Volume 14, No. 4

October-December 2000

Good progress is being made on all future FNA volumes. It was hoped that Volume 26, the next in line for production, would be sent to OUP by the end of this year, but it has recently become clear that this will not be possible. However, all treatments have now been received and all but a very few are in review or post-review; additionally, most of the illustrations are nearly completed. The volume is expected to be ready for publication in early 2001 and will be dedicated to the late Dr. Gerald Straley, who was an active participant in the project until his death.

All manuscripts are in for Volume 23, Cyperaceae, with the exception of one genus, and the last batch of arrivals is about to go out for regional review. In the meantime, revised manuscripts are passing to the technical editing phase. FNA is very fortunate now to have Dr. Peter Ball, a major contributor to the volume, as an editor. Dr. Tony Reznicek, another contributor of many treatments, is working as a manuscript "doctor" for those with as yet unresolved problems. Although Drs. Ball and Reznicek and the taxon editor, Dr. Dave Murray, are distant from one another, they maintain fluid exchanges of manuscripts with one another and with Dr. Jim Zarucchi, managing editor, via e-mail and the FNA ftp site. Dr. Murray is in St. Louis periodically to work directly with Dr. Zarucchi and illustrator Ms. Yevonn Wilson-Ramsey, who is coordinating four other artists as well as preparing plates herself. Much remains to be done, but there is an end in sight. Authors are requested to wind up their revisions and to return their manuscripts directly to the managing editor.

Volume 4, Achatocarpaceae to Portulaceae, is on track to be completed in 2001. Treatments of the following genera of the Cactaceae, as well as the family treatment, are now in hand at Northern Arizona University: Acanthocereus, Bergerocactus, Carnegiea, Cephalocereus, Epiphyllum, Harrisia, Hylocereus, Lophocereus, Opuntia, Pediocactus, Peniocereus, Pereskia, Pilosocereus, Scierocactus, Selenicereus, and Stenocereus. The staff at NAU has also received treatments for Calandrinia, Cistanthe, Lewisia, Montia, and Portulaca (Portulacaceae genera); Atriplex, Bassia, Chenopodium, Corispermum, Cycloloma, Kochia, Micromonolepis, Monolepis, Nitrophila, Salicornia, Salsola, Suaeda, and Suckleya (Chenopodiaceae genera); Glinius and Mollugo (Molluginaceae genera); and the Molluginaceae and Chenopodiaceae family treatments.

Volumes 24 and 25, the Poaceae, also titled The Grass Manual of North America, are on schedule, with only a few groups, such as the ornamental bamboos, remaining to be treated.

Volumes 24 and 25 are supported in part by the Chanticleer Grant, but funds are also provided by organizations outside of FNA. Though the Manual project fell short of securing the total funds hoped for, the amount raised is sufficient to enable the staff to focus on completing the volumes, rather than on fund-raising. It is hoped that Volume 25 will be sent to the publisher in 2001, and that Volume 24 will follow soon after. Publishing Volume 25 first will make it possible to adjust the generic key, if necessary. Editorial priorities include treating the largest genera of Volume 25 first. In the coming year, Dr. Mary Barkworth will continue to edit treatments and select specimens for illustration, as well as manage contributors, reviewers, and oversee the project. Dr. Kathleen Capels will assist with editing, maintain progress records and nomenclatural information, and help improve the geographic database. Mr. Michael Piep, who joined the project in November of this year, will help verify specimens, test keys, obtain distributional data, and perform general office tasks.

Volumes 19-21, the Compositae, are scheduled for completion in 2004. Treatments are in hand for about one-fifth of all genera, but about one-third (144 genera) are still without attributable authors. A list of uncommitted genera will be made available soon and authors will be sought to prepare treatments for them.

The two bryophyte centers, the taxonomic Editorial Center at the Buffalo Museum of Science and the Electronic Data Center at the New York Botanical Garden, continue to work on volumes 27_29. Volume 27 will contain an introduction to the bryophytes and treatments of apocarpous mosses; volumes 28 and 29 will include the pleurocarpous mosses, hornworts, and liverworts. In all, 436 genera and 1,803 species will be treated.

NCSC Launches Revised Web Site

NCSC, the herbarium of North Carolina State University, is pleased to announce its new Web site, http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/. The new site presents information regarding services, use and loan policies, collection (including types), staff, and opportunities, as well as links to related sites. It provides complete label information and images for all 28 taxa of the small type collection. Links to other herbaria with on-line type collections are also available. For more information, contact Alexander Krings, curator and plant taxonomist, at alexander_krings@ncsu.edu.

