Volume 26, Number 3 Published by the UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BOTANICAL GARDEN at Berkeley Summer 2001

BU N I V E R S I T Y o f C A L I F O R N I A

N E W S L E T T E R

OTANICALGARDEN

strong winds andclothed in a blanketof fog. Our first stopwas on top of thenorth escarpment. Myview to the north andeast consisted of acres,indeed miles of giantcoreopsis (Coreopsisgigantea) covered withtheir yellow daisy-likeflowers. There are notrees or large shrubs;the vegetation of theisland consists mostlyof low growing herbsand bushes.

As I scrambled down the steep slope into a canyon whereSteve was mapping Opuntia, there were lots of silver bushlupine (Lupinus albifrons) in flower. I half-walked, half-slid/crawled through tangles of coreopsis and the islandendemic morning glory (Calystegia macrostegia ssp. amplissima)until I got to the edge of the Opuntia patch. After helpingwith the mapping, we headed back up the slope where Steve pointed out a few more island endemics Hemizoniaclementina, growing with Malacothrix incana.

Steve seemed to know every nook and cranny of theisland, and I had the opportunity to get to know severalcanyons intimately during our long days out in the field.One of the most striking displays I saw was that of giantcoreopsis (Coreopsis gigantea) in full flower with its largeshowy yellow inflorescence underlain by a carpet of bluedicks (Dichelostemma capitatum) with leaves growing so

As part of our continu-ing efforts to improve

and diversify the Garden’sworld class collections, thispast March I took a collect-ing trip out to San NicolasIsland. San Nicolas is oneof the Southern ChannelIslands, located roughly 70miles south of Ventura andabout 70 miles west ofOceanside (San DiegoCounty). The long axis ofthe island runs roughlynorthwest to southeast. Theisland is about eight mileslong, by three miles wide atits longest and widest points.San Nicolas is the most isolated of the Channel Islands; notonly because of its distance from the mainland but also itsdistance from the other Channel Islands. Due to the island’sisolation, not as many plants colonized the island, and theflora is relatively depauperate. The nearest island is tiny SantaBarbara Island about twenty miles away. The island is ownedby the Navy and serves as part of its Pacific missile test range.

Access to the San Nicolas Island is somewhat restricted soI was fortunate to have the opportunity to head out therewith Steve Junak, herbarium curator for the Santa BarbaraBotanic Garden, who has access and permits to work on theisland. Steve is a noted expert on the flora of the ChannelIslands, and one of the authors of A Flora of Santa CruzIsland; hopefully A Flora of San Nicolas Island will soon beforthcoming from him.

The next day was a calm beautiful sunny day, which issomewhat of an anomaly. The island is often buffeted by

Isolation on the Southern Channel Islands: San Nicolas Island

Rock formations at west end of San Nicholas Island.

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2 University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley

thickly together that it looked like a lawn. The blue dickswere chock full of dense, dark-purple flower heads. The scaleof the display, floral abundance and color combination wasjust breathtaking. A miniature version of that associationexists here at the Garden in Bed 6B of the California Area,flowering in the spring.

The relative purity and wildness of the island was inspir-ing. The beaches show no signs of human disturbance. Thewater is clear and blue, the seals gather in abundance alongthe shores. San Nicolas Island is an important breedingground for elephant seals, harbor seals and sea lions. Thewest end of the island is covered by sand dunes and plantspruned down to low sturdy mats by the wind. The unyield-ing influence of wind and water has carved the rocks alongthe western shore into crazy shapes and sculptures.Unfortunately, the island is not entirely pristine, the influ-ence of exotic weedy plants is evident even here, althoughthe Navy and other interested agencies are taking steps tocontrol it. I did my share, spending a few hours in theevening working to remove a recently introduced mustard(Brassica tournefortii) before it dropped its seed.

The plant I’m most excited about having collected is theSan Nicolas endemic, Eriogonum grande var. timorum, theSan Nicolas Island buckwheat, a beautiful low growing plantwith rosettes of gray leaves with showy umbels of white flow-ers. I collected several other island endemics includingAstragalus traskiae, Artemisia nesiotica, Lomatium insulare,and Lotus argophyllus var. argenteus. All of the plants are now

in the hands of our able plant propagator JohnDomzalski, who will care for them until theyhave taken root and we have prepared an areafor them to be planted.

The California Channel Islands are of greatinterest floristically; they are home to manynarrowly restricted endemics as well as host torelictual taxa such as Lyonothamnus that wereformerly found on the California mainland.Our Channel Island Collection provides greatopportunities for research and education, pro-viding living examples of the many specialplants found there.

