Volume 16, No. 2

April-August 2002

We are thrilled to announce that Volume 26 of the Flora of North America, which treats Liliales and Orchidales, has been sent to Oxford University Press (OUP) for publication. Typesetting was completed at the Missouri Botanical Garden before the volume went to the publisher.

The volume treats a total of 177 genera and 908 species. Twenty-three genera and 589 species are endemic, 31 genera and 94 species are introduced, and 116 taxa are of conservation concern.

It is anicipated that Volume 26 will be available in October, and it may be preordered from OUP. See related article below.

FNA wishes to thank contributors, reviewers, donors, project staff, and everyone who made this volume possible. Their extraordinary efforts throughout production of Volume 26 are truly appreciated.

VOLUMES 23 AND 26 AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER

The next volumes available in the Flora of North America series, volumes 23 (Cyperaceae) and 26 (Liliales and Orchidales), may be preordered from Oxford University Press. All volumes, including those already published, are being offered at a 20% discount on orders placed before 31 August 2002 (U.S. only). The price of each volume is $75.00, plus $5.00 shipping and handling per copy; beginning 1 September, the price will increase to $95.00. To place an order for these or any of the volumes, call OUP at (800) 451-7556; fax (212) 726-6442; or visit http://www.oup-usa.org/reference/sprintro.html.

The last of the Volume 26 (Liliales and Orchidales) treatments were received in May, and final editing and typesetting was completed in June and July. Printer-ready files were sent to OUP from the Missouri Botanical Garden (MBG) at the end of July. See related article at left.

All Volume 23 (Cyperaceae) treatments have been received and are being placed into galley and page proof. A handful or art and some maps have yet to be finalized.

Progress is being made on the art for Volume 25 (Poaceae, Part 2), and all illustrations are penciled or in ink. Publication is planned for 2003. Several of the manuscripts for volume 24 (Poaceae, Part 1) have been sent out for regional review. Contributors who have indicated they want to modify their original submission have been warned that the revised copy must be turned in by the end of August to allow time for review and editing. Publication is scheduled for 2005, though not all necessary funding has been secured. The geographic database used for both volumes of the Grass Manual has been restructured to make it more resistant to human error.

Volume 4 (Caryophyllidae, excluding Caryophyllaceae) treatments are moving to the final editorial phases, but 10% of them are still unsubmitted, and none have gone to MBG for prepress. The target date of publication is still 2003, but a firmer schedule is needed.

Volumes 19, 20, and 21 (Asteraceae) are being summarized with an estimated number of species exceeding 2,600. About 30% of all treatments have been received.

The bryophyte (BFNA) volumes, 27_29, are being processed at the new FNA Editorial Center for Bryophytes at MBG, which opened in July (see related article, page 8). The project will be reevaluated for new completion dates.

The publication date of Volume 5 (Caryophyllaceae, Part 2: Caryophyllaceae, Polygonaceae, and Plumbaginaceae) has been moved to 2005, although a number of treatments have entered the review process.

The FNA Editorial Center for the three bryophyte volumes (27_29) moved from Buffalo to St. Louis in July. The new center will enjoy and benefit from the human and physical resources of the Missouri Botanical Garden, especially the aid and counsel of Managing Editor Dr. Jim Zarucchi and other FNA staff, as well as that of the Bryology Group. Dr. Richard Zander, BFNA Lead Editor, and Ms. Patricia Eckel, Illustrator and Technical Editor, appreciate the help of Dr. Bob Magill, Director of Science at MBG, in facilitating this move.

Recent postings to the BFNA Web site include treatments of Platydictya, Pleuroziopsis, Pseudocrossidium, and Ptilidium, plus illustrations for Barbula, Herzogiella, Pseudocrossidium, Ptychomitrium, and Taxiphyllum.

ELECTRONIC RESOURCES

CBD Report Online

The final report from the recent Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) meeting may be downloaded at http://www.biodiv.org, document UNEP/CBD/COP/6/20, titled "Decisions of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity at Its Sixth Meeting, The Hague, April 2002." This huge document provides the international policy framework, and guidance to international funding agencies, in many areas of interest, including the Global Taxonomy Initiative, agricultural biological diversity, and invasive species.

