winter 2014 - Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden

Transcription

winter
FTBG
ann
i v e r s a ry
1938 - 2 0 1 3
2014
published by fairchild tropical botanic garden
Ginkgo votive holders
Regular price, $10-$18
Member price, $9-$16.20
THE
SHOP
AT FAIRCHILD
tropical gourmet foods | apparel
home décor accessories | gardening supplies
eco-friendly and fair trade products | unique tropical gifts | books and much more
fairchild
Photo by Rey Longchamp/FTBG
tropical
botanic
garden
contents
DEPARTMENTS
FROM THE DIRECTOR
5
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
7
GET IN ON THE CONSERVATION
9
EXPLAINING 13
VIS-A-VIS VOLUNTEERS 16
TROPICAL CUISINE 19
WHAT’S BLOOMING 20
WHAT’S IN STORE 27
GARDENING IN SOUTH FLORIDA 36
PLANT RECORDS 39
EDIBLE GARDENING 45
PLANT SOCIETIES 46
BUG BEAT 51
GIFTS AND DONORS 59
GARDEN VIEWS 61
FROM THE ARCHIVES 64
CONNECT WITH FAIRCHILD 66
28
LIZARDS AT FAIRCHILD
32
THE SURPRISINGLY COMPLEX
HISTORY OF EVERYONE’S
FAVORITE TREAT
47
SAVING FLORIDA‘S
WILD NATIVE
ORCHIDS
Membership
at fairchiLd
Membership Categories
Your Benefits...
We have expanded and added membership
categories to better fit your needs:
• Free daily admission throughout the year
• Free admission to all daytime events and art exhibitions
• Free admission to the Wings of the Tropics Exhibit
• Free parking
• Free admission to all Members-only events, including
Members’ Lectures, Moonlight Tours, the Members’ Day
Plant Sale and select Members-only evening events
• Quick Admit at all admission points
• Subscription to the award-winning magazine
The Tropical Garden
• Discounts to all ticketed day or evening events
• Discounts at The Shop at Fairchild
• Discounts and priority registrations for
adult education classes and seminars
• Discounts to kids’ summer camps
• Discounts on a wide variety of products and services
from participating Branch Out Partners
• Free or discounted admission** to more than 500 other
gardens, arboreta and museums in the U.S. and abroad
(**certain restrictions may apply)
$90
Individual
Admits one adult
Dual
Admits two adults
$110
Family
$135
Grandparents
Admits two adults and grandchildren
of members (17 and under)
$125
Family and Friends
Admits four adults and children
of members (17 and under)
$170
Sustaining
$250
Signature
$500
Admits two adults and
children of members (17 and under)
Admits four adults and children of members
(17 and under). Receives six gift admission
passes ($150 value)
Admits four adults and children of members
(17 and under). Receives eight gift admission
passes ($200 value)
For more information, please call
the Membership Department at
305.667.1651, ext. 3362 or visit
www.fairchildgarden.org/Membership
fairchild tropical botanic garden
Photo by Gaby Orihuela/FTBG
from the director
A
year ago, we launched a major experiment at Fairchild. We moved our
research labs from their former off-site location into the heart of our
public garden. We wanted to see whether we could get our volunteers,
teachers, students, members and visitors involved in science activities
that had always taken place behind the scenes. Now, a year into this experiment,
we have learned a valuable lesson: our science is much stronger and more
exciting now that the public is involved.
We designed the Jane Hsiao Tropical Plant Laboratories of the Paul and Swanee
DiMare Science Village with our community in mind. The new laboratories,
including the Raymond Baddour DNA Lab, the Jason Vollmer Metamorphosis
Lab and the new imaging and micropropagation labs, are all visible to the public.
They were built to support the same kinds of research that made Fairchild famous
in scientific circles, while also meeting our ever-expanding educational and
outreach goals.
Today, our lab work is done by a mix of volunteers, staff members, professors,
undergraduate and graduate students, high school students and teachers. We
continuously make discoveries, including new techniques for growing orchids,
new insight into the evolution of palms and emerging DNA evidence that will
help us pinpoint the origin of mangos. Along the way, the labs serve an essential
role in teaching biology at the K-12 and university levels.
Now, as we look to the future, we are developing larger, more ambitious projects
than ever. Our expanding volunteer and student workforce gives us the ability to
think big.
This fall we launched the Million Orchid Campaign, supported by a grant
from the American Orchid Society and a donation given in honor of Hugh M.
Matheson. We are propagating 1 million native orchids to be planted in public
spaces throughout South Florida. Other major science initiatives are in the works,
including projects to expand our Tropical Plant DNA Bank and capture images of
thousands of tropical plants at the cellular level.
We also have plans for getting more people from our community involved in the
labs. Soon we will be launching weekend activities to provide hands-on research
opportunities for small groups of Fairchild members. We are expanding our high
school programs to launch more students toward careers in tropical biology.
I hope you will stop by and visit our labs soon, and I hope you will enjoy all the
discoveries we continue to make with the help of our community.
Best regards,
Carl Lewis, Ph.D.
WINTER 2014
5
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contributors
GEORGIA TASKER
As the garden writer for The
Miami Herald for more than 30
years, and now writes and blogs
for Fairchild. She has received
the Garden’s highest honor, the
Barbour Medal, and a lifetime
achievement award from the
Tropical Audubon Society. She
is also an avid photographer,
gardener and traveler. She
graduated cum laude from Hanover
College in Hanover, Indiana.
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KENNETH SETZER
Joined Fairchild as a writer and
editor with the marketing team
in 2013. He contributes to print
and digital media. Setzer enjoys
writing about natural and human
history and is an enthusiastic
photographer, with a particular
fascination with fungi. His
educational background is
in linguistics, with a BA from
Queens College, City University
of New York, and an MA from
Florida International University.
JOSE HIDALGO
Moved to the US from
Quito, Ecuador in 2006, and
earned his Master’s degree in
ecology from the University
of Missouri. Currently he is
a Ph.D. student in the lab of
Dr. Al Uy at the University
of Miami and works as the
Kushlan Bird Conservation
Graduate Assistant at Fairchild.
His research focuses on
understanding the social
and evolutionary ecology of
tropical avifauna.
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Nursery:
Nursery: 20200
20200 S.W.
S.W. 134
134 Ave.,
Ave., Miami
Miami
Phone:
Phone: 305-251-6293
305-251-6293 •• fax:
fax: 305-324-1054
305-324-1054
Mail:
Mail: 1230
1230 N.W.
N.W. 7th
7th St
St •• Miami,
Miami, FL
FL 33125
33125
ON THE COVER
Hummingbird perching. Wings of the
Tropics exhibit, The Clinton Family
Conservatory.
Photo by Susan Ford-Collins
CORRECTION
In the Summer 2013 issue of The Tropical Garden, in the story
“Bamboo in America,” David Bisset was erroneously identified in
the article as Peter Bisset, both in the text and in the photo on page
65. Peter Bisset is correctly identified in the picture on page 64.
Peter and David both worked at the USDA; Peter was David’s father.
schedule of events
The official publication of
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden
editorial staff
editor in chief
chief operating officer
Nannette M. Zapata
design
Lorena Alban
production manager
Gaby Orihuela
features writers
Georgia Tasker
Kenneth Setzer
staff contributors
Richard Campbell
Mary Collins
Stephanie Cornejo
Arlene Ferris
Erin Fitts
Marilyn Griffiths
Brett Jestrow
Noris Ledesma
Amy Padolf
Kenneth Setzer
copy editors
Mary Collins
Rochelle Broder-Singer
Kenneth Setzer
advertising information
Leslie Bowe
305.667.1651, ext. 3338
previous editors
Marjory Stoneman Douglas 1945-50
Lucita Wait 1950-56
Nixon Smiley 1956-63
Lucita Wait 1963-77
Ann Prospero 1977-86
Karen Nagle 1986-91
Nicholas Cockshutt 1991-95
Susan Knorr 1995-2004
The Tropical Garden Volume 69,
Number 1. Winter 2014.
The Tropical Garden is published quarterly.
Subscription is included in membership dues.
© FTBG 2014, ISSN 2156-0501
All rights reserved. No part of this publication
may be reproduced without permission.
Accredited by the American Association of
Museums, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden
is supported by contributions from members
and friends, and in part by the State of Florida,
Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs,
the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, the John
D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the
National Endowment for the Arts, the Institute of
Museum and Library Services, the Miami-Dade
County Tourist Development Council, the MiamiDade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the
Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County
Mayor and Board of County Commissioners, and
with the support of the City of Coral Gables.
CONCERTS
FAIRCHILD’S
GARDENMUSIC FESTIVAL
January 9, 11, 14, 16 and 19
6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
For more information, visit
GardenMusicFestival.com
AN EVENING ON
BROADWAY IN THE GARDEN
WITH MORGAN JAMES
Friday, January 17
7:00 p.m.
CONCERT FOR KIDS
Saturday, January 18
10:30 a.m.