My hope is that we will be able to securefunding to restore one of our Channel Islandbeds. I have been working to eradicate theweedy exotic bulb Nothoscordum inodorum; itappears to be under control. The next steps areto amend the soil, install new paths and rockwork in order to provide the additional spaceand cultural conditions we need to grow theseexciting new collections. Over the long term Ihope to develop a more complete Channel

Island collection. Berkeley’s strong maritime influence, thelack of extremely hot dry summers and infrequent frost giveus an unparalleled opportunity for the cultivation of theisland flora. The Garden boasts the most complete Californianative bulb collection in the world, hopefully someday wewill be able to say similar things about our Channel Islandscollection.

—Nathan Smith

Dense stands of giant coreopsis (Coreopsis gigantea) dominate much of the northern side ofthe island.

For Further ReadingReferences on the Islands of California

■ A Flora of Santa Cruz Island, by Steve Junak, TinaAyers, Randy Scott, Dieter Wilken, David Young; Illus.by Linda Ann Vorobik; Santa Barbara Botanic Gardenin collaboration with the California Native Plant Soc.,Santa Barbara, CA, 1995; b/w photos; drawings; maps;keys; 397pp.; paper, $24.95.

■ Natural History of the Islands of California,(California Natural History Guides, No. 61), by AllanA. Schoenherr, C. Robert Feldmeth, Michael J.Emerson; Illus. by David Mooney and Michael J.Emerson; UC Press, Berkeley, CA, 1999; b/w and colorphotos; drawings; maps; 491pp.; hardcover, $48.00.

—Elly Bade

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fresh plant material, the advent of molecular systemat-ics (see box) has revolutionized the role of botanicalgardens. Our collection is especially valuable because itis well-documented and collected from the wild.Distant researchers can peruse our collection list onthe web and request material by email. The Garden’scuration staff, including Holly Forbes, Barbara Keller,and student assistants, do the important work of com-municating with researchers, collecting and preparingmaterial for them, and shipping that material aroundthe globe.

Much of this research activity is only barely dis-cernable to Garden visitors. More recently, however,the Garden has begun hosting a new group ofresearchers who are often quite visible in the Garden.

In a future Newsletter, we will introduce thesephysiological plant ecologists, whom you may seeas they connect Garden plants to various sophisti-cated instruments.

Many visitors to the Garden don’t realize that it is afounding member of the Berkeley Natural HistoryMuseums (BNHM). Comprised of the Garden, theEssig Museum of Entomology, the University andJepson Herbaria, the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology,the Museum of Paleontology, and the Phoebe HearstMuseum of Anthropology, the BNHM is the largestnatural history museum west of the Mississippi! Interms of research productivity and the size and qualityof its collections, the BNHM ranks among the mostprominent museums in the country, including theAmerican Museum in New York and the Field Museumin Chicago.

The BNHM is unique among the major natural his-tory museums in having a botanical garden. As befits aninstitution of its caliber, the Garden plays a major role inbotanical research around the world. The Garden is par-ticularly well known for its contributions to plant evo-lutionary biology. Because DNA is best obtained from

DIRECTOR’S COLUMN

Fouquieria drawing by UCBG horticulturist Judith Finn.

PHYLOGENETIC ANALYSIS

Much as genealogists use familial relation-ships to determine the origins of individuals,evolutionary biologists attempt to discern theevolutionary history of organisms by chartingtheir relationships. If you’ve ever attending afamily reunion, you may remember seeing your great-grandparent or grandparent and all his or her descen-dents, among them you. All these people descendedfrom a single individual constitute a lineage.Genealogists consult historical documents for records ofbirths, deaths, and marriages to discover the deeper his-tory of lineages. Similarly, the fossil record sometimesprovides clues about relationships among organisms thatallow us to group them into possible lineages. We maysee lineages that died out for lack of descendents andother lineages whose descendents are part of today’sflora. Only rarely do groups have such well-resolved fos-sil histories, however, leading evolutionary biologists todevelop other tools in their search for the history of life.

Phylogenetics uses the characteristics of living organ-isms to infer the character of their ancestors and hencetheir evolutionary relationships. In particular, if two

species share a character, it’s a safe bet that themost recent ancestor that they share in com-mon also exhibited that trait. For example,

both Arabis (rock cress) and Erysimum (wall-flower) have four-petaled flowers, suggesting that

their common ancestor also had four petals(Figure 1A). By cataloguing large numbers of charac-

ters, evolutionary biologists can use complexmathematical models to produce hypotheticalphylogenies, or trees, of inferred relationshipsamong organisms.

