[BEN-L]FW: BEN # 396

[Adolf Ceska]

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N=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 ISSN 1188-603X
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N=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 BOTANICAL
=A0BB=A0=A0 B=A0=A0 EE=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 NN=A0 =
NN=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 ELECTRONIC
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=A0No. =
396=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=
=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 June 18, 2008
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=A0aceska@telus.net=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=
=A0=A0 Victoria, B.C.
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=A0 Dr. A. Ceska, P.O.Box 8546, Victoria, B.C. Canada V8W 3S2
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B. L. (=91BILL=92) BURTT (27 AUGUST 1913 TO 30 MAY 2008)
From: Quentin Cronk [quentin.cronk@ubc.ca]

Brian Laurence Burtt, always known as Bill to his friends and =
colleagues,
has died aged 94. He was one of the prodigious botanists of the 20th =
century
and along with Peter Davis, was in large part responsible for =
establishing
the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) as a renowned scientific =
research
centre.

BLB's great strength was as a critical observer, a skill that was finely
honed when he worked before the Second World War as assistant to the
Director, Sir Arthur Hill, at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Hill loved
oddities of plant structure (as exemplified by Hill's papers of =
germination
of seeds with stony endocarp and resupination in flowers). As Director =
of
Kew, Hill had limited time to seek out nature's curios in the Kew living
collections so he engaged BLB as his young assistant to do it for him. =
Hill
encouraged him to go around the living collections and "observe". This =
early
training was formative in developing BLB's taxonomic genius. He picked =
up
from Hill an interest in germination and thought it a pity that a major
botanical garden like RBGE, growing annually thousands of plants from =
seed,
did not keep systematic records of seedling morphology and mode of
germination.

BLB joined RBGE in 1951, where he developed important research =
programmes on
a variety of plant families but particularly Gesneriaceae ("gesners" - =
his
great love) and Zingiberaceae (in collaboration on Rosemary Smith). The =
bald
facts speak for themselves. He collected 19,102 herbarium specimens,
authored 382 papers and described 637 new species, mostly gesners, but =
also
in numerous other families, including Asteraceae, Zingiberaceae,
Umbelliferae and Scrophulariaceae (H.N. Noltie, pers. comm.). His essay =
on
the Compositae (Burtt, 1961a) is still a wonderful introduction to that
family. In 1964 he formed a professional and personal collaboration with
Professor Olive Hilliard of the University of Natal. This collaboration =
led
to large numbers of papers but also to three remarkable illustrated =
books
(Hilliard and Burtt 1971, 1987, 1991).

BLB saw deeper into the plant than most taxonomists and had the =
intellectual
ability to place what he saw in an intellectual framework that allowed =
the
information to be captured, rather than skated over as a puzzling =
oddity.
This is nowhere more evident than in his important observations, and
intellectual contributions, on anisocotyly and the unifoliate habit in
_Streptocarpus_ (Jong and Burtt 1975). It also informed his taxonomy, =
making
him a big picture taxonomist, able to organize intellectually whole
families, not just the genus he was working on (Burtt, 1963, 1972, 1991;
Burtt and Smith 1972; Burtt and Wiehler 1995). His interest in plant
morphology as part of functional evolution led to a number of
thought-provoking contributions, some of which are listed in the =
references
here (Burtt 1961b, 1970, 1974, 1994).

In the _Streptocarpus_ book (Hilliard and Burtt 1971) BLB talks of the
pleasures and necessity of dividing time between field, laboratory and
herbarium - a clear statement of the importance he placed on the study =
of
the living plant. One of my most abiding memories of BLB was being in =
the
field with him (at age 85) on a visit to Mt Kinabalu. BLB had described =
the
gesners of the 1961 and 1964 Royal Society expeditions to Kinabalu, but =
had
never been there. So he was seeing plants he had described many years =
ago as
new to science, but he was seeing them in the live state for the first =
time.
He greeted them all as old friends and was interested to see what they
"really" looked like!


