Botanical Expedition! - Botanical Research Institute of Texas

iridos volume 18 no 2
22
Journal of the Botanical
Research Institute of Texas
(J.Bot.Res.Inst.Texas) (formerly
Sida, Contributions to Botany) is an international journal
of systematic botany and has been a source of current
research in classical and modern systematic botany for
readers throughout the world for nearly 50 years. The
journal publishes primary research papers in fields such as
anatomy, biogeography, chemo-taxonomy, ecology, evolution,
floristics, genetics, paleobotany, palynology, and phylogenetic
systematics. Coverage is not restricted to any geographical
area, and papers are contributed from authors around the
world. It is published twice a year, with papers and abstracts
in two languages. All papers are peer-reviewed and are
frequently illustrated with maps and line drawings. Each issue
includes short communications on floristic discoveries, book
reviews, and notices of new publications.
Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas:
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introducing a new name
for a Respected Journal
As 2007 dawned, BRIT’s scientific journal, Sida,
Contributions to Botany,
became known as the Journal
of the Botanical Research
Institute of Texas (J.
Bot. Res. Inst. Texas). The
journal contains all the content
and style as before; it’s just in a
new wrapper (see illustration).
The issue, packed with over 60 articles, reports on 21
new species. One of the new plants reports to be the
smallest bamboo in the world, measuring less than
an inch in height. This diminutive bamboo, collected
in French Guiana, may also be the only bamboo that’s
an annual. Christened Raddiella vanessiae, the
name Raddiella is derived from the Italian botanist
Giuseppe Raddi (1770-1829). The specific epithet,
vanessiae, is named after Vanessa Hequet, who
collected the plant in 2001.
The study in French Guiana is joined in the issue
by others performed in the United States, Mexico,
India, Nepal, Brazil, and Ghana. Two articles on the
genus Taxus (common name: yew) by Richard W.
Spjut comprise over 100 of the 782 pages in this
issue of JBRIT. Spjut gives an account of the genus
worldwide and names six new species.
Finally, one article tackles the task of tracking
vegetational changes in three abandoned rice fields in
South Carolina over a period of 39 years. It even details
the effects of the category four hurricane Hugo in 1989.
Though written for the scientist, the article’s information
affects us all when it’s used as the foundation for
significant decisions concerning the environment.
the Press Publishes
four Books in 2007
Tundra to Tropics: The Floristic
Plant Geography of North America
By Steven P. McLaughlin
Floristic areas in North America
are areas characterized by particular
groupings of plant species. Most of
the species belong within one of
four large floristic areas covering
all of North America: Northern, Southwestern,
Eastern, and Neotropical. In an uncommon approach,
the author draws his data from already published
accounts of 245 smaller areas within Canada, the
United States, and Mexico. The data (including 19,500
species) were analyzed through statistical methods to
identify the four major regions and 27 smaller “floristic
subprovinces.”
BRIT Press
Muhlenbergia (Poaceae)
de Chihuahua, México
By yolanda Herrera Arrieta and Paul
M. Peterson
In the grass genus Muhlenbergia,
59 species are detailed from the state
of Chihuahua; 17 of these occur only
within Mexico. About the size of Arizona,
Chihuahua is Mexico’s largest state, a complex area of
grassland and desert with high mountains along the
western side and bordered on the north by New Mexico
and Texas. Species of Muhlenbergia are prominent
members of nearly all of the area’s plant communities.
The book has keys, descriptions, nomenclature,
specimen citations, distribution maps, and illustrations.
Botanists most readily appreciate this, but ecologists,
conservationists, land managers, and ranchers also
will find pertinent information. The authors are from
the National Polytechnic Institute in Durango, Mexico
(Herrera), and the Smithsonian Institution (Peterson).
The Genus Psychotria (Rubiaceae)
in the Philippine Archipelago
By S.H. Sohmer [BRIT Director] and
Aaron P. Davis
The authors provide technical
descriptions and illustrations for
112 species of Psychotria (coffee
family) in the Philippines, including 29
new species and nine new varieties. With about 2,000
species, Psychotria is probably the world’s largest
predominately woody genus. Most of the species are
small trees, and many produce psychoactive chemical
compounds. Many of the Philippine species are known
only from collections made early in the 20th century,
before the rapid decimation of forests began in 1960.
Many species are already extinct or severely restricted
in their present-day distribution. Dr. Sohmer’s fieldwork
and collections in the 1980s contributed much to this
study done during his employment at the Bishop
Museum in Hawaii. Coauthor Aaron Davis works
primarily from the Kew Herbarium in England.
Trees in the Life of the Maya World
By Regina Aguirre de Riojas and
Elfriede de Pöll
How should we treat our natural
surroundings? Trees in the Life of
the Maya World brings together
the knowledge of the shaman and the
scientist, the myths and arts of ancient
civilizations, and the practices of modern people. The
authors treat it all with wisdom and clarity of vision and
in the process the question is answered.