Volume 18, Number 2

July-December 2004

In December, the administrative and editorial center at the Missouri Botanical Garden submitted Flora of North America Volume 5, Magnoliophyta: Caryophyllidae, part 2 to Oxford University Press (OUP) in print-ready format. Editorial work was done by Robert Kiger, lead and bibliographic editor, editorial center at the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, and technical editors Mary Ann Schmidt and Elizabeth Polen. Indexing and composition were done in St. Louis by Pat Harris, editorial assistant; Claire Hemingway, technical editor; Kristin Pierce, herbarium assistant; and Kay Yatskievych, production coordinator. Print copies of the volume will be available in March and may be purchased through http://www.oup.com, or at (800) 451-7556. The retail cost is $120.00 plus shipping; promotional discounts will be available.

The publication of Volume 5 would not have been possible without the considerable efforts of its authors and editors. The FNAA thanks the many people involved in preparing and producing the volume, including Ronald L. Hartman, co-taxon editor for Caryophyllaceae; Nancy Morin, taxon editor for Plumbaginaceae; Kanchi Gandhi, nomenclatural editor; John L. Strother, reviewing editor; and James Zarucchi, editorial director. Special fanfare and accolades are owed to Craig C. Freeman, taxon editor for Polygonaceae, and Richard K. Rabeler, Co-taxon editor for Caryophyllaceae, for all their diligence and hard work.

Volume 5 is the ninth volume in the FNA series and the third of 19 volumes on dicots to be published. It treats 739 species in 75 genera and three families: Caryophyllaceae (pink family), Polygonaceae (buckwheat family), and Plumbaginaceae (leadwort family). Approximately 58% of the species are endemic to the flora, and 19% are naturalized. Of the 75 genera treated, 12 are endemic. Forty-one of the genera include both native and introduced species; the remaining 22 genera are represented only by introduced species. Approximately 20% of the species are of conservation concern. The volume includes illustrations for 225 species, representing 303 taxa. Of particular note are treatments by James L. Reveal, especially the 224 species of Eriogonum. These treatments represent the fruits of his career working on eriogonoids.

OUP has released a marketing brochure to advertise the publication of Volume 5. Everyone on the FNA mailing list will receive the brochure. For additional copies, or to receive an email version, contact Catriona MacGregor, FNAA vice president for business and development, catriona.macgregor@comcast.net.

FNA FEATURED IN L.A. TIMES

On 28 November 2004, the Los Angeles Times Magazine published "All the Pretty Flowers," an excellent cover story on the Flora of North America project. It features extensive information about the history and scope of the project, as well as interviews with FNAA members Luc Brouillet, president; James Zarucchi, vice president and editorial director; Peter Stevens, former interim executive director; Helen Jeude, technical editor; and others.

According to Emily Green, reporter for the Times, "What began as an epic quest for knowledge's sake is now seen as an urgent bid to record our `biological heritage.'

"As scientists, [botanists] are assaulting the mystery of mysteries-the search to understand the origins of life. As environmentalists, they are in a race against the boundless forces that built this country: bulldozer and plough. To those taking part, it could not be more important: These plants provide the air we breathe, food, shelter-life itself. Recording their ranges means that if they retreat to higher altitudes and ever more northerly parallels, it will be the clincher to demonstrate to a disbelieving government the reality of global warming.

"Since 1983, a vast modern effort has gathered up more than 850 botanists now working on the `Flora of North America' project. To critics, the scientists have eyes bigger than their walking shoes. The study takes in the U.S., Canada, Greenland, [and] St. Pierre and Miquelon. To cover it, each botanist is assigned a plant group. From recorded sightings going back centuries, they establish a range where [these plants are] known to occur. Cascades and the Sierra for pines, the Appalachian Trail for hickory, the Great Plants for buffalo grass, and so on, thousands and thousands of times."

To obtain an email copy of the full article, contact Catriona MacGregor, catriona.macgregor@comcast.net. The article also is available for purchase at http://www.latimes.com.