SUNDAY SOUNDS
AT FAIRCHILD
Presented by the University
of Miami Frost School of Music
February 2, 9, 16 and 23
March 2 and 23
1:00 p.m.
VALENTINE’S DAY CONCERT
Friday, February 14
7:00 p.m.
TEAS
For information or reservations,
please call Marnie Valent at
305.663.8059.
VALENTINE’S DAY TEA
Sunday, February 9
3:00 p.m.
THE ORCHID TEA ROOM
Friday through Sunday,
March 7, 8 and 9
11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
SPRING GARDEN TEA
Sunday, April 6
3:00 p.m.
FAIRCHILD FARMERS’
MARKET
Every Saturday, except
festival days
9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
MORE FUN
AT FAIRCHILD
THURSDAY NIGHTS
AT FAIRCHILD MOONLIGHT
TOURS AND LECTURES
7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
January 16
January 30
February 13
February 27
March 20
April 3
April 17
DOG DAY
Sunday, February 2
9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
PLANT ID WORKSHOP
Bring a plant cutting to
Fairchild’s Herbarium and
let our scientists uncover its
identity! Workshops take
place at Fairchild’s Natural
History Museum.
Friday, February 6, 1:00 p.m.
FESTIVALS
8TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL
CHOCOLATE FESTIVAL
January 24, 25 and 26
9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
12TH ANNUAL
INTERNATIONAL
ORCHID FESTIVAL
March 7, 8 and 9
9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
SPRING GARDEN FESTIVAL
FEATURING THE 35TH
ANNUAL SPRING PLANT
SALE AND BUTTERFLY DAYS
Saturday and Sunday,
April 12 and 13
9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
FAIRCHILD
FEATURES
SPLENDOR IN THE GARDEN
Thursday, January 23
11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
GALA IN THE GARDEN
Saturday, February 1
6:30 p.m.
This schedule of events is subject
to change. For up-to-the-minute
information, please call 305.667.1651
or visit www.fairchildgarden.org/Events
WINTER 2014
7
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get in on the conservation
fairchild
board of trustees
Bruce W. Greer
President
Louis J. Risi, Jr.
Senior Vice President
& Treasurer
Charles P. Sacher
Vice President
Suzanne Steinberg
Vice President
Jennifer Stearns Buttrick
Vice President
L. Jeanne Aragon
Vice President
& Assistant Secretary
Joyce J. Burns
Secretary
Leonard L. Abess
Alejandro J. Aguirre
Raymond F. Baddour, Sc.D.
Nancy Batchelor
Norman J. Benford
Faith F. Bishock
Bruce E. Clinton
Martha O. Clinton
Swanee DiMare
José R. Garrigó
Kenneth R. Graves
Willis D. Harding
Patricia M. Herbert
Robert M. Kramer, Esq.
James Kushlan, Ph.D.
R. Kirk Landon
Lin L. Lougheed, Ph.D.
Bruce C. Matheson
Peter R. McQuillan
Clifford W. Mezey
David Moore
Stephen D. Pearson, Esq.
Adam R. Rose
Janá Sigars-Malina, Esq.
James G. Stewart, Jr., M.D.
Vincent A. Tria, Jr.
Angela W. Whitman
Ann Ziff
T. Hunter Pryor, M.D.
Trustee Emeritus
Carl E. Lewis, Ph.D.
Director
Nannette M. Zapata, M.S.
Chief Operating Officer
The beautful pine rocklands at Larry and Penny Thompson
Park in Miami support a healthy population of the
Florida brickell bush.
Photo by Jennifer Possley/FTBG
Federal Protection for
South Florida Plants
In October 2013, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service proposed adding two Miami plant
species to the federal endangered species
list. In addition, several Miami preserves
have been designated as critical habitats for
those species: the Carter’s flax (Linum carteri
var. carteri) and the Florida brickell-bush
(Brickellia mosieri). Both species are endemic
to Miami-Dade County and are found only
in a handful of the small parcels of pine
rockland habitat that are scattered throughout
the county’s urban areas. These pine rockland
preserves are managed by the county’s
Environmentally Endangered Lands Program
(EEL) and Natural Areas Management (NAM)
divisions. Fairchild has worked with NAM
and EEL since the 1990s to map, monitor
and conserve rare plants in Miami-Dade’s
nature preserves. Fairchild’s South Florida
Conservation Team has played a vital role in
designating critical habitat for both Carter’s
flax and Brickell bush, by providing detailed
mapping data for both species.
Carter’s flax, Linium Carteri var. Carteri.
Photo by Meghan Fellows/FTBG
WINTER 2014
9
Botanists from Miami and the Dominican
Republic Come Together to Explore
for Plants
A team of botanists and horticulturists performed extensive
fieldwork across the Dominican Republic with the goal of
collecting material for their institutions’ living collections.
Teodoro Clase from the National Botanic Garden of the
Dominican Republic, Dr. Chad Husby from Montgomery
Botanical Center and Fairchild’s Jason Lopez and Dr. Brett
Jestrow carried out this exploration October 7–17. The expedition
was supported by Dr. Lin Lougheed.
(L-R) Dr. Chad Husby, Jason Lopez, Teodoro Clase, Dr. Brett Jestrow and
Francisco Rodriguez, head of the botany department of the National Botanic
Garden of the Dominican Republic.
The material the team gathered will be valuable for research,
education and horticultural purposes. The team collected living
material for more than 100 accessions, which are currently being
cultivated in the respective gardens’ greenhouses.
Fairchild Hosts Environmental Immersion Day
Interactions and experiences with the natural world help humans
define and prioritize their values. Values steer people toward
decisions and actions, such as where to study, what to study,
and how to live. Fairchild had the opportunity to help shape
the values of local high school students during Environmental
Immersion Day.
Students use botanical illustration to take a closer look at the intricacy of plants.
On Tuesday, November 26—Environmental Immersion Day—
The Fairchild Challenge hosted local high school students,
giving them the chance to work directly with Fairchild’s science
professors, graduate students and experts in the field. They were
able to experience different potential careers and to discuss
academic interests with the experts. More than 100 students
from 11 schools explored economic botany, biodiversity, plant/
animal ecology and horticulture throughout the day. They
caught and banded wild song-birds in the Keys Coastal Habitat
in the Garden’s Lowlands, extracted DNA and propagated rare
orchids in the DiMare Science Village, grafted mango trees in the
Learning Garden, captured a closer look at wildlife using hightech imaging equipment and low-tech pencils in the Imaging Lab
and Corbin classrooms and more.
LEFT: Students in plant/animal ecology learn why and
how to safely catch, handle and tag wild birds.
ABOVE: Students extract DNA at the Science Village.
(L-R) Alex Greenspan (UC Davis graduate student), Ahmet Çakmak (Harran University
undergraduate) and Assistant Professor Eric von Wettberg on a mountainside in
southeastern Anatolia after installing dataloggers during autumn 2013.
Thomas Croat, left, authority on South American aroids, with Meerabin Sivadasan
and Dr. M. “Das” Sivadasan at the aroid show in September.
Fairchild Researcher Receives Support from
the National Science Foundation
Indian and Middle East Aroid Expert Speaks
at Coral Gables Event
The National Science Foundation recently awarded a grant to
Fairchild researcher and Florida International University faculty
member Dr. Eric von Wettberg and two colleagues, for a project
to study nitrogen fixation in wild legumes. Von Wettberg and
colleagues Dr. Doug Cook and Varma Penmetsa of the University
of California at Davis believe that the results of their work have
the potential to reduce agricultural use of fertilizer.
Just a single species of aroid, Arisaema flavum subspecies
flavum, grows in Saudi Arabia. Indian aroid expert Dr. M.
“Das” Sivadasan studies that species from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia,
where he now resides as an advisor in King Saud University’s
department of botany and microbiology. This past September,
Sivadasan travelled to Coral Gables to speak at the banquet of
the International Aroid Society’s show and sales. He spoke about
many of the 27 genera and 140 species of aroids in India, as well
as that singular Saudi aroid.
In this project, titled “Deducing the Genomic Footprint and
Functional Impact of Chickpea Domestication on Nitrogen
Fixation,” the researchers aim to understand how the wild
ancestors of legume crops take nitrogen from the soil via
symbiotic bacteria, a process known as nitrogen fixation. They
will also examine how human selection reshaped this potential
during domestication of the legume. To do so, they will combine
the genres of ecology and population genomics with classical
molecular genetics and reverse genetic assays to understand how
differences in their genes affect the function of wild populations
of Cicer reticulatum, wild chickpea, and its domesticated
counterpart Cicer arietinum, the chickpea.
This approach should expand scientific knowledge of symbiotic
nitrogen fixation in novel ways, and will contribute to an emerging
paradigm in plant biology: the intersection of ecology, genomics
and molecular biology to empower the study of gene function in
natural and human-built environments. Ultimately this work has the
potential to reduce the use of fertilizer in agricultural systems.
