Volume 27, Number 3 Published by the UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BOTANICAL GARDEN at Berkeley Summer 2002

BBU 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

OTANICALOTANICALGGARDENARDEN

plants of the tropical rain forestand learning from local healersabout their medicinal uses of theseplants. Before beginning hisresearch on medicinal plants, hepromised the villagers that anyfinancial returns from the sharingof their information would bereturned to their village. Amongmany other plants, these healerstold him of their uses for mamala(Homolanthus nutans,Euphorbiaceae) to treat hepatitis,back pain, and diarrhea. Dr. Coxsent samples to the NationalInstitutes of Health for analysis,where the compound Prostratinwas isolated. Prostratin shows greatpromise for activity against thehuman immunodeficiency virus(HIV)1. The National CancerInstitute licensed the compound tothe Aids Research Alliance of

America (ARA) to develop the drug. In December 2001 thegovernment of Samoa signed an agreement with ARA, inwhich the people of Samoa receive 20% of any commercialrevenues derived from the sale of Prostratin.

Dr. Herbert Baker was the sixth director of the Garden, from 1957–1969, and was instrumental in makingthe Garden more accessible to the public.He passed away on July 2, 2001. Inrecognition of his many contributions, the Garden sponsored the Baker MemorialLecture by Dr. Paul Alan Cox on April6, 2002. Dr. Cox, an internationally recognized expert in ethnobotany, was astudent of Herbert and the late IreneBaker, and is currently director of theNational Tropical Botanical Garden onKauai. An informal memorial servicewas held in the Garden on April 7th,during which a bench outside the ethno-botanically-rich collections of the TropicalHouse was dedicated to the Bakers.

In his remarks, Dr. Cox honored thememory of Herbert and Irene with a

variety of stories from his and his col-leagues’ experiences as graduate studentsand post-docs in the Bakers’ lab at Berkeley. He then set thestage for the main topic by discussing the relevance of eth-nobotany to medicine, using as a case study the discovery ofProstratin (an important anti-AIDS medicine) through eth-nobotanical research.

Dr. Cox spent several years in Samoa, cataloging the

Paul Alan Cox Delivers Baker Memorial Lecture

(continued on page 2)

Marianas flying fox, Pteropus mariannus, eatingcycad seed.

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THE GARDEN IS SELLING PLANTS AGAIN! SEE PP. 9 AND 11 FOR DETAILS.

2 University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley

An Ethnobotanical Approach to a MedicalMystery

Dr. Cox then led the audience through a fascinating sci-entific detective story based on research by himself and thefamed neurologist Dr. Oliver Sacks. The mystery began onthe island of Guam. A large proportion of the nativeChamorro peoples of the island were afflicted with a com-plex neurodegenerative disease known as ALS-PDC, whichcombines aspects of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (LouGehrig’s disease), Parkinson’s Disease, and Alzheimer’sDisease, but the cause had never been determined despitedecades of research. Science magazine once referred to ALS-PDC among the Chamorro as “the Rosetta Stone ofNeuropathology”.

Several causes had been proposed, including genetic origin,high aluminum in water, low magnesium and calcium inwater, infectious agents, and consumption of flour made fromcycads (Cycas rumphii, on display in the Garden’s TropicalHouse) that contain neurotoxins. None of these proposedcauses could be clearly established. The neurotoxicity ofcycads, perhaps an ancient adaptation to avoid grazing bydinosaurs, was an obvious candidate. However, the Chamorroare fully aware of this toxicity and repeatedly wash the flourbefore cooking, which lowers the concentration of neurotoxinsto negligible levels.

More than thirty years of research attempting to demon-strate this link had been fruitless. Attempts to induce neuro-pathology in experimental animals by feeding with cycadseeds or flour were unsuccessful. Neuropathology could beinduced by feeding of the purified toxin, but the concentra-tion of this toxin in processed cycad flour was so low thatmassive consumption of flour would be required to produceany toxic effect.

Nonetheless, the only statistically significant correlate withALS-PDC among the Chamorro is a preference for tradition-al foods. Among these traditional foods are flying foxes, largebats in the order Chiroptera. Once common, the flying foxPteropus tokudae is now extinct due to hunting as a food item,

MEMORIAL LECTURE (continued from page 1)

and Pteropus mariannuswas reduced to fewerthan 100 individuals by1974. Since then, largenumbers of flying foxesare imported fromSamoa and other islandsin order to satisfy thedemand for flying foxes,the consumption ofwhich continues to be

important at ceremonial occasions and social gatherings.Pteropus species of Guam feed extensively on cycad seeds, butthe imported flying foxes do not, as cycads are not indigenousto their islands of origin.