The Flora of North America Association's Executive Committee (EXC) and Editorial Management Committee (EMC) met on 8 October 2004 at the Missouri Botanical Garden. These meetings were followed on 10 October 2004 by a meeting of the FNAA's Board of Directors, also at the Missouri Botanical Garden.

The EXC focused attention on the preparation of a 2005 budget for the FNAA, development of new policies, and evaluation of existing and new programmatic initiatives. Participation by FNAA in future meetings (the International Botanical Congress, Botany 2005, Missouri Botanical Garden Systematics Symposium, and others) was deemed essential to maintain the visibility of the project and to attract new volunteers. The committee recommended that new policies on microgrants, reuse fees for illustrations, and links to scientific content on the FNA Web site be presented to the FNAA Board of Directors for approval. Catriona MacGregor, vice president for business and development, summarized fundraising, outreach, and marketing efforts on behalf of the organization since May 2004.

A draft business plan prepared by Catriona was discussed. When completed, the plan will provide additional institutional memory and will be and essential tool to guide program development and fundraising efforts.

The EMC discussed the progress of current and future FNA volumes. The committee analyzed work on the production of Volume 5 (Caryophyllaceae, Polygonaceae, Plumbaginaceae), which was submitted to Oxford University Press in December (see p. 9). Also examined was progress toward completion of volumes 19, 20, and 21 (Asteraceae), scheduled for publication in 2005, and volumes 7 (Salicaceae, Capparaceae, Brassicaceae), 24 (Poaceae, part 1), and 27 (Bryophyta, part 1), scheduled for 2006. Two new editorial centers will be established to assist with production, one at the University of Kansas (Volume 8, Dilleniidae, part 3, and Rosidae, part 1, scheduled for 2007, and Volume 17,

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 twice a year by the Flora of North America 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://www.fna.org/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.

Seventeen members attended the meeting of the FNAA Board of Directors. Welcomed at their first board meeting were Wayne Elisens (University of Oklahoma), Midwest regional coordinator; Jackie Poole (Texas Park and Wildlife Department), regional coordinator for Texas and New Mexico; and Catriona MacGregor. Recruitment of new authors, editors, and committee members was a recurring theme. The board approved the proposed 2005 budget recommended by the EXC, as well as policies concerning microgrants, reuse fees for illustrations, and links to scientific content on the FNA Web site. Catriona gave a PowerPoint presentation detailing primary elements of the draft business plan and highlighting two areas of programmatic development: the electronic Flora of North America (eFNA) and the FNA education and outreach program. Chris Meacham of Phylosystems Corporation made a presentation describing ways to extend access to and use of data in FNA volumes. The board agreed to establish a subcommittee to explore these issues in detail, to recruit a chair for the subcommittee, and to solicit from Chris a proposal for a computer application that would demonstrate the feasibility of some of the features and attributes he described.

The next meetings of the EXC and EMC will be held in April 2005.

VOLUME 7 UPDATE

Volume 7, which treats Salicaceae (two genera, 161 species) and Brassicaceae (ca.93 genera, 590 species), is scheduled for publication in 2006. It is being edited at the Missouri Botanical Garden Editorial Center. The treatment of Salicaceae is essentially finished, and George Argus, who has been working on the family throughout his 40-year career, has submitted a preliminary treatment. This manuscript was one of the first to be converted to ActKey and is available on the Web ( http://flora.huh.harvard.
edu:8080/actkey/), where it can be used interactively to identify North America willows. Jim Eckenwalder's treatment of the Salicaceae genus Populus is also in hand.

Botanist Ihsan Al-Shehbaz and a team of collaborators are working nearly full-time on the treatment of Brassicaceae. Ihsan wrote the treatment of the family for the Flora of China and is now free to work exclusively on the family in North America. The exact number of genera is uncertain, as there have been many recent taxonomic changes due to molecular studies and examination of the family on an intercontinental basis.

