Prehistoric Plants?

A coworker recently brought me two fossils that were collected by an excavator working near Dewart Lake in Kosciusko County, Indiana. 

Any paleobotanists out there that can provide suggestions as to what this is?  Above is a side view, and below is a top view.

Based on comments to a past post on Get Your Botany On!, I think this may be Sigillaria sp., but I would welcome all suggestions.

Above is a photo of the entire fossil; below is a close-up.

This is well beyond the area of my expertise, so any help is appreciated!

Aye Aye... That's Potentilla arrrrrggguta, Matey!

Potentilla arguta

... at least that's how I picture the conversation between William Dampier and a field assistant upon seeing the species above.  What the heck am I talking about?  You've got to take a look at this blog post on the NPR webpage...

CLICK HERE!

It's About Time

Yes, in fact it is about time that I compose another post for Get Your Botany On!, as it's been nearly two months since my previous post.  But that's not what I am referring to with the title of this post.  I'm referring to the fact that it is about time that one of this country's great botanists gets immortalized on a postage stamp.

This is the third in a series of stamps acknowledging the contributions of American scientists.  Previous stamps in this series have recognized:

• Barbara McClintock, a cytogeneticist known for her work on the genetic structure of maize;
• Josiah Willard Gibbs, a physicist, chemist, and mathematician known as the father of physical chemistry;
• John von Neumann, a mathematician and computer scientist known as one of the greatest mathematicians of the modern era, as well as for his work in quantum mechanics and nuclear physics;
• Richard Feynman, a physicist known for his work in the field of quantum mechanics as well as for assisting with development of the atomic bomb and introducing the concept of nanotechnology;
• Gerty Cori, a biochemist known for her work on carbohydrate metabolism;
• Linus Pauling, a chemist and biochemist known for his work in the field of quantum chemistry;
• Edwin Hubble, an astronomer known for discovering that there are galaxies outside of the Milky Way; and
• John Bardeen, a physicist known for inventing the transistor.

In the current set of stamps, botanist Asa Gray is recognized along with three other American scientists.

Here is information on each of these scientists from the U.S. Postal Service webpage:

Melvin Calvin (1911-1997) advanced our understanding of photosynthesis and conducted pioneering research on using plants as an alternative energy source. He won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1961. The stamp art includes a photograph of him taken by Yousuf Karsh. The background shows excerpts from the carbon cycle, and chemical symbols and structures he used to represent the process of photosynthesis.

Asa Gray (1810-1888), one of the nation's first professional botanists, advanced the specialized field of plant geography and became the principal American advocate of evolutionary theory in the mid-nineteenth century. The stamp art features illustrations of plants studied by Gray and the words "Shortia galacifolia" in Gray's handwriting.

Maria Goeppert Mayer (1906-1972) developed a theoretical model that helped explain the structure of the atomic nucleus; for this work she became the only woman other than Marie Curie to win a Nobel Prize in physics. The stamp art combines photographs of Mayer with a chart and a diagram she used to illustrate aspects of the atomic nucleus.

Severo Ochoa (1905-1993), a biochemist, was the first scientist to synthesize ribonucleic acid (RNA) and competed in the race to decipher the genetic code. He won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 1959. The stamp shows Ochoa in his laboratory in 1959, along with figures representing some of his work on protein synthesis.

Art Director Ethel Kessler worked with Designer Greg Berger to make each stamp a carefully structured collage of photographs, signatures, and representations of equations and diagrams associated with the scientist's research.

Unfortunately, the post office in my town doesn't carry these stamps.  I was able to purchase them online at face value plus $1.00 for shipping and handling.  These are "forever" stamps, so buy a bunch now and use them forever. 

Not to be greedy, but what I want to know is when the Merritt Lyndon Fernald stamps are coming out so that I can stock up on those!

The Field Botanist

Abby recently sent me the quote and picture of an engraving below, which reminded her of her first summer of monitoring with Tony and me.  I liked them so much that I created a poster out of them...

To Honor A Rock Star

On this day 232 years ago, botany, and science in general, lost a real rock star. Carl von Linné (aka Carl Linnaeus or Carolus Linnaeus), the father of modern taxonomy, passed away at the age of 71 on 10 January 1778. The painting below (from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carolus_Linnaeus_by_Hendrik_Hollander_1853.jpg) depicts a young Linnaeus on a collecting trip.


So what is that in Linnaeus' right hand? If you guessed a plant with a genus that bears his name, you are correct.


This is Linnaea borealis, Twinflower. In 1732, Linnaeus explored Lapland, a northern province of Sweeden, and collected 537 specimens during a season that he described as one of the most fruitful of his life. Over 100 of the plants that he collected on this trip were new to science. One of the specimens that he collected was a plant known as Campanula serpyllifolia. Thought to be rare before the Lapland excursion, Linnaeus found an abundance of this species on the foray. About this discovery, he wrote: "I tied my horse to an ancient Runic monumental stone, and, accompanied by a guide, climbed the mountain on the left side. Here were many uncommon plants, as Fumaria bulbosa minima, Campanula serpyllifolia, Adoxa moschatellina, &c., all in greater perfection than ever I saw them before." Campanula serpyllifolia was said to be Linnaeus' favorite plant. The Dutch botanist J.F. Gronovius later renamed the genus of this plant Linnaea in honor of Linnaeus. About this honor, Linnaeus self-mockingly wrote: "Linnaea was named by the celebrated Gronovius and is a plant of Lapland, lowly, insignificant and disregarded, flowering but for a brief space - from Linnaeus who resembles it." Linnaeus gave Twinflower the specific epithet borealis, meaning "of northern regions." Many paintings of Linnaeus, including his wedding picture, portray him holding a specimen of Twinflower. (http://www.plantbiology.siu.edu/PLB304/Lecture03HistTax/HistoryTaxon.html; http://www.linnean.org/index.php?id=381; http://www.linnaeus.uu.se/online/animal/1_16.html)

For more information on Linnaea borealis, see my recent post at Through Handlens and Binoculars.