Kew Record of Taxonomic Literature Available Online

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, has recently launched a Web-based version of the Kew Record of Taxonomic Literature. This valuable resource, which is also available as a printed quarterly publication from the Stationery Office, lists references to all publications relating to the taxonomy of flowering plants, gymnosperms, and ferns, along with references to phytogeography, nomenclature, chemotaxonomy, molecular taxonomy, chromosome surveys, floras, and botanical institutions. Papers of taxonomic interest in the fields of anatomy and morphology, palynology, embryology, and reproductive biology are also included, along with relevant bibliographies and biographies. The database currently contains some 175,000 references published from 1971 to 2000, with new references being added once a week.

The Kew Record can be accessed at http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/. The printed quarterly publication, ISSN 0307-2835, is available from the Stationery Office, http://www.thestationeryoffice.com. For additional information, contact kewrecord@rbgkew.org.uk.

Arctic Flora Web Site Now Open

The Flora of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago project is working to produce an account of the vascular plants of the archipelago in the DELTA electronic database format, thus allowing illustrated, interactive identification of the approximately 400 taxa of flowering plants on the Arctic islands. Floristic data are being gathered by Dr. Susan Aiken, editor, and many contributors. Dr. M. J. Dallwitz handles design of database structures and procedures, as well as maintenance of the databases on the Web. The Poaceae treatment was first released in 1995, followed by the Juncaceae, Liliaceae, and Ranunculaceae in 2000. Treatments for the Brassicaceae, Pteriodophytes, and smaller families, such as Betulaceae, Campanulaceae, Gentianaceae, Papaveraceae, Plantaginaceae, and Primulaceae, are in development.

The information on the site also includes place of valid publication; synonomy, usually limited to names that have been associated with the Canadian Arctic; common names; vegetative and floral morphological characters, many more than in present floras of the area; distribution, sometimes including information about the northernmost record of the taxon; and habitat. Additionally there are notes on ecology, indigenous knowledge, economic uses, and other miscellaneous information. The database is illustrated with maps for each taxon, and with color photographs and line drawings of taxa, their habitats, and characters useful for identification.

The geographical scope of the project encompasses the islands of the Northwest Territories; all of Nunavut and the islands of Nunavut north of 55°N in Hudson Bay (Southampton Island, White and Caribou islands, Coats Island, Bencas Island, and Digges and Mansel islands); and Akpotok Island in Ungava Bay.

To visit the Flora of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago Web site, go to http://www.mun.ca/biology/; select Flora, and then Flora of Canadian Arctic. For additional information, contact Dr. Peter J. Scott, pscott@morgan.ucs.mun.ca.

Beginning in early 2001, treatments of 174 species of Chenopodiaceae will be available in Web-accessible format. The treatments are provisional and open for the comments of both FNA reviewers and the general public. If you would like to review a treatment and have not been contacted already, please direct your correspondence to Dr. Leila Shultz, taxon editor for Chenopodiaceae, Harvard University Herbaria, 22 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138; shultz@oeb.harvard.edu. Special thanks goes to Drs. Peter Ball, Steve Clemants, Cliff Crompton, Wayne Ferren, Zhu Ge-lin, Noel Holmgren, Sergei Mosyakin, Jochen Schenk, and Stanley Welsh for their timely work.

Find Distribution Information Online

Distribution information at your fingertips! Based on herbarium databases and floristic publications, a wealth of information is now available online. Here is a selection of sites that can alert you to records or specimens you'll want to check out, or to range extensions.

PLANTS Database, http://plants.usda.gov. Includes photos, state and sometimes county presence/absence distributions, wetlands status, references such as floras where species can be found, and often information on blooming period, growth requirements, and uses. Weed or conservation status also provided.

Association for Biodiversity Information, http://www.natureserve.org. Includes state presence/absence distribution maps, detailed distribution statements, conservation status, biological notes, and references. Also provides records from all the State Heritage programs, brought together in a standard manner. An extremely valuable resource.

University of California, Berkeley, and Jepson Herbaria, http://ucjeps.herb.berkeley.edu. Select online resources and then either SMASCH or distribution maps. Provides specimen lists or county distribution maps for all California taxa.

Southwest Exotic Mapping Program, http://www.usgs.nau.edu/swemp/. Provides distribution and other information on exotic plant pests of the Southwest including weed lists for Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico.

