening primrose can increase the sweetness of
its nectar within three minutes of exposure to
an audio recording of honeybee flight. Higher
sugar content would better entice pollinators
and increase the chance of cross pollination.
PSB 71 (1) 2025
37
Maternal care in plants is praised, e.g.,
narrowleaf plantain with seeds produced on
tall, exposed spikes. When air temperatures
are high, the plantain lightens the color of the
spike and darkens it when air is cool, to reflect
or absorb the sun’s rays as needed to keep
developing seeds at an ideal temperature.
Species may deposit their seeds directly at
the base of their own stem, so the seedling
can grow in the shade of its parent. Plants
can alter the thickness of the fruit wall and
of the seed’s protective coat, both maternal
tissues, to adjust the timing of the seedling’s
emergence. If a parent plant finds itself in a
drier environment, it may make seeds with
a larger surface area, so more water can pass
through the seed’s porous surface, keeping the
embryo within well hydrated.
A noteworthy example of a species in
Pedaliaceae with such a large seed, endowed
with a large surface area, occurs as an
endemic in Namibia’s driest zones, i.e.,
Sesamum abbreviatum Merxm. It has larger
seeds than any other species in Sesamopteris
Meissner (1840), although seeds of all species
in that section have lightweight membranous
wings or tufts of wing tissue that enable water
absorption and long-distance distribution.
The seed’s greater surface area allows more
water to pass to the embryo; that enables its
survival in the Namib Desert, its exclusive
home. Sesamopteris species may be contrasted
with those in section Aptera, which occur
in savannah grasslands, e.g., Sesamum
angustifolium (Oliv.) Engl. or S. angolense
Welw.; those unwinged seeds with thick, hard
coats fall close to the plant with little threat to
survival.
The Acknowledgements provide information
about Schlanger’s enterprising efforts to
receive fellowship support through artist
and writing residences that increased her
knowledge about botany. Among them, The
Mesa Refuge in Pont Reyes, CA; Bloedel
Reserve on Bainbridge Island, WA; The
Strange Foundation, West Shokan, NY;
Marble House Project, Dorset, VT; Folly Tree
Arboretum in Easthampton, NY; Oak Spring
Garden Foundation, Virgina, VA; National
Parks Arts Foundation for a month in Hawaii
Volcanoes National Park; and the National
Parks Arts Foundation for a month in Hawai’i
Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island.
Affordably priced, this book should be
enjoyed by a wide readership. It can help to fill
the considerable need for pro-science writing
to foster science literacy. Research sources are
supported with 16 pages of Notes, and a short
10-page Index.
REFERENCES
Rhoades, D. F. 1985. Offensive-defensive interactions
between herbivores and plants: Their relevance in her-
bivore population dynamics and ecological theory.
American Naturalist 125: 205-238.
–Dorothea Bedigian, Research Associate, Mis-
souri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, Missouri,
USA
A Little Queer Natural
History
Josh L. Davis
2024. ISBN-13: 978-0226837031
$15.99 (paperback); 125 pp.
University of Chicago Press,
Chicago, IL
In A Little Queer Natural
History, Josh L. Davis explores the diversity,
ambiguity, and fluidity of sexual practices in a
variety of species from the plant, animal, and
fungal kingdoms. Davis, a science writer for
the Natural History Museum, London, has
published with the Times, Observer, Guardian,
and others. He writes in the Introduction, “The
personal selection of examples in this book
PSB 71 (1) 2025
38
aims simply to give an overview of the sheer
diversity of non-heteronormative biology
and behaviours that exists in the natural
world,” which have been based heretofore on
traditional “male” and “female” roles (p. 6).
Indeed, the reader is left dazzled and amazed
by the multidinous methods by which species
create progeny, whether sexually or asexually.
In his acknowledgements, found facing the
Contents page, the author describes how
the book originated in 2019 when Davis
co-developed and led the Natural History
Museum’s “first-ever LGBTQ’s natural history
tours, ... [which] went on to become an award-
nominated YouTube series.”
Davis discusses how generalizing, human-
centric language has biased and undermined
observations of sexual practices in the field
and elsewhere. Normative language can be
misleading. He points out: “A good example
of this is the wholesale application of the sex
categories ‘male’ and ‘female’ onto plants. While
this is common practice among botanists, it is
also understood that in many cases the main
body of the individual plant is often technically
asexual in nature, due to something known as
‘the alternation of generations’ ” (pp. 5–6). It
is only the gametophyte, visible in mosses for
example but not higher plants, that produces
sex cells, not the sporophyte (the main plant
and its flower). In other words, we may speak
of “male” and “female” plants for example, but
the “bodies” of plants are not gendered in the
same way as animals.
Davis organizes his book around a series of
case studies featuring 29 species, attractively
presented with stunning photographic
portraits in a squarish paperback (6.75 × 7.5
inches). Five plants are listed in the Contents,
each with an explanatory tag in parentheses
indicating the topic examplified: Saharan
cypress (androgenesis), common ash (sexual
spectrum), European yew (sex change),
Chinese shell ginger (temporal sex), and
Dungowan bush tomato (changeable sex).
Every entry extends the discussion to related
species and additional information, so the
profiles become fascinating biology lessons.
Although there had been rumors of sightings
of a cypress in the desert since the 1850s,
the Saharan cypress (Cupressus dupreziana)
was not described until 1924, when it was
named after its definitive discoverer, Captain
Maurice Duprez. Native to the mountains of
southeastern Algeria, one notable specimen is
thought to be about 2200 years old and is 39
feet (12 m) around and 72 feet (22 m) tall. The
Saharan cypress practices paternal apomixis,
also known as androgenesis, in which only
male genes are passed along to the next
generation. The egg cell is discarded and both
male sex cells in the pollen grain combine to
form the embryo. Androgenesis is extremely
rare, being found only in this cypress, the fire
ant, a stick insect, and a freshwater fish (p. 40).
Crossing experiments with other cypresses
have proven that it is not possible to create a
hybrid, an indication of androgenesis. Only
233 wild cypresses are known, but specimens
are being propagated in botanic gardens.
According to standard textbook definitions of
floral expression, there are three categories:
flowers may carry only male reproductive
organs, only female reproductive organs, and
both male and female reproductive organs
(“perfect” or “cosexual” flowers). A tree, for
example, that has separate male and female
flowers on the same individual is termed
monoecious (from the Greek, one house),
while a tree that has its male and female flowers
on different individuals is termed dioecious
(from the Greek, two houses). The common
ash (Fraxinus excelsior) mixes it up quite a bit,
displaying a “sexual spectrum” that comprises
PSB 71 (1) 2025
39
seven different expressions of trioecy found on
different trees: only male flowers; mainly male
flowers but some cosexual; mostly cosexual
and some male flowers; only cosexual; mainly
cosexual and some female flowers; mainly
female flowers and a few cosexual; and only
female flowers. Researchers interpret this in
varying ways—as unstable and indicative of a
transitional situation or as stable in ways not
discernible at present.