Cox and Sacks propose that the flying foxes native toGuam biomagnify the cycad toxins in their fatty tissues, andconsumption of them by the Chamorro was the cause ofALS-PDC. This hypothesis is supported by both an increasein the incidence of ALS-PDC after firearms and commercialhunting increased the availability of native flying foxes forfood, followed by a reduction in the incidence which corre-sponds to the replacement of native, cycad-consuming flyingfoxes by imported flying foxes in traditional Chamorro diets.None of the Chamorro born after 1960 appears to sufferfrom the disease, which given the lag time required for dis-ease expression, corresponds to the elimination of cycad-con-suming native flying foxes from the Chamorro diet.

Additional research is required to prove this link, butCox and Sacks may have answered the thirty-year old ques-tion of how cycad neurotoxins caused ALS-PDC in theChamorro of Guam.

The Cox and Sacks paper was published in Neurology 2

the same week as Dr. Cox’s lecture and Dr. Cox said that hewished to dedicate this research to Herbert and Irene Bakerwho mentored him at an early stage of his career. TheBotanical Garden was honored to sponsor the first lecture byone of the authors on this important discovery.

— Richard Henderson

1Gustafson, K.R., Cardellina, J.H., McMohon, J.B., Gulakoski, R.J., Ishitoya, J., Szallasi, Z., Lewin, N.E., Blumberg, P.M., Weislow, O.S., Beutler,

J.A., Buckheit, R.W., Cragg, G.M., Cox, P.A., Bader, J.P., Boyd, M.R. 1992. A Nonpromoting Phorbol from the Samoan Medicinal Plant

Homalanthus nutans Inhibits Cell Killing by HIV-1. J. Med. Chem. 35(11):1978-1986. 2 Cox, P.A. and O.W. Sacks. 2002. Cycad neurotoxins, consumption of flying foxes, and ALS-PDC disease in Guam. Neurology 58:956-959.

Dr. Paul Alan Cox

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Summer 2002 3

DIRECTOR’S COLUMN

grams for Fall 2002, including a new horticultural workshop,great walks, and two very interesting lectures by great facultyspeakers. There is also plenty of good news from the PlantConservation Research Center.

Transitions:Postdoctoral Researchers Lee Taylor and Tom Juenger

are departing for their exciting new faculty positions at theUniversity of Alaska-Fairbanks and the University of Texas-Austin, respectively.

The graduate student population of the PCRC will morethan double. Lab Manager Joshua Povich wants to study theevolution of interspecific relationships, and so will shift to stu-dent status, joining new graduate students Martha Palominoand Anne Swart. Martha comes to us from UNAM inMexico, where she studied resource allocation in a tropicaltree, Cecropia obtusifolia; Anne comes to us from WashingtonUniversity in St. Louis to study evolutionary biology.

Accomplishments:This summer, graduate student Jessica Riquetti has been

busy setting up field experiments at Bodega MarineReserve. She is exploring the effects of soil-borneorganisms on the growth of the introduced inva-

sive Ammophila arenaria (European beachgrass).

Graduate student Rich Sheffersonrecently got the DNA sequencer upand running in the PCRC lab, with

which he will identify the fungi thatinhabit the roots of Cypripedium(ladyslipper) orchids. Director Ellen Simms recently

returned from the annual meetingsof the Society for the Study ofEvolution in Champaign-Urbana,

Illinois, where she presented an invited talkon the agricultural management implications of

her research on the legume-rhizobium interaction for asymposium on “Green Evolution: Evolutionary

Theory and Results in Agricultural Systems”. Rightnow, there is a great deal of excitement aboutresearch on how mutually beneficial interactionspersist in the face of cheaters. Ellen’s research

explores this question for lupines and their root-nodule inhabiting, nitrogen-fixing bacteria.

— Ellen Simms

Summer heat bakes the hills. The grasslands yield that spe-cial scent of warm hay and the chaparral and woodlands

conjure their own memorable aromas. Think of the intoxi-cating scents of chaparral shrubs such as Artemisia californica(California sagebrush), Salvia mellifera (black sage),Eriodictyon californicum (yerba santa) and the unforgettablearoma of Umbellularia californica (California bay) in thewoodlands. Remember also, that Native Americans use theseand many other California plants for food, medicine, fiber,and religious purposes.

A friend once described hiking through theMediterranean garigue and maquis as “similar to hiking inthe California chaparral, except that it smells like pizza.” Ifthis luscious aroma has ever started your mouth wateringwhile hiking in southern Europe, that is probably becauseyou had recently dined on Mediterannean cuisine, whichachieves its characteristic flavors with crops derived from thelocal wild plants such as Olea europaea (olive), Laurus nobilis(sweet bay, laurel), Rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary), Thymusvulgaris (thyme), Salvia officinalis (sage), Foeniculum vulgare(fennel), Origanum vulgare (oregano), Mentha species(mint), and Petroselinum crispum (parsley). You cansee many of these plants in the Garden’sMediterranean Section and in the culinary herbs sec-tion of the Herb Garden.

