Exploring the science of plants, from the field to the lab

Archive: December 2013

Journey to Brazil: Teaching A New Generation About A Lifetime’s Work

Posted in Travelogue on December 5, 2013 by Scott Mori

Scott A. Mori is the Nathaniel Lord Britton Curator of Botany at the The New York Botanical Garden, and his primary research interests are the ecology, classification, and conservation of tropical rain forest trees. His most recent book is Tropical Plant Collecting : From the Field to the Internet. This is the first in a three-part series documenting his latest trip to Brazil.

Flower and fruit of Gustavia gracillima. — Flower and fruit of *Gustavia gracillima*.

In nearly 50 years as a tropical botanist, I have spent a great deal of time in Brazil, where most of the species I study—belonging to the Brazil nut family of woody plants—are found. Usually I go in search of new species or new information about known species in this large and economically important family, but recently I went for a different reason—to pass on some of my botanical knowledge to the next generation of Brazilian botanists.

I was invited by the Escola Nacional de Botânica Tropical (a division of the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden) to teach a short course on the classification, evolution, and ecology of the Brazil nut family, scientifically known as Lecythidaceae. This opportunity was appealing for a couple of reasons: first, I have a National Science Foundation Grant to synthesize my career-long research on the Brazil nut family and pass that on to future generations of botanists, and second, one of The New York Botanical Garden’s missions is to help students of all ages learn about botany.

During the early years of my career, there were few Brazilians with doctorate degrees in systematic botany. Today, Brazil has some of the world’s best programs for the study of tropical biology, including the one at Rio’s botanical garden. This garden has state-of-the-art molecular labs, an outstanding herbarium, a program of botanical exploration throughout the country, an advanced database system used to inventory the country’s flora, an outstanding program to monitor endangered species, and an excellent post-graduate program.

John Cage, Mycologist

Posted in Interesting Plant Stories on December 2, 2013 by Ellen Bloch

Ellen Diane Bloch is the collections manager of the William and Lynda Steere Herbarium‘s Cryptogamic Herbarium, which includes the fungi collection.

Many people know John Cage (1912-1992) as one of the foremost experimental composers and musicians of the 20th century, but he was also a dedicated amateur in the field of mycology, the study of mushrooms and other fungi. When he was asked to teach a music course at the New School in New York City in the late 1950s, he said yes, but only if he could also teach a class in mushroom identification. He taught the class for three years.

A letter from Cage, now kept in The New York Botanical Garden’s archives in the LuEsther T. Mertz Library, shows how committed he and his New School students were to their mycological studies. Dated November 6, 1961, the letter was addressed to Dr. Clark Rogerson, the Garden’s mycologist at the time.

Cage announced that after three years, the people involved in the New School classes wanted to form a society to “continue the field trips in suitable weather but which would add winter study periods with emphasis on the literature and work with microscope (sic). In addition we want to have a series of lectures given by authorities in the field. We would like to diminish the gap between ourselves as amateurs and the professional mycologists, knowing full well that we have much to gain, and hoping that our activities in the field can become more useful to the science itself … We would call ourselves the New York Mycological Society … We would have a Secretary and Treasurer but no other officers. We would not employ parliamentary law. Our wish is that the Society would function without dependence on leadership, focusing its attention directly on fungi.”

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