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. 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.

The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) has completed the imaging of the vascular plant type specimen collection (except for those specimens on loan). Each of the approximately 85,000 images are available through the searchable Vascular Plant Type Catalog at http://www.nybg.org/bsci/hcol/vasc/.

The NYBG Type Specimen Imaging project now turns its focus to the nonvascular plant collections, including bryophytes, fungi, lichens, and algae. There are about 35,000 type specimens in these groups, and cataloging and imaging will take three to five years to complete. The first collection available is the fungal type collection from the Ghent University Herbarium, Belgium (see related article below).

GENT Fungal Type Collection Now Online

The New York Botanical Garden has begun the process of hosting specimen data from other institutions. The fungal type collection from the Ghent University Herbarium, Belgium, is the first set of data to be made available on the NYBG Web site. An overview of the catalog and access to the data is located at http://www.nybg.org/bsci/hcol/gent/. All inquiries about the data and specimens should be directed to Dr. A. Verbeken, mieke.verbeken@rug.ac.be.

Catalog of Vascular Plant Species of Eastern Brazil Available

The first installment of the Catalog of Vascular Plant Species of Eastern Brazil is now available at http://www.nybg.org/bsci/hcol/sebc. When completed, it will contain information from all specimens of vascular plant species collected in eastern Brazil and housed at the NYBG Herbarium. In addition, for each species that also occurs beyond the boundaries of eastern Brazil, the catalogue will contain information from specimens chosen to indicate the limits of the species' geographical range in the Americas.

For this catalog, "eastern Brazil" comprises the states on the Brazilian coast from Rio Grande do Norte to Rio Grande do Sul. The information in the catalog is intended to provide a means to assess the diversity and endemism of the flora in this region.

Information can be obtained by searching the database directly or by selecting from a checklist of families. The database contains specimens for only the 90 families on the checklist. Searching the database will return specimen records that match the search criteria.

The current (1995) International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP) is now in the revision process. All those who have an interest in this subject are invited to download the current working draft for inspection, evaluation, and comment. The document is available as a 58-page PDF file at http://www.iacpt.org/icncp_draft.pdf.

University of Iowa Herbarium Unveils New Web Site

The Web site of the University of Iowa Herbarium, http://atmos.cgrer.uiowa.edu/herbarium/, is designed to be used by professionals as well as to serve as an educational and outreach tool for the university community and for Iowa residents. In addition to providing basic information on herbaria, collections, and their uses, the site highlights the multifaceted resource the Herbarium represents, the pivotal role of this collection in the historical development of the biological sciences at the University of Iowa, and the practical application of plant collections data as documentation for endangered species legislation. Also available is an interactive database of all state endangered and threatened plant species listed from 1977 to the present.

CUP Database Online

The database of the Cornell University Plant Pathology Herbarium (CUP) is now available online. Data for 12,600 of the herbarium's 400,000 fungus and plant disease specimens may be searched by multiple parameters, including classification, accession number, type status, and location. The site will be updated regularly as specimen information is added to the Biota database. To access the search page, visit http://ppathw3.cals.cornell.edu/CUPpages/. Comments on the data and user interface are welcome.

HERBARIA

Rehousing Collections at BRIT

The Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT) has completed a year-long rehousing project in the herbarium, made possible by a generous grant from the National Science Foundation. Three hundred seventy-five new herbarium cases were purchased to eliminate overcrowding in the BRIT, Southern Methodist University (SMU), and Vanderbilt (VDB) collections. New space was leased for VDB, and Dr. Roger Sanders was hired as Assistant Collections Manager

These activities have made the collections at BRIT much more accessible to both staff and researchers. In addition, BRIT now houses the collections of two other "orphaned" herbaria, one from Southeast Oklahoma State University, Durant, Oklahoma, and the other from the Houston Museum of Natural Science, Texas. FNA contributors are encouraged to consider the collections at BRIT, now numbering nearly one million specimens, as a resource for their work. BRIT has particularly good coverage of the southeastern and south-central United States. Loan requests are processed in an expedient manner. Interested contributors may contact Dr. Debra Trock, Collections Manager, Botanical Research Institute of Texas, 509 Pecan Street, Fort Worth, TX 76102; dtrock@brit.org.

