The Vasculum
The Society of Herbarium Curators Newsletter Volume 14, Number 2: August 2019
Table of Contents
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Message from the President............................................................. From the Editor................................................................................. News from the Society...................................................................... On Being a Librarian........................................................................ Early Career Advice.......................................................................... Featured Herbarium (PRE)............................................................. Current Projects at PHH................................................................. Society of Herbarium Curators Worldwide.................................. Botany 2019...................................................................................... SHC Post-Botany Workshop.......................................................... Society Officers and Editorial Committee....................................
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The Society of Herbarium Curators (SHC) unites the world’s herbarium professionals in discussion, training, action, and support for the benefit of herbaria, science, and society. SHC envisions a network of innovative, welltrained herbarium professionals, empowered to recognize and address local and global stakeholder needs with organizationally sustainable strategies that advance the well-being of herbaria, science, and society. For more information, please join us online: — www.herbariumcurators.org — We invite you to become an SHC member by visiting: www.herbariumcurators.org/membership Annual Dues Student Regular Sustaining Life
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Message from the President The Society has been very busy over the past few months. This is in no small part due to the outstanding efforts of the Executive Board, committees, and members of standing who all contributed in myriad ways. Below I call attention to a few of the major happenings and accomplishments that have occurred during the past six months or more. During April we held our annual election, electing three new officers to our Executive Board. I would like to welcome our new President-Elect Erin Tripp (University of Colorado Museum of Natural History Herbarium), Secretary Diana Jolles (Plymouth State University Herbarium), and Member-at-Large Jessica Budke (University of Tennessee Herbarium). Congratulations to the new members of the Executive Board! Thanks to all members who voted in this year’s election. Forty-nine percent of eligible voters participated in this year’s election. I also thank the Nominating Committee for developing a great suite of candidates and the committee chair Austin Mast for running the election. The new Board members began their terms at the end of the SHC Member Meeting at the Botany 2019 conference in Tucson. As of June 13, the Society had 433 members in good standing, a whopping 170 percent increase over last year. This increase was due largely, but not entirely, to the launch of our new Developing Country Membership category, which was initiated and launched under the guiding hand of the Membership Committee. I thank Erica Krimmel and the rest of the Membership Committee for their efforts in expanding our membership. We again offered the very popular Strategic Planning for Herbaria course during April and May. There were forty-two applicants from eighteen countries for fifteen slots. Based on feedback from a post-course survey, the course was given very favorable ratings. Thanks to Austin Mast and David Jennings (iDigBio and GBIF) for co-teaching this course. We also offered again a post-Botany conference symposium. This year’s symposium was organized by Austin and me and was entitled Early-Career Innovators in Herbarium-Enabled Research and Future-Proofing for the Next Waves of Inventiveness. We had a line-up of five early-career researchers who all spoke to the importance of herbarium specimens to their research and how herbarium collections can position themselves and the specimens and data that they curate to produce maximum relevance in the future. Many thanks to iDigBio for co-sponsoring this event. Our student award competition was very popular this year. We received thirty proposals, including twenty-four from PhD or MS students and six from undergraduates. The three award winners were Andrea Appleton (undergraduate, Georgia Southern University), Carolyn Mills (MS student, Claremont Graduate University and Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden), and Johanna Jantzen (PhD student, University of Florida). Many thanks to the Student Award Committee for running this year’s competition and to the twenty-four SHC members who made time to provide reviews on the submissions.
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Two issues of the Vasculum were published this year, with several advancements. These include a new layout, modeled after magazine layouts; increased contributions promoting the use of herbaria in teaching, research and outreach; and new kinds of content such as interviews and student research summaries. I thank John Schenk and the rest of the Editorial Board for all the work they have done. There are several other initiatives and activities that warrant a brief mention. A team with members from the Early Career Section (Katelin Pearson), Membership Committee (Erica Krimmel, Rick Williams), and Herbarium Assistance Committee (Melissa Islam) have continued their work in advancing the development of the Curator’s Toolbox. The Early Career Section, with the help of our Webmaster Michael Thomas, spearheaded a re-drafting of SHC FAQ webpage. An ad-hoc Investment Committee has made significant progress on establishing an endowment, and by this time next year, I believe the endowment will be set-up. To help identify some possible immediate and longer-term actions that SHC can take to mitigate the risks associated with a new EU privacy law (GDPR), I convened an ad-hoc committee comprised of myself, Secretary Mary Ann Feist, and Member-at-Large Rich Rabeler to develop a set of responses/actions that were recommended and approved by the Executive Board. Finally, for the second year in a row, the Executive Board approved next fiscal year’s budget in advance. I thank the Treasurer Mare Nazaire for preparing the 2020 budget. I would like to conclude by expressing what a pleasure it has been to serve my first term as President of the Society and to work with the Executive Board, committees, and members of standing. The success of the Society and our ability to sustain our various activities relies on our membership. We have a few committee vacancies, and if you would like to be considered for a committee role, contact me. Thanks for your past and future support. Please don’t hesitate to contact me to offer your ideas on how to make the Society more successful.