This edition of the Newsletter highlightsethnobotany, which is the study of humanuses of plants. Ethnobotany is animportant focus of the UC BotanicalGarden. Our ethnobotanical collec-tions are used by several Cal classes,including Dr. Tom Carlson’s course onMedical Ethnobotany in the Departmentof Integrative Biology, and ProfessorChristine Hastorf ’s Anthropologycourses, such as Paleoethnobotany:Archaeological Methods and LaboratoryTechniques. The collections are also used extensively inour outreach programs such as Fibers & Dyes and Foodsof the Americas.

I am pleased to announce that The Garden Shophas resumed plant sales. When you come to theGarden to see the ethnobotanical collections, be sureto stop by the plant sale deck of The Garden Shop.

The Garden has a wonderful line-up of new pro-

Salvia officinalis (sage)

University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley4

THE GARDEN’S ETHNOBOTANICAL COLLECTIONS

1Evans, R. and S. von Reis. 1995. Ethnobotany: Evolution of a Discipline. Dioscorides Press, Portland, OR.

The majority of the Garden’s collections are arranged

biogeographically, with plants grouped according to spe-

cific habitats within the larger geographical region in

which they occur naturally, e.g. the Chaparral section of

the California Area. Rarely do we group plants according

to taxonomic affinities, such as our Cycad and Palm

Garden and our Fern Collection. The second most com-

mon method of grouping plants in the Garden is in an

ethnobotanical arrangement—plants assembled in rela-

tion to their uses by humans. Traditionally, ethnobotany

focused on “the use of plants in primitive societies,” dif-

ferentiating it somewhat from economic botany.1

Ethnobotany is a discipline in transition, which now

looks at plants used by humans for a myriad of purposes,

both historically and in current contexts.

The Garden features three prominent ethnobotanical

collections: the Herb Garden (consisting primarily of tra-

ditional European herbal plants), the Chinese Medicinal

Herb Garden and the Crops of the World Garden. These

collections consist of plants used by humans for food, fla-

voring, fragrance, dyes, medicinal purposes, etc.

Additionally, the Herb Garden represents another eth-

nobotanical concept: a traditional garden design form

created by humans over many centuries. Our Garden of

Old Roses is also an ethnobotanical collection, consisting

of a grouping of plants selected by humans for their

beauty and fragrance.

Ethnobotanical themes arise in our other collections

as well. A significant number of plants in the Tropical

House are taxa of economic importance, including

Vanilla planiceps (vanilla), Theobroma cacao (cacao),

Coffea arabica (coffee), Bixa orellana (annatto), etc. A

popular docent-led tour of the California Area,

“California Natives: Plants and People,” focuses on the

uses of native plants by California Indians. Eric Schulz,

Horticulturist in our Mexican/Central American Section,

has been developing a tour of medicinal plants used by

Mayans and Aztecs. Many plants from the Mediterranean

Section are the wild progenitors of common fragrance

and seasoning herbs. Adjunct Professor of Integrative

Biology, Tom Carlson, has been identifying plants from

all sections of the Garden that are used in their native

habitat by local peoples.

There is one last collection that has a distinctly eth-

nobotanical flavor. Our carnivorous or insect-eating

plants can be viewed as a teaching tool assembled to show

similar evolutionary adaptations in a widely unrelated

group of plants. But let’s face it: this collection has been

assembled to satisfy sheer human fascination! Venus fly-

traps, sundews and pitcher plants fascinate the ten-year-

old child in each of us—and a good many young visitors

to the Garden.

In terms of the evolution of the field of ethnobotany,

perhaps groups of research plants can be viewed as anoth-

er form of ethnobotanical collection. Assembled by

humans for access to their DNA or other characteristics,

such “collections” are integral to the research and teach-

ing missions of the Garden. Indeed, as predominantly

human constructions, perhaps this and all public gardens

can be viewed as ethnobotanical collections.

Ethnobotanical collections help us interpret the

botanical world for the general public. They form a

bridge that helps people make connections to living

plants by focusing on taxa that have played a role in

human history or from which well-known plant products

are derived. As part of our mission to develop a diverse

living collection, our ethnobotanical collections support

research and teaching in plant biology and promote

understanding and appreciation of plants and the natural

environment.