By now the case of the dioecious Fortingall
yew may be well known to some readers.
In 2015 the Guardian ran the headline
“How Britain’s oldest tree became ‘sexually
ambiguous’ ” after Kew botanists reported
that a tree long considered male had sprouted
a female branch and produced three seeds. It
is thought to have been growing for over 5000
years. In 1796 the trunk was 52 feet (16 m)
in circumference. Eventually the main trunk
split but the yew still carries on enclosed by a
stone wall and recently a cage. Sexual fluidity
is pretty well known in dioecious plants, such
as the striped maple (Acer pensylvanicum),
but circumstances thought to effect the change
vary—environmental stress may cause male
trees to become female, but the reverse is
also true. Publicity has not been good for the
Fortingall yew because visitors have beseiged
it, climbing over the protective enclosure and
tying beads and other ornaments to its branches
(Jason Daley, www.smithsonianmagazine.
com, 20 June 2019).
Although the title might suggest the author
is mounting a defense of queer behavior,
the text reads more as a celebration of the
diversity of reproductive methods and
behavior in the natural world. Davis presents
his evidence in even-handed, engaging
prose, explaining complex information with
commendable clarity, and invites readers to
enjoy the inventiveness of other species. For
example, one of the most photogenic of the
species presented, the splitgill mushroom, has
23,328 “sexes,” and male black swans make
great parents, indicating that queer behavior
does not limit evolutionary success. A Little
Queer Natural History is not “little”; rather
it is an impressive tour of “what’s out there
right now” (p. 7) that will enlighten readers
considerably.
–Elizabeth Lawson (winpenny.lawson@gmail.
com, www.elizabethwinpennylawson.com)
Nashville Native Orchids:
Astonishing Science and
Mysterious Folklore
Soraya Gates Parr
2024. ISBN: 9780826506580
US$26.95 (paperback); 155 pp.
Vanderbilt University Press, Nash-
ville, Tennessee, USA
There are about 200 native orchids in North
America, with approximately 50 of them in
Tennessee. This book covers six species, which
are found around Nashville. Native American
orchids do not generally attract as much
attention as their tropical relatives. Therefore,
a book like this one, limited as it is in scope,
is a welcome addition to the literature. As
far as I am concerned, Nashville Native
Orchids or Nashville Native Orchids: Science
and Folklore would have been sufficient as
a title. “Astonishing” and “Mysterious” are
unnecessary adornments.
The first four sections deal with orchids
in general and set the stage for the more
detailed parts that follow. These sections are
telegraphic, but interesting, informative, and
necessary—especially for those who are just
starting to learn about orchids. Those who are
familiar with orchids can skip or skim them.
In Chapter 1 (p. 5), photosynthesis should
not be described as divine design. Carbon
PSB 71 (1) 2025
40
fixation is a remarkable chemical process,
which played a major role in the origin of
life on earth and is of major importance at
present, but there is nothing divine about it.
A book (scientific or popular) about plants,
even orchids, is not the place for preaching or
the propagation of religion unless it is clearly
labeled as a religious tract.
The parts about orchids in early America, very
short as they are, are of more interest because
not enough has been written about them.
However, I wonder if the first paragraph on
p. 17 is needed since it deals with roses and
is confusing because it describes a shawl
“filled with roses” that “were out of season.”
Yes, orchids may be a symbol of beauty at
present, but fig. 3.1 on p. 18 barely shows that.
It measures 6.5 × 11 cm and has a bleached 1.5
× 10 cm image of a Tipularia discolor image in
the center. The rest is fuzzy background, which
includes what looks like some sort of skull. A
good editor working for a first-class publisher
would have either removed the first paragraph
on p. 17 and fig 3.1 (did this book have any
kind of an editor?) or edited the writing and
improved the picture.
Spiders hide in orchid plants or weave their
webs strategically near or around them or
their flowers while stalking their prey (Yam et
al., 2002). This has been observed worldwide,
but has not been studied extensively,
especially in North America. Therefore,
Chapter 5, copiously illustrated as it is, is of
considerable interest and most welcome.
I only wish it presented more details and
examples than it does and was longer than
the six pages devoted to it. However, here too
I have complaints about the book editor and
publisher. Figure captions must stand on their
own. Therefore, in fig. 5.2, Verrucosa arenata
should have been described as a spider. Also,
was it “finding sanctuary” or was it hiding in
the hope of snagging prey? And fig. 5.3 should
have been post-produced to make it clearer
and sharper. My hope is that the author will
follow this book with a detailed and extensive
study on orchids and predatory spiders. Such a
study will be an important contribution to the
literature on orchid biology. The author, who
is clearly capable of observing, photographing,
and writing should select a better publisher
and demand a good editor, or write a paper on
predatory spiders, which hide in orchids, for a
peer-reviewed journal.
A key to the six species follows. It is described
as simple, and it is, but it seems to be very
workable. It should be of use to those who
may wish to find the species it covers. I have
not tried to use it due to lack of access to the
species it deals with. Pages 37–120 deal with
Galearis spectabilis, Goodyera pubescens,
Liparis liliiflora, the Spiranthes cernua
complex, Tipularia discolor, and Cypripedium
parviflorum var. pubescens. On the contents
page and in the text, each of these orchids
is given an additional description or name,
which adds mostly verbiage, but in one case
lists a common name. Two examples of the
former are “A Showy Spectacle Living in
Secrecy” for the Galearis and “It’s Going to
be a Goodyera.” I assume that the latter is
intended to be a play on words for “good year.”
For Cypripedium parviflorum var. pubescens,
the addition is a common name: “The Shoe of
Venus.” It is based on the generic name, derived
from the Greek Κύπρις (Kúpris), referring to
Aphrodite, and πέδιλον (pédilon), meaning
“sandal.” Every species is described in some
detail, which includes good and informative,
or at least sufficient, descriptions of stems,
roots, rhizomes, leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds,
pollination mechanism, and seed dispersal.
There are many illustrations; some are good.
Others could have been but are not due to
poor post-production and printing.
PSB 71 (1) 2025
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An interesting feature of the book is
ethnobotanical information about some of the
species. For example, G. pubescens was used for
kidney problems and pneumonia, L. liliifolia
was said to cure chest congestions, and C.
parviflorum var. presumably calmed children.
The reference on page 47 to a study by the
author that showed that seeds of G. spectabilis
are attached to bird feather and dispersed that
way is most welcome. So is a reference on the
same page regarding research in Japan, which
showed that orchid seed dispersal can occur
in the digestive tracts of birds. What I found
most interesting is another study by the author
(p. 104), which showed that Tipularia seeds
become attached to the fur of young racoons
and are thus dispersed.