Unfortunately, though, a pair of species may share acharacter without having inherited it from a commonancestor. Instead, they may have lived in a similar envi-ronment and evolved similar-looking trait in response toselection by that environment. For example, bothFouquieria splendens (ocotillo) and Didierea have spinybranches. However, other data suggest that these speciesare only distantly related and their most recent commonancestor lacked such spines. Instead, they probably sharethis morphology because they both evolved in harshenvironments where losing tissue to herbivory wouldseverely reduce the number of progeny a plant could

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University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley4

contribute to thenext generation.Evolutionary biol-ogists would saythat these specieshave converged ona common mor-phology due tonatural selectionimposed by simi-lar ecological pres-sures. Evolution-ary biologistsemploy two strate-gies to avoid beingmisled by conver-gence. First, weuse a very largenumber of charac-ters, hoping toaverage out theeffects of various potentially convergent traits. Second,we try to use characters that are less likely to experiencestrong selection.

Recent advances in molecular biology have provideda treasure trove of traits for phylogenetic analysis. Petalnumber is only a single trait; but several genes may con-trol it. Further, each gene is spelled out by hundreds, ifnot thousands, of “letters.” When one letter is substitut-ed for another (misspelling), we call it a mutation. Once

Figure 1. Hypothetical relationships in two plant lineages. A. Arabis and Erysimum, which both have fourpetals, having inherited the trait from a common ancestor. B. Fouquieria and Didierea, which both have spinystems, although their common ancestor does not.

a mutation occurs,the progeny of themutant will carry thenew spelling. Theywill share a commontrait – the aberrantletter at that point inthe code – whichthey received fromtheir ancestor, themutant. In the lab,we can “read” thesequence of these let-ters and treat eachone as a character.Thus, where we oncehad only one charac-ter (number ofpetals), we now havethousands. Moreover,interspersed within

each gene are sections of code that appear to have littlefunction and hence experience little selection; these areideal for inferring evolutionary relationships.

Using molecular methods has vastly increased thenumber of characters available to evolutionary biologistsand has helped resolve the history of many plant groupswhose evolutionary relationships had been poorly under-stood.

—Ellen Simms

Erysimum

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Fouquieria Didierea

Summer 2001 5

BOOK REVIEW

Mr Menzies’ Garden Legacy: PlantCollecting on the Northwest Coast, byClive L. Justice; Cavendish Books,Vancouver, B.C., 2000; b/w photos,illus; maps; index of botanical names;144pp.; paper, $17.95.

Archibald Menzies can have nobetter or more interested biographerthan Clive Justice, a retired landscapearchitect and skilled plantsman, whogrew up on Saltspring Island northeastof Victoria, British Columbia. In hisyouth and during his long and suc-cessful professional life he knew andworked with the plants Menziesdescribed and collected during his twoexpeditions to the Pacific Northwestover two hundred years ago.

Born in 1754 into a family of gar-deners in Perthshire, Scotland,Menzies received his early botanical

training on the estate ofCastle Menzies, wherehis father was head gar-dener. At the age offourteen he went toEdinburgh to studybotany and medicineunder Dr. JohnHope, a student ofLinnaeus’, who heldjoint appointmentsin medicine andbotany atEdinburghUniversity andthe RoyalBotanicalGarden. Uponcompletion ofhis studies he

joined the Royal Navy asAssistant Surgeon. Menzies’ subse-quent career in the navy was promot-ed by Dr. Hope’s recommendation ofhis services as botanist to Sir JosephBanks at the King’s Gardens at Kew.

For readers of Patrick O’Brien,who wrote extensively researched nov-els about the British Navy of thesetimes, the position of surgeon-botaniston board ship was a breathtakinglyadventurous one. Justice, however, infocusing specifically on Menzies’ expe-ditions-the first with Captain JamesColnett and the second with CaptainGeorge Vancouver-gives a more realis-tic picture of the hard work and frus-trations of the job. From his ownviewpoint as historian, geographer andforester, he describes Menzies’ difficul-ties collecting, preserving and keepingplant material alive until it reachedEngland safely, often in contradictionto the responsibilities and interests of

the ship’s crew and captain.Today Menzies is recognized as the

first person to find, describe and col-lect the plants of the PacificNorthwest. In 1795, upon the returnof the Vancouver expedition, he lostpossession of his journal and herbari-um specimens to Vancouver andBanks, causing his pioneering discov-eries to remain unrecognized duringhis lifetime. In 1802 Menzies wasforced to leave the Navy. He thenmarried and opened a surgical practicein London, where he died in 1846without having a major work ofbotany to his credit.

Not many readers will be aware-and it is not mentioned in theauthor’s biography-that Justice lived atInternational House and studied land-scape architecture at UC Berkeley overfifty years ago. True to his trainingand love of plants, this book is filledwith stories about the use, history,physical appearance and lore of theplants Menzies found in his travels.Every page contains a helpful plantillustration or map (some not easy toread) appropriate to his text. For all ofus who know and love the plants ofwestern North America, it is a satisfac-tion to learn a little about the botanistwho introduced them to the scientificand gardening world.

