G. Ledyard Stebbins, Jr. and the evolutionary synthesis (1924-1950)

This is an historical paper examining the scientific background of George Ledyard Stebbins, Jr. (b. 1906), one of the foremost botanists of this century and one of the architects of the evolutionary synthesis, the intellectual event that brought together genetics and selection theory in the interval between 1920 and 1950. It considers his scientific influence and research, beginning with his Harvard education in 1924 and ending in 1950 with the publication of his book Variation and Evolution in Plants. The paper also more broadly assesses the contributions of other botanists to the evolutionary synthesis, including discussion of the work of Edgar Anderson (1897-1967) and others. It also traces the larger historical patterns of American botany, which saw a shift from East Coast botany as exemplified by Harvard botany, to West Coast botany, as exemplified by California botany.     

植物学与中草药物研究

植物学和医药在科学启蒙时期是合而不分的。东西文化相同。中国古代本草(ancient Chinese materia medica),欧洲中世纪的药物书籍(European medieval herbals),共同证明这件史实。欧洲17—18世纪经典的植物著述,是那个时代医生们业余的工作成果;19世纪亚洲美洲的植物志,以及植物地理知识,基本上是舍弃医药职业从事植物研究之先锋植物学家的成绩。现代植物学知识和方法,更是研究中草药不能缺少而且不可忽略的基础。试举三例说明,职业植物学家如何以正确鉴定和合法命名,解决国际间药物交流问题,并怎样以植物解剖知识澄清药材商品素质混乱情形。凡是能力强工作负责的药用植物学家,都是热心的环境保护者,因为他们工作的地方,既是标本馆实验室,又是野外的大自然;他们确知,自然没有任何取之不尽用之不竭的资源,更没有丰富的药物资源。加之以人们无情地挖掘,任意地采集,无数有药用价值的植物,己遭到不可挽救的毁灭,绝了种!有的也接近灭绝的危运。再看未来,植物学家除了研究植物本体之外,更加上唤起民众爱惜自然植被保护环境的重要职责,并且筛选有利于人畜保健的植物,逐一研究其生境与其成活的环境条件,和农业科学家合作引种驯化,以达成合理利用中草药植物资源的要求。     

INVITED SPECIAL PAPER: History of the botanical teaching laboratory in the United States

The establishment of teaching laboratories for botany in the United States was strongly influenced in the early part of the 19th century by the founding of a laboratory of natural history at the Rensselaer School by Amos Eaton who inspired numerous educators, particularly women. By midcentury and later, botany programs were established at land-grant colleges and the so-called “new Botany” movement spread from them. In the latter part of the century additional changes were brought about by the influence of German laboratory activity and botanists’ reactions to the introduction of the Huxley-Martin biology programs to America. During these times, Americans were improving their own manufactured microscopes, laboratory supplies, and equipment capabilities. By the beginning of the 20th century, laboratory teaching of botanical subjects was widely accepted as normal in universities and colleges, as well as in some high schools.     

Taxonomic identity and typification of selected names of North American Potamogetonaceae

Most names in North American Potamogetonaceae have not been typified. Details of typifications are given for 72 names based on North American material published in the genus Potamogeton mainly by North American botanists. All names are reviewed for their nomenclatural validity and legitimacy, and interpreted taxonomically. Holotypes are indicated for 31 names and previously declared lectotypes or neotypes are listed for eight names. Lectotypes are designated for 24 previously untypified names and step-2 lectotypifications are proposed for three names that were based on heterogeneous material. Type material for three Rafinesque names and one proposed by Wood have not been located. An annotated list provides collection data, type status, homotypic synonyms, and currently accepted names. Two names are excluded from Potamogeton, being based on species of Myriophyllum (Haloragaceae).     

