Marion and Tex Haynes Patio DedicatedMarion and Tex Haynes Patio Dedicated Marion Haynes and the Haynes Family at Montgomery O n April 2, 2011, Montgomery was excited to dedicate The - [PDF Document] (2024)

Marion and Tex Haynes Patio Dedicated

Marion Haynes and the Haynes Family at Montgomery

On April 2, 2011, Montgomery was excited to dedicateTheMarion and Tex Haynes Patio. The very generoussup-port of Walter Haynes, Marion Haynes, and the Haynes Family hasenabled MBC to add this wonderful new outdoor gathering space. Thisimprovement restores the area south of the Arthur MontgomeryGuesthouse to its original function—an outdoor space to bringfriends and colleagues together to enjoy each other’s company amongbeautiful landscape vistas. This project, designed by our landscapearchitect Joe Hibbard, fully integrates the central complex ofbuildings at MBC, from Nell’s House, south to the Guesthouse, theStudio, and all the way to the recently dedicated Chris Tyson PlantConservation Building.

Tex and Marion Haynes were some of Robert and Nell Montgomery’sclosest friends. Tex Haynes, Colonel Montgomery’s businesspartner, was present when the Colonel first moved into the mainhouse in 1932, and Tex was also with Col. Mont-gomery when he firstmet Nell at Chapman Field in 1934. Marion was Matron of Honor atNell’s wedding to Al Jennings,

and has the distinction of having the longest-standingrelationship with our botanic garden—Marion and Tex stayed in theMontgomery guest-houseon their honeymoon in 1936!

For the dedication, Marion vis-ited from Ponte Vedra as ourguest of honor, and was joined by many of her family and friends.She loved the new patio, and enjoyed spending the day in thegarden, sharing stories of her times here, and her recollectionsabout Nell and many others. It was a delightful opportunity to heara first-hand narrative from the beginnings of our history here.

Walter Haynes, MBC Treasurer, presented a slideshow highlightingthe project, and also the history of the Haynes family at MBC,beginning with a great photo of The Colonel and Tex enjoying theearly palm col-lection with family and friends (please see backcover). Please join MBC in thanking Marion Haynes, Walter Haynes,the Haynes family and all of their friends. This is a very generousgift and important improvement to Montgomery!

M. Patrick Griffith, Executive[emailprotected]

2 Montgomery Botanical News | Fall/Winter 2011

Dear Friends,

This newsletter is about synthesis—bringing things together topro-duce something greater. That old adage—the whole is more thanthe sum of its parts—holds true for Montgomery Botanical Center andits work in many ways.

With the Marion and Tex Haynes Patio (front cover), integration,coordination and good outcomes—the essence of synthesis—are verytangible. The Haynes family came together for this generous gift,which combines function and form—logistics and landscape—for asolidly improved facility. Even the purposes of the Marion and TexHaynes Patio reflect the synthesis principle; both a place forpeople to gather, and a vital arterial integrating office tolab.

Our botanical work shows more clear examples of appliedsynthesis. Michael (facing page) was one of several experts broughttogether to study Caribbean cycads. This project had importantconservation and education outcomes in The Bahamas. Larry’sresearch fieldwork with Brazilian palms (page 6) integrates everyspecies of Syagrus.

Pages 4 and 5 describe fieldwork to integrate our understandingof Florida’s native Zamia, and to discover its connection to Zamiafrom nearby islands. This work is supported by the National ScienceFoundation (see page 7), who recognized the ability of the uniqueteam brought together for the project—another example of thisissue’s theme.

We know that Colonel Montgomery was a master of synthesis. TheColonel brought together great ideas, plants and people (see backcover). Today, we benefit from and carry forward his great work. Ilook forward to sharing that work with you here at Montgomery.

F r o m t h eE x e c u t i v e D i r e c t o r

Pictured: Dr. Griffith on fieldwork in northeast Florida (seepages 4-5).

Montgomery Botanical CenterEstablished 1959

Board of DirectorsNicholas D. Kelly, President

Charles P. Sacher, Esq., Vice PresidentKarl Smiley, M.D., VicePresident

Walter D. Haynes, Esq., Sec./TreasurerCharles S. Sacher, Esq.,Asst. Treasurer

David Manz, Esq.Peter A. Manz

Juanita Popenoe, Ph.D.Mark Smiley

Executive DirectorM. Patrick Griffith, Ph.D., M.B.A.

Research FellowsAngélica Cibrián Jaramillo, Ph.D.

John Dowe, Ph.D.William Hahn, Ph.D.Damon P. Little, Ph.D.