Patrick Sweeney Yale University Herbarium, Senior Curator patrick.sweeney@yale.edu
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From the Editor In this issue, we offer our first of hopefully many interviews with experienced curators that focus on providing insight and advice to early career curators and collection managers. It is our intention that such interviews will enhance what the SHC offers our newly created Early Career Section and provide them with the type of advice that will put them on the path to a successful career. We begin this series with Dr. Lucinda McDade from Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden. Lucinda has curated three important collections (ARIZ, PH, and RSA/POM) and has been a leader not only to our Society, but also more broadly in systematics. The second new addition that we rolled out in this issue focuses on our new membership category of Developing Countries. Although the Society of Herbarium Curators was founded in the United States, we really serve the worldwide community of herbarium curators. We are excited to have the opportunity to talk with Khtar H. Malik, the Curator of KASH Herbarium at the Centre for Biodiversity and Taxonomy in the Department of Botany, University of Kashmir Jammu & Kashmir Srinagar. If you would like to be interviewed for a future column, please send an e-mail to: membership@herbariumcurators.org. This issue’s feature herbarium is The South African National Biodiversity Institute’s National Herbarium (PRE). The PRE collection, which houses over 1.5 million specimens collected from one of the most biologically diverse areas on Earth, has a rich and interesting history that we know you will enjoy. I have really enjoyed learning out the amazing collection at PRE and hope to one day have the opportunity to visit their collection. Two years ago, then SHC president Austin Mast asked if I would be interested in taking over The Vasculum from Conley McMullen, who had been the Editor since the Society first formed, publishing the first issue in January, 2006. The Associate Editors, Melanie Link-Perez and Abby Moore, and I have since worked to add to the terrific content that Conley had developed by redesigning the look of The Vasculum and incorporating a wider array of content. Although I have truly enjoyed working as the Editor of The Vasculum, recent professional changes have led me to decide to step down from the Editor role. First, I resigned from Georgia Southern University for a new position at Ohio University. With that change, I have also stepped away from a curator position. Leaving a collection that I dedicated so much time and effort to was difficult. I do find solace in the collection being in much better shape after I curated it than what it was in before I arrived. Thanks to funding from the National Science Foundation, I was able to double the collection, digitize the new collections, and curate it with best practices. At the end of the day, all curators really want three fundamental things to happen: (1) for the collection to remain preserved for future generations, (2) to see the collection grow and become a better resource, and (3) to have the collection become more widely used by the scientific community. Associate Editor Melanie Link-Perez, who herself has just transitioned into a new position at Eastern Kentucky The Vasculum, Volume 14, Number 2
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University, will be stepping into the Editor position in the January issue. Melanie’s talent and creativity will go a long way as the Editor and I look forward to seeing how much more amazing she will make The Vasculum in future issues. I will stay on as an Associate Editor as we transition in the January issue, but we will be looking for a new Associate Editor when putting together the following issue. Please let SHC President Patrick Sweeney (patrick. sweeney@yale.edu) know if you are interested in serving as an Associate Editor.
John J. Schenk, Editor Ohio University
Ne w s f rom t h e S o c i e t y
Congratulations to this year’s Society of Herbarium Curators Student Research Grant Recipents: Andrea Appleton, Georgia Southern University “Species Documentation, Floral Evolution, and Evolutionary Relationships of Paronychia Mill. (Caryophyllaceae)” Research Advisor: John Schenk Carolyn Mills (M.S.), Claremont Graduate University and Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden “A Vascular Flora of the Nopah Range, Inyo County, California” Research Advisor: Naomi Fraga Johanna Jantzen (Ph.D.), University of Florida “Diversification and niche evolution in Neotropical Tibouchina s.s. (Melastomataceae)” Research Advisor: Pamela Soltis
On Being a “Herbarian”
There is a certain calm that comes over you when you drop down into the basement of the Biological Science building at Rutgers University. Curating herbarium specimens has been a passion for many botanists for hundreds of years. At the University of Oxford, in special collections, the best kept book of herbaria from four hundred years ago lies in quiet reflection. In the 1600s, a monk took it upon himself to collect and describe in elegant words hundreds of species of significant plants. Though we’re not nearly as illustrious as Gregorio a Reggio was, the volunteers and interns at the Chrysler Herbarium (CHRB) carry out the same task: to preserve and protect the plants of our generation and generations past in a time capsule. But this time capsule is not put away from prying eyes, buried from the light of day. The herbarium “time capsule” is there to share its wealth with whomever cares to come and learn from it.