Still, there are problems, which are the re-
sponsibility of the author:
• In several places (for example pp. 16,
43, and 103), fruits are described as
pods. They are capsules.
• On page 54, Robert Brown is de-
scribed as a paleobotanist. He was
a taxonomist (one of the first to de-
scribe Australian orchids), delved into
orchid pollination and ovules (and in
the process discovered cell nuclei), and
noted what is now known as Brown-
ian movement—but he was certainly
not primarily a paleobotanist.
• Pollinia are referred to as “was” on
pages 59 and 60 despite being the plu-
ral of pollinium.
• Seeds are described as circulated on
page 60. They are dispersed.
• “The long process” of seed “develop-
ment” on page 61: Is it seed formation
or germination?
• “Symbiotic” (or “mutualistic” because
the spiders sometimes eliminate graz-
ers) is the proper description of the
spider relationship to the orchid on
page 62, not “advantageous.”
• “Built . . . to take advantage” on page
63 is teleological and/or anthropo-
morphic.
• Orchid seeds do not mostly or usu-
ally “fall in proximity to the parent
plants” as stated on page 75 or “fall to
the ground in the area of the colony”
(p. 103). Some seeds may do that, but
they are usually dispersed to some dis-
tance (Arditti and Abdul Ghani, 2000;
Arditti, 2024).
Notes (actually references) for each chapter
are presented separately. The result is that
some are presented several times, even for one
and the same chapter. There is no single or
consistent format. For example, Sarah Rose’s
Spiders of North America is listed once as such
and three times as “Rose, Spiders of North
America” in the notes for Chapter 5 (p. 143),
and then again in the bibliography (p. 153).
Some notes (references) are cryptic, such as
“Wiggington, Foxfire Book, 230.” In the text,
references are given as a superscript, as for
example, “germination of orchids.
10
” Standard
citation format (in this case “Nuttall, 1923”)
should have been used. Superscript citation is
highly unusual for a book about plants and/
or in the sciences. It would have been much
better to follow a commonly used format in
plant sciences and list all references in a single
Literature Cited. This bibliography/citation/
notes/references mess could and should
have been avoided with good editing by a
competent copy editor.
PSB 71 (1) 2025
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Another problem with this book, which is also
only the publisher’s responsibility, is its small
size. Pages are only 13 × 19 cm with text and
illustrations measuring mostly 9.4 × 14.7 cm.
This small page size forces tiny illustrations,
such as 3.8 × 4.2 on page 100. A proper size
would have been 20.5 × 27.6 cm (8.5 × 11 in)
with 17.9 × 24.6 cm of content. To see what
can be accomplished with such a size for an
orchid publication, Vanderbilt University
Press should have referred to Orchids, the
magazine of the American Orchid Society.
A number of the illustrations are not
sufficiently cropped. For example, Fig. 8.10
on page 75 measures 3 × 4.9 cm, but contains
seeds that occupy only 2.2 × 2.8 cm. With
proper cropping even this small figure could
show more details of the seeds and less
empty space, which serves no useful purpose.
Another
example is Fig. 10.12 on page 103. It
measures 5 × 3.6 cm, but the seeds take only
3 × 3 cm and an unnecessary black pencil or
stylus measures 0.2 × 2.3 cm. The rest is empty
space. In addition, the seed image is very dark.
Details of the seed coat and embryo are hard
to see. On top of these problems, the printing
of several illustrations is poor. For example,
Fig. 1.1 on page 7 is not much more than a
black blob surrounded by empty space, and
Fig. 8.8 on page 73 lacks enough contrast to
show much of the two foraging flies.
This is an interesting book about six American
orchids, which is not bad. I certainly learned
from it. The author certainly put her heart
and mind into it and produced a book with
some, but tolerable, shortcomings. However,
it could have been much better and more
impressive with improved editing and design.
Unfortunately, the publisher seems to have put
in a minimal effort and did an inadequate job
of designing, editing, copy editing, and figure
preparation and printing. Because of these
publishing inadequacies, this could have been
a better book than it is.
REFERENCES
Arditti, J. 2004. Physical properties of orchid seeds. Or-
chids 93: 694-699.
Arditti, J., and A. K. Abdul Ghani. 2000. Numerical and
physical properties of orchid seeds and their biological
implications. New Phytologist 145: 367-421.
Yam, T. W., J. Arditti and N. Anghelescu. 2022. Preda-
tors in orchids. Orchids 91: 820-933.
—Joseph Arditti, Department of Developmen-
tal and Cell Biology, University of California,
Irvine
Nature’s Ghosts: The
World We Lost and How to
Bring It Back
Sophie Yeo
2024. ISBN: 978-0-00-847412-6
(hard cover)
US$29.99; 327 pp.
HarperNorth, Manchester, UK
At first glance one might
assume that “Nature’s Ghosts” of the title might
refer to species that have gone extinct, but this
is only part of the author’s intent. It also refers
to the history of the environment where those
species lived. Yeo makes the argument that
the landscapes of the past were richer than
they are today and that this should inform any
attempts at “rewilding.” She is not saying that
the goal should be to return to the conditions
of any particular previous time, but rather
that past ecosystems should be considered in
directing conservation efforts even as climate
change is ongoing.
She begins by addressing “When humans
were wild.” As a young species, humans had
no more impact than any other animal on
their ecosystem, but by 500,000 BP stone
tools were being used and fire became a tool
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by 400,000 BP. These tools allowed humans
to begin “sculpting“ their environment.
Today the impacts of indigenous peoples are
well understood, but conservationists often
still think of “natural” as the conditions of
only a few centuries ago. We now know that
by the origin of agriculture (ca. 10,000 BP)
humans were already driving the Pleistocene
megafauna to extinction and probably less
than 4% of all temperate woodlands were
undisturbed.
In the second chapter, “Small and Beautiful
Clues,” she dismantles the common British
misconception of “Wildwood.” Based on lore
and Roman conquest records, the ancestral
condition of Britain (and all of Northern
Europe) was presumed to be ancient forest
well into the Middle Ages. But palynological
evidence suggests that within a few millennia
of glaciation, large expanses of forest were
suddenly cleared and burned. To prove their
point, in 1952 a team of two archeologists
using stone tools (one an original artifact)
out-cleared an area of forest over a team of
professional woodsmen using modern axes.
Later, three people cleared 500 m
2
of forest in
one day using handmade stone tools (the trick
is in the technique: know your tools and how
to use them!).
In other chapters Yeo presents animal
examples such as extirpation of sharks in
the Solomon Islands, White-Tailed Eagles
in Wales, and Golden Beaver in California.