—Elly Bade

Reviewer’s note:Readers consulting Justice’s bibliogra-phy may wish to read about ArchibaldMenzies in Susan Delano McKelvey’sBotanical Exploration of the Trans-Mississippi West, 1790-1850, which isalso available in the Garden Shop.

University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley6

EDUCATION AT THE GARDEN

Math in the GardenSpring, a period of intense activity in gardens, was espe-

cially productive for the Garden’s Math in the Garden cur-riculum development program. Program staff completeddevelopment of two dozen activities with local youth com-munity groups and readied them for testing in youth pro-grams across the country this summer. Another dozen activ-ities will be ready.

Activities include planting in circles, locating crops on acoordinate grid, developing estimation, percentage, andmeasuring skills, discovering geometric shapes amongplants, recording and analyzing growth rates, using non-standard and standard measuring tools, and developing rat-ing scales to assess predator damage. The activities are tiedinto the new national standards for mathematics education.Local trials indicate that the activities are fun, compellingand teach math. This summer’s trials will determine if thisremains true when youth leaders, who themselves may beleery of math, are teaching the activities. Celebration and at scouting events. Our summer camp,

GreenStuff, has been, and continues to be, a wonderful test-ing ground for program development activities.

The step we are involved in this summer is critical toproducing activities that work in diverse settings and pro-grams. Ten youth programs across the country will be testingour activities in their programs. These national test sitesinclude the UC Davis Arboretum, Brooklyn BotanicGarden, Missouri Botanical Garden, Atlanta BotanicalGarden, three 4-H county-test sites in California, a girl scoutsummer camp. Each site tests 6 to 12 activities in youthbotany camps, community gardens, teacher training insti-tutes, and/or “family day” programs. Every site receives thewritten activities and all the equipment needed to use withtheir participants. This is a real test of how well staff hascommunicated procedures, background and the math con-tent in written form as leaders do not receive training butlearn to do the activities solely by reading the activities.

While national test sites committed to testing the materi-als with a total of 400 children, their enthusiasm for thematerials has resulted in this summer’s national test involvingover 1200 youngsters. We are delighted. We look forward toseeing the written evaluations from each leader each timethey try an activity.

Math in the Garden also received national exposure thisspring when it was featured in the Time Magazine supple-ment, Find Out Why, that is sent to elementary classroomsacross the country. Math in the Garden is funded by theNational Science Foundation.

—Jenny White

STEPPING ON BEDSUsing paces, children determine the size of a planting bed

before they determine how big half of it is.

The proven development process used in this projectbegins with project staff trying out activity ideas in diversegarden settings with children. Staff worked with childrenaround the San Francisco Bay Area, including afterschooland summer programs at Malcolm X, Oxford, Lazear andDowner elementary schools, and at Martin Luther King Jr.Middle School. Staff held development days in conjunctionwith the Richmond Recycling Center’s Earth Day

COUNTING TOMATO SEEDSA youngster discovers that after counting seeds in

several tomatoes she develops estimating skills and confidence predicting the number of seeds in others.

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Here is a quick sample of an activity you can dowith children in your own garden, now, or when yourtomatoes are ripe.

How Many Seeds in a Tomato?

What You NeedA piece of paper, crayons and pencils, toothpick,

cutting board, serrated plastic knife , 6-inch string, 6-8“cherry” or ‘Sweet 100’ tomatoes (from the garden orthe store), 2-3 additional different-sized tomatoes

Now We BeginEat a cherry tomato for a snack. As you eat ask how

many seeds do you think are inside each tomato. Doeseach tomato have the same number of seeds? How canwe find out?

Estimate the number of SeedsGive each child (or pair of children) a 6-inch length

of string and ask them to select 4-6 tomatoes thatappear similar in size. Ask them to wrap the stringaround a tomato, mark that distance and check to see ifthe others are a similar size.

1. Give each a cutting board, toothpicks, paper,crayons and pencils. Have the children examine anddraw the tomato in its actual size.

2. Before cutting open the tomato, ask each child toestimate the number of seeds inside. Record this num-ber next to the drawing. Put a big “E” by it to remindthem that it is their estimation of the number of seeds.

3. Cut one tomato in half and count the seeds.Encourage them to look closely at the seeds. Are theyall the same size? Do any look dead?

4. Record the number of seeds counted next to theestimation. Put an “A” by it for actual number of seeds.

Make a better guess. Estimate the number of seedsin a second tomato. Cut it open and count and recordthe number of seeds. Is the number of seeds the same inall tomatoes that are the same size? If not, how close isthe number of seeds? How many more? How manyfewer?

How much better would your guess be with a thirdtomato? Go ahead and try it.

Repeat this activity until each child is confidentabout estimating the number of seeds inside a new cherry tomato.