Upon joining the “Herbarium Army”1, one is faced with what appears to be an overwhelming number of tasks to be done. However, with everyone having their own specialty, it all turns into a cohesive work environment. The mounting and repair room is for those who are zen-like at heart. It takes patience and meticulous planning to work a specimen onto its permanent mounting paper. There is a stroke of artistry in finding the right angle for an especially long frond, or figuring out how to secure a thick, awkwardly shaped branch. The greatest joy for me was taking on the grasses, which seemed to be bypassed by others for greener pastures (heh, heh). It’s a race Dorthy Lee accessioning specimens. to the finish when you attempt to get all the blades painted with glue and flipped onto the paper before the first glue-strokes dry. If you’re too late, some parts may not adhere properly. When in a more exploratory mood, there are many tasks that take you among the cabinets. When name-checking and barcoding, my favorite plant species seemingly changed by the week. Datura inoxia captured my attention through its long trumpet-like corollas. William H. White managed to make an incredible press of one from New Mexico that had the pistil and stamens perfectly preserved at the top of the flower. Others species weren’t necessarily visually stimulating but had history attached to them, like a specimen of Desmodium paniculatum that was collected in 1887. Its common name, panicledleaf ticktrefoil, just brings joy to me (try saying it ten times fast!). Still others had stories or people’s histories that they preserved with them. I found several specimens collected by Thomas Meehan, who was a botanist residing in Philadelphia during the late 1800s. Meehan was a nursery expert who held a position at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, in the United Kingdom before traveling to the United States and establishing a nursery in Pennsylvania. My current favorite specimen is Gomphrena caespitosa.
The Mid-Atlantic Megalopolis (MAM) Project has brought our herbarium to a new level. It means the digitization of important specimens and a record of all the incredible work by collectors both in- and out-of-state. I think it is an honor to be able to work on this project with the team. It’s interesting to see the progression of plant families into the database, as we are privy to all steps: barcoding, imaging, and transcribing. Though the biggest family, Asteraceae, was completed before I arrived in September, there is still much to be done. The most difficult part of the process is managing the transition to the APG organization system and barcoding. There are genera and species that have changed families or have been merged, but we haven’t transferred them into new cabinets yet. All of the raw data (via photographs) that is being fed into the MAM system only serves as a reminder that we still have a lot of exploring to do in the natural world. There are specimens sitting untouched, unmounted, and waiting to be identified. And beyond that, there are specimens that grow in our proverbial backyard that are also waiting for us. Certainly, the herbarium shows you what has been done in generations past, but it is also a stark reminder of what is still on the horizon. Kenda Svoboda Undergraduate Digitization Technician Rutgers University Sources for clarification on facts: Frowde, H. 1897. An Account of the Herbarium of the University of Oxford. The Clarendon Press. Digitized by google: https://archive.org/stream/anaccountherbar00vinegoog/anaccountherbar00vinegoog_djvu.txt Kirk, S. and Belt, S. 2009. Plant fact sheet for Panicledleaf Ticktrefoil (Desmodium aniculatum), USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, Norman A. Berg National Plant Materials Center, Beltsville, 20705. Skan, S.A. 1901. Thomas Meehan. Nature, 65: 132 Footnote: 1The Herbarium Army is a nickname given to the numerous herbarium workers at the Chrysler Herbarium.
Above Figure: Jordan Plaut databasing specimens. Left Figure: Gretaly Dontato (left) and Devika Jaikumar (right). The Vasculum, Volume 14, Number 2 Page 7
E arly Career Advice Lucinda McDade is the Director of the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Gardens in Claremont, California, U.S.A. Throughout her career, Lucinda has made many important contributions to science and has trained the next generation of curators and botanists. Her curatorial positions have included three important collections, starting with her first curatoral position at the University of Arizona (ARIZ). After leaving the University of Arizona, Lucinda was an Associate Curator and Chair of Botany at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia (PH/ANSP). Lucinda is currently at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden Herbarium (RSA), which houses 1.2 million specimens and include many historically important collections, such as those made by R. Barneby, H. Gentry, V. Grant, M.E. Jones, P.A. Munz, E. Palmer, C. Pringle, and P. Raven. Given Lucinda’s impressive experience in both curation and training early-career curators, we asked her what she thought about the current state of herbarium curation and asked her to offer advice to those of us who are in the early stages of our careers1. The Vasculum: What challenges do you see early career curators and collections managers facing today or in the near future that were uncommon in your own early career, and how do you think these challenges can be met successfully? Lucinda: There is so much going on in the collections community now! New curators and collection managers confront the pressure –and excitement– of figuring out how to position their collection within the world of digitization projects (many of them externally funded), figuring out who is who and which networks exist and how to steer toward funding for one’s collection to be part of it all. Depending upon the status or size of the collection, one may need to become an expert in the nexus of collections and bioinformatics. Happily, the herbarium listserv (https://www.nacse.org/mailman/listinfo/herbaria) is a terrific tool for reaching out to others and to get fully connected to the group. And, of course, there is the Society of Herbarium Curators that helps a great deal in building community. Curators and collection managers need to do the above on top of the standard things that one does in a new collection – learn about it and its strengths, weaknesses, needs…. – plus the political lay of the land at the institution – who are your allies, who needs education. The Vasculum: What made you first interested in herbaria? Lucinda: My interest in plants, plant diversity and systematics. As an undergraduate at Tulane University, my first plant-related job involved working in the herbarium mounting plants. And of course I used the herbarium extensively as a graduate student in systematics (Acanthaceae!) at Duke University and on and on in my career. The Vasculum: What are the important ways herbarium staff can promote and advocate for their collections? Lucinda: If you are at a college or university, GET STUDENTS IN THERE – in classes, for class projects, as student workers – get them in there. Associate your herbarium with whatever regional networks may be operational in your area and involve yourself in the human network that is involved. Work with whomever is the leader of the network to seek funding that will enable your herbarium to participate in the work of the network that is under way. Identify a small set of super cool specimens to serve as your ‘dog & pony’ show (suggestions: oldest specimen, specimen of an extinct or extirpated plant, old specimen of an invasive plant [when did it first arrive in your area?], a type specimen, specimen collected by some famous person). Store these together in a convenient cabinet so that they are ready for instantaneous tours/show and tell.