Cristina Lopez-Gallego, Ph.D.Mónica Moraes R., Ph.D.

Fred Stauffer, Ph.D.Alberto S. Taylor B., Ph.D.

To advance science, education & conservation of tropicalplants, emphasizing palms and cycads,

Montgomery Botanical Center keepsliving plants from around theworld in

population-based, documented, scientific collections in a120-acre

botanical garden exemplifying excellent design.

Montgomery Botanical Centeris a tax-exempt, nonprofitinstitution

established by Nell Montgomery Jennings in memory of herhusband, Colonel Robert H. Montgomery, and

his love of palms and cycads.

Montgomery Botanical News is published biannually by

Montgomery Botanical Center.

11901 Old Cutler RoadCoral Gables, Florida 33156

Phone 305.667.3800 Fax 305.661.5984

[emailprotected]

Edited by Tracy Magellan

Masthead photo of Montgomery Palm(Veitchia arecina)

Printed on recycled paper

Fall/Winter 2011 | Montgomery Botanical News 3

A recent project worked to study and conserve the EndangeredBahamian cycad, Zamia lucayana (see our Spring 2010 Newsletter).The proj-ect brought together experts from The Bahamas NationalTrust (BNT), Florida International University (FIU), FairchildTropical Botanic Garden (FTBG), the United States Department ofa*griculture (USDA) and Montgomery Botanical Center (MBC), in ahighly successful collaboration. This cycad is only known from onesmall area on Long Island in The Bahamas. Herbarium specimens,seeds, geographic data and DNA samples were collected from Z.lucayana and its relatives throughout The Bahamas, with the supportof the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund.

As part of the project, public semi-nars were presented at theRetreat Garden National Park in Nassau and at the Community Centeron Long Island. Javier Francisco-Ortega (FIU/FTBG) spoke abouttropical botany and educa-tion, Tracy Magellan (MBC) spoke about exsitu conservation, Michael Calonje (MBC) presented our findingsabout

Bahamian cycads and Zamia lucayana, and Lindy Knowles presentedan over-view of The Bahamas National Trust.

The audiences were highly engaged and interested to learn thelocal Zamia, known as “Bay Rush,” was a globally rare species.Informational posters and post-cards were distributed toenvironmental and government agencies, to the Long Island Museum,and to several schools.

The team returned to the Zamia lucayana habitat studied one anda half years ago, and were pleased to find the

habitat and plants remain intact. Some of the land may changeownership in the near future—thus, the broad out-reach from thisproject can help inform important future stewards of this livingtreasure.

The Zamia lucayana project was highly successful, bringingtogether all the components of Montgomery Botanical Center’smission of supporting research, conservation, and education.

Contact: Michael Calonje, Cycad[emailprotected]

Zamia lucayana: A living treasure from The Bahamas

Revisiting the plant pictured on the Zamia lucayana outreachpostcard

Javier, Lindy and Michael in Zamia habitat

Public Meeting at the Retreat Garden National Park, Nassau

Florida houses relics of a bygone era. In one site on theGeorgia border two conifers —Taxus floridana and Torreyataxifolia—endure since before the last ice age. Growing aroundMiami is Psilotum nudum, a plant more primitive than most ferns.But surely our most intriguing living fossil is Zamia floridana,the only cycad from the mainland United States.

Many Names, Many Questions

Zamia floridana has a distinction—the most names of any cycad.For years it was known as Zamia integrifolia, and some-times Zamiapumila. The many scientific names highlight a poor understanding ofthe species and its relatives, but they also show how the plants inFlorida have some interesting variation north to south:wide-leaflet and narrow-leaflet plants can be found here. Theplants, commonly called “coon-tie,” were used by Native Americansas a food, and also by 19th and 20th cen-tury settlers as a sourceof industrial starch.

Those scientific and common names prompt two questions: How doour Zamia relate to other Caribbean zamias? And, what impacts didearly and modern Floridians have on these plants?

A New Look at Old Plants

Our research team—people from MBC, USDA, FIU, FTBG, NYBG andinternational colleagues—has looked care-fully at Zamia in Jamaica,Puerto Rico, The Bahamas, and the Dominican Republic for a numberof years (see MBC Newslet-ters from Fall 2008, Fall 2009, Spring2010, and here on page 3).

Another critical piece of the puzzle is here in our home state.With generous support from the National Science Foun-dation (seepage 7), our Zamia team worked through the spring and summer tocollect over 800 DNA samples, numerous her-

barium specimens, and precise, fine-scale geographic data, tobetter understand the big picture throughout the region.