During the past fewmonths the Gardenstaff and volunteershave been developing anew map of theGarden that reflectschanges in the shapes

of beds and paths. As the staff identified various map issues,it became apparent it was time to confirm and/or revise areaand collection names to better reflect the collection itself andthe vision for its future. Additionally, it became clear that weneeded to change the area names from adjectives (e.g.Californian) to geographical regions (California). To this endthe “n” has been removed from most names.

The revised, official area and special collection names areas follows.

Arid House (formerly Desert and Rainforest House)AsiaAustralasia (formerly New Zealand and Australian)CaliforniaChinese Medicinal Herb GardenCrops of the World Garden (formerly Slosson Garden)Cycad & Palm GardenEastern North AmericaFern & Carnivorous PlantsGarden of Old RosesHerb GardenMather Redwood GroveMediterranean (formerly European/Mediterranean)Mexico/Central America (formerly Mesoamerican)New World DesertSouthern Africa (formerly African or African Hill)Tropical HouseThe new map will also include Garden facilities on the

west side of Centennial Drive adjoining the MatherRedwood Grove. These are the Education offices and thenewly completed Plant Conservation Research Center,Director Ellen Simms’ new research facility. This facility alsohas been renamed recently—it was formerly called theCenter for the Study of Plant Conservation.

The next time you visit the Garden you will notice thatnew signs are being installed that sport the new area and col-lection names. The entire set of new signs will be installed bythis fall. A new visitor-friendly map reflecting these namechanges will be available during late summer. Please visit theGarden, take one of the new maps along on your walkthrough the collection, and let us know how it works for you.

New Garden Names ReflectVision for the Future

8 University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley

GARDEN NOTESWILDFLOWERS GALORE…In concert with theCalifornia Native Plant Society, the Jepson Herbarium, theNatural Science Guild, and the Oakland Museum, the UCBotanical Garden annually co-sponsors the Wildflower Showat the Oakland Museum. Curator Holly Forbes, CuratorialAssistant Barbara Keller, and horticulturist Nathan Smith,along with volunteer and plantsman extraordinaire WayneRoderick, were one of four teams who collected wildflowersthroughout northern California to display at this show.Horticulturist Roger Raiche played an important role inidentifying dozens of species brought in for the show.Horticulturist Jerry Parsons, with assistance from internAkemi Awaya, created several beautiful flower arrangementsfor the show. If you missed it, mark it on your calendar fornext year’s Mother’s Day weekend.

SLIDE TALK…Volunteer Services Coordinator NancySwearengen gave her slide talk “Around the World in 30Minutes” to the Berkeley City Commons Club on February16th.

RHODODENDRON CONVENTION… HorticulturistElaine Sedlack attended the 56th annual convention of theAmerican Rhododendron Society, held in April in Eugene,Oregon. During the trip she was able to visitHendricks Park Rhododendron Garden, aspectacular, 50 year old municipalpark on top of a hill with anoverstory of mature Quercusgarryana (Oregon white oak).Magnolias, dogwood and variousgarden-worthy trees and shrubs cre-ate a setting for extensive plantings ofrhododendrons, which were in beautifulfull bloom.

TRIPS TO THE CEDARS…Horticulturist Roger Raichelead the following trips to his property in The Cedars(Sonoma Co.): a day trip for the Western Chapter of theAmerican Rock Garden Society on April 1st; and a camp-ing/botanical field trip for Jon Price and 10 graduate stu-dents from UC Davis on May 1st.

NEW ROAD BUILDING…Horticulturists Nathan Smithand Roger Raiche, with the assistance of student employeeJames Pipkin, built a new road between beds 72, 9 & 7 toallow vehicular access to this area. This will facilitate renova-tion of Channel Islands bed 72, see Nathan Smith’s article,Collecting Trip to San Nicholas Island, this issue. The Cali-fornia Area Endowment Fund is making this work possible.

ROSE CELEBRATION…Horticulturists Peter Klementand Elaine Sedlack participated in the Heritage RoseGroup’s “Celebration of Old Roses”, held in El Cerrito inMay. Peter provided roses from the Garden as cut flowers forthe display. Elaine contributed flowers from her home andhelped with the display.

SUCCESSFUL SALE…The Spring Plant Sale went verywell indeed bringing in $21,444.00 for Garden operations!Thanks to all volunteer propagators, staff and event volun-teers who made the sale such a huge success!

LIVE OAKS REMOVED…The California live oaks removedfrom the Asian area of the Garden recently suffered from oakroot fungus (Armillaria mellea) and had to be removed inorder to ensure safety for Garden visitors and staff—he treeshad become unstable due to diseased roots. New plants to beplanted in the area include some rare Asian conifers andJapanese trees which will provide some splendid fall color inthe Asian section.