Academy of Natural Sciences Herbarium

Offers Specimens

The Herbarium of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, has uncovered many duplicate specimens in their collection, which ranges from local Pennsylvania material to a large collection of Asian plants. These duplicates are available upon request; preferences regarding geographic region, taxa, etc., should be provided. Contact Dr. James Macklin, Collections Manager, The Academy of Natural Sciences, Biodiversity Research Group, Botany Department, 1900 Ben Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19103-1195; (215) 405-5088; macklin@acnatsci.org.

Exchange material should not be sent to the herbarium for the next six months, during which time the staff will complete renovations and improvements of the facility. An active exchange program will be reestablished after this period.

NEW ASTERACEAE AUTHOR

Dr. Phyllis Spurr, of Northern Kentucky University, has agreed to write the account of Youngia (Asteraceae, volumes 19, 20, and 21) for FNA. The treatment is in the preparation stage.

Systematics Symposium, MBG

The forty-ninth annual Systematics Symposium will be held 11_12 October 2002 at the Missouri Botanical Garden (MBG). This year's topic is "The Genetics of Conservation." The meeting is cosponsored by the Center for Plant Conservation, with support from the National Science Foundation. The registration fee is $35, with a further charge of $60 for those who wish to attend the dinner and cocktail hour on Saturday.

For a registration form or for further information, see http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/symposium/
welcome.shtml, or contact P. Mick Richardson, (314) 577-5176, mick.richardson@mobot.org. Space is limited to 400 participants, so registration should be submitted as soon as possible.

Young Systematists Forum

Postgraduate and recent postdoctoral researchers are invited to attend the fourth annual Young Systematists Forum, 5 December 2002, at the Natural History Museum, London. The Forum represents an exciting setting for young researchers to present their data to a scientific audience. There is space for up to 15 speakers, with additional places available for those wishing to present a poster. Prizes will be awarded to the most promising oral and poster presentations as judged by a small panel.

Registration is free, and the deadline is 4 November. Applications, including name, address, and, if desired, topic for oral or poster presentation, should be sent by e-mail to Dr. Russell Seymour, r.seymour@nhm.ac.uk, or Dr. Russell Stothard, r.stothard@nhm.ac.uk. For more information, visit http://www.systass.org/ysf/youngsyst02.html.

Inaugural Meeting, IBS

The International Biogeography Society (IBS), a nonprofit organization founded in 2000, announces its inaugural meeting, "Frontiers of Biogeography," to be held 4_8 January 2003 at the Oasis Resort, Mesquite, Nevada. The meeting's technical contributions are designed around two formats. First, biogeographers from around the world have been invited to deliver oral presentations, organized into five symposia. Second, meeting participants are invited to submit titles and abstracts for contributed poster presentations. Abstracts must be received no later than 1 October 2002. For complete details on registration, a list of

Global Taxonomy Initiative Workshop

The First Global Taxonomy Initiative Regional Workshop in Asia will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 10_13 September 2002. Species 2000 Asia Oceania Forum will be held as a side event on 14 September. For more information on both events, see http://www-sp2000ao.nies.go.jp/english/gti/GTIwksp.html. Further details on the Global Taxonomy Initiative are available at http://www.biodiv.org.

The deadline to submit abstracts for the poster session has passed, but registrations are being accepted up to 31 August. Applications may be submitted at the Web site above, and applicants are encouraged to participate in the forum on GTI. Minimum travel support for the working-group members may be available, but those with their own funds to attend the workshop and forum are asked to contact Dr. Junko Shimura, junko@nies.go.jp.