Invite department chairs, deans and the like to tour the herbarium – use the dog & pony show – try to have them come at a time when the herbarium is being actively used. Start right away (if not already underway) to keep track of publications that have cited specimens from your herbarium, and make sure that other aspects of record keeping are in place (loans, requests for images, etc.). Check and update your herbarium’s entry in Index Herbariorum. The Vasculum: What is the best thing about working in a herbarium? Lucinda: The understanding that one is part of a worldwide community of vital resources for research and education that extends back in time for a couple of centuries and that we expect to continue long into the future. Supporting the education of students – including those who will go on to continue our work. Providing intriguing, career building jobs for one’s junior peers. The Vasculum: What was your first herbarium-related job? Lucinda: Somewhat coincidentally, at Tulane University in New Orleans, I mounted plants that Joe Ewan had collected many years earlier in the San Gabriel Mountains in southern California. . . I now live and work in the foothills of those same San Gabriel Mountains! The Vasculum: What was the best herbarium/career advice that you received? Lucinda refiling specimens at ARIZ. Lucinda: I did not get a lot of advice – or real training for that matter – in advance of finding myself curator at ARIZ. I knew that I wanted to be a different kind of curator than the person I replaced and some other curators I had known. I began by giving out more keys to the herbarium in my first six months than my predecessor had given out over the course of his entire career. I wanted the lights to be on 24/7 with people in there working away. I think it is pretty clear that my strategy worked: ARIZ is now well-housed in a historic building that was renovated specifically for the herbarium. The Vasculum: What is the future of herbarium science? Lucinda: I think that the future is very bright. Herbarium specimens have always been vital to our science, but retrieving the vital information that they represent was just plain hard and time-consuming in the pre-internet, pre-digitization age. As more and more specimens are digitized, the value of collections in asking and answering all sorts of questions is every day more apparent. Add georeferenced environmental data . . . we are creating a re-
search resource that is extremely powerful and is being and will be used by a diversity of scientists. The Vasculum: What is the craziest/most unique/most interesting story you have about working in an herbarium? Lucinda: Hmmmm….. a fish hook and a not-trivial length of monofilament line all wound around the stem of a riparian plant collected by Delzie Demaree? (Tulane University – I left it in place as I mounted the plant). Original illustrations – art work (drawings / water colors) – of southern California plants done by Clara Mason Fox and filed as herbarium specimens complete with number stamp? (RSA – we are still getting them out and into archives – just a few more in here somewhere which we know because they are numbered!) Poison Control calls and visits at ARIZ! (cattle rumens are nasty and alligator stomachs are not much better) NO! it has to be the time that a herbarium user was arrested in the herbarium (ARIZ) – I am not kidding and you will have to ask for the story next time I see you (hint: best told with beer/wine). The Vasculum: Do you have any closing advice for early career members? Lucinda: CELEBRATE your collection. SHARE your collection. A used collection that everyone knows about is a safe, secure and well-protected collection. 1Early Career Advice will be a regular feature in upcoming issues. If you have questions you would like to ask, there is someone you would like to see interviewed, please let us know!
Lucinda estimating how much space will be needed to replace the old wooden cabinets at PH.