Sivadasan’s association with the International Aroid Society goes
back to 1980, when he attended the First International Aroid
Conference, which was held at Marie Selby Botanic Gardens
in Sarasota. “There were only 16 or 17 people there. Now the
IAS is enormous in size,” remarked Sivadasan, he served on the
IAS board of directors, from 2007 to 2010 during his trip to the
banquet this year.
Sivadasan taught for 35 years at the University of Calicut in
Kerala, India, taking early retirement to work on a computeraided plant identification package for the flora of the Middle
Region and the wetland plants of Saudi Arabia. In addition to this
work, he also is revising the family of aroids, Araceae, in India.
During his career, he has written more than 150 research papers
and eight books.
This legume research owes much to the legacy of Dr. David
Fairchild, as one of its aims is to expand the diversity of the
wild relatives of domesticated crops in international breeding
collections. Von Wettberg will conduct research in Turkey during
the summers of 2014 and 2015, continuing the work started in
summer 2013.
WINTER 2014
11
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explaining
Student Scientists
Delve intoOrchid
Research
For the first time, Fairchild is giving
high school students the opportunity
to actively contribute to local plant
conservation through classroom
research with living specimens.
By Amy Padolf
F
airchild has a long history of offering
students innovative, engaging and
inspirational environmental education
experiences. Whether students are
navigating the Garden’s collection using GPS
technology during a Discovery program or
debating controversial environmental issues
through the Fairchild Challenge Environmental
Debates, Fairchild’s education programs
have always been ahead of their time.
This year, conservation of South Florida’s
urban and natural environments takes center
stage. Students are observing and collecting
behavioral information about native
and exotic butterflies for research being
conducted by Martin Feather, Fairchild’s
butterfly exhibit manager. Other students
TOP: Students from the Advanced Research course
at Terra Environmental Research Institute High
School install orchid flasks in their classroom.
education magnet program. Students
enrolled in the Environmental Studies
and Field Research strand at TERRA
are required to be well-versed in the
scientific method; the Million Orchid
Campaign gives them a first-hand, practical
opportunity to apply what they learn. They
will make observations, define independent
and dependent variables, create testable
hypotheses, visualize and plan for how they
will capture and interpret their data—and
analyze their results.
175 flasks containing more than 10,000 orchid seedlings are now housed at Terra Environmental
Research Institute as a part of Fairchild’s Million Orchid Campaign. Photo by Kenneth Setzer/FTBG
are creating long-term conservation plans
for their schools, including restoring
endangered pine rockland habitats
for Dr. Joyce Maschinski, Fairchild’s
conservation ecologist. Now, students at
TERRA Environmental Research Institute,
a Miami-Dade County public high school,
are conducting research on endangered
South Florida orchids as a part of
Fairchild’s Million Orchid Campaign.
(See page 47 for an overview).
In early October, Fairchild Director Dr.
Carl Lewis and Fairchild’s director of
to collect data through observations
and manipulation. The flasks contain
three varieties of native orchids: the
cowhorn/cigar orchid (Cyrtopodium
punctatum), the Florida butterfly orchid
(Encyclia tampensis) and the dollar orchid
(Prosthechea boothiana).
Students are monitoring light times and
differences in growth media to determine
which combination best nurtures these
fragile and temperamental plants. They
have the enthusiastic support of TERRA
Principal Carrie Montano, as well as
The goal is to help Fairchild researchers understand
how these orchids grow best and what conditions
they need to survive, while utilizing the power of
citizen scientists to collect the necessary data through
observations and manipulation.
education, Amy Padolf, took more than
10,000 endangered orchids in 175 glass
flasks to TERRA, where students have
an opportunity to monitor and collect
precious data for Fairchild researchers.
These flasks will be housed in TERRA’s
Environmental Research classroom under
conditions similar to those in Fairchild’s
micropropagation lab. The goal is to
help Fairchild researchers understand
how these orchids grow best and what
conditions they need to survive, while
utilizing the power of citizen scientists
(in this case eager high school students)
Fairchild volunteer Tom Privett, a social
studies teacher at the school, and Surey
Rios, an environmental science teacher.
For four to five months, students will host
these seedlings in their classroom. In late
winter, they will work with Lewis and
local orchid expert Dr. Martin Motes to
transplant the maturing seedlings into flats
that will be housed in TERRA’s greenhouse
until they are mature enough to be planted
into the trees surrounding the school.
The school has already begun to integrate
this research into its robust environmental
Already, students in TERRA’s Advanced
Research Methods class have discussed
the different variables that will be tested,
and are asking questions including:
Which orchid species grows best? Which
food source allows orchids to grow the
most? Does quantity of sunlight affect
orchid growth? Does the placement of
the bottle (directly under the light source
or indirectly under the light source)
affect orchid growth? They have devised
procedures for gathering data and are
measuring orchid growth. With help from
researchers at Fairchild, this data will
be analyzed and interpreted. As a final
project this school year, students will
present their findings to Fairchild staff
and offer input into how we can improve
future iterations of this project.
Fairchild staff, graduate students and
orchid experts from the community will
make regular visits to the school to help
facilitate the research, answer students’
questions and ensure proper growth of the
orchids. In late winter, Motes will work
with the students to transplant the orchids
from flasks to flats that will live in TERRA’s
shade house until they mature. Once
the orchids are transplanted, Rios will
have her students begin a different set of
observations, including weather conditions
and patterns as they relate to survivability.
This is just the beginning! With support from
our community, we hope to expand this
program to include middle and, potentially,
elementary schools from across the county,
which will help us achieve our goal of
placing 1 million endangered orchids
throughout Miami-Dade’s urban landscape.
To learn how you can support the Million
Orchid Campaign, please visit our website
at www.fairchildgarden.org/The-MillionOrchid-Campaign.
NEW THIS WINTER
CLASSES AT FAIRCHILD
ONLINE REGISTRATION
There’s a new look and an easy online registration process.
Browse the online Winter/Spring class schedule and register from your computer or mobile device.
REGISTRATION NOW OPEN
Photo by Pedro Lastra / Cannonball flower, Couroupita guianensis
vis-a-vis volunteers
FAIRCHILD’S
NURSERY
VOLUNTEERS:
Planting, Propagating
and Preserving
Our Natural Heritage
By Arlene Ferris and Stephanie Cornejo
Photos by Fairchild Staff
E
very Thursday morning, Fairchild’s personable and
passionate conservation nursery volunteers gather at the
nursery to care for our conservation collection of 1,000
rare and endangered plants from South Florida and
the Caribbean. Though Fairchild is a safe haven for plants from
many parts of the world, the conservation nursery volunteers
help to ensure that the rare and endangered plants unique to
this geographical region are displayed, protected and preserved
for the enjoyment of the public as well as for habitat restoration,
research and education programs.
Some plants grown in the conservation nursery are distributed
to members of the Connect to Protect Network, who will plant
them on their own properties, and others are distributed to
Fairchild Challenge schools, where students will plant and keep
records on them, noting their reproductive cycle and pollinators.
Volunteers prepare seeds from this collection for outplantings,
research studies and long-term storage at the USDA’s National
Center for Genetic Resources Preservation in Colorado. Team
members also go out into the field with Fairchild’s conservation
biologists and other volunteers to collect, weed or plant, and
to visit some of the only remaining fragments of South Florida’s
original ecosystems. The work carried out by the conservation
nursery volunteers is often cited in scientific studies published by
the South Florida Conservation Team.
16 THE TROPICAL GARDEN
What does it take to be a conservation nursery volunteer?
Dedication, a passion for plants, the ability to endure heat, fire
ants and other biting insects, plus the patience to weed around
prickly cacti—these are a few qualifications. These volunteers
love working together and learning from Conservation Nursery
Manager Devon Powell. “Our conservation nursery volunteers
are essential members of the South Florida Conservation Team,
whose weekly contribution makes it possible to maintain this
large and diverse collection,” Powell says. “I really enjoy it
when we’re all working together talking about different things,
mostly nature-related and current events.”
The current team members—Suzy Burrows, Maria DuQuesne,
Mary Rankin Jackson, Floyd Krause, Camilo Villamizar and
Kelsey Wogan—say that the friendships they’ve made and
the enjoyable times they have working and learning together
are important reasons they keep coming back. “At first I really
wanted to work out in the Garden, but the only thing open at
the time was the conservation nursery,” Burrows says. “As I
enter my third year here, I never think about leaving.” Jackson
treasures the knowledge she has gained about some of our rarest
native plants, noting, “What could be more fun than learning
with a group of volunteers who have become great friends?
We always look forward to seeing each other and we often
share plants, food, knowledge and memorable experiences.”
DuQuesne is glad to be a volunteer because, she says, “I
realize how important it is to preserve native plants for future
generations.” And Villamizar explains that he “loves the family
atmosphere at the nursery.”