Southeastern Florida: Alan Meerow and Tracy Magel-lan performedfieldwork in the most populated part of the state. Over the courseof long days afield, they were able to find 13 specimens in BrowardCounty and 24 in Palm Beach County—perhaps demonstrating theeffects of modern urban growth.

Everglades National Park: Javier Francisco-Ortega and Alanbraved mosquitoes to sample the very abundant zamias on Long PineKey, a Pine Rockland ‘island’ in the Everglades. Park rangers alsoshowed us many zamias, which had been planted out asreintroductions—early 20th century industry had taken the originalplants.

Southwestern Florida: The Florida State Park team gen-erouslyferried Javier and Alan out to Cayo Costa on their crew boat.Javier and Alan also covered sites in Oscar Scherer State Park andKoreshan State Park on this leg of the trip—3 diversepopulations.

Northeastern Florida: Patrick Griffith and Alan traveled to theGeorgia state line, sampling Zamia populations from the CanaveralSeashore northward to Amelia Island. Zamia plants in Ocala NationalForest grew in sand and full sun among cacti, turkey oak, andground lichen—cer-tainly very different than the humid coastalforests of Faver-Dykes. At Tomoka State Park, some zamias wereconcentrated on an ancient shell mound—perhaps these aredescendants from an old Tomokan garden? And, at one site, the teamcame face to face with a legendary cycad—the Palatka Giant.

Northwestern Florida: Michael Calonje and Chad

Florida’s Living Fossil: What are we learning about our nativecycad

4 Montgomery Botanical News | Fall/Winter 2011

Tracy Magellan, SE Florida

Michael Calonje, NW Florida

Fall/Winter 2011 | Montgomery Botanical News 5

Husby went the farthest distance, all the way to the Big BendNational Wildlife Refuge, sampling Zamia from Crystal RiverPreserve State Park to Ichetucknee Springs and between. Moreinteresting associations with Native American shell mounds werenoted at the Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge.

Moving Forward

The Florida fieldwork ties in with the large scale Caribbeanproject—with over 2,000 samples collected—and will help illuminatecycad evolution in this unique island region. At Alan’s ChapmanField lab, Dayana Salas-Leiva and Kyoko Naka-mura are working hardto genotype each leaflet with new DNA markers they are

developing. The results of this expert labwork, com-bined withprecise geographic data, will help tell the story of our localcycad—where did it come from, how does it relate to other Caribbeanzamias, and how have the people of Florida impacted the plants?

We are very grateful for the help and sup-port of the Federaland State land managers in Florida who kindly permitted access andsampling for this work. In many cases these professionals offeredinformation, transport (by truck or by boat), and expert advice onmanaging mosquitoes, alligators, snakes and ticks.

"Our Zamia team worked through the spring and summer to collectover

800 DNA samples"

Contact: [emailprotected]

Chad Husby, NW Florida Alan Meerow, NE Florida

6 Montgomery Botanical News | Fall/Winter 2011

Bringing It All Together: Studies in Syagrus

Syagrus is my favorite genus since I began studying palms over30 years ago. All Syagrus have interesting ‘miniature coconuts’ andmost species occur in Brazil. Initially, many looked alike, butlike twins, after you are around them long enough, you begin tonotice differences. During years of fieldwork and study, I havemeasured morpho-logical characters (plant structures, sizes,shapes, colors, hairs, scales, etc.) noting these differences.These differences often led to discovery and description of newspecies. Further examination of ana-tomical characters (like theinternal structure of a leaflet) can show differ-ences orsimilarities only apparent under a microscope. Bringing together somany Syagrus species at MBC allows these comparisons.

Modern methods go directly to the genes for further information.I was

glad to participate in recent studies led by Alan Meerow (USDA),which offer a robust picture of the Syagrus family tree. My biggestsatisfaction is to see the time I spent studying morphology andanat-omy in Syagrus has been productive—my structural data arereinforced and further defined by Alan’s DNA information.

Currently, Syagrus can be organized into three groups. First isthe rainforest group from northern South America and the Amazon,with a few from the humid coastal Atlantic forest. This groupingreinforces the theory that these two great forests were unitedduring more humid periods. The second is the Eastern Brazil-iangroup with many species occupying coastal mountains or interiorancient weather-worn mountains (chapadas) in Bahia and MinasGerais, and extend-ing into Ceara and Goias, atop South America’sancient tectonic plate. Finally,

there is a group from the savanna (cer-rado) region of Brazil,many of which have clustering stems.

It is ideal when information from dif-ferent sources givessimilar results, tells a common story and together offers clearerinsight. This is the best synthesis a scien-tist can hope for.

Harri Lorenzi observing Syagrus glaucescens in Minas Gerais,Brazil (2008).