— Chris Carmichael

Summer 2002 5

currently used in traditional Chinese Medicine, includingGinkgo, Diospyros (persimmon), Ephedra (joint fir), andEriobotrya (loquat). Many are depicted in classical Asian art.This collection was initiated in 1986 when administrators ofthe American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine inSan Francisco asked if we would be willing to devote a placefor this display so that their students would be able to seethe whole plant growing instead of just the dried part usedin medicine. Subsequently, they arranged for Professor XuHong Hua to come from the College of Traditional ChineseMedicine in Guangzhou, China, to design and help installthe collection.

The dragon and the phoenix dwell here at the end of thelawn, adjacent to the traditional Herb Garden, centered byits sundial and knot garden. Garden birds and dragonfliesrecognize no boundaries. Both displays are conceived asdemonstrations of the art of healing with plants, with theobjective of balanced health, representing a subtle conver-gence of culture and history. Chinese medicinal principles ofyin and yang and the five element theory may be linkedthrough the Hippocratic theory of the four humors toAyurvedic ideas, as both Hippocrates and Dioscorides hadaccess to Eastern medicine. By whatever mysterious process,the plants have succeeded in establishing themselves here forcontinuing enjoyment and study by our visitors.

— Elaine Sedlack

The Chinese Medicinal Herb Garden andthe traditional European-style Herb Garden

contain such evocative plants as opium poppies,deadly nightshade, sorcerer’s violets, the various‘banes’-hensbane, wolf ’s-bane, leopard’s-bane;yarrow stalks for casting the I-Ching, and otherplants associated with magic and witchcraft. Theold standards rosemary and rue are here. Thereare jeweled fruits of pomegranate, the classicpeach and flowering plum and various melons inChinese herbology—used in soupto cool andcleanse, dispellingsymptomsof summerheat. Rasp-berry leaf,lovage and primrose, Angelica: these are all plants of medi-cine. The medicine is powerful. The medicine is the plants.One wonders if these gardens are here by human design orif, as a friend surmises, plants use people to move themselvesaround the world! Perhaps they have contrived by someintriguing means to gather here, virtually at the center of theBotanical Garden. The world is in a mustard seed, witchesinhabit the elder tree and Shakespeare drew inspiration froma hedgerow. More practical applications involve the use of acompound made from hyacinth bulbs to starch Elizabethanruffs; soothing salves of comfrey and lemon balm; and thestrewing of fragrant herbs on earthen floors for sanitation.These plants take good care of you! “For Use and ForDelight” is the motto of The Herb Society of America, takenfrom the herbalist John Parkinson.

Forty years passed between the development of these twoneighboring displays. A natural spring occurring on the siteis the source of water for the pools in the Herb Garden. Inthe late 1940’s a local plantswoman, Elizabeth Rollins, wasmotivated by her interest in herbs to volunteer to create thegarden. This European collection contains culinary and med-icinal plants grown from antiquity to Elizabethan times. TheEnglish lavender hedge is derived from plants that originallycame from Stratford-Upon-Avon, which is as English aslavender can be here!

The Chinese Medicinal Herb Garden has over 100 plants

The Herb Gardens

LEFT: The Knot Garden. ABOVE: The Chinese Medicinal Herb Garden with dedication stone.

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EDUCATION

As the Garden’sEducation Program

reaches out to share withdiverse audiences theexcitement, importance,and wonder of the plantworld, the many ways people use plants provides one ofthe strongest attractive forces forour programming.

Our audience is diverse. They come to the Garden formany reasons. To teach lessons we are concernedabout, including conservation, environmentalstewardship, basic botany or other issues, wemust first connect with the visitor. A remark-ably enticing theme to establish interest isthrough ethnobotany. The Garden’s Education Program usesthis approach in many of its tours and programs both withinand outside the Garden.

While celebrating the food plants domesticated by earlyfarmers in North, Central and South America, our popularfall program, Foods of the Americas, provides many touch-stones for visitor interests. The colorful information postersand arrays of fresh produce in our Marketplace display in theConference Center encourage visitors to follow their owninterests. Some visitors revel in discovering just what foods

were developed from which plants in the Americas; somefocus on the nutritional value of different varieties of a food;others focus on the medicinal uses of these plants, while stillothers enjoy discovering that a food they consider to be from“their own culture” actually originated in a distant part ofthe globe. A recent visitor to our Foods of the AmericasMarketplace was from the Philippines; he delighted in discov-

ering manioc in the display. While relat-ing to me how his preparation procedurediffered from the one described in theexhibit, a visitor from West Africa joinedus. Her method of preparation was similarto that from the Philippines, but shemade a bread from it while the man fromthe Philippines made a sweet dessert. Thetwo soon were talking about how eachgrew manioc at home and the discussionled to describing the climate and othervegetation in their homelands.