History
The National Herbarium (PRE), one of the three herbaria of the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), is located in Pretoria, South Africa. It was established in 1903 by Dr. Joseph Burtt Davy (Fig. 1) as the Colonial Herbarium in the Volkstem Building (Fig. 2) in Pretoria, a small building by modern herbarium standards. At the time, the collection consisted mainly of plants of economic importance. Over the following 10 years, 14,000 specimens were added to the collection (Fourie, 1998) and due to this impressive expansion, the collection was moved to the Vredehuis (western grounds of the Union Buildings, seat of South Africa’s national government) in 1913 (Fig. 3). In 1918, it was declared as the National Herbarium. In July 1973, it moved to a newly erected building at its current location in the Pretoria National Botanical Gardens (Fig. 4). Today, it boasts an exceptionally rich collection of plant specimens mainly from Sub-Saharan Africa, with more than 80% from southern Africa. It is the largest herbarium in Africa and the fourth largest in the southern hemisphere (Smith and Willis, 1999). Over the past 115 years, the National Herbarium has operated within three organizations. The original forerunner of the current organization was founded early in the twentieth century Fig. 1. Dr Joseph Burtt Davy, founder of the Nato conserve and study the exceptionally rich southern African tional Herbarium. flora and its scientists were world-renowned for their expertise in plants. It was originally established as part of the Botanical Research Institute. In 1989, the Botanical Research Institute amalgamated with the National Botanic Gardens to form the National Botanical Institute (NBI). In 2004, the NBI was transformed into SANBI with the signing of the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act 10 of 2004. With the establishment of SANBI, the organization’s mandate expanded beyond plants, to incorporate all biodiversity of South Africa. The herbarium is supported by the world-class Mary Gunn Library (Fig. 5), which dates back to 1916 when Miss Mary Gunn was given the enormous task of building up the National Herbarium Library. She was to devote the next 60 years of her life to botanical literature and in 1970, the library was renamed the Mary Gunn Library in her honor. The library is one of the most important botanical and biodiversity resources in Africa. Subjects covered include taxonomy, biodiversity, climate change, global warming, morphology, plant anatomy, plant geography, ethnobotany, conservation ecology, history of botany, paleobotany, and plant exploration. It also houses a magnificent Africana and Rare Antiquarian Book Collection, including P.-J. Redouté Les Liliacées 1807–1816, P.J. Bergius Descriptiones plantarum ex Capite Bonae Spei 1767, and the unique 52 xylotheque book set by C.H. Wehdemann 1824–1828. The Library currently holds more than 25,000 books, 4,500 pamphlets, and 1,009 journal titles. The Vasculum, Volume 14, Number 2
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Fig. 2. Volkstem building, to house the National Herbarium.
Collections
Since its establishment, the National Herbarium has accumulated approximately 1.5 million plant specimen collections over more than 200 years with its oldest collections dating back to the early 1800s. The oldest specimen in the collection is of Erica mammosa (Ericaceae; Fig. 6), collected by W.J. Burchell on the Cape Flats near Salt River in January 1811. Other historically significant specimens in the collections include Dichrostachys cinerea subsp. africana var. africana (Fabaceae) collected by J. Burke and C.L.P. Zeyher on their first trip to the Magaliesberg in 1841, and Ochna pulchra (Ochnaceae) collected by General J.C. Smuts (Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa during the early 1900s) near Pienaars River, west of Warmbaths, in October 1932. Notable prolific collectors include R.H. Compton, J.P.H. Acocks, E.E. Galpin, R.W.R. Marloth, A.O.D. Mogg, and F.R.R. Schlechter, to name a few (Glen and Germishuizen, 2010). The National Herbarium’s vascular plant collection comprises lycophytes and pteridophytes (ferns), gymnosperms, and angiosperms (Fig. 7). Most of these collections are housed in four large wings, each named in commemoration of a previous director, Dr. E.P. Phillips (1939–1944), Dr. R.A. Dyer (1944–1963), Dr. L.E.W. Codd (1963–1973), and Dr. B. de Winter (1973–1989). The herbarium has recently opened a fifth wing to house its gymnosperm and fern collections (Mothogoane et al., 2015). The majority of these collections are currently arranged at family level according to the Englerian classification system. Some collections are in the process of being rearranged to follow the modern Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification system. The herbarium also houses an extensive collection of lichens and cryptogams. The Cryptogamic collection (Liverworts, Hornworts and Mosses) is the largest collection of cryptogams in Africa with approximately 75,000 specimens. The collection was founded on the T.R. Sim Private Collection, and later incorporated the bryophyte collections of the Transvaal Museum Herbarium, Rhodes University Herbarium, Stellenbosch Herbarium, and Compton Herbarium (comprising specimens previously donated to the Compton Herbarium from the South African Museum’s bryophyte collection; Mothogoane et al., 2015). The most recent addition to the herbarium is a Xylarium collection consisting of approximately 5,000 wooden blocks and 1,200 anatomical slides, donated to the National Herbarium in 2018. The wood sample collection was established at the then South African Forestry Research Institute in the 1920s as a reference collection to be used in the identification of wood. By 1989, this collection had expanded to over 5,000 specimens and offers an important identification and information service to a range of stakeholders such as the South African Customs. The Vasculum, Volume 14, Number 2
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Staff
The National Herbarium currently employs 35 permanent staff members comprising 12 research and 23 technical and support staff. The staff profile has changed considerably in the past two decades, with the herbarium having witnessed the retirement of 12 senior staff members, many of whom had been with the herbarium for well over 30 years. These retirements pose the threat of loss of valuable experience and expertise in plant taxonomy. Fortunately, a number of retired staff serve as volunteers or Honorary SANBI Fellows at the herbarium, where they are continuing their research and are Fig. 3. The collection was moved to actively involved in the mentoring of new researchers. This ensures that their Vredehuis in 1913. knowledge and skills are transferred to the new generation of taxonomists working at the National Herbarium.