PUBLICATIONS

HerbWeb Ethnobotany Database Now on

CD-ROM

The HerbWeb CD-ROM, by Timothy Johnson, is a database of concise ethnobotanical monographs of the characteristics of over 28,600 medicinal plant species, including an inventory of claimed attributes and historical uses by cultures throughout the world. Monographs are linked to hundreds of thousands of articles and images via the Web, providing an exhaustive tool for in-depth global herb research. Each species listing has links to image and article searches.

Sources for this index include the three largest U.S. government ethnobotany databases, the U.S. National Park Service NPFlora plant inventory lists, and 18 leading works on the subject.

The CD requires a Windows-compatible computer and a Web browser such as Netscape or Microsoft Internet Explorer. To order, contact Tim Johnson, 107 Cedar Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95060. The 1998 print version of the database, The CRC Ethnobotany Desk Reference, may be purchased at bookstores nationwide.

Herbarium Positions, NYBG

The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) has five herbarium positions open. A shipping clerk and two part-time herbarium assistants are needed immediately. For more information about any of these positions, send e-mail to Dr. Jacqueline Kallunki, Associate Director of the Herbarium, jkallunki@nybg.org. NYBG also seeks a full-time curatorial assistant for the nonvascular plant-type specimen catalog project. This position is open until 1 July 2002; for more information, contact Dr. Barbara M. Thiers, Director of the Herbarium, bthiers@nybg.org.

General information about working at NYBG can be found at http://www.nybg.org/bsci/herb/herb2.html, under "Herbarium Employment Opportunities."

Executive Director, Botanical Society of

America

The Botanical Society of America (BSA), a society of professional plant biologists, seeks an executive director to oversee the Society's new headquarters at the Missouri Botanical Garden. The position is open until filled. To apply, send a curriculum vitae and the names and addresses of three references to the Missouri Botanical Garden, Human Resource Management, Attn: BSA Search Committee, P. O. Box 299, St. Louis, MO 63166; fax (314) 577-9597; jobs@mobot.org. To learn more about the BSA, visit http://www.botany.org.

Visiting Research Fellowship, Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, Australia, invites applications for a research fellowship to be taken up and completed between 1 July 2003 and 30 June 2004. The fellowship is available for a research project contributing to any of the research programs at the Gardens. Details of currect projects may be viewed at http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/html/Science.html.

To apply, send a proposed research program, curriculum vitae, and the names of three references to Dr. Tim Entwisle, Royal Botanic Gardens, Mrs Macquaries Road, Sydney NSW 2000. Applications should be received no

Postdoctoral Fellowship, The Field Museum

The Field Museum in Chicago seeks candidates for a two-year postdoctoral position in a variety of scientific areas. The fellowship, which is available beginning January 2003, carries full museum benefits and a modest research budget. To apply, send a cover letter, an outline of the intended project, curriculum vitae, and the names of three references to Chair, Boyd Postdoctoral Fellow Search Committee, Office of Academic Affairs, The Field Museum, 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605. Applications will be accepted until 30 September 2002.

Assistant Curator, Michigan State Herbarium

The MSU Herbarium seeks a second full-time assistant curator to manage their vascular plant collection. Full benefits are provided and the position is fully funded for three years. Applicants should send a brief cover letter expressing their interest and long-term career goals, a curriculum vitae or resume, and the names, mailing addresses, e-mail addresses, and phone numbers of three references to Dr. Alan Prather, MSU Herbarium, Department of Plant Biology, 166 Plant Biology, Wilson Road, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824-1312; (517) 355-4695; fax (517) 353-1926; alan@msu.edu. Review of applications began on 5 August and will continue until the position is filled.

DEATHS

JEFFREY HARBORNE, distinguished phytochemist at the University of Reading, passed away on 21 July 2002 after a long illness. Professor Harborne was head of the Department of Botany and former director of the Harris Garden of the School of Plant Sciences, University of Reading. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in March 1995 in recognition of his scientific achivements in plant chemistry, including the use of secondary compounds in taxonomy. Dr. Harborne published more than 40 scientific books and authored some 270 review articles and research papers.