Bryophyte Flora of North America

FNA volumes 27, 28, and 29 are devoted to bryophytes, the 318 genera and 1311 species of mosses in volumes 27 and 28, and the 120 genera and 512 species of liverworts in Volume 29. Introductory chapters will be distributed appropriately among the three volumes. Approximately 844 plates (422 panels at one per page) will illustrate the species at one or more per plate. This is the first time in 120 years that bryophytes are included in a major botanical floristic work as part of the green land-plant flora. With treatments from 104 authors with expertise in particular taxa, we hope to establish that bryophytes are an important element in understanding the North American flora. The organization of the bryophyte treatments reflects the latest findings in molecular analysis of evolutionary relationships.

At present, Volume 27, due in 2006, has 72% of genera and 67% of species submitted; 46% of the illustrations are finished. Volume 28, due in 2008, has 46% of genera and 39% of species finished; 23% of the illustrations are finished. Volume 29, due in 2010, has 14% of genera and 18% of species submitted; 1% of the illustrations are finished. In Volume 27, 66% of the treatments (81 genera and 435 species) have completed the review process and are online, mostly illustrated, for public comment. We project that all outstanding treatments will be completed by the target date.

The work includes comprehensive summaries of many of the authors' lifetime work. Three authors-Howard Crum, Cyrus McQueen, and William Reese-have passed away since completing their treatments, and many other authors are now retired. Several authors are new Ph.D.s for whom invited contribution to the FNA is a significant jump-start to their careers. Two authors of rather difficult groups, Inés Sastre-de Jesus of the University of Puerto Rico and John Spence of the National Park Service, Glen Canyon Recreation Area, Arizona, received financial support for research visits to the Missouri Botanical Garden (MBG); they found access to the 400,000-specimen bryophyte collection valuable.

The editorial effort associated with the three volumes is lean and focused: Lead Editor Richard Zander, MBG, manages manuscript flow and preliminary technical editing; Nomenclatural Editor Marshall Crosby, also at MBG, vets the often knotty publication citations; and Taxon Editors Claudio Delgadillo of the University of Mexico, Mexico City, Lloyd Stark of the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, Sharon E. Bartholomew-Began of West Chester University, West Chester, Pennsylvania, and Dale Vitt of Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, handle preliminary editing, reviews, and taxonomic problems. Technical editing is provided by staff of the FNAA administrative and editorial center at MBG.

As each treatment finishes the review process, it is placed as a "provisional publication" on a Web site ( http://www.mobot.org/plantscience/BFNA/) dedicated to the bryophyte volumes. This allows public comments on the work before print publication. Special Web versions of the illustrations, as they are finished, appear with the treatments. With a large number of finished treatments now available, the Web site is

Richard Zander is the lead editor at the BFNA Editorial Center, as well as an at-large member of the FNAA Executive Committee. He may be reached at richard.zander@mobot.org.

Grass Center

The second grass volume, FNA Volume 24 (Poaceae, part 1), is well underway at the Grass Center at Utah State University (USU). It is scheduled for publication in 2006 and will include 148 genera and approximately 757 species. Treatments for 28% of species are available on the Web ( http://herbarium.usu.edu/grassmanual/); although these are clearly labeled as draft treatments, they are not expected to require significant changes before publication. Treatments for another 21% of species are in review, and another 26% are under revision by the authors before being sent for review. Two authors will begin work on their treatments in January after completing their obligations to the Flora of China project. Approximately 16% of the 275 plates to be included in Volume 24 have been scanned.

Fifty-one taxonomists have contributed to the preparation of Volume 24 treatments. Four contributors have died, but fortunately we have found substitutes for each of them. Ken Chambers will take on responsibility for the artificial key to genera, formerly assigned to the late R. W. Pohl; the late Claus Baden's colleagues are responding to questions concerning his treatment of Psathyrostachys; Ken Marr and Richard Hebda have revised the late Craig Greene's manuscript on Calamagrostis, particularly with respect to the western species; and Laurel Anderton is revising the late Leon Pavlick's treatment of Bromus.