The three-week program draws anaudience of almost 1,000 fourth- throughsixth-graders and their teachers and adultchaperones. The backbone of this interdis-ciplinary program is the 75-minute tourled by our wonderful docents. The con-tent is rich, diverse and deep, more thanwith any other tour, and docents add per-

As part of their school tour, Associate Director for Education, Jenny White introducesstudents to an activity where they will hunt for food plants that were domesticated inSouth America, Central America and Mexico.

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Summer 2002 7

eat through dissection, observation, drawing and discussion. In this way they remember, too! Planting activities in schoolgardens reinforce the classroom information and experiences.

The interest of teachers and children in the ways peopleuse plants as foods has allowed us to develop an exceptional-ly flexible teaching unit that supports educational goals ofteachers as well as further the Garden’s mission to “promoteunderstanding and appreciation of plants and the naturalenvironment.”

— Jenny White

sonal ethnobotanical interests and storylines. While many docents encourage thestudents in their groups to focus on thenutritional values of plants, others empha-size the geographic information, and otherstie the tour information to the people andcultures behind the food plants. The eth-nobotanical approach and theme allows forpersonal connections by leaders and stu-dents alike. Increasingly, the programdraws students from community collegeanthropology, Latin America and biologycourses from as far away as Madera andChico. As one community college instruc-tor said, “This program gives my studentsmany ways to make connections betweenwhat they read in books and what peoplearound the world actually do with plants. It’s great!”

The ethnobotanical approach has createdgreat demand in schools for our highly success-ful Botany On Your Plate teaching unit. Thissix-hour program teaches the structure and function of sixplant parts through close observation of different foodplants. “You can’t go wrong in capturing the interest of chil-dren if you let them eat their experiment!” declared anenthusiastic parent helping out at Malcolm X ElementarySchool in Berkeley. A one-hour docent-led school program,Grocery Store Botany, is popular for the same reason.Children really connect with the subject matter and canbring shared experience with different foods to discussions.By starting with familiar aspects of the subject, childrenenthusiastically learn the botany inherent in the plants they

SUGGESTED READINGS ON ETHNOBOTANY

Plants, People, and Culture: The Science of Ethnobotany,by Michael J. Balick and Paul Alan Cox; ScientificAmerican Library, New York, NY, 1996; color photos;suggested reading; 228pp; paper, $19.95.

Islands, Plants, and Polynesians: An Introduction toPolynesian Ethnobotany, edited by Paul Alan Cox andSandra Anne Banack; Dioscorides Press, Portland,OR, 1991; bibliography; 228pp; hardcover, $34.95.

Ethnobotany: Evolution of a Discipline, edited byRichard Evans Schultes and Siri von Reis;Dioscorides Press, Portland, OR, 1995;bibliography; 414pp, hardcover, $49.95.

School children from the entire SF Bay Area visit the Foods of the AmericasMarketplace and discover that tomatoes, potatoes, corn, beans, chili peppers and bothsummer and winter squashes are just a few of the many plants domesticated by earlyfarmers of the Americas.

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University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley8

Research materials were provided to the following:

Dr. Esteban Bortiri, UC Davis Department ofPomology, received a sample of Prunus brachybotrya for hiswork on the molecular phylogenetics of Prunus (cherry,peach, plum, almond) with the goal of better understandingrelationships among species.

Dr. Michael Freeling, UC Berkeley Department of Plant& Microbial Biology, via laboratory assistant Zoya Akulova-Barlow, obtained several samples of grass species for a mor-phological study of ligules.

Dr. Sang-Hun Oh, UC Davis Department of Pomology,received a sample of Stachyurus praecox for his study of theclassification of Guamatela (Rosaceae). Morphological datasuggest Guamatela does not belong in the rose family(Rosaceae).

RESEARCH IN THE GARDEN

Dr. Anne Pringle and Dr. John Taylor, UC BerkeleyDepartment of Plant & Microbial Biology, are studyinglichens in the Garden with the assistance of student DianaChen. They are exploring the correlation between size and sex-ual reproduction in fungi to test the hypothesis that it is sizeand therefore growth rate, rather than age, which predicts totallifetime reproductive success.

Dr. Rei Rasmussen, Oregon Graduate Institute inBeaverton, Oregon, visited the Garden again to collect emis-sions from many species for his study of iosprenes.

Dr. Mark Roh, US National Arboretum, received a sam-ple of Bocconia frutescens (tree celandine) for his study ofevolutionary relationships.

Dr. Alan Smith, UC Berkeley Herbarium, continues tosample ferns for his study of evolutionary relationships.