These examples are useful to illustrate several
themes. First, non-traditional records, such
as poetry, weapons and other human artefacts,
place names, and stories can be useful in
identifying the former presence of now extinct
species. Second, in many cases extinction
occurred so long ago that even memory of
those species’ occurrence in an area have
been lost. Third, these illustrate a “shifting
baseline theory” in that we tend to compare
current occurrence with our lifetime memory.
For instance, recovery of an “endangered
species” is applauded even though the current
population may be only a very small fraction
of the species’ prior extent.
Several chapters bear on restoration
philosophies and attempts. The usual default
is to maintain or restore to the present natural
state. This is the policy of the 1964 Wilderness
Act in the U.S. and the current UK conservation
policy. For some it has been termed “fortress
conservation,” or simply stasis. However, the
general pattern for landscapes over the past 66
million years has been change, and this will
be exacerbated by current human-induced
climate change. A second philosophy is to
assume a future natural state and “let nature
go.” Here the problem is to control for likely
human-assisted invasions and overdominance
by current “hardy” species. A third approach
is to restore to the “original natural state” by
eliminating non-natives and reintroducing
historic species. A current example is the
Scottish Carrifran Wildwood, a private
preserve Southwest of Edinburgh. While this
experiment is quite successful and diversity
is rebounding, another experiment in the
Highlands, at Glen Affric Pinewoods, was
not. From east to west, the land bordering
this loch transitions from a Scots Pine
forest to bog and heath. The pinelands were
presumed to be native and ancestral with the
wetlands the result of human deforestation.
The restoration effort drained the bogs and
attempted replanting of a gymnosperm forest
(of Sitka Spruce rather than Scots Pine!). The
plantations failed and it was later discovered
that the bogs were, in fact, ancestral and
spreading to replace the pines as the Paleocene
climate got wetter. Knowing the true history
of a landscape is important.
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Given the documentation of human impacts
over time and around the world, it remains
encouraging that although ecosystems are
easy to destroy, it is difficult to obliterate their
sign. Remnants of each leave an impact on
what succeeds and thus clues to potentially
successful restoration. Particularly important
are clues to the potential range of suitable
habitats for individual species, which tends
to be greater than we might expect (Laughlin
and McGill, 2024).
The author is a British journalist, which
explains her focus on the UK and Europe, but
the ecology and geologic history described
are universal and examples are included
from around the world. The text is easy to
read, even when the concepts are deep. Each
chapter is well documented with extensive
endnotes. This would be a great book to use
both as a common reading in a freshman
seminar or as the focus of an upper division or
graduate seminar in ecology, conservation, or
environmental science.
REFERENCE
Laughlin, D. C., and B. J. McGill. 2024. Trees
have overlapping potential niches that extend
beyond their realized niches. Science 385:
75–80.
—Marshall D. Sundberg. Kansas Univer-
sity Affiliate and Roe R. Cross Distinguished
Professor of Biology – Emeritus, Emporia State
University.
Orchid Review 2024
Annual, Volume 132,
Number 1342
James Armitage (Editor)
2024. ISBN 9781911666387
US$23.00; 128 pp.
Royal Horticultural Society,
Peterborough, UK
During its first 76 years, the Orchid Review
(OR) had four editors:
• Founder Robert Allen Rolfe (1855-
1921), volumes 1 (1893)-28
• Alfred Gurney Wilson (1878-1957),
volumes 29-40
• Charles H. Curtis (1870-1958), vol-
umes 41-66
• John Blowers (ca, 1920-; full disclo-
sure: he was a friend) volumes 66-77,
98-99.
This stability made it the world-leading orchid
journal. After 1970 it had nine editors, lasting
3 months to 10 years. The frequent changes
and uneven editorial talents were debilitating
and may be responsible for the current
problems. Rolfe’s death and world wars
reduced publication frequency and caused
publication hiatus, but Orchid Review (OR)
returned as a 12 issues/year leading orchid
magazine. Starting in the 1970s, production
costs and fluctuating subscriber numbers
generated deficits. Individuals and the Royal
Horticultural Society (RHS) covered them.
Publication frequency was reduced to six, then
four, issues/year. RHS eventually took over.
Deficits continued. In 2023 the OR became
annual. This issue is the second annual.
In becoming annual, OR may be trying to
emulate the Malayan Orchid Review (MOR),
initiated in 1931 by the Malayan Orchid
Society, Singapore and now annually by the
PSB 71 (1) 2025
45
Orchid Society of South East Asia (OSSEA).
MOR is excellently designed, illustrated, and
edited, with a variety of interesting articles.
Authors usually contribute one article per
issue. In comparison, like its annual and
quarterly issues predecessors, the current OR
can be boring, uninteresting, and repetitive in
spots. Illustrations and design could be better.
An article on growing orchids in terrariums
(pp. 6-13) is interesting and provides useful
information. Given increased use of LEDs,
information on them is welcome. Photographs
in this article could have been reproduced and
designed better. On pages 14-17, members of
the RHS Orchid Committee advise readers on
growing orchids at home. What does “home”
mean: living room, bedroom, bathroom, etc.?
Orchids (American Orchid Society) publishes
articles about home orchid growing but is
very specific about locations. On page 16,
an image of a bright blob can be anything.
Seed germination is not as easy and simple
as suggested. It is possible but requires a well-
equipped niche.
Stories of three collections occupy pages 18–
31. Two of the stories are uplifting because the
collection is being saved. The third is a plea
to save a collection. It seems like article(s)
about this same or a similar collection in
previous issues. If the other two collections
can be saved without repeated pleas, why not
this one? Is this article really necessary? (Full
disclosure: I clashed with the author over his
participation in an attempt to boycott the 17
th
World Orchid Conference in Kuala Lumpur.)
The editor should have been stricter deciding
if this article deserved publication. Further,
three photographs (pp. 29, 70, 71) of one
person in a single issue is excessive.
Trade between orchid-rich countries in the
Americas enriched UK collections while
damaging forests of source countries. An
article about 19th-century Colombian trade
(pp. 32-37) is enlightening. I am disappointed
that it did not dwell on, but only alluded
to, the destruction this trade caused. If the
author failed to mention the rapacious trade,
the editor should have insisted on it. OR of
yore served those who accumulated collected
orchids. The environmental pillaging by major
orchid firms’ collectors of the time must not
be forgotten.
When orchid growing in the UK was popular,
excellent artists produced color illustrations
for magazines like the Botanical Magazine,
Botanical Register, and Orchid Album. One
of them was Sydenham Edwards. The article
about him is interesting. It mentions “sale
of coloured plates taken from the original
publications,” but fails to criticize dealers
who tear apart old treasures, frame their
illustrations, and sell them for substantial
profit. The editor should have demanded
criticism. A lesser-well-known artist was
Ethel Harting (1870-1942). Calling attention
and analyzing her paintings in a well-written
article (pp. 40-43) deserves a place in the 2024
OR.