We have amended the Grass Center Web site ( http://herbarium.usu.edu/grass_intro.htm) throughout the year, adding new records to the geographic database, new publications relevant to treatments, and comments on controversial aspects of some genera, including those in FNA Volume 25 (Poaceae, part 2), published in 2003. These activities ensure that the site is a source of current information about North America's grasses, not just an online version of the printed volumes.

Mary Barkworth, lead editor at the Grass Center, can be reached at mary@biology.usu.edu.

Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation

The Institute completed editing for FNA Volume 5 in December (see p. 9). The next volume scheduled for processing here is Volume 6, Magnoliophyta: Dilleniidae, part 1 (Paeoniaceae through Losaceae).

Robert Kiger is the lead editor at the editorial center at the Hunt Institute, FNA bibliographic editor, and at-large member of the FNAA Executive Committee. He may be contacted at rkiger@andrew.cmu.edu. For more information about the Institute, visit http://huntbot.andrew.cmu.edu.

APPROACH PUBLICATION

The first of the FNA Asteraceae (Compositae) volumes, Volume 19, Asteraceae, part 1, is essentially complete. All three volumes will be published together as a set in 2005.

The Asteraceae (sunflower family) volumes will contain an anticipated total of 418 genera and almost 2500 species. Within the three volumes, 657 species will be illustrated. Treatments for all genera and species have been received and are in various stages of editing, reviewing, and formatting.

THEODORE M. BARKLEY, 1934-2004

Dr. Theodore M. Barkley, FNAA lead editor at the editorial center at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT), died on 24 July 2004, in Fort Worth, at the age of 70. He continued to work on preparation of the FNA Asteraceae volumes (volumes 19-21, Asteraceae parts 1-3) throughout his illness.

Born 14 May 1934 in Modesto, California, Ted earned degrees from Kansas State University (B.S., 1955), Oregon State University (M.S., 1957), and Columbia University (Ph.D., 1960). He joined BRIT as a research associate in 1998, after serving as professor and curator at Kansas State University for 37 years. After his arrival at BRIT, Ted set up the FNA editorial center there to work exclusively on the Asteraceae volumes, comprising over 2400 species.

Ted was an integral part of the FNA project since its inception, contributing his energy and expertise to getting the project organized and underway. In addition to building the editorial center at BRIT, he served as regional coordinator (1991-1998), taxon editor for Asteraceae (1991-2004), and lead editor for Asteraceae (1998-2004). He was also a member of the FNAA Editorial Committee (1984-2004) and the FNAA Management Committee (1996-2004).

A selected list of Ted's many publications is available at http://www.brit.org/images/Memorial%20Invite6.pdf, along with images and additional information on his life and work.

Memorial services were held in Texas on 26 November (St. Paul Presbyterian Church, North Richland Hills) and 27 November (BRIT, Fort Worth). Another service is planned for 2 April 2005 at the College Avenue United Methodist Church in Manhattan, Kansas. Ted's widow, Mary Barkley, has designated BRIT as one of the places to which memorial funds may be directed. These donations will be used to fund the T. M. Barkley Plant Science and Ecology Seminar Series. For additional information, contact Helen Jeude at BRIT, (817) 332-4441 ext. 44, hjeude@brit.org.

Ted's dedication to the FNA project, especially the publication of the

T. M. BARKLEY MEMORIAL FUND

The Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT) has established the T. M. Barkley Plant Science and Ecology Seminar fund. The academic seminar, cohosted by BRIT and Texas Christian University, has been renamed for Theodore (Ted) Barkley (1934-2004), professor emeritus from Kansas State University.  Ted's commitment to research and his vision for the North Texas area to have a venue to promote collegial sharing of current research led to the establishment of the academic series. Before he died, he made known his desire that the series continue with a fund established to pay for travel expenses for visiting researchers. Donations in his honor are welcomed.