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LEFT: Dr. Rei Rasmussen visited the garden to collect emissionsfrom many species. RIGHT: Dr. Joe Williams samples Illicium mex-icanum in the Garden’s Mexico/Central America Area for his studyof primitive angiosperms.

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Dr. Ivo Wiesner, Czech Academy of Sciences, receivedseeds of Linum lewisii (western blue flax) and Linum biennefor his study of the variability in chloroplast microsatelliteDNA in flax.

Dr. Joe Williams, University of Colorado at Boulder,returned to the Garden in July for more samples of Schisandra,Kadsura and Illicium for his study of primitive angiosperms.

Ms. Anya Hinkle, UC Berkeley Department ofIntegrative Biology dissertation student, obtained samples ofCordyline (cabbage tree) species for her investigation intorelationships within the genus Cordyline using molecular andmorphological characters.

Ms. Carla Hoopes, Montana State University, receivedseeds of Hypericum formosum ssp. scouleri (western St. John’swort) to compare this native plant’s structure and growth pat-terns with the invasive Hypericum perforatum (St. John’s wort).

Ms. Jacqueline Levy, San Francisco State UniversityDepartment of Biological Sciences, graduate student in ento-mology, studied the Battus philenor (pipevine swallowtailbutterfly) on the Garden’s plants of Aristolochia californica,(California pipevine) as part of her study on whether gardenscan provide all the necessary resources for these butterflies tocomplete development from egg to adult.

Mr. Joshua McDill, University of Texas at Austin, gradu-ate student in botany, received seeds of Hesperolinon sper-gulinum (slender dwarf flax) for his study of the phylogenet-ics and systematics of the flax family (Linaceae).

Mr. Marck Menke, San Francisco State UniversityDepartment of Biological Sciences, graduate student, receivedsamples of Eriodictyon (yerba santa) for a phylogenetic analy-sis of the temperate woody hydrophylls: Eriodictyon,Turricula, Nama lobbii and Nama rothrockii (Hydrophyllaceaeor Boraginaceae depending on classification system) that uti-lizes both morphological and molecular data.

Mr. Alexander Schmidt-Lebuhn, University ofGöttingen, Germany, graduate student, received samples ofPycnanthemum (mountain mints) for his study of the system-atics and evolutionary history of the Andean mint genusMinthostachys, which has about a dozen often locally distrib-uted species that are used in traditional medicine. The genusis believed to be most closely related to North AmericanPycnanthemum and Macaronesian Bystropogon.

Ms. Tracey Slotta, Virginia Tech Department of Biology,dissertation student, received samples of Malacothamnus forher research on the Malacothamnus alliance in theMalvaceae (mallow family). She is developing a molecularphylogeny of this alliance.

Ms. Stacey Smith, University of Wisconsin Departmentof Botany, graduate student, received samples of Iochroma,Acnistus and Saracha for analysis in a revision of the rela-tionships within the Iochrominae, which may help us under-stand the evolution of floral morphology as it relates to polli-nation syndromes within the Solanaceae (nightshade family).

Ms. Caroline Stromberg, dissertation student at UCBerkeley, Department of Integrative Biology, continued toreceive specimens and associated herbarium vouchers fordevelopment of a phytolith reference collection.

Much to the delight of visitors, volunteers, andstaff, the Garden is once again selling plants. The PlantDeck was officially reopened in early July after approvalfrom the Alameda County Department of Agriculture,which tested our stock plants for the presence of theSudden Oak Death (SOD) organism. An impromptuceremony was held to celebrate the occasion with open-ing remarks by Associate Director Richard Henderson,who noted how important the plant deck is as afundraiser for the Garden. Thanks to all the plantpropagators, and everyone else who helped to getthings ready.

The Garden has taken several steps to insure thatour plants are as disease-free as possible. We have insti-tuted a new propagation hygiene protocol, along withregular testing of soil and suspect plant material forSOD. Sale of any known host material has been dis-continued, and for the present time we have excludedthe rhododendrons and many other members of theEricaceae (heath family), apparently one of the mostaffected groups of plants.

All purchasers of plants are given a special handoutwith information about SOD and the precautions theGarden is taking to prevents its spread.

Summer 2002

Plants for Sale Once Again!