A most “interesting” book (pp. 44-45) is
Orchids Cultivated at Gatton Park Surrey by
Sir Jeremiah Coleman (1859-1942, mustard
fame), a well-known grower in his time:
“Apart from the title page and two colour
plates it was entirely blank.” The discussion of
this rarity is fun to read.
I wonder if several articles on a single subject
(four on history, seven on shows, three on
collections) should have been published in
one issue. Fewer articles per topic on more
topics would have been better. There are seven
(!) descriptions of orchid shows over 25 pages
(pp. 46-71): one fifth of the total 128 pages.
PSB 71 (1) 2025
46
Almost two pages are devoted to photographs
of one author. Some space devoted to
photographs in this section is wasted. Images
are too small and show only spots and lines
(pp. 49, 53, 58, 62, 66, 69). Are so many show
descriptions necessary? Were they included
to please the authors (three sets, authored
two descriptions each, a single author wrote
one) or were they published to fill space? Is
it necessary to state that young orchid plants
grow into clumps (p. 63) or that one author
will increase a collection of butterworts (p.
65)? Show descriptions should have been
limited in number and pages.
Like other orchid magazines, this OR
publishes a new hybrids list (pp. 72-81). The
list pays attention to nothogenera (hybrid
genera), possible because intergeneric crosses
are feasible in orchids. Laeliocattleya (Laelia ×
Cattleya) hybrids, have been known for years.
A cautionary note/explanation is necessary but
is lacking because some single genus crosses
(Vanda × Vanda hybrids, for instance) became
Papiliovanda nothohybrids when several
Vanda species became Papilionanhe. This
becomes more complex with nothohybrids
involving several genera.
Of two articles on wild orchids, the first about
Indonesian New Guinea (pp. 82-91) is very
interesting and a pleasure to read. The second
(pp. 92-99) about the Mediterranean is much
less interesting. It reads like a commercial for
travel in that region. The two-word titles in
parts of it are silly.
“Notes on Names” (pp. 100-105) repeats
thrice the same story about five species and
one hybrid, Dendrobium sukhakulii from
Thailand, Catasetum lendarium from Brazil,
and three platantheras from California:
synonyms, structural uncertainties, origins
questions, identity arguments, and opinions.
The Platanthera article lists two authors but is
mostly written with the “I” pronoun by only
one. References for all three are arranged
confusingly. One or two articles about
nomenclature do belong in a general orchid
magazine, especially if they are interesting,
but four is too many. An important note (p.
105) about new rules regarding the naming of
nothogenera is not listed in the Contents (p. 3).
There are 29 articles (one in seven parts for
a total of 36) by 21 authors, including the
editor. Five authors wrote two articles each,
one author contributed three, two penned
four jointly, and one produced five. Thus, nine
authors contributed 22 of the 29 (or 36) articles
(75% or 61% of the total). In comparison,
the MOR annual issue for 2023 (2024 yet to
arrive) contains 29 articles and one editorial
written by 34 authors. One author wrote two
show descriptions. Not surprising, the 2024
OR is boring, repetitious, and less interesting
than the 2023 MOR. Additionally, bylines
are annoying. Instead of listing names only,
as is common, bylines consist of sentences
purporting to describe author(s) activities
and/or reasons for writing. One awful example
is “. . . joins the revels in London and takes a
modest bow of his own.” A list of awards (pp.
106-125) and an index (pp. 126-128) complete
the issue.
As mentioned, the conversion to an annual
was made in a commendable effort to save OR.
It is not enough. OR must improve greatly to
survive. This review, harsh and demanding, is
a lament. I grew up in orchids with the OR.
My set starts with Volume 1, No 1. It will be
sad to see it disappear. I hope that OR will, as
it has done before, return to a 12 issues/year
major orchid periodical.
—Joseph Arditti, Department of Developmen-
tal and Cell Biology, University of California,
Irvine
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47
Plant Collectors in Angola.
Botany, Exploration, and
History in South-Tropical
Africa
Estrela Figueiredo and Gideon F.
Smith
2024. ISBN: 9780226832067
(cloth), 0226832066 (hardcover),
9780226832081 (paperback),
0226832082 (paperback, electronic book)
US$135.00 (Cloth, Paperback); ebook, $45; 354 pp.
Regnum Vegetabile 161. University of Chicago Press,
Chicago
Estrela Figueiredo and Gideon F. Smith, two
plant taxonomists uniquely knowledgeable
about taxonomy in Angola, present a welcome
comprehensive biographical history of its
plant exploration. Their new book appears to
be an expansion of the article by Figueiredo et
al. (2020) about the botanical exploration of
Angola by Germans during the 19
th
and 20
th
centuries. The volume provides brief accounts
of about 358 of Angola’s plant collectors
that can be viewed as encyclopedia entries,
presenting succinct highlights about the
botanists’ challenges and accomplishments.
Most records comprise just one to two
pages; the essays are not exhaustive, but offer
instead salient notes about each botanist’s
achievements, while advancing insight into
one of Africa’s least-investigated region’s
landscapes.
What appeals to me especially are the color
maps, illustrating the routes they traveled,
and portraits (some also in color) of the
collectors. These sketches bring a typed name
on a dry herbarium specimen label, such as
those that I have pored over, to life. Major
collectors whose names appear often in my
ACCESS database of 368 unique collections of
Pedaliaceae from Angola, are Óscar Azancot
de Menezes (39 entries), John Gossweiler (35),
Eduardo Mendes (27), Friedrich Welwitsch
(26), and R. Mendes dos Santos (17). Notably,
Austrian botanist Welwitsch’s collections
were the basis for describing approximately
1000 new species, among them the distinctive
Welwitschia mirabilis endemic to the Namib
Desert of Angola and Namibia; Swiss botanist
Gossweiler’s endeavors were the basis for
Carta fitogeográfica, Angola’s first vegetation
map (1939, with Mendonça).
The significance of this essential reference
work can be appreciated because today,
Angola embodies the largest major gap in
our knowledge of plant diversity in southern
Africa. Civil war and remoteness deterred
exploration. The protracted civil war that
followed independence in 1975 ended in
2002, but evidence of the conflict is still
perceptible due to land mines that remain
to be cleared. For a start, editors Huntley et
al. (2019) assembled an overarching review,
Biodiversity of Angola, that provides an
authoritative report of the aftermath, when
biological exploration of Angola went ahead.
Renowned plant collectors known for
their surveys of other regions of Africa
also appear in these pages. A stunning
color photograph of French naturalist,
humanist, scholar, and—according to these
pages—“collector extraordinaire” Théodore
Monod, taken at Oued Akerdil, Adrar de
Mauritanie, accentuates his pioneering of the
environmentalist movement in France. It is
not known how many collections he made in
Angola, but examples are available in 11 world
herbaria.