Lysenko Affair and Polish Botany

This article describes the slight impact of Lysenkoism upon Polish botany. I begin with an account of the development of plant genetics in Poland, as well as the attitude of scientists and the Polish intelligentsia toward Marxist philosophy prior to the World War II. Next I provide a short history of the introduction and demise of Lysenkoism in Polish science, with a focus on events in botany, in context with key events in Polish science from 1939 to 1958. The article outlines the little effects of Lysenkoism upon botanists and their research, as well as how botanists for the most part rejected what was often termed the “new biology.” My paper shows that though Lysenko’s theories received political support, and were actively promoted by a small circle of scientists and Communist party activists, they were never accepted by most botanists. Once the political climate in Poland altered after the events of 1956, Lysenko’s theories were immediately abandoned.     

解放前广西瑶山调查采集文献简介

本文简介了解放前中山大学、中央研究院动植物研究所、广西大学等单位20年代至40年代在瑶山调查采集所留下的主要文献资料,内容侧重植物学方面的记载。     

Nomenclatural revision of 36 species of plants in the Chinese herbae 《Zhi Wu Ming Shi Tu Kao》

The “Iconographia Plantarum” written by Wu Chi-Tseng in the Qing Dynasty (A. D. 1848) is a classical monumental work in the literature of botany. 1714 species of plants widely-spread all over 19 provinces of our country, especeally in Jiangxi, Hunan and Yunnan Provinces, were described in this book. nan and Yunnan Provinces, were described try, especeally in Jiangxi, Hunan and Yun. In order to make the plant names coincide with the original material as possible, the author had commented upon chinese herbal in considerable detail. Most of the plants were illustrated after their habitual appearence in somewhat clear manner. As a means for identifying certain species of the plant, this work has been playing an important role in development of modern botanical science in China. In modern taxonomical books a great deal of chinese name of plants are originated from this book, and they were available for reference to numerous researchers both at home and abroad. On account of inadequate observation, a lot of mistakes or misleadings occured in this book, and often been overlooked by the later botanists. Some of the modern authors still adhere to the work “Iconographia Plantarum”and even quoting the erroneous statement from it, thus we have to correct. This paper annotates and commentates the misleading items of 36 species of plant, and calls for the attention to the future readers.     

Species concepts and floras: what are species for?

In 1992, in a special paper in the American Journal of Botany, Ernst Mayr attempted to ‘prove’ the biological species concept (BSC) worked as well in plants as it did in animals by analyzing the flora of the Concord region of northern Massachusetts. He concluded that there were minimal difficulties when applying the BSC for the plants of this particular area, and concluded that botanists were misguided in not accepting the BSC. He suggested that what he called ‘typological’ thinking was prevalent in the taxonomic community, and that this was a factor in botanical resistance to the BSC. Typology, as defined by Mayr in his 1992 foray into botany, is to a certain extent a straw‐man and, by the late 20th Century, no longer a way of thinking in widespread use in the taxonomic community in any organismal group. Here, I examine his analysis in the light of current interest in plant diversity. Species can be characterized as hypotheses about the distribution of variation in nature, subject to test with new data of many kinds. Species concepts like the BSC, although of interest philosophically and to researchers looking at mechanisms of speciation, may actually get in the way of achieving a baseline understanding of the diversity of life on Earth. © 2008 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2008, 95 , 17–25.     

Rupert C. Barneby and Pugillus Astragalorum

Rupert C. Barneby, his monumental contributions to the taxonomy ofAstragalus and his place among American botanists, is discussed. His twenty contributions in the seriesPugillus Astragalorum spanned fifteen years of his botanical development from an interested naturalist to an accomplished taxonomist in this extremely species-rich genus. Barneby’s work onAstragalus culminated in the 1188 pages of theAtlas of North American Astragalus, which treated of 552 taxa and was published in 1964.     