Vascular Plant Catalog of the Intermountain Region of Western U.S., http://www.nybg.org/bsci/hcol/intf/. Sponsored by The Herbarium of The New York Botanical Garden. Approximately 25,700 records of selected vascular plant families available for searching, with more to follow. This page is also the gateway to the search page for the catalog.

American Bryophyte Catalog, http://www.nybg.org/bsci/hcol/bryo/. Sponsored by NYBG. Site open but still under construction; about 70% complete. Phase I, nearing completion, will result in an electronic catalog of approximately 200,000 bryophyte specimens from the flora area. A list of taxa currently available for searching specimens is also available on this page.

The Atlas of the Vascular Plants of Utah, http://www.nr.usu.edu/. Provides dot maps on a satellite image of Utah that shows topography and drainages beautifully. Also gives elevation ranges.

Atlas of the Vascular Plants of Wyoming, http://www.esb.utexas.edu/.

The Flora of Texas Consortium, http://csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/. Includes county-level presence/absence, color-coded to indicate number of specimens per county. Users can view combined records from all participating herbaria or select one or some of them.

Atlas of Tennessee Vascular Plants, http://www.bio.utk.edu/botany/herbarium/. Gives county presence/absence maps.

Atlas of the Flora of New England, http://www.herbaria.harvard.edu. Checklist and distribution maps by county (or by subdivisions of larger counties); also gives useful information on habitats.

Pennsylvania Flora Database, http://www.upenn.edu/paflora/dbsearch.html. Gives habitats, conservation, and weed status.

South Carolina Plant Atlas, http://cricket.biol.sc.edu/herb/. Displays a dot in each county of occurrence.

Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants, http://www.plantatlas.usf.edu. Includes county presence/absence maps, images, and other information.

Thanks to Dr. Nancy Morin for providing this helpful list, and to Dr. Barbara Thiers for submitting the two NYBG-sponsored sites.

PUBLICATIONS

Sedges of Russia a Valuable Resource

The Sedges (Carex L.) of Russia and Adjacent States (Within the Limits of the Former USSR), by T. V. Egorova; Editor-in-chief A. L. Takhtajan. 1999. Co-published by "mir i Semia," St. Petersburg, Russia, and the Missouri Botanical Garden Press. 772 pp. Illustrated. ISBN 0-915279-67-3. $49.95.

Jointly with the St. Petersburg State Chemical-Pharmaceutical Academy, the Missouri Botanical Garden this past year has published Dr. T. V. Egorova's magnum opus The Sedges (Carex L.) of Russia and Adjacent States. Readers of Russian journals are already aware of Dr. Egorova's research on sedges and her productive career at the Komarov Botanical Institute in St. Petersburg. This present volume could not have come at a better time for FNA, since the press deadline for Volume 23, Cyperaceae, is rapidly approaching. Dr. Egorova's scholarly tome is a boon to our work.

The marvelous classical botanical library at the Komarov has obviously been well used by Dr. Egorova to document her taxonomy scrupulously. She has provided a new systematic arrangement for the 382 species and subspecies, one that has appeared previously only in synoptic form. The synonymies at all taxonomic levels are particularly informative. There are distribution maps for special cases and plates of line drawings that are very nice; one wishes there could have been more of them.

The book begins with a preface and a history of taxonomic study; a section on morphology, anatomy, and karyology; and finally a statement on evolutionary trends, all in the original Russian and with English translations.

Following the strong Russian tradition of geographic analysis there is a table with the distribution of taxa in the main geographic subdivisions, followed by a classification of those ranges. There is a discussion of distribution patterns and of endemism. Tables list the endemic taxa (25) and subendemics (30) and their distributions. The brief statement of the role of sedges in plant cover completes this section.

The book ends with a statement on the evolution of the genus Carex and a table of chromosome numbers. Evolution in this instance begins with a summary of paleobotanical articles to establish the first appearances of sedges in = the fossil record, which is followed by a discourse of traditional, precladistic views of phylogeny. This is a rich lode to be mined by molecular systematists who have the means to test these hypotheses but perhaps not an understanding of the genus per se. The references cited, 930 of them, occur in two lists, one for the Russian language literature, the other for publications in English. In addition there is a list of Russian common names and a very detailed index.

Dr. Egorova's book is a tour de force, and I hope she is recognized in some special way for her outstanding accomplishment. Get it. Use it.