Equally as valuable as the text of this
compilation is the extensive bibliography in
Literature Cited, consisting of 34 pages! The
end note listing contributors of information or
photographs for the volume in vast, indicative
of the depth of research needed to assemble
this volume.
PSB 71 (1) 2025
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The book is dedicated to two botanists: Jose
Alberto de Oliveira Anchieta (1832-1897),
whose tribute refers to him as “[a] maverick
Portuguese naturalist who settled in Angola
and represents all of those who sacrificed
comfort and riches for the love of science,” and
Maria Fernanda Duarte Pinto Basto da Costa
Ferreira (1938- ), an “Angolan technician
who represents those working behind the
scenes, without whom many collections made
in Angola would remain unprocessed and
undetermined.” It was my privilege to spend
several months in the company of Maria
Fernanda during visits to LISC herbarium, in
2005 and 2015, and I remember her smiles,
warmth, and kindness as she watched my
enthusiasm over each little unearthing as I
worked my way through their substantial
Pedaliaceae collection, gratified that her
efforts were being put to use.
REFERENCES
Figueiredo, E., G. F. Smith, and S. Dressler. 2020. The
botanical exploration of Angola by Germans during the
19
th
and 20
th
centuries, with biographical sketches and
notes on collections and herbaria. Blumea 65: 126–161.
Huntley B. J., V. Russo, F. Lages, and N. Ferrand (Eds.).
2019. Biodiversity of Angola. Science & conservation:
A modern synthesis. Springer, Cham, Switzerland.
–Dorothea Bedigian, Research Associate,
Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, Mis-
souri, USA
Saving the World: How For-
ests Inspired Global Efforts
to Stop Climate Change
from 1770 to the Present
Brett M. Bennett and Gregory A.
Barton
2024. ISBN: 978-1-78914-874-9
£18 (hardcover); 272 pp.
Reaktion Books Ltd, London, UK.
The island of Mauritius, known for the 1690s
extinction of its most famous endemic bird,
the Dodo, is also notable for a claim made by
its French colonial intendant, Pierre Poirre, 80
years later. Poirre claimed that destruction of
native forests was responsible for a dramatic
decline in rainfall on the island. This is the
first statement directly linking deforestation
with climate change—what the authors term
“climatic botany.” Furthermore, his tree-
planting policy was the first government
attempt to mitigate human-caused climate
change. The book’s seven chapters document
the cyclical ebb and flow of acceptance of
climatic botany over the past 350 years.
Beginning during the period of the European
Enlightenment, secular and materialistic
governments were dividing up the world and
scientific practice was evolving. Buffon, the
French scientist, recognized that climate had
changed radically over time and that this was
a force in animal distribution. He believed
that human modification of European forests
resulted in the moderate climate of Europe
relative to similar latitudes in North America.
So, for instance, his acquaintance Thomas
Jefferson encouraged Americans to improve
the climate and minimize extreme weather
events through deforestation and improving
the land through agriculture. At about the
same time, Alexander von Humboldt, the
first popularizer of climatic botany, made the
counterclaim that deforestation had negative
PSB 71 (1) 2025
49
effects for all climates because it decreases
precipitation with a “cascade of negative
ecological, climatic and economic reactions”
(p. 51). Between the 1820s and 1850s, human-
induced climate change was linked to the lack
of limits on population growth.
Joseph Dalton Hooker, influenced by
Humboldt, wrote to Darwin that climate
change in India due to deforestation reduced
rainfall and monsoons. As advisor to the
East India Company, Hooker encouraged
Governor General Dalhousie to plant trees
in the Punjab and create forest reserves in
India. Dalhousie hired the German Botanist
Dietrich Brandis to create and oversee the
Indian Forestry Service, which by the end of
the 19
th
century was recognized as a model by
the rest of the world.
In the U.S., Theodore Roosevelt created the
Forest Service and set aside lands following
the Indian model, but changes in science led
to changing attitudes toward climatic botany.
The rise of meteorology and climatology,
which recognized atmospheric and oceanic
dynamics, pushed climatic botany to the
side. Tracking hot and cold fronts and jet
streams downplayed the role of local sources
in producing rainfall. Backlash from western
states and the Corps of Engineers further
diminished the old-fashioned ideas of plants
impacting nature. Humans could now control
nature!
“Desertification,” a term coined in the 1920s,
became a new focus of concern and debate.
The authors explain that the simultaneous
recognition of desertification occurring
around the world and the astronomical
discovery of “canals” on Mars led to public
perception that “earth faces the same future
as Mars because of our ‘wicked’ ways.” They
note that this idea “remains popular even in
the twenty-first century” (p. 118). Horton’s
Hydrological Cycle provided obvious clues
about how to deal with the desert—limit runoff
and build dams and reservoirs to promote
evaporation. Then, with the recognition that
nuclearization is necessary to produce rainfall,
just “seed” the clouds. Unfortunately, none of
these measures prevented the Dust Bowl.
In the mid-1960s ecologists began
experimental work in defined catchment
basins to scientifically settle the long-
standing supply side (plant trees to increase
precipitation) vs. demand side (conserve
existing water by limiting trees) debate.
Studies in the eastern U.S. demonstrated that
local evaporation contributes less than 14%
of the moisture for rainfall and 85% comes
from oceanic evaporation; little local impact
became the orthodoxy with forest influence
<5%.
In less than a decade, however, the tide turned
as studies shifted to the Amazon. While
52% of the moisture still comes from the
Atlantic, 48% is recycled within the Amazon
basin through evapotranspiration. This
change from regional to global influence of
forests on rainfall, simultaneously with the
movement toward global environmentalism,
has refocused climatic botany—precipitation
increases downwind from forests. Increase
rainfall by replanting and reforesting in the
right areas.
The authors are environmental historians
at Western Sydney University and provide
a worldwide view of the history of climate
change in a very readable and well-
documented treatment. There are extensive
endnotes and a brief index. This would be a
good book for a focused upper-division or
graduate seminar in environmental history or
environmental science. There are no figures,
PSB 71 (1) 2025
50
tables, or illustrations, which may limit its
attractiveness for undergraduates and the
general public.
Finally, a Google search of “climatic botany”
provides an AI definition limited to how
climate affects plants and their growth. The
authors’ working definition coining this term
is precisely the opposite—how plants affect
the environment and in particular how trees
increase precipitation. As they note, this is
the relationship theorized by many tropical
explorers, beginning with Christopher
Columbus (pp. 17-18).
—Marshall D. Sundberg. Kansas Univer-
sity Affiliate and Roe R. Cross Distinguished
Professor of Biology – Emeritus, Emporia State
University.
Scent: A Natural History of
Fragrance
Elise Vernon Pearlstine, author;
Lara Gastinger, illustrator
2022. ISBN: 978-0-300-24696-4
US$28.00 (Hardcover); 256 pp.