Fig. 4. National Herbarium building at the Pretoria National Botanical Garden.
Research
Research undertaken by taxonomists at SANBI is determined by priorities included in the research strategy (Victor et al., 2015a). The main priorities consist of developing and maintaining the South African National Plant Checklist, developing an e-Flora of South Africa, and conducting taxonomic revisions of priority plant genera. Some interesting plant groups on which research has been conducted in recent years include the Aizoaceae, Amaryllidaceae, Apiaceae, Apocynaceae, Asphodelaceae, Asteraceae, Fabaceae, Hyacinthaceae, Hypoxidaceae, Iridaceae, Poaceae, Solanaceae, pteridophytes, and bryophytes. Scientists have also been working collaboratively with external taxonomists to produce a series of regional Floras for the country with the aim of providing geographical coverage of the whole country. To this end, Floras for the northern provinces, Western Cape, Eastern Cape, and Free State have been completed, and those for the remainder of the country (including KwaZulu-Natal) are currently being undertaken. Examples of important products published by SANBI plant taxonomists are checklists of South African plants (e.g., Germishuizen et al., 2006); identification guides (e.g., Seedplants of southern Africa: families and genera; Leistner, 2000); Guide to the plant families of southern Africa (Koekemoer et al., 2013), Identification Guide to Fig. 5. Inside the Mary Gunn Li- southern African Grasses (Fish et al., 2015); and herbarium technique guides brary. (e.g., Herbarium Essentials; Victor et al., 2004). A great strength of the National Herbarium’s position within SANBI, and with respect to SANBI’s mandate to coordinate taxonomy in South Africa, is to facilitate collaboration between countries to develop taxonomic outputs. Notable projects that have involved regional or international collaboration with fellow botanists from other lead-
ing institutions include the South African Botanical Diversity Network, the African Plant Checklist and Database Project, the African Plants Initiative, and the Aloes of the World Project, and currently the e-Flora of South Africa Project, which forms part of the World Flora Online (Victor et al., 2014). The National Herbarium provides services to a wide audience ranging from students, scientists and researchers from other institutions, to the general public. The following are some of the services provided: • The herbarium provides a plant identification service to a variety of clients. Good quality specimens are incorporated into the collections. • Collaboration in terms of loans, gifts, and/or exchanges is maintained with several countries and institutions. As part of ongoing support to scientists, the herbarium collaborates with research institutions globally to loan or request herbarium material. High resolution scans are provided where such images are sufficient for the purposes of the study and where the physical specimen is not required. • Herbarium staff play an important role in exposing professionals, and the community at large, to biodiversity, taxonomic, and related activities. This includes lectures, presentations, tours, and outreach activities such as educaFig. 6. Specimen of Erica mammo- tional programmes and science displays. sa, the oldest specimen in the col- • Training in herbarium techniques is provided to interns, volunteers, and lection. students (Fig. 8). These services are important capacity building opportunities for skills development and cater for future staff needs. • Hundreds of visitors from other institutions, both local and abroad, are received annually. Furthermore, staff members assist the public by providing information to thousands of telephonic or e-mail botanical enquiries annually. • The ultimate service contribution is the inherent value that the collection and associated information hold. It provides for a myriad of outputs that informs wider biodiversity aims–a powerful dataset, based on accurate plant identifications, informing activities such as species and ecosystem conservation assessments, land-use planning, environmental policy, and integrated biodiversity research. Fig. 7. Inside the National Herbarium’s vascular plant collection.