To purchase The Sedges of Russia, contact the MBG Press at (314) 577-9534; fax (314) 577-9591; mbgpress@mobot.org. You may also print an order form from their Web site, http://ridgwaydb.mobot.org/mbgpress/.

— David F. Murray, University of Alaska Museum

The Flora of North America (FNA) project is a cooperative program to produce a comprehensive account of the plants of North America north of Mexico. The FNA Newsletter, edited at the Hunt Institute and printed at the Missouri Botanical Garden, is published quarterly by the Flora of North American Association to communicate news about the FNA project and other topics of interest to North American floristic researchers. For more information, please see the FNA Web site, http://hua.huh.harvard. edu/FNA Readers are invited to send appropriate news items to: Elizabeth A. Polen, Newsletter Editor Flora of North America Hunt Institute, Carnegie Mellon University 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890 Items can also be sent by e-mail to: kiser@andrew.cmu.edu.

Field Guide to Indiana Wildflowers, by Kay Yatskievych. 2000. Indiana University Press. 357 pp, softcover. ISBN 0-253-21420-3. $17.95.

This beautiful field guide is unusual in that it attempts comprehensive coverage of the plant groups it includes: all of the herbaceous species growing in Indiana except the grasses, sedges, and rushes, some 1,564 species total. Users are led to "major visual groups" of wildflowers with 640 color photos, and then individual species are further delineated within each group through short text descriptions and numerous small black-and-white drawings. A "Flower Finder" consisting mainly of more than 140 flower drawings grouped by numbers of showy perianth parts also assists with plant identification. The species entries also include brief synonymies and statements of ranges and habitats within the state, as well as native/non-native and state conservation statuses. Organization is by plant families, arranged according to Cronquist's classification. The book also contains introductory materials on using the guide and a glossary.

Dr. Kay Yatskievych has spent the last decade working on the Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana Project at the Missouri Botanical Garden. An Indiana native, she began working on the present volume more than 25 years ago, taking time for a plant science degree at Indiana University and various jobs along the way. In addition to the writing, photography, and art work, Dr. Yatskievych also designed and completed the page layouts. Indiana's last state floristic manual dates back to 1940, so this new volume is especially important for up-to-date information on the region's herbaceous flora. A comprehensive new checklist of the state's flora, in collaboration with Dr. John Kartesz, is the next phase in Dr. Yatskievych's work on the Indiana flora.

The Field Guide to Indiana Wildflowers can be purchased from Indiana University Press, 601 N. Morton Street, Bloomington IN 47404-3797; 800-842-6796. It can also be ordered from their Web site, http://iupress.indiana.
edu. The cost is $17.95 plus shipping and handling.

Dr. James Phipps retired this summer as Professor of Plant Sciences and Curator of the Herbarium at the University of Western Ontario after a 39-year career there. Under Dr. Phipps' guidance, the herbarium has grown in both floor space and collection size. Once home to 12,000 specimens, the herbarium now holds about 50,000 specimens, nearly 10,000 of which are Crataegus and other Rosaceae.

Over the past 25 years nearly all of Dr. Phipps' publications have been concentrated on Rosaceae. He will maintain an office and research lab next to the herbarium and continue an active interest in Rosaceae, including the completion of a book on Crataegus for Timber Press with colleagues R. J. O'Kennon and R. Lance, and further studies for his FNA treatment of Crataegus. He also continues to serve as FNA taxon editor for the Rosaceae and a number of other families.

Dr. Phipps will be replaced as curator of the UWO Herbarium by Dr. Greg Thorn, a soil mycologist.

In order to help the editorial process for Volume 26 move along more swiftly, Dr. John Strother of the University of California, Berkeley, has agreed to assist in the taxon editing of several Liliaceae genera. Dr. Strother, who has been a taxonomic reviewer for all of the Volume 26 genera, will now serve as taxon editor for Aletris, Camassia, Echeandia, Hastingsia, Hypoxis, and Schoenolirion. He will work closely with Dr. Robert Kiger, taxon editor for the Liliales, and with the staff at the Hunt Institute Editorial Center.

POSITIONS AVAILABLE

Administrative Curator, NYBG

The New York Botanical Garden has an opening for an administrative curator in the Herbarium, beginning on 1 July 2001.