Working with the South Florida Conservation Team staff,
these volunteers help in hundreds of ways, large and small, to
advance Fairchild’s mission. Their hard work on- and off-site
promotes Fairchild’s conservation efforts, and their personal
commitment to their work lends credence to conservation efforts
worldwide. Keep up the great work and thank you, conservation
nursery volunteers!
TOP
Conservation Nursery volunteers and staff,
(L-R), Devon Powell, Suzy Burrows, Camilo
Villamizar, Maria DuQuesne, Ted Valdes,
Mary Rankin Jackson and Floyd Krause work
to remove weeds from Fairchild’s pine rockland display. This area exhibits some of South
Florida’s rarest native species.
BOTTOM (L-R)
Volunteers Mary Rankin Jackson and Camilo
Villamizar clean seeds of Florida native
species to be grown for research and local
restoration efforts.
Conservation nursery volunteer Maria
Duquesne assists Conservation Nursery
Manager Devon Powell in setting up a nursery
experiment to determine the effects of salinity
levels on the federally endangered Key tree
cactus, Pilosocereus robinii.
WINTER 2014
17
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tropical cuisine
Mamey Sapote:
Chocolate
A PERFECT MATCH FOR
By Noris Ledesma
U
nder the Florida sun in some
South Florida backyards,
mamey trees grow. They
develop massive branches
that shoot straight out to grow footballshaped fruits with a leathery skin the
texture and color of sandpaper. Native
to the seasonally dry forests of Mexico
and Central America, in its natural
state, mamey sapote forms a tall, stately
tree with a large, spreading canopy.
Its fruit are borne directly on the thick
twigs and branches of the canopy and
have an oval or football shape.
The fruit are brown, with flesh that
is red to salmon in color. Those who
know it well believe that there is no
better fruit. Its creamy texture and rich
flavor are unmatched. Nothing about
the stark exterior of the fruit prepares
you for what is revealed when you cut
one open: a long and shiny black seed,
revealing the red salmon color of the
flesh. The pulp is aromatic and sweet,
soft when ripe, almost free of fiber.
Maturity of fruit is best determined
by nicking the thick skin with your
fingernail, looking for that red or pink
flesh. If the flesh is green, the mamey
sapote is not mature. To ripen them
in your home you will need to leave
them at room temperature until the
fruit softens.
Although mamey sapote fruit can be
eaten fresh out of hand, popular uses
for it include adding it to fruit salads,
desserts, milkshakes and other fruit
drinks. Because of its interesting taste
and texture, the mamey sapote fruit is
rapidly gaining popularity for use in
cooking. Additionally, mamey sapote
is high in vitamins A and C as well
as in potassium, and is an excellent
source of dietary fiber. One cup of
mamey sapote contains approximately
135 calories.
Mamey
Chocolate
Pudding
• 3 mamey fruit, peeled
and pureed
• 12-ounce can evaporated milk
• 14-ounce can sweetened
condensed milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 package of Sure-Jell
• Optional: 1 teaspoon ground
cinnamon
• Optional: 20 almonds, blanched
and peeled
• Optional: ½ cup pistachios
Chocolate topping:
• 1-¼ cup of melted unsweetened
chocolate
• 6 ounces of cream cheese, room
temperature
• ¾ cup of sour cream
To make the pudding:
Cut the mameys open and discard
the seeds. Blend all ingredients until
smooth. Mix and heat just until
it boils. Then add the package of
Sure-Jell. Mix in one cup of water
and the mamey puree. Bring the
whole mixture to a boil again, and
stir until well mixed.
Pour into molds and refrigerate.
To make the chocolate topping:
Mix the sour cream with melted
unsweetened chocolate, and bring
the whole mixture to a boil at low
temperature. Add the remaining
ingredients and mix to a
smooth texture.
Before serving, pour chocolate
topping over all.
The winter flowering plants in Fairchild’s collection
cover a broad palette of vibrant colors. Ranging from
large trees to vining shrubs, from brilliant red to
soft yellow, they offer the visitor a colorful array of
blooms in our cool, dry winter season.
What’s
Blooming
this winter
By Marilyn Griffiths
Photos by Mary Collins and Marilyn Griffiths
One of
Florida’s less
common
native trees,
Alvaradoa
amorphoides
produces
a delicate,
pendulous
raceme (a
long stem with lateral flowers) of green
to pale-pink flowers from fall through
spring. It is a dioecious plant, meaning it
requires a male and a female individual to
produce fruit. In Florida, A. amorphoides
can be found only on the southern part of
the Miami Rock Ridge. The western edge
of Plot 43 is the home of our handsome
specimen, planted in 2006 by Jason Lopez,
our living collection manager.
Brachychiton
sp. ’Garrad’s
Nursery’ is
a small tree
in the north
area of Plot
33. It was
brought from
Australia as
a cutting in
2004 and has adapted well to our climate
and soil. Brilliant red flowers grace its
branches from January to May.
Winter is the
best season
to see our
Hamelia
patens at the
curve in the
tram road in
Plot 3a. Not
only will its
bright red
flowers be more abundant, but they will be
visited by the hummingbirds that come to
the Garden from early fall through April.
Firebush is also an excellent source of
nectar for many species of butterflies.
Senna
polyphylla,
desert senna,
is a small
tree from
Puerto Rico,
Hispaniola
(the island
that contains
Haiti and
the Dominican Republic) and the Virgin
Islands. With its deep-green pinnate leaves
and delicate yellow flowers, desert senna
attracts sulphur butterflies. Plot 19b is the
home of this senna and several others of
the genus, planted in 2006 as part of the
original plantings in the Lisa D. Anness
Butterfly Garden.
Visitors to Fairchild can obtain a plot
map of the Garden, which includes a
list of currently flowering plants, at the
Visitor Center, the South Gate booth and
at the kiosks set up around the Garden.
Volunteers at the Visitor Center desk also
have a complete list of Fairchild’s plants.
Our website is an invaluable resource
for Garden information, including lists
of plants with their locations, organized
by both common and scientific names; a
downloadable map of the Garden with plot
numbers; and What’s Blooming information
for each month of the year.
Visit www.fairchildgarden.org/livingcollections
to find all this, plus information about
gardening, horticulture, conservation and
plant science, as well as information about
all of Fairchild’s exhibits.
Brunfelsia
grandiflora
ssp.
grandiflora
has delighted
visitors
since 1982,
producing
blue flowers
that gradually
fade to white. This large shrub is in Plot 5,
close to the tram road. It is native to Peru,
where its parent plant had pink flowers,
probably due to the area’s acidic soils.
Go to
www.fairchildgarden.org/WhatsBlooming
to find the current year’s list of flowering
plants for each month.
33
5
3a
19b
43
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A DESIGN, BUILD & MAINTENANCE COMPANY.
Diverse Garden Projects.
New garden construction. Older plantings refurbished.
We are the single source provider for entire project, including plantings, hardscape,
irrigation, lighting, ponds, fountains and its follow up maintenance.
Telephone: (305) 663-0993 Field: (305) 710-8848
Email: [email protected]
Debra DeMarco, B.S., Ornamental Horticulture
6790 SW 74 Street
South Miami, FL 33143
How Much Diversity
GROWS
in the Amazon?
A
n article entitled “Hyperdominance in the Amazonian
Tree Flora” was published in 2013 in the prestigious
journal Science by a team of botanists and tropical
ecologists including Dr. Kenneth J. Feeley, faculty
member at Florida International University and
conservation scientist at Fairchild. Here, Feeley discusses some of
the findings reported in the study and their implications.
One of the most remarkable and important outcomes of this study
is the revelation of how little we actually know about the Amazon,
and by extension, other tropical forests worldwide. This study
attempts to answer incredibly basic questions: How many trees are
there in the Amazon? How many species of tree are there? What
are the most common tree species? How many rare species are
there? To even attempt to answer these questions, we worked for
many years to gather immense amounts of data from across huge
expanses of remote and biologically uncharted territories. Even with
this unprecedented data set in hand, we are really only able to take
what amounts to very educated guesses at the answers to most of
these questions. We now have a rough idea of how many trees and
tree species are in the Amazon (390 billion individual trees of about
16,000 species) and how many of them are common or rare, but we
still know next to nothing about those species.
One important and surprising finding of the study is that most of the
individual trees in the Amazon actually come from just 227 supercommon or “hyper-dominant” species. As such, it may actually be
plausible that we can one day gain a reasonable understanding of
how the Amazon works and—perhaps more importantly—how it will
or will not work in the future. This is because we can now focus our
research efforts on the hyper-dominant species: Once we learn their
ecology, we will have at least half the pieces needed to put together
the puzzle that is the Amazon.
While we now know that the Amazon is dominated by a handful
of hyper-dominant species, we also now know that there are
thousands of extremely rare species hiding out there. Indeed, it is
these rare species that actually account for most of the biodiversity
that the Amazon is so famous for. By their very nature, by the very
fact that they are rare, these thousands of species present what
may be an intractable problem for ecologists and conservation
biologists. Rare species are hard to find, they are hard to recognize
and they offer very small sample sizes. This makes it extremely
difficult to ever shed a light on this “dark biodiversity” and learn
about how rare species work and how they may (or may not) be
threatened by climate change, deforestation or any of the other
myriad anthropogenic threats that loom over the Amazon. We have
a lot more work to do if we ever hope to understand and protect rare
species, and hence the full diversity of the tropical rainforest.