Recent Developments
There has been a consistent increase in the number of specimens represented in the National Herbarium. A recent review of the plant specimen collecting profile (Victor et al., 2015b) showed gaps in the representation of South African flora. Certain areas of the country are poorly represented geographically, and certain species of the country’s flora are under-represented. Current collecting efforts are focused on prioritizing under-collected areas with high diversity, or species represented by five or fewer specimens. With expansion comes the demand for storage facilities to accommodate additional specimens. Modern storage solutions, as well as environmentally friendly and safe pest control methods, are continuously being investigated. Fig.8. Training activities in the National Herbarium. In 2011, a new, modern fire detection and suppression system was installed in all collection areas. More recently, in 2018, floor surfaces and ceilings of the four main collection areas were upgraded with modern materials. In the next three years, further infrastructure improvements will include a new, state-of-the-art climate control system in the angiosperm collection areas. Increasing emphasis has been placed on making herbarium specimen information available to as wide an audience as possible. This is done through working towards capturing label information and images of all specimens on a BRAHMS plant database (named the Botanical Database for South Africa —BODATSA). This forms the basis for developing products such as checklists and the South African e-Flora. Emphasis is also placed on improving the accuracy and quality of the data. Technological advancements create new opportunities for herbaria and taxonomic research. The National Herbarium is privileged to have both a Scanning Electron Microscope and a Digital Zoom Microscope for taxonomists to conduct micro-morphological studies. A significant advance is the addition of a molecular laboratory and facilities for storage of DNA material. The vision for the National Herbarium in the near future is to be a comprehensive source for physical specimens, quality digitized information, and DNA samples for the flora of southern Africa. Acknowledgements The authors would like to acknowledge Ms. Elizma Fouche for assistance with the figures and Ms. Ilse van der Merwe for the photograph used in Figure 7. All other photographs were sourced from SANBI Image repository. Literature cited Fish, L., Mashau, A.C., Moeha, M.J., and Nembudani, M.T. 2015. Identification guide to southern African grasses. An identification manual with keys, description and distributions. Strelitzia 36. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. Fourie, D. 1998. The history of the Botanical Research Institute 1903–1989. Bothalia 28: 271–297. Germishuizen, G., Meyer, N.L., Steenkamp, Y., and Keith, M. (eds) 2006. A checklist of South African Plants. Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No.41. SABONET, Pretoria. The Vasculum, Volume 14, Number 2
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Glen, H.F., and Germishuizenn, G. (compilers) 2010. Botanical exploration of southern Africa, edition 2. Strelitzia 26. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria Koekemoer, M., Steyn, H.M., and Bester, S.P. 2013. Guide to plant families of southern Africa. Strelitzia 31. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. Leistner, O.A. (ed.) 2000. Seed plants of southern Africa: Families and genera. Strelitzia 10. National Botanical Institute, Pretoria. Smith, G.F., and Willis, C.K. 1999. Index Herbariorum: Southern African supplement. Second edition. Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 8. Victor, J.E., Koekemoer, M., Fish, L., Smithies, S.J., and Mössmer, M. 2004. Herbarium essentials: the southern African herbarium user manual. Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 25. SABONET, Pretoria. Victor, J.E., Smith, G.F., Turland, N.J., Le Roux, M., Paton, A., Figueiredo, E., Crouch N.R., van Wyk A.E., Filer, D., and Van Wyk, E. 2014. Creating an Online World Flora by 2020: a perspective from South Africa. Biodiversity & Conservation 23: 251–263. Victor, J.E., Smith, G.F., and Van Wyk, A.E. 2015a. Strategy for plant taxonomic research in South Africa 2015– 2020. SANBI Biodiversity Series 26. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. Victor, J.E., Smith, G.F., Ribeiro, S., and Van Wyk, A.E. 2015b. Plant taxonomic capacity in South Africa. Phytotaxa 238: 149–162.
Mashiane Mothogoane (National Herbarium, South African National Biodiversity Institute, m.mothogoane@ sanbi.org.za) Anne-Lise Fourie (Mary-Gunn Library, South African National Biodiversity Institute, a.fourie@sanbi.org.za) Erich van Wyk (National Herbarium, South African National Biodiversity Institute, e.vanwyk@sanbi.org.za) J.E. Victor (National Herbarium, South African National Biodiversity Institute, j.victor@sanbi.org.za) The South African National Biodiversity Institute’s National Herbarium (PRE)
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Current Projects at PHH The Herbarium of University of Science, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam National University (PHH) was established in 1957. In addition to vascular plants, more recent collections include algae, bryophytes, pteridophytes and lichens. The PHH collections have been digitalized and uploaded to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Our current projects include: 1. Databasing specimens from the Herbarium of University of Science, Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City, coordinated by Nguyen Phi Nga (npnga@hcmus.edu.vn), project code B2011-18-16, granted by Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City. 2. Data mobilization of Vietnamese herbarium Cryptogam collections, coordinated by Luong Thien Tam, project code BIFA3-032, granted by BIFA. 3. Digitalization Cyperaceae specimens in University of Science Herbarium (PHH), coordinated by Dang Le Anh Tuan, project code T2019-18, granted by University of Science, Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City. 4. Continued data mobilization of Vietnamese herbarium cryptogam collections, coordinated by Luong Thien Tam, project code BIFA4-055, granted by BIFA. For correspondence about the herbarium, please email to: - Dang Le Anh Tuan: Manager and curator of flowering plants: dlatuan@hcmus.edu.vn - Vo Thi Phi Giao: Curator of lichens: vtpgiao@hcmus.edu.vn - Luong Thien Tam: Curator of bryophytes and pteridophytes: lttam@hcmus.edu.vn - Lưu Thị Thanh Nhàn: Curator of algae: lttn@hcmus.edu.vn