Yale University Press, New Haven,
London
The use of plants for their scent has been known
since antiquity. Pearlstine introduces readers
to the rich history of their precious perfumes
with a
thematic arrangement. Each entry
describes the plant with its Latin binomial
and expounds with enthusiastic stories about
where they’re grown and processed.
The organization of the book reflects the
botanical plant part used. Opening the book
are chapters about incense, wood, and resin.
First, Pearlstine distinguishes torchwoods (i.e.,
frankincense, myrrh, copal), from fragrant
woods, agarwood, and sandalwood. Although
I realize that the plants are resinous, it puzzled
me that hemp is included among torchwoods.
Spices receive considerable coverage in
chapters about the spices of the western
Ghats, the Spice Islands, and ample attention
to saffron, vanilla, and chocolate.
Scented gardens and aromatic herbs fill the
next sections. Generous attention is paid
to the significant role of pollinators in the
reproduction of fragrant flowers. I learned
that rosemary plants can alter the size of
their flowers, forming larger flowers at
higher altitudes so that those flowers can be
more accommodating to the larger-bodied
pollinators of the mountains, e.g., larger
bumblebees. Unsurprisingly, roses receive a
full chapter, although mysteriously, orchids
appear at the end of that chapter. Buzzing
bumblebees create vibrations that function
to trigger rose anthers to release pollen.
Theophrastus wrote that sesame oil was the
vehicle used for the extraction of rose essence.
Perfumery from mandarin to musk receives
considerable attention—from its “humble
beginnings,” namely mint and turpentine—to
elaboration about the chemical constituents
of perfume notes of each flower used in the
perfume industry, both natural and synthetic.
The unique flavor of the Greek-resinated wine
retsina is from Pinus halepensis.
The opulent combinations of fragrance and
fashion feature in the closing chapters. A
chapter titled “Impossible Flowers” describes
the difficulty of recreating certain scents,
especially lilac. Readers can follow the
tribulations and creative endeavors involved
in building a perfume composed of volatile
aromatics. Pearlstine relishes in documenting
the trials and triumphs of experimentation
necessary in the scented worlds of the fashion
industry.
As an added enrichment for readers, the first
page of 12 chapters is interleaved with black-
PSB 71 (1) 2025
51
and-white hand-drawn images.
The dust jacket tells readers that after a 17-
year career in wildlife biology, Pearlstine
found a second life as a natural perfumer,
consultant, and educator. She conducts classes
for corporate and private events, instructing
students about the biology, artistry, and
history of perfume ingredients. Scent: A
Natural History of Fragrance appears to be a
compilation of lecture notes assembled by
the author for her series of presentations.
Readers should not expect to find a systematic
reference book, but rather a highly personal,
conversational style, a combination of
storytelling with historical accuracy and
beguiling botanical details related to scented
plants, along with personal memories of the
author.
The contents emphasize the subtle connection
between scent and emotional well-being.
Fragrance has the power to influence our
moods: alertness, assertiveness, concentration,
confidence, contentment, creativity, focus,
happiness, joy, memory enhancement,
peace, performance, positivity, restfulness,
self-esteem, self-image. Perennially popular,
the appeal of scent has found new converts
among youth, according to market research
(Holtermann, 2024).
As a reader, I found some word choices
repetitive and irritating that were sprinkled
throughout the text, (e.g., in writing about
frankincense, on p. 5, “the hostile deserts
of the Arabian Peninsula”; on p. 19, “harsh
desert”; another on p. 19, “hostile stretches of
desert”). As a researcher, I have found serenity
in each of the deserts where I have spent time,
in Mali, Morocco, Namibia, Sudan, Syria, and
Yemen.
It was alarming that in the discussion of
Indonesian clove cigarettes called kretek
(p. 75), their adverse consequences are not
mentioned. “The smoking of clove cigarettes
has been associated with thirteen cases of
serious illness in the United States, including
hemorrhagic pulmonary edema, pneumonia,
bronchitis, and hemoptysis. After she
smoked a clove cigarette, a patient developed
pneumonia complicated by lung abscess.
Her lung disease may have been caused by
aspiration pneumonia as a consequence of
pharyngolaryngeal anesthesia from clove
cigarette smoke. Clove cigarettes appeal to
adolescents experimenting with smoking
practices and may influence the development
of later smoking habits” (Guidotti et al.,
1989). “Side effects of this alkylphenol on
human and animal health have been known
for decades” (Özbek and Ergönül, 2022).
This book might be a desirable choice for
public library acquisition, appealing to an
audience of gardeners and readers who enjoy
historical and contemporary sketches about
fragrant plants.
REFERENCES
Guidotti T. L., L. Laing, and U. B. S. Prakash. 1989.
Clove cigarettes-The basis for concern regarding health
effects. Western Journal of Medicine 151: 220-228.
Holtermann C. 2024. Young and Fragrant: Teens Pur-
sue Signature Scents. New York Times May 19, 2024.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/19/style/designer-
cologne-fragrance-teen-boys.html
Özbek Z. A., and P. G. Ergönül. 2022. Clove (Syzygium
aromaticum) and eugenol toxicity. In: M. F. Ramadan
(Ed.). Clove (Syzygium aromaticum) Chemistry, Func-
tionality and Applications, 267-314. Academic Press,
London.
–Dorothea Bedigian, Research Associate,
Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, Mis-
souri, USA
PSB 71 (1) 2025
52
Trees and Forests of Tropi-
cal Asia: Exploring Tapovan
Peter Ashton and David Lee
2022. ISBN: 9780226535692
$45.00 (paperback); 448 pp.
Chicago, University of Chicago
Press.
This book provides a detailed overview of the
forests of South and South-east Asia based on
the exceptional ecological experience gained
by Peter Ashton, initially in the service of
post-colonial governments in Brunei and
Sarawak and, of key importance, working with
Indigenous Iban colleagues in Borneo. This
transformative experience, that few alive today
now have, has been followed by decades of
subsequent research in the region. The book is
a slimmed down version of an earlier majestic
tome: On the Forests of Tropical Asia: Lest the
Memory Fade (Ashton, 2014), which provided
a huge amount of information but, despite
being lavishly illustrated, is an imposing
book in its size, volume of text, and price. In
this new Trees and Forests of Tropical Asia:
Exploring Tapovan, Peter Ashton is joined by
David Lee, who had experience of teaching
and researching in Peninsular Malaysia early
in his career, and also had decades of research
experience in the region, particularly from
some years in India. Sadly, David passed away
shortly after the book was published, so it will
become a fitting tribute to much of his work.
The Tapovan (“forest wisdom”) subtitle is likely
David’s, and he has clearly added additional
insights on the Indian sub-continental forests.