Garden Tips

■ A company in Maryland composts crab chum, the left-overs of crab processing. Recently, a second business hasemerged in which the chitin is removed from the wastesbefore the materials are composted. Chitin, supposedly thesecond most abundant organic compound on earth, hasmany uses including increasing the shelf life of fruits, vegeta-bles, flowers, and meats and in making bio-degradeablesutures or second skins for burn victims and bandages thatstop bacterial infections and bleeding. When processed sothat it becomes soluble in dilute acids, it becomes ‘chitosan’a material effective in waste water management by removingorganic molecules, heavy metals, and PCBs. It recently hasbecome popular as a health product because reportedly it canremove body fat. Biocycle 41: (12): 30-33.

■ In Horticulture 97 (3): 20 is a list of the following organicfertilizers including their components: “Grow Joe” —coffeegrounds, tea wastes, hydrated lime and other ingredients(undisclosed); “Squanto’s Secret” —fish scraps; “Poo Pets”including ‘Stool Toads’ and ‘Turdles’ —baked cow manure;“Zoo Doo” including ‘Dung Buddies’ and ‘Pooliticals’ suchas ‘Repooblican’ and Democrap’ —composted zoo manure;“Kricket Krap” —droppings from crickets raised for fish baitalong with cricket food; “BaaBaa Doo”—sheep manure; and“Cockadoodle Doo” —chicken manure.

—Robert D. Raabe

Summer 2001 9

Research at the Garden

receive dozens of specimens and associated herbarium vouch-ers for development of a phytolith reference collection.

Dr. Jean-Michel Guillon, Laboratoire Ecologie,Systématique et Evolution, Université Paris Sud, France,received dried stems of several species of Equisetum (horse-tails) for his study of sex determination and genetic variationin the genus. He plans to carry out DNA studies in thisgenus.

Dr. Alan Smith and Dr. Brent Mishler, UC Berkeley,members of the Garden’s Faculty Advisory Committee, willbe using materials from the Garden [including the fernOphioglossum (adder’s tongue)] in “a comprehensive synthesisof the phylogenetic relationships of the major groups of greenplants, using morphological, developmental, and ultrastruc-tural characters as well as DNA sequence data”. The “GreenPlant Phylogeny” project is described in detail in the web sitehttp://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/bryolab/greenplantpage.html. Theywill be sequencing whole genomes(chloroplast, mitochondrial) ofselected exemplars,including about tenpteridophytes(ferns).

Mr. NeilHausmann, dis-sertation studentat UC Berkeley,Department ofIntegrativeBiology in the lab of Prof. WayneP. Sousa, will be using researchgreenhouse space this summer forhis study

Ms. Romey Haberle, dissertation student at theUniversity of Texas at Austin, received seeds of Githopsis specularioides (common bluecup) for her molecular and mor-phological research in North American members of the fami-ly Campanulaceae (bellflower family)

Ms. Tracey Slotta, dissertation student in the BiologyDepartment, Virginia Tech, received leaves of several speciesof Malacothamnus (bush mallow) for her doctoral research.Her project is to develop a molecular phylogeny of theMalacothamnus alliance in the Malvaceae (mallow) family.

Iris douglasiana, left, and Quercus agrifolia drawings by UCBG horticulturist Judith Finn.

Research materialsfrom the Garden’s col-lection were provided tothe following:

Dr. Kevin Tu, post-doc in the UC Berkeley

lab of Prof. ToddDawson, measured photo-

synthesis on a wide varietyof Garden plantsand collected leavesfor further analysis.

Dr. Catarina Rydin,University of Stockholm,

received dried stems of severalspecies of Ephedra andof Gnetum for her

molecular study of thegroup.

Dr. Paul Madeiraand Dr. Bob Pemberton,

USDA AgriculturalResearch Service Invasive Plant Lab in

Florida, received dried material of the ferns Lygodium lanceolatum, Lygodium circinnatum and Anemia phyllitidis fortheir research program on the control of the highly invasivespecies Lygodium microphyllum in Florida. This problem wasmentioned in Dr. Raabe’s column of the Spring Newsletter.One of the first steps in assessing biological control agents isthe determination of host specificity for the agents. This is anexpensive and time consuming process. Choices have to bemade as to what plants to test. Since host range (specificity)often crosses species boundaries, it is important to understandthe taxonomic relationships within the Lygodium genus. Forthis reason they are preparing to perform some sequencingwork on the species collected by Dr. Pemberton. It is hopedthis will elucidate these relationships.

Dr. Rei Rasmussen, Oregon Graduate Institute inBeaverton, Oregon, visited the Garden again to collect emis-sions from several oak species for his study on terpene releaseby oaks.