Citation: Ter Steege H, Pitman NCA, Sabatier D et al. (2013) Hyperdominance in the Amazonian Tree Flora. Science, 342.
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That’s right. We earned a big seal of approval from our resident, Betty White,
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knowing she’ll never become a burden on her child. Instead of worrying about
herself and her future, Betty spends her days volunteering around East Ridge.
Which makes this girl golden in our book.
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Resident since 2002
Managed by
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Est. 1973
Visit our website, then visit our garden
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Rainforest
Dancers
The complex and beautiful mating dance of the
manakins—small understory birds found
in Ecuadorian Amazonia
By José Hidalgo
PREVIOUS PAGE
Blue-crowned manakin
ABOVE (L-R)
White-crowned manakin,
Striped manakin and
Blue-crowned manakin (female on a nest).
The South American
country of Ecuador is
very well known for its
species diversity. This is
the location of the iconic
Galapagos Islands,
where Charles Darwin
developed his theory of the
origin of species.
E
cuador is divided by the Andes
Mountains, which run from north
to south throughout South America.
In Ecuador, the Andes have created
ecosystems that allow a multitude of species
to co-occur in different habitats, thus making
Ecuador a hotspot for nature and adventure
lovers. On the east side of the mountains, the
vast Amazon opens up to locals and foreigners
who want to explore the pristine area known
as Ecuadorian Amazonia. This area is home
to some of the most spectacular avifauna
in the world, which includes manakins: the
rainforest dancers.
Manakins are small understory birds, with
short bills and big eyes. While the females
are dull green, the males have very colorful
plumage and complex courtship displays in
particular places of the forest called leks. They
use these leks—or display arenas—to attract
and mate with females.
Tiputini Biodiversity Station in the Yasuni
Biosphere Reserve in eastern Ecuadorian
Amazonia is home to six species of manakins.
The blue-backed manakin (Chiroxiphia
pareola), blue-crowned manakin (Lepidothrix
coronata), golden-headed manakin (Pipra
erythrocephala), wire-tailed manakin (Pipra
filicauda), white-crowned manakin (Pipra
pipra) and striped manakin (Machaeropterus
regulus) live in this area. All of them have
spectacular courtship displays for females.
This particular display characteristic has
attracted scientists and birdwatchers from
all over the world. Scientists use manakins
as study organisms to understand sexual
selection questions, evolutionary processes,
life history traits and more. Birdwatchers go to
enjoy their beautiful displays and the beauty
of their calls and songs.
The blue-backed manakin has one of the most
complex and spectacular displays of any of
these little dancers. Males give a loud “pichrr”
song above the dance perch, which is used to
attract females to the dance arena. This song
may be given by individual males, but often
two or sometimes three males synchronize
their songs as they perch within a few meters
of each other. After a bout of “pichrr” songs, a
pair of males (usually the alpha-beta) fly to the
main dance perch and begin a cooperative
dance display which consists of a joint
backwards leapfrog dance and synchronized
hops with “wrang” calls. After several minutes
of a joint display, the alpha male will emit a
high-toned note that dismisses the cooperative
display, and the beta male will fly to a nearby
perch. The alpha male then immediately
performs a solo dance in front of the female
for several minutes. This combination of
coordinated and solo display may be repeated
several times before copulation occurs with a
visiting female.
If you happen to walk in lowland Amazonia,
pay attention to the calls of these guys, who
also invite you to see their unique displays.
Approach slowly and enjoy the dance of the
rainforest dancers.
what’s in store
Frogs in the Garden
By Erin Fitts
Photos by Rey Longchamp
Walking Frog
Lantern
Sliding Frogs
Garden Art
Frogs in Love Clock
Two frogs on a garden swing
complement this botanicallyinspired clock. $35
YourWedding
AT FAIRCHILD
Invite your guests to step into the Garden
and feel the urban world fade away...
With three reception areas and multiple
outdoor spaces among Fairchild’s 83 acres,
the possibilities are limitless.
For more information and availability,
please call 305.663.8058.
FAIRCHILD TROPICAL BOTANIC GARDEN
Photo by Roy Llera photography
Whimsical frogs enjoy a
slide in the garden.
$225
Add a tea light or
small candle to this
lantern to complete
its charm. Can be
placed inside or
outside. $125
We Proudly Serve
STARBUCKS COFFEE
The Shop at Fairchild now proudly serves
Starbucks Coffee, including a full range of
espresso beverages, as well as a variety of
pastries and snacks, for the enjoyment and
convenience of Fairchild visitors.
Get something brewing! When you purchase any
five Starbucks beverages at Fairchild, receive your
sixth free. Ask for your rewards card today
in The Shop at Fairchild.
Shop hours 7:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
FAIRCHILD TROPICAL BOTANIC GARDEN
ards
LATizFAIRCHILD
By James T. Stroud
A
ny visitor to Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden
will have seen lizards scuttling across the
garden paths, perched on tree trunks and
sunbathing on rocks at some point—indeed
they are hard to miss. What many visitors may not realize,
however, is just how special the lizard community of
Fairchild really is. Right now there are 13 species of
lizards living at the Garden, 12 of which are exotic nonnatives. This kind of assemblage is rarely seen in nature,
and in fact it may be one of the most species-diverse nonnatural lizard communities in the world.
Some of the more common
lizards of the Garden:
Red-headed agama, Agama agama, East Africa
Green iguana, Iguana iguana, Central America
American green anole, Anolis carolinensis, Florida
Crested anole, Anolis cristatellus, Puerto Rico
Bark anole, Anolis distichus, Hispaniola
Knight anole, Anolis equestris, Cuba
Cuban green anole, Anolis porcatus, Cuba
Brown anole, Anolis sagrei, Cuba/Bahamas
Brown basilisk, Basiliscus vittatus, South America
Tokay gecko, Gekko gecko, South east Asia
Asian house gecko, Hemidactylus frenatus, South east Asia
African house gecko, Hemidactylus mabouia, Pan-Africa
Mediterranean house gecko, Hemidactylus turcicus,
Southern Europe
Red-headed agama (Agama agama)
One of the most striking lizards in the Garden is the
beautifully vibrant red-headed agama lizard (Agama
agama). Hailing originally from across sub-Saharan Africa,
these lizards have likely colonized the Garden as a result
of their popularity in the pet trade. True to their name,
males sport brightly colored heads, which is a sign of
dominance in this highly territorial species. These lizards
are especially abundant in The Lin Lougheed Spiny Forest
of Madagascar.
Green iguana (Iguana iguana)
The largest lizard found in the Garden is the green iguana
(Iguana iguana), likely another result of the international
pet trade. Big male iguanas can be seen basking lazily on
branches overhanging the lakes, and juveniles are often
observed on the walls of the Victoria Pool. These lizards
are entirely herbivorous as adults, a detail I’m sure many
of our green-thumbed readers know all too well.
Brown basilisk (Basiliscus vittatus)
The brown, or striped, basilisk (Basiliscus vittatus) is native
to South America. This species has a remarkable talent:
As a predator-escape tactic, it can run very fast on just its
back legs. This lizard can run so fast, in fact, that it is able
to run across water without breaking the surface tension
and sinking, which has led to a notable pseudonym: the
“Jesus Christ lizard.”
Cuban brown anole
Cuban knight anole
Cuban knight anole (Anolis equestris)
The Cuban knight anole (Anolis equestris) is the largest, and
arguably the prettiest, species of the Anolis genus at Fairchild.
These lizards are hard to spot, as they spend the majority
of their time high up in tree canopies. Occasionally some
individuals may venture down the trunk, and you will be able
to see them around two to three meters up, often facing headdown on royal palms or in the Garden’s Rainforest habitat.
These are also the most predatory lizard; we have frequent
records of them eating other species of anole.
Cuban brown anole (Anolis sagrei)
The Cuban brown anole (Anolis sagrei) is by far the most
abundant lizard you will see during a visit to the Garden.
Cuban brown anoles are found on the ground and at the
base of trees, and seem particularly prone to blocking visitors
from reading plant species identification plates by laying
on them! They are sun worshippers, and are one of the few
anole species that is active during the hottest parts of the day.
Cuban brown anoles are avid displayers, and while
walking around the Garden you can often observe adult
males fanning their brightly-colored red dewlaps, pieces
of loose extendable skin on the throat. All species of anole
fan their dewlaps as a form of visual communication, and
different species have evolved different-colored dewlaps.
Territorial males frequently display to warn other males of
their presence, often accompanied by other obvious visual
signals such as head-bobbing and push-ups.