References

Burtt BL 1972 General introduction of papers on Zingiberaceae. _Notes =
from
the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh_ 31: 155-165

Burtt BL and RM Smith 1972 Tentative keys to the subfamilies, tribes and
genera of the Zingiberales. _Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden =
Edinburgh_
31: 171-176

Burtt, BL 1961a Compositae and the study of functional evolution. _Trans
Bot. Soc. Edinburgh_ 39: 216=96232

Burtt, BL 1961b Interpretive morphology. _Notes from the Royal Botanic
Garden Edinburgh_ 23: 568-572

Burtt, BL 1963 Studies in the Gesneriaceae of the Old World. XXIV. =
Tentative
keys to the tribes and genera. _Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden
Edinburgh_ 24: 205-220

Burtt, BL 1970 Studies in the Gesneriaceae of the Old World. XXXI. Some
aspects of functional evolution. _Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden
Edinburgh_ 30: 1-10

Burtt, BL 1974 Patterns of structural change in the flowering plants.
_Trans. Bot. Soc. Edinburgh_ 42: 133=97142

Burtt, BL 1991 Umbelliferae of southern Africa: an introduction and.
annotated check-list. _Edinb. J. Bot._ 48: 133=96282

Burtt, BL 1994 A commentary on some recurrent forms and changes of form =
in
angiosperms. In: Ingram, D.S. & A. Hudson [eds.] _Shape and Form in =
Plants
and Fungi._ Academic Press

Burtt, BL and Wiehler, H 1995 Classification of the family Gesneriaceae.
_Gesneriana_ 1: 1-4

Hilliard, O.M. & B.L. Burtt BL 1971. __Streptocarpus__: An African Plant
Study_. University of Natal Press

Hilliard, O.M. & B.L. Burtt. 1987. _The Botany of the Southern Natal
Drakensberg._ National Botanic Gardens, Cape Town

Hilliard, O.M. & B.L. Burtt.=A0 1991. __Dierama_: The hairbells of =
Africa._
Acorn Books (illustrated by Batten, A)

Jong, K. & B.L. Burtt. 1975 The evolution of morphological novelty
exemplified in the growth patterns of some Gesneriaceae. _New =
Phytologist_
75: 297-311


BOTANY BC 2008=20
From: Chris Pielou, Sharon Niscak and Helen Robinson=20

This year=92s Botany BC was held May 15 =96 17, 2008 at Powell River, =
with trips
to Texada Island and additional informal trips to Savary Island on =
Sunday.=A0
Elizabeth Easton skillfully arranged all the details with the guidance =
of
local naturalists, Terry Ludwar and John Dove, and the blessing of =
perfect
weather.=A0=20

On Thursday evening we gathered at the Italian Cultural Centre for =
delicious
appetizers while renewing acquaintances and meeting new botanists. Elsie
Paul welcomed Botany BC participants to the Sliammon territory in the =
spirit
of her traditional name, Qaxustala, meaning a welcoming person with a =
wealth
of knowledge who shares her culture.=A0 John Dove continued the welcome =
with a
rich presentation depicting the unique botanical, ecological and =
geological
features of Texada Island.=A0 The next morning we sailed to Texada with =
a
waterside view of the extensive limestone quarries that have been mined
since shortly after settlers arrived.=A0 Our first stop was Marshall =
Point on
the north end of the Island to view the _Juniperus maritima_ =A0and the =
flora
that grows along the cliffs.=A0 We were delighted to find carpets of =
_Mimulus
guttatus_, _Plectritis congesta_, and _Cerastium arvense_ in full bloom, =
and
were intrigued with the sculpted dolomite bowls and (basalt) dyke =
formations
along the shoreline. Vast sweeps of _Vaccinium ovatum_ grow throughout =
the
Island. We stopped to exam the huckleberry-fir rust _Pucciniastrum
goeppertianum_=A0 infecting the _V. ovatum_ twigs..=A0=20

Our next stop was to view _Jaumea carnosa_ at Van Anda Lagoon and then =
to
walk through a carpeted forest rich in Bryophytes and studded with
_Fritillaria affinis_ =A0and _Calypso bulbosa_.=A0 Although we could not =
gain
entrance to the area richest in _Woodwardia fimbriata_=A0 we were =
fortunate to
view and photograph a few plants growing near the road.=A0=A0=A0=20