Ms. Caroline Stromberg, dissertation student at UCBerkeley, Department of Integrative Biology, continues to

University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley10

Whether it has been organizingthe docent training program, aprogram lecture, a volunteer recog-nition event, summer camps, aplant sale, writing the UC BEE, orleading a Garden tour: Plants ofthe Bible, a Press Tour, or Biology1B, (“and don’t even get me startedon adaptation!”) NancySwearengen has done it all withgusto and good humor while work-ing here at the Garden for the lasttwelve years as VolunteerCoordinator.

“Know your stuff” is whatNancy has exhorted the traineedocents to do as they attend theUCBG 16 week docent trainingprogram. As Nancy has taught andorganized the visiting guest speakerexperts then you can bet that the trainees all really did “knowtheir stuff” by the time the course concluded. Nancy’s abilityto get just the perfect lecturer to talk on a topic is legendary.

Nancy says that her greatest delight while working at theGarden has been getting to know all of the other volunteerstoo, as well as the docents. Nancy has no hesitation inexplaining why she finds working with the volunteers sointeresting, “because they have such diverse talents and back-grounds but are united by their common interest in plants!”“Most of all,” she says, “it’s just so much fun working withsuch a wonderful group of people!”

Nancy is not leaving so much as changing hats again. Sheplans to continue her relationship with the Garden by volun-teering once more as a docent. Nancy not only really knowsthe material, she just loves to give tours and gets a giant kickout of seeing people’s faces light up when they “click” withdelight at understanding the information she is giving themabout the plants. Thanks Nancy, from everyone here at theGarden for all of your hard work, and thanks too, from all ofthose who experienced that “click of understanding” and leftthe Garden ever so much the richer for having taken a class,or a tour, here with you!

—Janet Williams

When I think of working with Nancy, I can hear hervoice saying: “Super! That is a great idea. How can I helpyou get it done?” or, “Yes, what if we do it like this—I’ll take

Farewell to Nancy Swearengen

this part (usually the harder part)and see if I can find (whoever) tofollow up on the other part,”always with lots of enthusiasm inher voice.

As a volunteer I always had thefeeling that there was support andhelp for anything that we weredoing that would further the bet-terment of UCBG. I know theweekend docent enrichment pro-gram would not have been as suc-cessful and as informative withoutNancy’s help—if it even wouldhave happened at all. Nancy has aninnate understanding of volunteersand how to handle them in thebest way to get the most done inany situation. One of the ways shedoes that is to pitch in herself and

work side by side with the volunteers that she has recruitedfor a project. It has been a joy to work with someone who isorganized, helpful and exhibits a high amount of grace underpressure. There will be none like her and she will be missed,I am sure.

—Ramona Davis

We first came to know Nancy when she was (wethought) new to the Garden, after she finished her docenttraining. It wasn’t until later that we learned she knew ourhill intimately, having grown up on Panoramic Way—justacross the canyon—where it was easy to come over toUCBG for a quick visit at any time. Once Nancy became adocent she plunged into life at the Garden with all her ener-gy and enthusiasm. She soon became docent chair and wasthe first to gather past chairs into an advisory committee tohelp plan and improve docent education and activities. Later,Nancy became a member of the Board of the Friends withthe responsibility of helping promote volunteering.Eventually this work became a staff position where, amongother duties, she has administered training classes for newdocents. Even so, she has not given up leading a tour or twoherself! Over the years Nancy has proven to be skilled athelping each volunteer find her/his niche here in theGarden, and with a few words and a smile she has made usfeel welcome and needed.

—Elly Bade & Nancy Markell

Photo

by Jan

et Willi

ams

11Summer 2001

GARDEN STAFF

Dr. Ellen Simms, Garden Director

ADMINISTRATIONAfrooz Navid, Administrative Assistant

Margaret Richardson, Tour & Rentals CoordinatorMichael Rimar, Administrative Assistant

Candice Schott, Business Operations SupervisorNancy Swearengen, Volunteer Services CoordinatorJanet Williams, Marketing & Development Officer

Leslie Wozniak, Visitor Services Specialist

COLLECTIONS & HORTICULTUREDr. Christopher Carmichael,

Manager of Collections and HorticultureHolly Forbes, Curator

Barbara Keller, Curatorial AssistantAnthony Garza,

Supervisor of Horticulture and GroundsJohn Domzalski, PropagatorJudith Finn, Horticulturist

Peter Klement, HorticulturistBridget Lamp, HorticulturistLawrence Lee, HorticulturistJerry Parsons, Horticulturist

Dr. Robert Raabe, Garden PathologistRoger Raiche, HorticulturistEric Schulz, Horticulturist