DUTIES: Include overseeing herbarium transaction program (loans, gifts, exchange, purchases); managing the herbarium visitor program, including supervising the scheduling of visitor offices and the herbarium visitors' apartment; assisting with tours of the herbarium for scientific visitors, donors, Garden members, school groups, and staff of other NYBG departments; serving as the Herbarium's liaison to other NYBG departments in areas of common interest; initiating or participating in the preparation of grant proposals to government agencies such as the National Science Foundation to support herbarium projects; developing curriculum for a course in herbarium techniques and practices formatted for informal one-on-one training, classroom presentation, and/or distance learning; making presentations on NYBG Herbarium projects at national and international scientific meetings as requested; identifying specimens in area of taxonomic expertise; carrying out research, fieldwork, and/or curation projects in areas of expertise as time allows; and providing content of scientific as well as general interest to the NYBG Herbarium Web site, and maintaining pertinent links to other sites.

QUALIFICATIONS: Ph.D. in some aspect of plant or fungal taxonomy; herbarium management experience required.

This position pays $45,000_$50,000 per year, plus benefits.

To apply, send a letter of interest and C.V. to Human Resources Department, The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY 10458-5126.

NYBG is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.

DEATHS

RUPERT BARNEBY, 89, Curator Emeritus at The New York Botanical Garden's Institute of Systematic Botany, died on 5 December 2000 at the Jewish Home for the Aged, where he had been living since experiencing a mild stroke in September.

Though interested in botany since childhood, Dr. Barneby did not pursue any formal academic training in the subject. Born in Monmouthshire, England, he earned his B.A. in history and modern languages from Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1931. He traveled in the Mediterranean and western Europe collecting plants during the 1930s, and he made his first visit to the United States in 1937. Three years later he returned and settled in California. For the remainder of his life, Dr. Barneby did fieldwork throughout the continental U.S. and Mexico, with emphasis on arid regions, deserts, the Pacific slope, and the Mexican Plateau. He contributed some 14,000 specimens to herbariums across the country.

Dr. Barneby arrived at NYBG as a visiting scholar in the 1950s and soon accepted a staff position as honorary curator of Western botany. He went on to become a research associate and editorial consultant for Brittonnia, the Garden's journal of systematic botany. He was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Science degree from The City University of New York in 1978.

Among Dr. Barneby's more than 6,500 pages of papers, monographs, and journals are the definitive Atlas of North AmericanAstragalus (Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden, 1964); Dalae Imagines: An Illustrated Revision of Erazurizia, Psorothamnus, Marina, and Dalea (NYBG Press,

Dr. Rupert Barnaby, 1988. Photo by Walter Singer, courtesy of the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation Archives Collection.

Dr. Barneby had a well-known talent for discovering or rediscovering rare and local species. In his 50 years of research, he described and named over 1,100 plant species new to science. Over 25 species and 3 genera—Barnebya, Barnebyella, and Barnebydendron—now bear his name. His specialties were the Leguminosae (the bean family) and Menispermaceae (the moonseed family). He also had an interest in botanical art, which he sometimes produced himself.

In 1999, the International Botanical Congress presented Dr. Barneby with its Millennium Botany Award for a lifetime of contribution to science. Dr. Barneby's other awards include the Asa Gray Award from the American Society of Plant Taxonomists, 1989, acknowledging his contributions to systemic botany; the Engler Silver Medal, 1992, botanical science's highest honor for publications, awarded for his monographic work Sensitivae Censitae: A Description of the Genus Mimosa Linnaeus (Mimosaceae) in the New World (NYBG Press, 1991); and the Henry Allan Gleason Award, which honors outstanding recent publications in the taxonomy, ecology, or geography of plants, from the New York Bo-tanical Garden, 1980. The Garden also honored Dr. Barneby in 1991 with the establishment of the Rupert C. Barneby Fund for Research in Legume Systematics.

Dr. Barneby's professional memberships included the American Association of Plant Taxonomists, the International Association of Plant Taxonomists, the California Botanical Society, and the New England Botanical Club. He was also a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences.

In accord with Dr. Barneby's wishes, no funeral service was held. The NYBG will hold a memorial in January.

DR. DUANE ISELY, Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Iowa State University, died on 6 December 2000 at the Ramsey Home in Des Moines, Iowa.

After graduating with honors from the University of Arkansas in 1938, Dr. Isely went on to earn his M.A. the following year, and in 1942 he received his Ph.D. in botany from Cornell University. He studied regional plants for the Tennessee Valley Authority until 1944, when he was hired by Iowa State College. He remained at Iowa State for the rest of his career,eventually earning the title of distinguished professor.