Puerto Rican crested anole (Anolis cristatellus)
The Puerto Rican crested anole (Anolis cristatellus) is a
relatively new introduction to Miami, having only been
first detected here in the mid-1970s. Little is known about
its behavior and ecology here, however the interaction
between it and the Cuban brown anole (a very similar
species which evolved independently) is of great interest. In
contrast to the brown anole, the Puerto Rican crested anole
is less tolerant of open areas and is often found in greatest
abundance in the highly shaded rainforest area in the
Garden. Its most distinguishing feature, as the name suggests,
is the prominent crest found on the tail in adult males.
Hispaniolan bark anole (Anolis distichus)
The final exotic anole lizard is the bark anole (Anolis
distichus) from the island of Hispaniola (which contains
Haiti and the Dominican Republic). You can find bark
anoles almost anywhere in the Garden, however you may
not see them for very long. Bark anoles live higher up on
the trunk of a tree than either brown or crested anoles—
usually one to three meters up—and they are incredibly
fast. These are the lizards that you may see dashing
around a tree trunk out of the corner of your eye. Perfectly
adapted to a life living on wide tree trunks, as opposed to
perching on thinner branches like most other anoles, they
have a more splayed appearance.
American green anole (Anolis carolinensis)
The only native species of lizard found in the Garden
is the American green anole (Anolis carolinensis). It is
recognizable by (not surprisingly) its green coloration,
although green anoles are able to slightly darken their skin
color. This color-changing ability led to their incorrect
and now largely unused misnomer, “the American
chameleon.” Its diet is comprised primarily of small
insects, although it has also been observed licking nectar
from plant inflorescences. Little is known about this
behavior, or its potential impact on plant pollination.
James Stroud is a PhD student at Florida International University working with Dr. Kenneth Feeley. His primary interest lies in attempting
to understand how ecological communities are formed and organized—which gives him a great excuse to catch lizards all day. He is
particularly interested in Fairchild’s lizard community, which is comprised almost entirely of exotic introduced species.
Green iguana
Red-headed agama
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A Wonderful
WINTER
in the Garden
Music, chocolate, romance and
palm trees: Where else can we enjoy
all this and more during winter?
Only at Fairchild.
I
f you missed our holiday music, don’t despair! With
GardenMusic it’s never too late to enjoy music outdoors in
our beautiful, natural setting. The Sixth Floor Trio and guest
musicians will envelop Fairchild once again with world-class
music from January 9–19 during the GardenMusic Festival. Concerts
will be on January 9, 11, 14, 16, 17 and 19, with themes ranging from
jazz to stories told through music to pushing musical boundaries.
An interactive Children’s Concert will take place on January 18.
GardenMusic will also welcome Broadway star Morgan James for a
special evening of soul, R&B, jazz and Broadway favorites. For more
information or tickets, visit www.fairchildgarden.org/GardenMusic.
Chocolate takes center stage at the 8th Annual International
Chocolate Festival from January 24–26. Delight in artisan chocolate
from around the world, enjoy gourmet bites from local vendors, learn
tricks of the trade from local celebrity chefs and explore the Garden
on the ChocoWalk to see cacao trees, the chocolate-making
process and more.
The Garden is quite a romantic location, especially under a twinkling
nighttime sky! Grammy-award winning pianist Shelly Berg and
Grammy-award winning vocalist Patti Austin will delight us with
a romantic evening of jazz under the stars at the Valentine’s Day
Concert on Friday, February 14. Bring a blanket and picnic or reserve
a table for dinner and champagne and enjoy wonderful music and
the ambiance of the Garden after dark.
To see details on all of our upcoming events,
go to www.fairchildgarden.org/events.
We hope you join us!
WINTER 2014
31
The Surprisingly Complex History
of Everyone’s Favorite Treat:
CHOCOLAT E
By Kenneth Setzer
I
n a word-association test, what would you say to the prompt
“chocolate?” Maybe “Swiss?” Or “milk?” Probably not “the Amazon.”
But, indeed, chocolate’s ancestral homeland is in the Upper Amazon Basin
of South America. Theobroma cacao is a fairly small tropical tree. Alone, it’s
a bit unimpressive, until you consider how its seeds have changed the world.
Sometime in the misty past—at least about 2,600 years ago—the Mayans
discovered that if you ferment and roast the seeds of the Theobroma cacao tree
and grind it into a powdery paste, it makes for an invigorating drink, especially
when mixed with ground corn, honey, pepper and other spices to ameliorate
some of the bitterness. It’s even possible the Olmecs discovered this mixture
centuries before the Mayans. The Mayans even engaged in the practice of
giving chocolate to your sweetheart: A Mayan codex in the British Museum
shows cacao being exchanged during a Mayan wedding. This practice is
continued by prospective bridegrooms in some contemporary Mayan cultures
in the Guatemalan Highlands, as well as around the U.S. on Valentine’s Day.
This Amazon Basin native would have been an imported delicacy for the Mayans
in their more northern homelands of Mesoamerica—composed of current-day
Mexico and portions of northern Central America—and was probably being
consumed locally in its native area long before the Mayans used it. In fact, it
was not originally consumed as a treat, but rather had medicinal use, spiritual
significance and monetary value, for both the Mayans and the Aztecs.
Christopher Columbus encountered cacao on his fourth and final expedition
in 1502. His expedition brought back some cacao seeds to Spain, but they
went unprocessed and unappreciated. It took another explorer, Hernando
Cortez, to realize he might be onto something useful. He and his men reported
that Montezuma, the Aztec emperor, imbibed a chocolate drink many times
a day, supposedly from a solid gold vessel. Cortez successfully introduced
cacao to Europe. The elite back in Spain took to the drink, but only after
mixing it with sugarcane and spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. By 1640, the
Spanish publication A Curious Treatise on the Nature and Quality of Chocolate
claimed that in Spain and its colonies chocolate “is drunk all summer, once, or
twice a day, or indeed at any time, by way of entertainment.”
Europeans were getting hooked, and it spread throughout the continent. In
1655, the English took Jamaica from the Spanish, thus acquiring the chocolatemaking ability of its people and sending the technology back to London.
There, by 1722, it was considered by many to be a salubrious concoction,
“recommended to be a Nourisher (sic) and Restorer of the Body.” But it took
the Industrial Revolution to democratize chocolate consumption. A steam
engine was devised that could grind cacao, eliminating the need for laborintensive hand grinding. Coffee houses began offering the chocolate drink, and
even chocolate houses proliferated. It was only in 1847, however, that Fry and
Sons of England introduced chocolate for eating rather than drinking; the first
chocolate bar was born. Chocolate in solid form was set to become a staple on
polar expeditions, military campaigns and extended sailing voyages.
PREVIOUS PAGE
Photo by Ken Setzer/FTBG.
ABOVE
Where chocolate comes from—gathering
cacao pods in Ecuador, circa 1907.
LC-USZ62-98874, American Stereoscopic Company.
RIGHT
Theobroma cacao is a cauliflorous tree,
which means it produces fruit directly from
its woody trunk and branches.
Advertisement for McCobb’s Owl
Brand Chocolate Creams,
circa 1886.
LC-USZ62-92565, Henry McCobb, Nov. 1886.
Like wine,
cacao flavor is
influenced by
its terroir—
its growing
conditions and
location.
Chocolate use was no less intense in early America. The majority was
manufactured in Boston, followed by Philadelphia; Benjamin Franklin himself
offered it for sale in his print shop.
It was inevitable that entrepreneurial nations would attempt to grow cacao
closer to home or in their colonies. The Portuguese monarchy ordered cacao
seedlings shipped from Brazil to São Tomé and Príncipe off the African coast
in the early 1820s, strategically before Brazil’s independence in 1822. By the
late 1800s, most cacao was grown on mainland Africa. Today, the Ivory Coast
is the world’s largest exporter of cacao.
The resurgence of interest in cacao’s health benefits—as well as gustatory
curiosity—has led chocolatiers back to Theobroma cacao’s roots, in search
of wild cacao. After so many centuries of cultivation, could wild cacao, what
the Mayans reaped, still exist? Outside magazine writer Rowan Jacobsen
wrote about accompanying a chocolate enthusiast into the Bolivian Amazon
to find wild cacao. It was found and eventually turned into high-end gourmet
chocolate. The USDA’s Agricultural Research Service reported in 2011 its
discovery in Peru of three populations of cacao previously unknown to
science. Like wine, cacao flavor is influenced by its terroir—its growing
conditions and location. Most of the cacao produced in the Ivory Coast derives
from only one or two populations of trees exported nearly two centuries ago,
so chances are, the chocolate you eat isn’t going to vary much. This is good for
companies aiming for consistency, but not very interesting if you want to taste
all the variety the cacao tree has to offer.
When you next treat yourself to chocolate, remember the route cacao has
taken through history and get ready to try some of the “new” old varieties the
industry may bring us.
gardening in south florida
Understanding and controlling
your camera’s shutter speed
and aperture size can make
a world of difference.