Elaine Sedlack, HorticulturistNathan Smith, Horticulturist

Gerald Ford, Building and Grounds Maintenance

EDUCATIONDr. Jennifer White, Associate Director for Education

Christine Manoux, Program Assistant

FACULTY ADVISORY COMMITTEEDr. Nan Crystal Arens, Integrative Biology

Dr. Lewis Feldman, Plant BiologyDr. Joe McBride, Environmental Science,

Policy, & ManagementDr. Brent Mishler, Integrative Biology

Dr. Vincent Resh, Environmental Science, Policy, & Management

Dr. Alan Smith, Herbarium

NEWSLETTERJanet Williams, Editor

Administration 642-0849Development 643-2937

Director’s Office 643-8999Education 495-2805

Entrance Kiosk 643-2755The Garden Shop 642-3343Plant Collections 643-8040

Tours/Rentals 642-3352Volunteers 643-1924

Fax 642-5045E-mail: garden@uclink4.berkeley.edu

Web Site: http://www.mip.berkeley.edu/garden/

The Newsletter is published by the University ofCalifornia Botanical Garden with support from

memberships. © UC Regents 2001Articles may be reprinted with credit to the

authors and the UC Botanical Garden.

Every year in May or June our volunteer groups get together to celebratethe successes of the academic year, elect new officers and recognize thosewho have achieved various service milestones. This year, the VolunteerPropagators and Garden Shop Associates hosted a gorgeous luncheon forGarden Staff, and honored these members of their groups:

Five years of service: Elaine Chernoff, Helene Conant, DawnKeremitsis, Milt Morrison, Peggy Smuckler, Carol Thompson, RuthUngar and Edith Yu.

Ten years of service: Willy Adam and Jack Dolhinow.The Docents, at a separate event, honored the following:Five years of service: Alan Berling, Robert Coombs, Louise Dutton,

Susan Gilmour, Doris Graesser, Susan Hall, Robin Johnson, Ann Machin,Emily McKibben, Mary Mentzel, Melanie Mentzel, Jane Sandstrom, JohnTolonen, and Elizabeth Woodbury.

Ten Years of service: Carol Foster, LaVerne Leach, Alison Mills, FrankOrme and Byron Schatz.

Fifteen years of service: Thelma Russell, Leonard Skinner, TomiyeSumner, Jan Vargo and Florence Yaffe.

Twenty years of service: Ramona Davis, Bob Lichtenstein and SarahRipley

With twenty-five years of service Elly Bade is an example of the sort ofstellar volunteer every organization would love to have! In addition to work-ing as a Docent, and along the way being a co-inventor of our popularGrocery Store Botany program that is presented in classrooms from Berkeleyto San Ramon, Elly propagated trees and shrubs in the early days of theVolunteer Propagator program. During the 1980’s, she organized ten very

successful Garden symposia. She has beenthe book buyer for the Garden Shop since1990, and reviews books for thisNewsletter. In fact, there is very little thatElly has not done around the Garden, andwe, of course, are much the richer for hermany contributions.

Volunteers Honored

Director Ellen Simms (right), celebrated Elly Bade’s wonderful contribution of 25 years ofservice to the Garden at a luncheon held in Elly’s honor recently.

Photo

by Jan

et Willi

ams

NOTEMember and contributorlists will be published alltogether in the WinterIssue of the Newsletter.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Plants are for sale at The Garden Shop all year. Call 510-642-3343

Nonprofit Org.

U.S. Postage

PAIDUniversity of California

Address Service Requested

TWILIGHT TOURSPlan to tour the Garden with a different staff member every Wednesdayafternoon, beginning July 11 at 5:30 p.m., through August. You’ll get tosee the Garden in an entirely new way: through the eyes of our expertsin horticulture. Topics include Magnificent Monocots, Medicinal Plantsof Mexico and Central America, Off the Beaten Path and much more.Call us for a complete list of dates and topics. Free with Garden admission.

FALL PLANT SALESunday, September 30, 10 a.m.–2 p.m.Don’t miss this opportunity to stock up on exciting new plants to putin your Garden now!

MEDITERRANEAN GARDENS IN FRANCE & ITALYSean O’Hara, Chair of the Northern California Branch of theMediterranean Garden Society, presents a slide-lecture of some fabulousgardens and landscapes in France and Italy that perfectly illustrate whatwe mean when we talk about Mediterranean gardening. We guaranteeyou’ll be inspired!Saturday, September 23, 1 p.m.Free with Garden admission.

SICK PLANT CLINICUC plant pathologist Dr. Robert Raabe and his team of experts willdiagnose what ails your plants.First Saturday of Each Month, 9:00 a.m. – Noon

University of California Botanical Garden

200 Centennial Drive, #5045

Berkeley, California 94720-5045

To register for any program or event*, call 510-643-2755. *Reservations are NOT required for the Sick Plant Clinic.

The Garden ShopBooks Plants Gifts

Posters T-Shirts Cards510 642-3343

Summer Hours 10:30 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. daily

Discount for Garden members! Gift certificates available!

www.mip.berkeley.edu/garden

GARDEN SUMMER HOURS: Open daily 9:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. Closed first Tuesday of each month.