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Society of Herbarium Curators Worldwide Welcome to the column where we highlight individual members from across the globe! For this edition, we interviewed Akhtar H. Malik, Curator of KASH Herbarium at the Centre for Biodiversity and Taxonomy in the Department of Botany, University of Kashmir Jammu & Kashmir Srinagar. If you would like to be interviewed for a future column, please get in touch with us via membership@herbariumcurators.org. SHC Worldwide: How large is your herbarium? Akhtar: The KASH Herbarium, established at the Department of Botany in 1972 with a collection of just 500 plant specimens, has been considerably enriched with specimens collected from diverse regions in the State. Today, this Herbarium is the third largest in the Western Himalaya, housing more than 55,000 plant specimens, including the type specimens of many species. SHC Worldwide: What is really cool about your herbarium, or your favorite part about working with your herbarium? Akhtar: My favorite part is when I am identifying specimens and giving demonstrations to students and visitors about the importance of herbaria in biodiversity sciences. SHC Worldwide: What are some botanical highlights of your region? Akhtar: Our region is Kashmir Himalaya, which is part of the Himalayan Biodiversity Hotspot that harbours three distinct regions: the subtropical region Jammu, temperate region Kashmir, and cold desert Ladakh. The Vasculum, Volume 14, Number 2
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SHC Worldwide: What are the biggest challenges you face in managing your herbarium? Akhtar: A shortage of space and the need for financial support for an E-herbaria project. SHC Worldwide: What is your greatest aspiration in your botanical life? What is your dream for your herbarium? Akhtar: My greatest aspiration is to spend much time on collection trips and explore the unexplored areas and collect new species in the Himalayas. My dream project is to digitize our herbarium and convert it into an E-Herbarium, so that across the world people will access our unique floristic wealth.
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The true stars of the Botany Conference: Saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea; Cactaceae)!
Katelin Pearson and Kathy Matthews fielding questions at the Society of Herbarium Curators booth.
President Patrick Sweeney presiding over the membership meeting
SHC Post-Botany Workshop Early-Career Innovators in Herbarium-Enabled Research and Future-Proofing for the Next Waves of Inventiveness This Society of Herbarium Curators-organized event, co-sponsored by iDigBio, provided a venue for eight current and recent NSF Postdoctoral Fellows to present their herbarium-enabled research and provided fresh opinions on how collections can position themselves and the specimens and data that they curate to produce maximum research relevance in the next waves of innovation. Speakers included (from left to right): • Tracy Misiewicz, Elucidating the role of natural selection in the diversification of an Amazonian tree: Integration of genomic, phenotypic, geographic and ecological data from herbarium collections, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK. • Emily Bellis, Herbarium-enabled ecological modeling of a parasitic weed predicts host specialization and resistance, Penn State University, State College, PA. • Kathryn Turner, Herbarium genomics of a plant invasion, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA. • Anna Johnson, Using pollen on stigmas of herbarium specimens to document long term pollen transfer dynamics, Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program, Pittsburgh, PA. • J. Mason Heberling, Quantifying functional trait changes through a century of invasion, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, PA. Organized by: Austin Mast, Department of Biological Science, Florida State University and Patrick Sweeny, Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University.
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Participants of the 2019 SHC post-conference workshop.
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Image identifications and credits Cover image: Carnegiea gigantea (Cactaceae), Tucson, Arizona, photographed by J. Schenk.
Page 3: Pityopsis graminifolia (Asteraceae), Statesboro, Georgia, photographed by J. Schenk
Page 4: Cnidoscolus stimulans (Euphorbiaceae), Statesboro, Georgia, photographed by J. Schenk
Page 11: Tibouchina sp. (Melastomataceae), Mato Grosso, Brazil, photographed by Johanna Jantzen
Impatiens capensis (Balsaminaceae), North Carolina, photographed by J. Schenk.
If you are interested in submitting your photographs to be included in The Vasculum, please send images, the location of where the photograph was taken, and the photographer’s name to schenk@ohio.edu by December 1st, 2019.
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SOCIETY OFFICERS AND EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
Patrick Sweeney, President Yale University Tel: 203-432-3537 E-mail: patrick.sweeney@yale.edu Austin Mast, Past President Florida State University Tel: 850-645-1500 E-mail: amast@bio.fsu.edu Mary Ann Feist, Secretary University of Wisconsin - Madison Tel: 608-890-1427 E-mail: mfeist@wisc.edu Mare Nazaire, Treasurer Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden Tel: 909-625-8767 E-mail: mnazaire@rsabg.org John J. Schenk, Vasculum Editor Ohio University Tel: 740-593-0716 E-mail: schenk@ohio.edu Abby Moore, Associate Editor University of Oklahoma E-mail: abigail.j.moore@ou.edu Melanie Link-Perez, Associate Editor Eastern Kentucky University Tel: 859-622-8689 E-mail: Melanie.Link-perez@eku.edu Michael Thomas, Webmaster University of Hawaii Tel: 808-375-6275 E-mail: michael.thomas@hawaii.edu