Incidentally, some people say that Linnaeus has come back to life and is masquerading as a Japanese hibachi chef...


... but those claims are just "wild."

A Botanical Moment in Time, Captured and Preserved

Dr. Verne O. Graham pauses beside Swertia/Frasera caroliniensis, American Columbo, in Cook County, Illinois, 1923. Published on page 427 of Herman Pepoon's Annotated Flora of the Chicago Area, this picture is rather famous and well-loved in the Chicago Region.

Nathaniel Lord Britton and William Starling Sullivant

Britton, from http://rptsweb.tamu.edu/Pugsley/Britton.htm

Botanist and Taxonomist Nathaniel Lord Britton was born on January 15, 1857 at New Dorp, Staten Island, New York. Britton founded (1891) and served as Director-in-Chief (1895-1929) of the New York Botanical Garden. Among his other botanical accomplishments were publications of such works as The Flora of Bermuda (1918), The Bahama Flora (1920, with Charles F. Millspaugh), The Cactaceae (1924, with Joseph Nelson Rose), and An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada (1896-1898, financed by Judge Addison Brown). Britton also began Flora Borinquena (a flora of Puerto Rico), but was not able to finish this work before he passed away in 1934.

Sullivant, from http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=362

Botanist, Bryologist, Surveyor, and Engineer William Starling Sullivant was born on January 15, 1803 in Franklinton, Ohio. Sullivant's major contribution in terms of vascular plants was A Catalogue of Plants, Native or Naturalized, in the Vicinity of Columbus, Ohio (1840). After this work, Sullivant turned his focus to mosses. Sullivant published Musci Alleghanienses (1845), Contributions to the Bryology and Hepaticology of North America (1846-1849), The Musci and Hepaticae of the United States East of the Mississippi River (1856), Musci Boreali Americani Exsiccati (1856, with Leo Lesquereux), Musci Cubensis (1860, based on collections by Charles Wright in Cuba), and Icones Muscorum (1864, 1874). The Saxifragaceous plant Sullivantia ohionis (now known as Sullivantia sullivantii) was first discovered by Sullivant in Ohio, and was named for him by Asa Gray and John Torrey; Asclepias sullivantii (Asclepiadaceae) was also named for Sullivant, who discovered it). Sullivant passed away in 1873, before he was able to finish working on bryophyte publications for Venezuela (based on collections by August Fendler) and the North Pacific (based on collections by Charles Wright).

Another Famous January Birthday

I don't have any recent plant photos to share as a quiz, so my quiz will be botanical trivia instead. What American botanist was born on this day (January 15) in history?

Thomas Nuttall

From www.lewis-clark.org

Thomas Nuttall was born in Long Preston in Yorkshire on January 5, 1786. He moved to America in 1808, and stayed until 1841. Thanks to the encouragement of Benjamin Smith Barton, Nuttall changed professions from a printer to a naturalist.

It's January 5... Happy Birthday to....

What famous botanist and birder, who spent plenty of time in the Great Lakes Region and also some time in Missouri, was born on this day in history?

Blighia sapida

Before Lindsay and I went to Jamaica this past June, Andrew Blackburn told us that while we were there we had to try the Akee and Saltfish, the national meal of Jamaica. While I did have the chance to try saltfish, akee was not in season when we were there. Akee is the fruit of Blighia sapida (Sapindaceae), an evergreen tree native to Africa but grown throughout the Caribbean islands and in tropical areas around the world. It is the national fruit of Jamaica.

These photos of flowers and maturing fruit were taken in Jamaica in June 2008. The photo below is of a nearly mature akee fruit that we saw in Costa Rica in November 2007.

If ever you come across an akee fruit at this stage, don't eat it! Akee is mature when it turns yellow-orange and splits to expose three shiny black seeds. The seeds are surrounded by fleshy, yellowish arils. Only the arils are edible, and only after being boiled. Eating an unripe akee or parts other than the arils leads to vomiting, seizures, and Japanese vomiting sickness (a fatal hypoglycemia). Apparently it is illegal to bring akee into the US because so many people have died from eating unripened akee.

On this date in 1932, Dorothy Popenoe, the wife of Frederick Wilson Popenoe (who was an agricultural explorer who specialized in South American crops and who was responsible for introducing avocados to American kitchens) died at the age of 33 from eating an unripe akee in Guatemala.

Happy New Year!

This Date in Botanical History...

On December 29-30, 1940, the Germans firebombed London, leading to hundreds of fires around the city. Among other things, this devastation destroyed plates and text from Curtis's Botanical Magazine.

If you're ever doing research on Brazilian or French plants, be alert if you see collections by Auguste Francois Marie Glaziou. On December 30, 1970, John Wurdack noted that Glaziou had actually changed location, date, and morphology collection data on specimens collected by other botanists and considered them his own collections!

Is everyone else enjoying this mild, spring-like weather? Lindsay and I were on a bird count in Ohio on Saturday, and a honeybee flew past me and landed on the ground! Unfortunately, I didn't have a camera with me.