Better Garden
Photography
The Basics
Text and photos by Kenneth Setzer
Gardeners share many
traits—patience,
love of nature, an
appreciation of
the bigger picture.
They usually love
sharing that big
picture as well. Many
gardeners appreciate
photography, if only
to share what they’ve
grown with others,
online or in print.
W
hether you shoot with
an SLR, point-and-shoot
or cellphone camera,
understanding some
fundamentals of how a camera works
can improve your photos. This way, the
mechanics of photography won’t get in
the way of your creativity and spontaneity,
because we all know the frustration of
missing that perfect shot, or even worse:
getting the shot, but spoiling it because
you didn’t know quite how to achieve
technically what your mind envisioned.
Shutter and aperture
Two important variables are involved
in determining how light gets into a
camera and is recorded onto the film or
digital sensor as an exposure. These are
the shutter speed and aperture size, the
latter of which is expressed as an “f-stop”
number, such as f/5.6. At this point in
photography, most people’s eyes start to
glaze over like they might in a math class.
As it turns out, eyes are a great way to
analogize how a camera works.
A camera’s shutter controls the duration
of time for which light enters the camera,
for example 1/100th of a second. The
aperture—the opening within the lens—
determines how much light enters the
camera while the shutter is open. Think
of the shutter as your eyelid—you can
open it for a split second before closing
again, or hold it open much longer (luckily
cameras don’t get dry eyes). The aperture
is analogous to your pupil—the larger the
opening is, the more light can get in during
the time the shutter is open. Although it is
confusing, a larger aperture is indicated by
a smaller f-stop; so, for example, f/2.8 is a
larger aperture than f/5.6
Why is it important to know this? Because
even if you shoot in auto mode, you should
know what makes that spectacular photo
you took so great—or not so great. This
way, you can replicate the settings and
reproduce what you like, while avoiding
what you do not. Eventually, you will want
to start experimenting with manual settings,
which, unlike full auto mode, allow you
to control the exposure without leaving it
up to the camera to do the “thinking.”
Freeze the action or
capture time
Putting the variables into
play together
You know those tack-sharp shots of an
athlete in midair, where you can see every
detail and expression on her face? Those
types of images, in which time seems to
have been frozen, were most likely taken
with a very fast shutter speed, probably
1/100th of a second or even much faster.
And those photos with lots of motion
blur that seem to capture a stretch of time
rather than a fraction of it? The shutter
may remain open for those types of shots
for many seconds, quite a long time to a
camera. Many photographs with moving
water employ this effect, resulting in a
waterfall, stream or ocean waves that look
all misty and dreamy.
Now think of shutter speed and aperture
together. They have a give-and-take
relationship. They don’t really care if you
have a sharp scene, or blur, or motion.
Their relationship needs to focus on letting
in the proper amount of light to make a
good photograph (as determined by the
camera’s light meter). They don’t care if
the shutter can only remain open for a
split second and the aperture has to open
up. Or maybe the shutter will remain
open for many seconds, and to make sure
the photo doesn’t get overexposed, the
aperture will need to shrink to a pinpoint.
When your camera is in any kind of auto
mode, its main concern is which partner
has to do what to make a proper exposure.
Image sharpness, depth
of field and aperture
Depth of field (DOF)—sounds esoteric,
but it’s really quite simple. DOF refers to
how much of the image is in focus in front
of or past your focal point. For example, if
you focus on a fern frond, is the tree off in
the distance also in focus, or is it blurred?
Are elements closer to the camera than
the fern frond in sharp focus, or not? If a
photo has most of its contents out of focus
(not including what you actually focused
on), it’s referred to as having a narrow or
shallow DOF. The opposite, when much
of an image is in focus, is called a broad
or deep DOF.
You may have seen examples of DOF
used artistically in a portrait photo; many
portraits employ a narrow DOF so that
a person’s eyes and face are in sharp
focus, but the background is completely
blurry. This trick can serve you well in
garden photography when you want to
focus attention on a particular part of a
plant, like its flower, while blurring out
a distracting background. The aperture
(opening) mentioned above comes into
play here. While a larger aperture admits
more light, it also decreases DOF. It’s
confusing at first, but a larger aperture
is indicated by a smaller f-stop number.
So f/2.8 is a larger aperture than f/5.6. A
smaller number means a larger aperture
which means less DOF.
BELOW
Shutter priority mode: Setting the shutter to
1/8 of a second was the quickest possible in
this low-light area. The camera adjusted the
aperture to f/3.5. Not much depth of field, but
the water’s movement is frozen. (1/8 sec., f/3.5)
BOTTOM
Shutter priority mode: Set to use a very long
four-second shutter, the camera was able to go
to an aperture of f/20. Extreme depth of field,
and the waterfall appears misty. (4 sec., f/20)
aperture will change accordingly. Just try
it while looking at your camera’s display.
You’ll see the numbers changing. Now,
with your camera on a tripod, you can
take a photo of running water, and get
that misty effect. Or go the other way: Set
the shutter to something fast like 1/250
(one 250th of a second) and take a shot of
a plant that might be swaying in a breeze.
With a fast-enough shutter, you can freeze
it, or you could catch something like a
hummingbird at your feeder. Of course,
there are limits—sometimes it might just
be too dark for a fast shutter speed, even
with the aperture fully open. The camera’s
display will flash the shutter speed or
aperture number to warn you that it
can’t make the proper exposure with
its current settings. When that happens,
you’ll need to slow the shutter speed and
use a tripod to avoid unwanted blur from
camera shake. Using a flash might help
in this case also, but the results can be
disappointing.
To get the most out of your camera, try
switching out of full auto mode. Your
SLR or point-and-shoot camera should
have a dial with symbols on it indicating
what shooting mode you are using (cell
phone camera apps may offer some of
these controls). Often the full auto mode
is indicated by a green rectangle, but
we’re going to go beyond that. While
manufacturers differ in how they indicate
shooting modes, the functions are usually
the same. Try switching the dial to shutter
mode, often indicated by “S” or “Tv.” This
lets you choose the shutter speed, and
the camera has to figure out the correct
aperture to maintain a good exposure—
not letting in too much light, resulting
in overexposure, while not letting in too
little. This is great, because you can do
things in shutter mode like set the shutter
to stay open for a half second, and the
Instead of shutter mode, you can use
your camera in aperture mode, probably
indicated by an “A” or “Av.” This mode
lets you change the size of the aperture
while the camera automatically adjusts
the shutter speed. The biggest and smallest
f-stop you can achieve is determined by
the lens. If you have an interchangeable
lens camera, the lowest f-stop (i.e. largest
aperture) will be different depending
on what lens you are using, and if it’s a
zoom lens, it even differs as you zoom!
Manufacturers will tout their “fast” lenses,
which means they are capable of a
large aperture and therefore can attain a
good exposure using a fast shutter speed
in low-light conditions—an attribute
commanding higher prices.
I used to force myself to shoot in complete
manual mode so that I had to set both
the shutter speed and aperture. I got a
ton of lousy photos, but in the process I
learned a lot about what works and what
doesn’t. Play around with the shutter and
aperture settings and see what you get!
If it’s digital, it won’t cost you a thing to
become a better photographer.
LEFT (T-B)
Aperture priority mode: Dialing
in an f-stop of f/18, the camera
automatically set the shutter to a
pretty long 1/8 of a second, even
though the lighting was bright. (1/8
sec., F/18)
The same shot set to f/3.5. With
that large of an aperture, the shutter
was able to go to a quick 1/200
of a second. Note the distracting
background is nicely blurred, an
example of a narrow depth of field.
(1/200 sec, f/3.5)
More
tips for
garden
photography
• Use a tripod whenever possible to
avoid unwanted blur from camera
shake. Even steady hands aren’t as
solid as an inexpensive tripod.
• Avoid bright sunlight. It creates
unwanted shadows and can render a
bright flower as too “hot,” meaning
its color is so intense that its details
aren’t captured. The diffused, warm
light of sunrise and sunset are great
times for outdoor photos. Bright,
cloudy weather is also ideal for
capturing flowers up close.
• Remember that the closer you get to
your subject, the more camera shake
and factors like wind moving the
subject are likely to cause unwanted
motion blur. Have patience, use the
fastest shutter speed possible and use
a tripod.
plant records
In this issue, as part of our continuing discussion of the
living collections at Fairchild, journey with a plant from the
moment it arrives at the Garden through the processes of
recording, tagging and mapping.
Plant Records and
Collections Management
Text and photos by Mary Collins and Marilyn Griffiths
W
hen Fairchild
receives plant
material, it is
immediately
assigned an accession number.
This is a unique identifying
number assigned to plant
material of a single type (seed,
cutting, plant, etc.) in the same
genus and species, which
was received from the same
source at the same time. The
plant will keep this number
throughout its life at Fairchild.
The number will never be
used for another plant. As
an example, we’ve chosen a
group of cuttings collected
in the wild in the Bahamas
by Jason Lopez on a recent
collecting trip. Melochia tomentosa or woolly pyramid flower
is native to Florida and tropical America. The cuttings were
assigned accession number 2012-0260. The first four digits
indicate the year the material was received; the last four show
that this is the 260th accession of 2012.