University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley10

GARDEN STAFF

Dr. Ellen Simms, DirectorRichard Henderson, Associate Director

ADMINISTRATIONCrissy Bilyk, Vistor Services Assistant

Kim Kaso, Volunteer Services & Program CoordinatorAfrooz Navid, Administrative Assistant

Margaret Richardson, Tour & Rentals CoordinatorMichael Rimar, Administrative Assistant

Candice Schott, Business Operations SupervisorJanet Williams, Marketing & Development Officer

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. Todd Dawson, 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 643-2937Director’s Office 643-8999Education 495-2805Entrance Kiosk 643-2755The Garden Shop 642-3343Plant Collections 643-8040Tours/Rentals 642-3352Volunteers 643-1924Fax 642-5045

E-mail: garden@uclink4.berkeley.eduWeb Site: http://www.mip.berkeley.edu/garden/

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

memberships. © UC Regents 2002Articles may be reprinted with credit to the

authors and the UC Botanical Garden.

GARDEN NOTES

STAFF CHANGES...We are pleased to announce that Lawrence Lee has beenhired as our New Plants Introduction Program/Volunteer Propagation ProgramCoordinator. Lawrence has shifted job responsibilities in the Garden, having pre-viously been the Horticulturist in charge of the Southern Africa Area and theArid House collections of cacti and succulents. Lawrence brings his expert knowl-edge of a wide range of interesting plants and effective propagation techniques, aswell as important horticultural industry contacts to the Program. We want toacknowledge the volunteer efforts of Fred Dortort, who is assisting with care ofthe Arid House collections until a new horticulturist can be hired.

We are also pleased to report that former student employee Crissy Bilyk hasaccepted a position as Visitor Services Specialist. You will find her part-time inthe Entrance Kiosk.

CONSERVATION...Holly Forbes and Barbara Keller spent many hours in thefield this spring and summer surveying for and collecting seeds of several federal-ly-listed endangered species in the San Francisco Bay Area and Sierran foothills.This work is in support of contracts with the US Fish & Wildlife Service and USBureau of Reclamation.

The Garden sponsors several species as a participating institution of the Centerfor Plant Conservation. This year Holly and Barbara recorded demographicinformation and sampled leaves of Delphinium bakeri (Baker’s larkspur) for analy-sis of this species’ genetic variability with our partner, Dr. Jason Koontz, andsupport of the Genetic Resources Conservation Program.

WILDFLOWER SHOW... In partnership with the California Native PlantSociety, the Jepson Herbarium, the Natural Science Guild, and the OaklandMuseum, the UC Botanical Garden annually co-sponsors the Wildflower Showat the Oakland Museum. Curator Holly Forbes, Curatorial Assistant BarbaraKeller, and Horticulturist Nathan Smith participated in two of four teams col-lecting wildflowers throughout the Sierran foothills to display at this show.Horticulturist Roger Raiche played an important role in identifying the dozensof species brought in for the show, and participated with Horticulturist JudithFinn in creating several beautiful flower arrangements for the show. Mark yourcalendar for next year’s show, to be held later in the year to feature later bloominghigh elevation species, on July 12-13, 2003.

THE LANDSCAPE...The Oak Knoll of the California Area lost a bit of shadethis summer. One of the Quercus agrifolia (coast live oaks) had to be removeddue to declining health. This was not a case of Sudden Oak Death, but wouldhave become a safety issue if not removed by the campus tree crew. A major limbof the Pinus sabiniana (foothill pine) overlooking Strawberry Creek cracked nearthe main trunk, necessitating another visit from the campus tree crew to take offthe limb and clean up the break.

DONOR RECOGNITION...In our Annual Review issue of the newsletter, weinadvertently omitted the generous gifts by Jane and Nelson Weller. The Gardengreatly appreciates the generosity of the Wellers and all of our donors.

— Holly Forbes

Summer 2002 11

The Fall Plant Sale Is On!Sunday, September 29th10 am to 2 pm

Silent AuctionMembers Preview 9:00 am

The Fall Plant Sale is on! It will be held on Sunday,September 29th, from 10 am to 2 pm and will include asilent auction and a special Member’s Preview at 9:00am (Memberships will be available at the door.)

In addition to the regular offerings of choice speciesfrom the Garden’s extensive collections, the fall sale willfeature special selections of salvias and penstemons fromthe Mexican/Central American collections, a terrificassortment of flowering Lapageria rosea (Chilean bell-flowers)—depending on bud set, and unusual hybrids ofchoice Haworthia species.

One of the many exciting offerings at this sale willbe a diverse assortment or winter growing/spring flower-ing bulbs such as Arum, Babiana, Tritonia, and Sparaxisspecies, perfect for fall planting. Very uncommon andrare seedling bulbs of Brunsvigia josephinae and corms ofthe elegant blue-flowered Moraea villosa, known as thepeacock moraea, will also be available for the first timeat Garden sales. And for the adventurous, mixed collec-tions of assorted bulbs will be sold.