Larry collecting Syagrus oleracea inCocos, Bahia, Brazil(1986).

Measuring Sygrus petraea near Chiquitos, Santa Cruz, Bolivia(2010)

Dr. Larry Noblick with Syagrus coronata at Montgomery BotanicalCenter (2011)

Larry Noblick, Palm [emailprotected]

Plants & People

Fall/Winter 2011 | Montgomery Botanical News 7

Summer 2011 Interns

This year Montgomery was awarded two important grants to helpcycad research and conservation. Please join Montgomery in thankingthese important supporters.

National Science Foundation

MBC is part of a multi-institutional project, led by JavierFrancisco-Ortega of FIU/FTBG, and including Alan Meerow of USDA,Dennis Stevenson of NYBG and Patrick Griffith of MBC. The projectfunds labwork and fieldwork to study biogeography and conservationgenetics of Caribbean Zamia (see pages 4 and 5).

National Geographic Society

Patrick Griffith was awarded a grant by the Committee forResearch and Exploration of the National Geographic Society, tosupport research fieldwork for Caribbean Zamia. This project alsoincludes Alan, Javier, Dennis, as well as Ramona Oviedo of theCuban National Herbarium. This fieldwork is critical tounderstanding biogeography in the Caribbean region.

Two Important Grants Support Research at MBC

Research Progress

Nicolas Espinosa from FIU was jointly hired as the NationalScience Foundation (NSF) Intern for our Zamia project with ourcollaborators at FIU, FTBG, and USDA. While at MBC, Nicolas workedto manage Caribbean Zamia living collections.

Jonathan Hirst was our first Kelly Foundation UndergraduateIntern. Jonathan worked in every department at Montgomery andsuccessfully completed a diverse program of botanic gardentrain-ing. Jonathan begins his studies at George WashingtonUniversity this fall.

Patrick Meus-Caris from Florida A&M University, was ourhorticulture intern this summer. Patrick worked primarily withpalms and cycads. Patrick worked to manage the young plants in thenursery, as well as help with research projects.

Montgomery Botanical Center would like to thank all of ourinterns for their hard work, dedication and enthusiasm.

August 2011

American Society for Horticultural Science Volume 21, Number4

August 2011

American Society for Horticultural Science Volume 21, Number4

Our living plant collections remain a vital science resource forexperts worldwide and our own team at MBC. Below are some recentexamples:

•A book on palm anatomy by Barry Tomlinson, Harvard ProfessorEmeritus (and MBC Research Associate), along with Jack Fisher andJay Horn. The work makes extensive use of MBC palm collections.Barry also has a recent study on the Wollemi Pine, appearing inAnnals of Botany.

•A series of studies on palm flower anatomy were recentlypublished by Fred Stauffer of the Conser-vatoire et JardinBotaniques de la Ville de Genève, Switzerland, and his colleaguesFelipe Castaño, Michèle Crèvecoeur, Nesly Ortega-Chavez,Jean-Christophe Pintaud and Rodolphe Spich-iger. Fred is also aKelly Research Fellow here at Montgomery – these studies madeextensive use of the MBC palm collections. The papers appear inAnnals of Botany, Candollea and Palms.

•Also in Annals of Botany is a study of DNA barcoding for palms,by Marc Jeanson, Jean-Noël Labat, and Damon Little, of the New YorkBotanical Garden and the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle(Paris). Damon, also a Research Fellow at MBC, has made use of thepalm, cycad and conifer collections at Montgomery in hisresearch.

•The Montgomery Team had two recent cover articles featured inArnoldia and HortTechnol-ogy (see left), authored by ErickaWitcher, Judy Kay, Michael Calonje, Vickie Murphy, Arantza Strader,Lan Nghiem-Phu, and Patrick Griffith. The studies highlight remotesensing and conser-vation horticulture at botanic gardens.

Plants & People

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Marion and Tex Haynes have been part of the history ofMontgomery Botanical Center since the earliest years. The pictureon the left shows (left to right) Colonel Robert Montgomery, WalterShaffer, Mac Foster, Tex Haynes and Isabel Foster enjoying theColonel's palms in the 1930s. To the right are other photographs ofMarion and Tex at Montgomery. Gathered at the table are NellMontgomery's friends and family: (left to right) Mitsu, Yoni, Tex,Marion, Walt and Isabel.

The Marion and Tex Haynes Patio, dedicated in April 2011, isbuilt in the exact location depicted in the outdoor photo of Texand Marion at right. The MBC team was honored to host Marion Hayneshere for the dedication (see front cover). Please join us inthanking the Haynes family for their generous gift.