FNAA DEVELOPMENT AND GRANT UPDATE

The FNAA has applied to 15 foundations for funding, including the Alcoa Foundation, the Alica Adams Charity, The American Foundation, The Afognak Foundation, the Bellebyron Foundation, ChevronTexaco, and the Vaughan-Jordan Foundation. Initial letters of inquiry have been sent, and responses are expected over the next few months. Please notify Catriona MacGregor, FNAA vice president for business and development, catriona.macgregor@com
cast.net, if you know of any foundations that might have an interest in supporting the FNA volumes.

In addition, the FNAA submitted an annual report and a three-year proposal (2005-2007) to the Chanticleer Foundation (http://www.chanticleergarden.org) in December, thanking them for their generous support and seeking continued funding. The proposal requests continued support for the publication of three volumes a year beginning in 2006, current staff, and centers, as well as funds to create two new editorial centers, one at the Université de Montréal, Québec (lead editor Luc Brouillet), and one at the University of Kansas, Manhattan (lead editor Craig Freeman).

OTHER FNAA NEWS

Barbara L. Wilson, a botanical consultant from Corvallis, Oregon, hosted an FNA booth at the 89th Annual Ecological Society of America Meeting (http://www.esa.org/portland/), 1-6 August 2004, Portland, Oregon. The theme of this major national conference was "Lessons of Lewis and Clark: Ecological Exploration of Inhabited Landscapes." Dr. Wilson also represented FNA at the Third Pacific Northwest Native Plant Conference (http://www.west
ernforestry.org), 14-16 December 2004, in Eugene, Oregon. On both occasions she attracted attention to the volumes by displaying live plants at her table. Visitors were able to examine published volumes, and many took order forms.

The FNAA also will have a table at the 58th Annual Society for Range Management Meeting, 5-11 February 2005, Fort Worth, Texas. More information on the Society for Range Management is available at http://www.rangelands.org.

Anyone interested in representing the FNA project at a local, regional, or national conference related to botany should contact Catriona MacGregor, vice president for business and development, catriona.macgregor@com
cast.net. The FNAA and OUP will provide brochures and other materials, and in some cases the FNAA will cover the cost of hosting a booth.

After more than five years as Executive Director of The Arboretum at Flagstaff, Nancy Morin has moved to California in order to devote more time to research projects and Flora of North America. The FNAA is grateful to The Arboretum for hosting the lead editorial center for Volume 4 and the finance office during that time. Nancy continues her duties as FNAA treasurer, Southwest regional coordinator, and taxon editor. Her new contact information is P.O. Box 333, Point Arena, CA 95468; (707) 882-2528; nancy.morin@nau.edu.

Patricia M. Eckel, illustrator for the bryophyte volumes, had a plate accepted for the juried 11th International Exhibition of Botanical Art & Illustration, Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh. The exhibition runs through 28 February at the Institute and will then tour. For more information on the exhibit, see http://huntbot.andrew.cmu.edu/HIBD/
Exhibitions/Exhibitions.shtml.

Claire Hemingway, technical editor at the FNA administrative and editorial center at the Missouri Botanical Garden, has left the project to take a position with the Botanical Society of America. In addition to her editorial duties, Claire coordinated the revision of the Contributors Guide and the preparation of the Editorial Handbook, and developed educational material for the FNA Web site in order to make information about the project accessible to the general public. The FNAA thanks Claire for her contributions and wishes her luck in her new position.

FNAA POSITIONS AVAILABLE

Editor and Board Member, eFNA

The FNAA Board of Directors (BOD) seeks a volunteer to serve as content editor of the electronic version of the Flora of North America (eFNA) and to co-chair the eFNA-IT subcommittee, which will spearhead future development of the eFNA. The volunteer also will serve as a member of the BOD. Our goal is to make the eFNA the official, dynamic version of the Flora, an online location for floristic information for North America, once all volumes are published in 2011.