Dr. Isely fostered a range of botanical interests throughout his career. He published more than 50 papers and a textbook on seed technology, as well as almost 20 books and laboratory manuals on weeds. His interests eventually led him to studies of the legumes, and 50 years of work culminated in the publication of Native and Naturalized Leguminosae (Fabaceae) of the United States (Brigham Young University Press) in 1998. This important work includes descriptions and identification keys for over 1,200 species in 1991.

Duane Isely, 1984. Photo courtesy of the Hunt Institure Archives.

While at Iowa State, Dr. Isely advised more than 20 graduate students in seed technology and botany. He collected nearly 12,000 specimens for the university's Ada Hayden Herbarium, for which he also served as director from 1986 to 1989. From 1978 to 1987, he was editor of the Iowa State Journal of Research, and served on the editorial boards of several national professional journals. Dr. Isely was also active in the conservation of natural areas, including the protection of the Ames High School Prairie/Richard W. Pohl State Preserve.

Dr. Isely was a member of a number of professional organizations, including the American Society of Plant Taxonomists, the International Association for Plant Taxonomy, and the Association of Official Seed Analysts, for which he served on several committees and as president in 1954.

A memorial service was held on 11 December 2000 in Ames, Iowa. Dr. Isely is survived by his wife, Mary, his two children, two stepchildren, three grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.

Thanks to the generosity of Dr. Isely's family and the Department of Botany at Iowa State University, Dr. Isely's research notes on North American legumes are now located at the Missouri Botanical Garden Archives. These materials are available to researchers by contacting the Archives, P.O. Box 299, St. Louis, MO 63166, or on the Web at http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/
molib/arccoll.html.

DR. ROBERT ORNDUFF, 68, Professor Emeritus of Integrative Biology and former Director of the Botanical Garden at the University of California, Berkeley, died on 22 September 2000 from complications due to metastatic melanoma.

Born in Portland, Oregon, on 13 June 1932, Dr. Ornduff earned his B.A. in biology from Reed College in 1953, followed by a Fulbright Scholarship that enabled him to travel to New Zealand to collect material for his thesis. In 1956 he received his M.S. at the University of Washington, and he went on to earn his Ph.D. in 1961 at the University of California, Berkeley. He taught biology at both Reed College and Duke University before returning to Berkeley in 1963, where he taught for the next 30 years. He was also the curator of seed plants and later the director of the University Herbarium from

Robert Ornduff, 1986. Photo by George Waters, courtesy of the Hunt Institute Archives.

As director of the University of California Botanical Garden, 1973–1991, Dr. Ornduff was responsible for expanding the collection to include not only the unique plants of California, but also specimens from areas with a similar Mediterranean climate, such as South Africa, western Australia, and Chile. He also instituted a docent program of which he was especially proud.

Dr. Ornduff wrote more than 100 scientific papers and 50 others on horticulture and related topics during his career. His popular guide, Introduction to California Plant Life (University of California Press, 1974), stemmed from his notes and experiences in the course on the California flora he taught at Berkeley. Additionally, he is the author of two chapters in the book California's Wild Gardens: A Living Legacy (California Native Plant Society, 1997), edited by Phyllis Faber, Dr. Ornduff 's co-editor of the Natural History Series at the U.C. Press.

Though particularly interested in the native plants of California, Dr. Ornduff was also fascinated with the unusual reproductive strategies of some plants, such as heterostyly, in which a single species of some plants develops two or three different types of flowers that encourage outcrossing and discourage self-pollination.

Dr. Ornduff was a member of numerous organizations during and after his career at the University of California. He belonged to the California Native Plant Society and edited its publication Fremontia for 27 years, and was also chair of the editorial committee for the U.C. Press from 1975 to 1989. Other memberships include board of councilors, Save-the- Redwoods League; board of directors, Pacific Horticultural Foundation; board of trustees, Center for Plant Conservation; president, California Botanical Society, 1981–1982; and president, American Society of Plant Taxonomists, 1975. For the past eight years, Dr. Ornduff was also the grant director of The Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust, for which he directed grants to small gardens and publications projects both national and international.

Dr. Ornduff 's awards include an Award of Merit, American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta, 1993; Merit Award, Botanical Society of America, 1993; and the F. Owen Pearce Award of Horticulture, Strybing Arboretum in San Francisco, 1994. A resident of Berkeley, California, Dr. Ornduff is survived by his sister, Anne Vial, of Lake Oswego, Oregon.