Tropical Asia is of particular interest to many
ecologists because: “mighty tectonic events
have created a terrestrial setting of enormous
complexity for the evolution … of plants
throughout the Asian tropics, a setting that is in
stark contrast to the relative stability of the other
two major tropical continents.” In exploring
the diversity and complexity of forests in
tropical Asia, the book starts out with chapters
setting the background on climate, geology
and soils of the region. These then lead on to
the main chapters that broadly explore: (1)
the diversity and geography of different forest
formations, (2) aspects of forest functional
ecology, (3) explanations for the high species
diversity in this region, and (4) human-forest
interactions. The chapters on the geography
of forest formations are extensive and outline
the different forest types, including quite
detailed explanations for why certain forest
types are found in a given location. Whilst
plants/trees form the backbone of the text,
this is supported by the functional ecology
chapters that link plants and animals, looking
at pollination biology and seed dispersal, for
example, and plants and fungi when looking
at the importance of mycorrhizal associations.
These are then followed by chapters on
historical biogeographical reasons for the
contemporary patterns of species diversity,
which are complemented by those that look at
the maintenance of species diversity. Drawing
on their broad experience, Ashton and Lee
clearly advocate for the role of niches, and
particularly edaphic niches, in contributing to
the maintenance of Asian tropical tree species
diversity. The importance of permanent
sampling plots in supporting this work is
also clearly outlined. The final set of chapters
examine various aspects of the interactions
between people and the forests of the region.
I found the explanation and history of the
Malayan Uniform System, a sustainable form
of forest management, to be particularly
interesting. Shortly after the system was
formally established, economically valuable
commodity crops became a land-use priority
in the region paving their way to become the
dominant force in the clear patterns we see
today of removal of forest for plantation crops.
PSB 71 (1) 2025
53
There is certainly something of interest for
everyone in the material presented here. Whilst
the book is aimed at graduate students, as noted
on the cover, a quite-detailed geographical
knowledge of the region is assumed, and one
would also need a quite high-level geological
background to fully appreciate the geological
aspects of the text. Given that much of
Ashton’s work has been on the relationships
between soils and tree species composition,
it is surprising that his description of soils is
often unclear, using terms such as ‘raw humus’
and ‘red-yellow podzols’ that are difficult
to put into a formal, or taxonomic, context.
Since Ashton has considerable experience in
plant taxonomy, having produced accounts
of the Dipterocarpaceae (they key family in
the region) for Flora projects, notably Flora
Malesiana (Ashton, 1982) and the Tree Flora
of Sabah and Sarawak (Ashton, 2004), it is
somewhat surprising that he does not use
more formal terms for the soils described in
the book. This might not be a point of key
importance for readers of the Plant Science
Bulletin, but Schimel and Chadwick (2013)
make a clear case for describing soils correctly
to allow meaningful comparisons between
studies. A final note for improvement is that
a number of the illustrations often have poor
resolution and, when combined with small
font size, makes it difficult to read some of
them. This is likely a consequence of cheaper
production making the price of the book more
suitably accessible to a broad range of students
and researchers, particularly within Asia.
In conclusion, this book provides an accessible
overview to the forests of South and Southeast
Asia by two ecologists with unrivalled
experience in the region. It provides a lot of
useful information across a range of relevant
topics but does assume a certain amount of
geographical knowledge of this part of the
world. Although production is cheap (e.g.,
poor-quality figures in places), this will make
it accessible to a broad range of researchers,
which is to be commended.
REFERENCES
Ashton, P. S. 1982. Dipterocarpaceae. Flora Malesiana,
Series I, 9: 237-552.
Ashton, P. S. 2004. Dipterocarpaceae. In: Soepadmo, E.,
Saw, L. G. and Chung, R. C. K. (Eds.) Tree Flora of Sa-
bah and Sarawak, Volume 5. pp. 63-288. Sabah Forestry
Department, Forest Research Institute Malaysia & Sar-
awak Forestry Department, Malaysia.
Ashton, P. S. 2014. On the Forests of Tropical Asia: Lest
the Memory Fade. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK.
Schimel, J. and O. Chadwick. 2013. What’s in a name?
The importance of soil taxonomy for ecology and bio-
geochemistry. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment
11: 405-406.
–
Francis Q. Brearley, Department of Natural
Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University,
UK. Email: f.q.brearley@mmu.ac.uk
Wild Forest Home: Stories of
Conservation in the Pacific
Northwest
Betsy L. Howell
2024. ISBN-10: 164769194X;
ISBN-13: 978-1647691943
US$24.95 (paperback); 312 pages
University of Utah Press
This book consists of 25 essays
by the author on her experiences studying the
ecology of old-growth forests of the Pacific
Northwest. She grew up among these unique
forests and first started working for the U.S.
Forest Service in 1986—and continues to
work for the Forest Service today. These
essays capture her scientific, naturalist, and
personal struggles. The author describes her
spiritual connection to the old-growth forests
in Oregon and Washington, and how living
PSB 71 (1) 2025
54
and working in this region has uplifted her
personal life.
In the first section, the author introduces
the different forest regions in Oregon and
Washington. On a personal note, she mentions
how her father’s alcoholism shaped her early
life. There also is an interesting discussion
on how better to persuade the public toward
conservation (or toward anything!): scientific
data or stories. The latter always wins, and she
tries to incorporate both in her essays.
Part I in the chronological order in her book
takes place in Oregon—primarily in Mt.
Hood and Siskiyou National Forests. She
recounts her involvement with conservation
controversies with a number of species,
including the infamous stories surrounding
the spotted owl ecology. As she prepared to
leave Oregon for Washington, she had to deal
with many personal struggles including her
own potential problem with alcoholism and
mental illness as well as identifying her sexual
orientation. She navigated these choppy
waters successfully and started developing her
writing skills.
Part II consists of her time in Washington
where she first worked as a field biologist at
Olympic National Forest. In this role the author
was involved in management techniques for
the old-growth forest as well as preservation
of several native species of animals such as the
ensatina salamander. She also fondly discusses
her personal and professional relationships
with many others that have worked for the
U.S. Forest Service. Part III contains essays
that reflect on some of the earlier issues she
encountered in her 30 years at the U.S. Forest
Service as well as some contemporary issues
such as fire management in the forest.
Anyone who has traveled in the old-growth
forest among giant trees does get a sense of
the spiritual connection of this region, and
this region clearly has had an effect on me.
I particularly love the temperate Hoh Rain
Forest (Biosphere Reserve designation by
UNESCO) found in Olympic National Park.
Thus, I appreciated reading the wonderful
essays in this book on both the personal and
professional aspects of her life. I recommend it
to biologists, ecologists, naturalists, and those
interested in the Pacific Northwest.
–
John Z. Kiss, Florida Institute of Technology;
jzk@fit.edu
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