Interested candidates should send a letter of interest and a curriculum vitae (electronic submission only please) to Luc Brouillet, President, FNAA, Institut de recherche en biologie végétale, Université de Montréal, luc.brouillet
@umontreal.ca, (514) 872-8490 (for questions).

If you know any potential candidates for this appointment, please submit their names and locations. FNAA will contact them to determine their interest.

Education Program Officer

The Flora of North America Association seeks a paid part-time education program officer to develop a program based on the FNA volumes and information, in partnership with existing botanical education programs. Contact Catriona MacGregor, FNAA vice president for business and development, at catriona.macgregor@comcast.net for a full description of this contract position.

PUBLICATIONS

Woody Plants of the Southeastern United States: A Winter Guide, by Ron Lance. October 2004. The University of Georgia Press. Hardcover, 441 pp. ISBN 0-8203-2524-4. $54.95.

The winter months, when plants are dormant and their leaves have often fallen, are a challenging time to identify woody flora. Designed especially for winter use and featuring almost 600 illustrations, this taxonomic guide describes some 900 plant species by their twig, bud, and bark characteristics. Presented here are all the trees, shrubs, and woody ground covers that grow in the southeastern U.S. (defined here as covering states from eastern Texas and northern Florida to southeastern Kansas and southern Delaware) without the aid of cultivation. Included are native and naturalized exotic plant species; spring or summer features of a plant in the absence of any reliable winter diagnostic features; a map of the guide's coverage area; and a brief introduction to botanical terminology and the use of taxonomic keys, descriptions of various habitats and physiographic regions of the Southeast, a glossary, a list of references, and an index that includes common and scientific names.

To order a copy, visit http://www.ugapress.org, or contact John McLeod, (706) 369-6160, fax (706) 369-6162, jmcleod@ugapress.uga.edu.

Elizabeth McClintock, FNA contributor, died on 19 October 2004 in Santa Rosa, California. She was 92. Dr. McClintock was one of the few women to seek a doctorate in the field of botany in the 1930s, and her thesis was a well-respected monograph of the genus Hydrangea. She specialized in the taxonomy of seed plants and the distribution of flowering plants, especially California natives. She worked tirelessly for the conservation of native species, documenting the spread of invasive plants in California and compiling the literature on the relative toxicity of poisonous plants cultivated in the state.

Dr. McClintock served as curator at the Botany Department, California Academy of Sciences, 1949-1977. After her retirement, she continued her work as a research associate at the Herbaria of the University of California, Berkeley. Among her publications were two editions of the Flora of the San Bruno Mountains (1968), Annotated Checklist of Woody Ornamental Plants of California, Oregon and Washington (1979), Poisonous Plants of California (1986), and California Flora (1995). She also served as editor of the Journal of the California Horticultural Society (1945-1975) and as associate editor of Pacific Horticulture (1976-2000). Her treatment of the genus Libertia appears in FNA Volume 26.

Scott Sundberg, Asteraceae author for the FNAA, died on 30 December 2004 at age 50 after a battle with cancer. In addition to his work as a research assistant professor at the Oregon State University Herbarium, he initiated the Oregon Flora Project in 1994, with the goal of writing a new flora of Oregon. He served as coordinator for that project until his death.

Dr. Sundberg's principal area of expertise was the Asteraceae family. His Ph.D. and postdoctoral work concerned this family, and he coauthored the Oregon Vascular Plant Checklist: Asteraceae with Kenton Chambers in May 2000. His contributions to the FNA Asteraceae volumes included treatments of the genera Baccharis and Symphyotrichum.

Memorial gifts in Dr. Sunberg's honor can be made to NPSO_Oregon Flora Project and sent to Friends of the Oregon Flora Project, P.O. Box 402, Corvallis, OR 97339.