A special silent auction, not normally held as part ofthe Fall sale, will include many choice gems for theplant and garden connoisseur. Just a few of the offeringsinclude a large male specimen of the hardy cycad,Ceratozamia hildae, an unusual green-floweredHippeastrum calyptratum from Brazil, and the dramatichardy large-leaved fern, Blechnum chilense.

You can find a more complete list of plants to beoffered at the sale, including orchids, tropicals, succu-lents, perennials, California natives, vines and herbs onthe Garden’s web site.

FALL SEASON IS THE BEST TIME FOR PLANTING MOST SPECIES IN CALIFORNIA.

TOP: The uncommon Brunsvigia josephinae will be for salefor the first time BOTTOM: Flowering Lapageria rosea(Chilean bellflowers)

Photo

by Jan

et Willi

ams

Photo

by H

olly

Forbes

Public Tours are offered at 1:30 pm each Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Call (510) 643-2755

Nonprofit Org.

U.S. Postage

PAIDUniversity of California

Address Service RequestedUniversity of California Botanical Garden

200 Centennial Drive, #5045

Berkeley, California 94720-5045

SICK PLANT CLINICUC plant pathologist Dr. Robert Raabe, UC entomologist Dr. NickMills, and their team of experts will diagnose what ails your plants.First Saturday of each month, 9:00 am – noonFree. No reservations required.

FALL PLANT SALESeptember 29, 10 am – 2 pmBack in business selling great plants and a Silent Auction for some rareones!Free. No reservations required.

FOODS OF THE AMERICASOctober 2 – 20, open during Garden hoursDisplay exploring the abundance of foods originating in the Americas;school tours can be scheduled.Free with Garden admission.

GOOD HORTICULTURE, GREAT PLANTS: BEST PRACTICES FOR MEDITERRANEAN GARDENS IN THE GREATER EAST BAY October 26, 10 am – 2:30 pmGarden Supervisor of Horticulture and Grounds Anthony Garza hastailored this program for avid East Bay gardeners. Learn about bestpractices, important techniques and interesting Mediterranean-climateplants in this lecture plus tour of the Garden.Fee $35 Members, $45 Non-members. Registration required.

QUARTERLY BIRD WALKNovember 2, 9 amJoin Manager of Collections & Horticulture Chris Carmichael on amorning walk to discover the Garden’s bird life.Free for Members, $5 plus admission Non-members. Registration recommended.

THE BUZZ FROM THE WINE COUNTRY:BEES IN A VINEYARD LANDSCAPENovember 2, 11 amProf. Gretchen LeBuhn will talk about some of our most interestingand least known native pollinators, solitary bees. With the decline inhoneybee colonies, the importance of our native bees as pollinators hasbeen realized. She will discuss her work with vineyard owners in Napaand Sonoma promoting pollinator protection.Free with admission. Registration recommended.

GARDEN HOURS: Open 9 am to 5 pm. Closed first Tuesday of each month. Closed December 25th.SUMMER HOURS: Memorial Day to Labor Day: 9 am to 7 pm. THURSDAYS ARE FREE. Garden Shop is open from 10:30 am to 7:00 pm.

CALENDAR OF EVENTSDOCENT TRAININGNovember 7, 2002 – March 27, 2003, 9:30 am – 12:30 pmUC Berkeley faculty, Garden Staff, and additional expert speakers willpresent lectures and tours on a variety of topics to familiarize class participants with botany in general and California native plants in particular, and with the Botanical Garden specifically. Tour techniquesand practice are featured as well. For more detailed information, pleasecall 643-1924.Fee and registration required.

AUTUMN COLOR IN THE MISTNovember 17, 10 amHorticulturist Elaine Sedlack explores the Garden’s Asian Area asmaple, dogwood and Sorbus create a tapestry of seasonal brilliance. Free for Members, $5 plus admission Non-members. Registration recommended.

BIODIVERSITY “HOTSPOTS” IN SERPENTINE HABITATSNovember 17, 1:00 pmProf. Susan Harrison will speak on the local and regional richness ofserpentine-endemic plants in California. Her research is focused on thefactors that give rise to high diversity in serpentine-endemic plants andhow those factors may help us to better understand the general phe-nomenon of biodiversity ‘hotspots’.Free with admission. Registration recommended.

HOLIDAY PLANT SALEDecember 7, 10 am – 2 pmFocusing on succulents, indoor and container plants; books and gifts,too! This sale is held in the Conference Center, rain or shine!Free with Garden admission.

SUBTROPICAL SEASONAL COLOR IN MEXICO/CENTRALAMERICA December 14, 11 amHorticulturist Eric Schulz leads a walk as the Mexican/CentralAmerican collection reaches its peak.Free for Members, $5 plus admission Non-members. Registration recommended.

To register for any program or event call 510-643-2755.