Relationship between tooth and long bone size

Canonical correlations between tooth and long bone dimensions showed a greater correlation for Anglo-Saxons and apes than for Nineteenth Century Londoners, i.e., coefficients of 0.75 for gorilla, 0.72 for chimpanzee, 0.69 for orang-utans, 0.74 for Anglo-Saxons, but 0.53 for Nineteenth Century Londoners. Although based upon limited sample sizes and limited metrical profiles of teeth and long bones, the data support the thesis that modern Europeans are under reduced selection pressure to maintain tooth size compared with apes or ancient man.     

走出歌德的阴影: 迈向更加科学的植物系统学

传统的植物学理论中, 被子植物雌蕊的基本单位心皮被认为是变态的叶(即大孢子叶)通过纵向对折和内卷演化而来。该理论造成了被子植物和裸子植物之间不可逾越的鸿沟。近年来提出的一统理论认为被子植物的心皮由长胚珠的枝和包裹这个枝的叶共同组成, 从而弥合了被子植物与裸子植物之间的鸿沟。最近, 当代植物学界两大权威人物Peter R. Crane和Peter K. Endress分别撰文, 发表了不同于传统理论的观点。Endress认为, 心皮由胚珠和叶性器官组成; 而Crane认为, 所有的胚珠都长在枝上。结合二者的结论, 不难得出“心皮实际上等同于一个长胚珠的枝加上一个叶”的论断。这在某种意义上等于认同了一统理论的观点。两位权威人物观点的转变预示着植物学理论将很快发生根本性的转变。该文向国内植物学同行通报这一最新动态, 以期让我国学者能够了解最新理论。     

Trends in African Historical Studies

Ivory and Slaves: Changing Pattern of International Trade in East Central Africa to the Later Nineteenth Century. Edward A. Alpers .
The Traditional History of the Jie of Uganda. John Lamphear . Oxford Studies in African Affairs, John D. Hargreaves and George Shepperson, eds.
Kings and Kinsmen: Early Mbundu States in Angola. Joseph C. Miller . Oxford Studies in African Affairs, John D. Hargreaves and George Shepperson, eds.
Asante in the Nineteenth Century: The Structure and Evolution of a Political Order. Ivor Wilks .     

美国在华采集竹类植物标本的历史(1840-2010年)

植物标本采集是植物学研究的重要内容, 与植物引种密切相关。自19世纪以来, 美国植物采集者在全球尤其是中国进行了广泛的植物采集。在众多的植物类群中, 中国的竹类植物引起了美国采集者的极大关注, 并开展了大量调查研究和标本采集工作。研究美国植物采集者在中国采集竹类植物标本的历史, 对了解竹类植物从中国引种到美国的历史具有重要意义。本文基于国内外有关美国在华采集的竹类植物标本数据, 对其学名、采集地、采集人以及采集时间进行整理校对, 分析了美国采集者在华采集竹类植物标本的历史。结果表明: 1840-2010年, 美国在华共采集竹类植物标本960号2,238份, 隶属于25属120种(含变种和变型), 分别占中国竹类属和种数的73.5%和22.5%; 有45位(支)采集者(采集队), 在这些采集者中莫古礼最为重要; 采集地涉及20个省级行政区; 采集时间前后跨度约170年, 主要集中在20世纪上半叶。     

Henry Hurd Rusby: The father of economic botany at the New York Botanical Garden

Henry Hurd Rusby (1855–1940) is one of the outstanding personalities in the history of the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG). He played a significant role, not only in the founding of NYBG in 1891, but also in establishing a strong precedent of research and exploration in the field of economic botany at the new institution. As a result of Rusby’s influence and activity, the study of useful plants formed an important part of NYBG’s original mandate, an institutional commitment that was rejuvenated nearly a century later, with the formation of the Institute of Economic Botany. An indefatigable researcher both in the field and in the herbarium, Rusby left behind a voluminous corpus of published work in systematic and economic botany that is a legacy for modern botanists and pharmacologists.     