ELECTRONIC RESOURCES

Gateway to New Mexico Biodiversity

The Institute of Natural Resource Analysis and Management has mounted a new Web site and searchable database, the Gateway to New Mexico Biodiversity (http://biodiversity.inram.org/). The gateway gives access to records of over 280,000 plant and animal specimens from New Mexico. These records come from 21 collections at Eastern New Mexico University, New Mexico State University, the University of New Mexico, and Western New Mexico University. More data and additional capabilities will be added in the

ePIC Database

Kew Gardens has released an update to the electronic Plant Information Centre (ePIC, http://www.kew.org/epic/), their information resource discovery service. Users may now search for plant information across 11 databases held at Kew, and also on the Kew Web site, in one action. This update adds the World Checklist of Monocotyledons to the set of available resources. The checklist (accessible directly at http://www.kew.org/monocotChecklist/) currently provides synonymy and distribution for the Acoraceae, Araceae, Arecaceae, and Orchidaceae families. Eventually it will cover all of the monocotyledon families. Feedback is welcomed at epicfeedback@kew.org.

Arctos Database

The Herbarium of the University of Alaska Museum of the North (ALA) database, Arctos (http://arctos.database.museum/), was updated in September, with substantial improvements to the user interface and mapping capability. Arctos is an effort to integrate catalog data, related literature, and collection management data into a system that facilitates and showcases the use of the museum's scientific collections. Currently, Arctos lists 218,140 specimens from 11 collections. Records of all the museum's natural history collections are or will be included. Questions or comments may be sent to Dusty McDonald, system administrator, fndlm@uaf.edu.

Handwriting Samples of Classical Botanists

The Conservatory and Botanic Garden of Geneva announce a fully interactive Web site containing samples of signatures, herbarium labels, and fragments of letters of important classical botanists, http://www.cjb.unige.ch/bd/auxilium/. This tool, known as "Auxilium ad Botanicorum Graphicem," is the result of an effort initiated in 1972 by Hervé-M. Burdet, former keeper of the Geneva Botanical Library. The site aims to represent an important resource for the identification of handwritten notes on herbarium specimens. A correct identification can establish the authenticity of type specimens and other material of historical and nomenclatural significance. Comments or recommendations about the use and content of the site are welcome and should be addressed to Patrick Perret, curator of the Geneva Botanical Library, patrick.perret@cjb.ville-ge.ch.

Flora Zambesiaca

A new version of Flora Zambesiaca online is available at http://www.kew.org/efloras/. This latest release of the flora, which describes flowering plants and ferns native to and naturalized in Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and the Caprivi Strip, includes dichotomous keys to all of the taxa and allows easy browsing of the taxonomic hierarchy. The "full search" query now features additional pick-lists for the endemic status of the taxa and their habitats.

Smithsonian Botanical Symposium

The Smithsonian Botanical Symposium 2005,sponsored by the National Museum of Natural History and the United States Botanic Garden, will present "The Future of Floras: New Frameworks, New Technologies, New Uses," 15-16 April 2005. What will floras of the future look like? What will field taxonomists be doing in 20 years? This symposium will explore the full range of issues relating to new technologies. For information and registration, visit http://persoon.si.edu/sbs/, or email sbs@nmnh.si.edu.

The Palms: An International Symposium

The Linnean Society of London and The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, are sponsoring "The Palms: An International Symposium on the Biology of the Palm Family," to be held 6-8 April 2005. The symposium aims to draw on advances in palm biology by focusing on the current status of palm research, both in evolutionary biology and in the environment. Invited papers will be given at the Linnean Society on palm phylogeny and evolution, conservation and sustainable use, structural biology, and ecology. There will be a poster session at Kew, as well as a series of workshops. All participants are encouraged to present posters at the meeting. Tours of Kew's extensive living collections of palms, the Herbarium, and the Library will be available.

For further information about the conference and a registration form, see http://www.linnean.org.