The next morning our group visited Wildwood Bluffs with Terry Ludwar, =
and
the second group travelled to view the flora of Deer Lake Bog.=A0 The =
cliffs
provided niches for the _Aspidotis densa_, _Pentagramma triangularis_, =
and
_Lomatium nudicaule_.=A0 A large colony of _Zigadenus venenosus_ was in =
full
bloom.=A0 The excitement was the discovery of the minute least moonwort,
_Botrychium simplex_ by Ksenja Barton. Early signs of _Piperia =
transversa_
and _Piperia elongate_=A0 poked through the ground.=A0 We were awed by =
the
stands of mature _Arbutus menziesii_ =A0that dwarfed our humble =
presence.=A0 At
the sphagnum bog, some of the plants identified by the second group =
included
_Myrica gale, Rhododendron groenlandicum, Lonicera involucrata, Kalmia
microphylla, Drosera rotundifolia, Viola palustris, Hypericum =
anagalloides
and Oxycoccus oxycoccos_.
=A0
The next Botany BC is planned for 2009, at Muncho Lake on the Alaska
Highway.

[Editorial note: I could not get no satisfaction in the two evenings of =
the
low brow (better say the elementary or secondary school) entertainment =
the
organizers fed us with. We should try for something better for the next
BOTANY BC! AC =96 BEN Editor]=20


ILLUSTRATED KEY TO RACOMITRICEAE OF OREGON ON LINE=20
From: David Wagner [davidwagner@mac.com]

I have published (posted) an illustrated key to the Racomitrioideae of
Oregon on the web site of the Oregon State University Herbarium:

http://oregonstate.edu/dept/botany/herbarium/racoweb/ARACKEY.htm

It covers the four genera of Racomitrium s.l. as treated by Ochyra and
Bednarek-Ochyra in the first part of mosses in the Flora of North =
America=A0
(vol. 27, part 1,=A0 of FNA). The key also covers all species presently =
known
from California and most of those from Washington state. The key has =
been
written with vegetative characters as the primary characters in each =
lead,
with reproductive structures being secondary, so that sterile material =
can
be identified. I recommend printing out the first part, the Introduction =
and
Explanation, for detailed instructions on the use of the key and a
discussion of the group.

This is a standard dichotomous key formatted for web browser navigation.
Each page in this key is a couplet with two contrasting leads. The =
picture
above the lead illustrates the primary character.
The moss green button at the left of the lead links to the next couplet =
or
to a species page. Each species page gives pertinent synonyms, =
diagnostic
characters and hints for differentiating look alikes, habitat and
distribution, additional illustrations, and comments.

All pictures on the key pages and the species pages are thumbnails, low
resolution versions of the images for rapid downloading. Click on a
thumbnail to see a larger image. These higher resolution images may be =
be
larger than your screen depending on your browser settings.
They have been saved at 1000 pixels high to retain reasonably good
resolution. Use your back arrow, "Show the previous page," to return to =
the
page on which the thumbnail was located. All images used in the key are
repeated on the appropriate species page. Most species pages have many
additional illustrations, over 170 photomicrographs are incorporated =
into
this document.

At the top of every key page there is a line of breadcrumbs. This is a
series of links to the leads in each couplet taken to arrive at this =
page.
It is a shorthand record of choices made. You can go back to any step in =
the
keying process by clicking on the appropriate phrase in the breadcrumb
trail. Clicking on the first breadcrumb will take you back to the start =
of
the key.

The web key works best with a fast, broadband connection, otherwise the =
full
resolution photomicrographs will be slow to load. An alternative to =
using an
internet connection to the web based version is installing the key on =
your
hard drive from a CD, which I'll provide to anybody in the U.S. for a
donation to cover costs of copying and mailing (say, $5).

I want to give my sincere thanks to Aaron Liston, Director of the O.S.U.
Herbarium, for posting this key. I would appreciate receiving critical
comments on this document.

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