Making women visible in the embryo experimentation debate

Rowland contends that threats to the welfare of women have received too little attention in discussions about embryo experimentation. The first group of egg donors for this purpose would be women in in vitro fertilization programs, women who are vulnerable to emotional coercion by doctors interested in superovulation for the purpose of gaining spare embryos. Furthermore, the masculine emphasis on control and dominance that characterizes science will inevitably lead ?researchers to transplant experimental embryos to check on the results of their manipulations. Other elements of the social context that raise the potential for abuse of women's bodies are the increasing commercialization of reproductive technologies and the increasing control by the male-dominated medical profession over the process of procreation. Finally, there is danger that it will become routine policy to screen all embryos for abnormalities and to "improve" them if abnormalities are found.     

Topics to ponder: Part-time practice and pay parity

Background: The medical profession has undergone a significant demographic change, with a dramatic increase in the number of women applying to medical school and practicing medicine.Objectives: In recognition of the changing demographics in the medical profession, the American Medical Association's Women Physicians Congress (AMA-WPC) conducted a members' survey to identify the issues affecting women physicians and to ascertain certain practice characteristics.Methods: In 2008, an e-mail survey link was sent to a randomly selected nationwide sample of 4992 WPC members, and a second, identical survey was sent to 596 female AMA members, utilizing the Epocrates database (Epocrates, Inc., San Mateo, California). Two e-mail reminders were sent for the first survey, which had a 15% response rate. A quota of 148 physicians was received within 4 days and was utilized to interpret results from the second survey.Results: Achieving work-life balance was a significant concern for 91% of the respondents (n = 884). Half of the respondents believed that pay is gender neutral, and 28% indicated that they were “somewhat or very concerned about sexual harassment”. When queried regarding practice patterns, 29% of respondents indicated that they had worked part-time at some point during their careers.Conclusions: In this survey, women physicians indicated that gender pay disparity and sexual harassment remain important issues in the medical profession. Less than a third of respondents had ever worked part-time, which should be a consideration for physician workforce studies. Barriers to part-time practice may exist.     

It's not easy being green: student recall of plant and animal images

It is well documented that people are less interested in studying plants than animals. We tested whether university students would selectively recall more animal images than plant images even when equally-nameable plant and animal images were presented for equal lengths of time. Animal and plant images were pre-tested and 14 animal-plant pairs were selected, based on student ability to equally name the images. These images were randomly presented to two groups of university students: those currently enrolled in a psychology class and those currently enrolled in a botany class. Student recall of each image was recorded after a distracting task. The results confirmed that the animal images were recalled significantly more than the plant images. There was no apparent effect of attending a botany class on these results. However, gender effects were identified for recall of plant versus animal images in general (women recalled more plants than men) and for four specific plant images (carnation, rose, daisy, and venus fly trap). When teaching biology, teachers should present equal numbers of plant and animal examples and use the most memorable plant images possible to attempt to offset student selective attention to animals.     

Why another botanical magazine?

To serve as a common meeting place for botanists, interested primarily in fundamental principles, and others who are concerned with economic applications of those principles and with the industrial utilization of plants and plant products.     

Landmarks in the first hundred years of primary (9+0) cilium research

Primary cilia have had a long research history since 1898, but only in the last few years have investigations become intense. Only a few people took an interest in them until recently, when the consequences of their agenesis or dysfunction suddenly became apparent to all. Their function changed overnight from being speculative to being fully "acknowledged" as sensory, and the consequence of their lacking sensory function(s) led to a bonanza for cell and molecular biologists interested in the impact on clinical disease and disorder. Furthermore, once the medical profession had insight not just into the etiology of an extremely rare syndrome (situs inversus), but into one as prevalent as polycystic kidney disease, furious research activity sprang up in numerous centres, symposium were convened, special sessions arranged, and topical reviews written in all sorts of journals. Without an understanding of the history of research about this organelle, many reviews gave little credit to those who had persevered earlier to make key advances in primary cilium research, and most ignore the wealth of information on them that has relevance to fundamental (cell) biology as well as to medicine. Some of the "landmarks" presented here will hopefully provide a little guidance and a better perspective.