Fifth Biennial Meeting, Systematics Association

The fifth biennial meeting of the Systematics Association will take place 22-26 August 2005 at Cardiff University and the National Museum and Gallery, Cardiff, Wales. The conference will provide a forum for systematists from various disciplines to present and discuss their research. In addition to contributed papers, the program will include the following daily thematic sessions: "The New Taxonomy," "What is Biogeography?" and "Perfect Phylogeny and Other Problems: Compatibility Methods in Systematics." For further details and registration, see http://www.systass.org.

An associated symposium sponsored by the Systematics Association and the Natural History Museum, "Algorithmic Approaches to the Identification Problem in Systematics," will take place in London on 19 August. More information is a vailable at http://www.nhm.ac.uk/hosted_sites/paleonet/
aaips_symposium/.

Fifth Annual Triticeae Symposium

The Fifth Annual Triticeae Symposium will be held in Prague, Czech Republic, 6-10 June 2005. The symposium brings together scientists from a wide range of disciplines to share insights on this important tribe of grasses, which includes wheat, barley, rye, and numerous forage species. For further information, see http://www.vurv.cz/triticeae/, or contact Mary Barkworth, mary@biology.usu.edu.

POSITIONS AVAILABLE

GRADUATE STUDY IN FLORISTICS. The Rocky Mountain Herbarium seeks students interested in pursuing a master's degree in broad-scale floristics. For more details about the program, as well as the herbarium and its projects, see http://www.rmh.uwyo.edu and http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/botany/, or contact Ronald L. Hartman, Rocky Mountain Herbarium,

RESEARCHER, COMPARITIVE FLORAL DEVELOPMENT AND REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY. Acadia University seeks a researcher to study Helianthemum canadense, an endangered plant species in Nova Scotia. The project begins in April 2005 and will last for two years. To apply, or to obtain more information, contact Rodger Evans, Biology Department, Acadia University, 24 University Ave., Wolfville NS B4P 2R6, Canada; (902) 585-1710; fax (902) 585-1059; rodger.evans@acadiau.ca.

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGY. The University of Wisconsin_Platteville offers a tenure-track, nine-month assistant professorship beginning in the fall of 2005. For further information about the position, see http://www.uwplatt.edu/pers/, or contact Elizabeth Frieders, frieders@uwplatt.edu. Review of applications will begin 17 January.

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR: BIOLOGY EDUCATION SPECIALIST. The Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, invites applications for a full-time, nine-month, tenure-track assistant professor position beginning August 2005. The department specifically seeks a biology education specialist whose research program includes activity and publication in science education/pedagogy. For more information about the position, contact Bob Sitts, (702) 895-1655, or write to hrsearch@ccmail.nevada.edu.

OTHER NEWS

Legal Status Information Extended to Related Taxa on PLANTS Database

The National Plant Data Center has achieved a first by compiling and presenting the comprehensJaive legal status (threatened and endangered, noxious, or wetland indicator status) for related plants in its PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov). This feature allows users to visit any Plant Profile and immediately grasp the complex legal protections for a plant. It was developed in cooperation with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Information Technology Center.

A plant's legal status applied at one taxonomic level of classification often automatically applies to another. However, until now, there has never been a listing or location that communicates these legal status relationships between synonyms and related plant species, varieties, or subspecies.

For example, Chorizanthe robusta is listed as federally endangered, but previous listings would have stopped there. Now PLANTS also displays the endangered status of its two varieties, robusta and hartwegii.

It is also important when a state classifies the legal status for an entire genus without specifying particular species. For example, California lists the genus Cynodon (Bermudagrass) as a noxious weed. This means that all Bermudagrass species in California are considered noxious. The PLANTS Database now communicates this relationship in each species's Plant Profile (i.e., Cynodon dactylon) because of the genus's legal status.

For more information, contact Rebecca Noricks, Plant Information Coordinator, USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center; (225) 775-6280 ext. 10; rebecca.noricks@la.usda.gov.