As the cuttings produce roots and are stepped up into larger and
larger pots, records are kept about their progress in the nursery.
When they become large enough, they will be planted in the
Garden in an appropriate location. Horticulture staff create a
planting worksheet for new plants being added to the collection.
Names, accession numbers and plot locations are submitted and
the new plants become part of the Garden’s living collections.
Staff also provide updates on plant conditions and treatments.
Three woolly pyramid flower plants have already been planted
in Plot 164, a perfect addition to our historical Bahamas
Collection. Each plant of the
accession has its own record
in our database, indicating
the plot number and the date
planted. The location of each
plant is mapped and entered
on the map of the plot. An
accession tag placed on each
plant shows its accession
number, name, family and
native range. The record of the
plant is updated periodically,
recording any changes in
condition, flowering and
fruiting. Wildlife interactions
can also be included, such
as nectaring insects and birds
feeding on fruits.
Gathering the data for plant
records is an ongoing process, and volunteers are an integral
part of this continual monitoring. With plant lists and maps in
hand, plant records volunteers perform inventories on more than
200 plots in the Garden. Their notes are entered in the database,
maps are updated and accession tags are replaced where
necessary. It takes one year to inventory the entire Garden.
The plant records staff also provides reports on collections to
staff, visiting scientists and researchers around the world. Our
database, BG-BASE, is designed to make this process simple
and straightforward. We can create reports based on native
range, wild collected status, source, year received, family,
botanical name or any of hundreds of other data fields.
The value of the living collections at Fairchild is not just in their
beauty, but also in the records associated with them. In the next
issue we’ll focus on our most important collection: the palms.
What’s
in a Name?
Delving into where a plant’s
name comes from can be a
trip back into its history.
By Georgia Tasker
Theophrastus, a student of Aristotle’s in Athens, undertook a
daring project in about 320 B.C. that continues to this very
day: the naming of plants. He produced two works, Historia
Plantarum (History of Plants) and De Causis Plantarum (On the
Causes of Plants), and for his efforts we refer to him as the father
of botany—though it was a British plantsman named John Ray
who coined the word “botany” in the 17th century.
I
n the 2000 years since Theophrastus, plant names
have continued to be devised and changed, the
families realigned and the tools improved upon,
but the human desire to know and assign names
survives intact.
When I was asked to give a tour of the Garden’s
conservatory, the first thing I needed to know was
each plant’s name. (Or the names of enough plants
to create a tour.) Then, I wanted to know why they
were named as they were and what the names meant.
Knowing and understanding the plants’ names may be
even more challenging than growing them.
Nonetheless, these names and their meanings give each
plant a more substantial character, imbuing each with a
history and a family, a particular and respected place in
an otherwise chaotic world. Names give plants standing.
Knowing the plants’ names and backgrounds can help
you have a closer relationship to some of them. After
all, you, too, have a name. In these pages, I share a
few of the most interesting plant names:
Philodendron linnaei is named for Carl Linneaus,
the Swedish botanist who published Species
Plantarum in 1753. The book was the first to use the
binomial—two part—naming system that persists
today. “The binomial naming system that Linneaus
used was not his invention,” Anna Pavord wrote in her
2005 book, “The Naming of Names.” “But Linneaus
recognized more clearly than anyone else before him
that all a name had to do was to designate. It did not
have to describe.” Linneaus standardized a system
for organization. So today, when naming a plant, we
use a collective name followed by a distinguishing
name. Philodendron is the genus; linnaei the species
or distinguishing name. As Pavord explains, Linneaus
set up the system, but not the method for classifying
its members. In the past, leaf similarities, flower parts
and pollen characteristics have all have been used
for classification. Today, evolutionary relationships,
determined through DNA studies, are realigning
plants, and names are changing once more.
Philodendron squamiferum,
a vining plant from northern
South America, the epithet
(squamiferum) means scaly.
Look closely at the petioles
and you will find reddish, hairy
scales. There also is a deepsea snail that has squamiferum
as a descriptive in its name:
the scaly-foot gastropod or
Crysomallon squamiferum. It was
discovered in 2001 in deep-sea hydrothermal vents.
The overlapping scales are thought to be a protection
against predators. Of course, the gastropod has its
own Facebook page.
Amherstia nobilis, Pride of
Burma. Stearn’s Dictionary of
Plant Names for Gardeners
says this flowering tree was
named for Lady Sarah Amherst,
wife of William Pitt Amherst,
a Governor-General of India
in the mid-19th century. Lady
Amherst was an amateur botanist
who collected plants on her
travels. She has a pheasant
named for her as well. The male of that species is a
handsome bird with emerald, red, white, silver and
black feathers; the female is a less-colorful brown,
beige and white. The Amherstia nobilis, known as the
“queen of flowering trees,” was given to the Garden
by Ernesto Rodriguez and Dimitri Pietropolos in 2001.
Long panicles of salmon-colored flowers appear on
the tree during the dry season.
WINTER 2014
41
Marcgravia trinitatis, from South America and
Trinidad, grows on the wall of the conservatory. The
plant demonstrates two very different growth habits:
As a juvenile, it is a shingle plant with overlapping
scales, pressing its small leaves against the wall as it
climbs into light. At a suitable height, it changes size,
and allows itself to hang as a vine. Its flowers are held
upright on the ends of the twigs, allowing the bats that
pollinate it to easily find them. The name recalls a
17th-century German naturalist, Georg Marcgrave. He
studied astronomy, botany, mathematics and medicine.
While in Brazil to study astronomy, he ended up
practicing medicine in the city of Recife. He established
an observatory there and co-authored a 1648 natural
history of Brazil. Marcgrave died of a “lethal fever,”
according to the Natural History Museum in London.
You can purchase a copy of his work from a British
bookseller for a mere 14,000 pounds.
Homalomena rubescens is an aroid from southern
Asia, Oceania and South America. 17th century
naturalist Georg Eberhard Rumphius named it by
combining the Greek word for flat, homalos, with a 17th
century Malayan word, mene, for moon. Rubescens
refers to the red stems and veins. So the plant is a flat
moon with red parts. Rumphius was a German who
spoke and wrote Dutch. The Dutch East Indies company
sent him to the island of Amboina, now in Indonesia,
where he became fascinated with tropical natural
history. He wrote the Herbarium Amboinense—the first
tropical flora that also included ethnic uses of plants.
Rumphius developed glaucoma and lost his sight,
but when his first catalog was destroyed by fire, he
recreated it from memory with help from others.
Pelagodoxa henryana, a palm from the Marquesas
Islands, is one of the world’s rarest, growing only in
a single valley. Pelagos is Greek for the sea; Doxa is
Greek for glory. Henryana commemorates Augustine
Henry, a 20th-century botanist who worked in
China and sent more than 15,000 dried seeds and
specimens to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in
London. The palm was named by Odoardo Beccari,
an Italian naturalist who explored Borneo, Sumatra,
the Moluccas, Thailand and Australia. Beccari
described 500 species of palms in 35 genera. He is
also the first European to discover the titan arum,
Amorphophallus titanum.
Cyrtostachys renda, the clustering sealing wax palm
with red crownshafts, is native to Thailand, Sumatra,
Borneo and the Malay Peninsula. Carl Ludwig von
Blume, a Dutch-German botanist who worked in the
Dutch East Indies in the early 19th century, named
this palm. Cyrto means arched; stachys is ear of corn
or spike, so the name roughly translates into arching
flower spike. Renda is a Malay word for palm. The
cultivar ‘Theodora Buhler’ near the entrance to the
conservatory is named for the woman who was the
longtime secretary of the International Palm Society.
Teddie Buhler and her husband Ted lived on San
Marino Island for many years. When Teddie moved
to the East Ridge retirement community, she took
many of her beloved palms with her. She died in
2002. The cultivar named for her came from seeds
sent from Bogor Botanical Gardens in Java, but little
else is known. The plant was donated to the Garden
by Robert Bruce Ledin, botanist, co-founder of the
International Palm Society and coauthor with Julia
Morton of “400 Plants for South Florida.”
Sobralia is a genus of Central and South American
terrestrial orchids described in 1794. Its reed-like
stems can be from three to 25 feet tall; the flowers
open one at a time sequentially on a long spike.
Stearn’s and the CRC World Dictionary of Plant
Names say the orchid remembers Francisco Martínez
Sobral, a physician to the Spanish king who also
headed the botanical gardens in Madrid in the late
18th century.
Salacca magnifica is a
clustering palm from the
rainforests of Borneo. Salacca
means snake in Javanese. There
are some 20 species of salacca
palms, and the fruit have a
peculiar texture like that of
snakeskin. They grow in clusters
at the base of the palm, which is
trunkless. The Salacca magnifica
has undivided leaves laden with
spines. It is magnificent, indeed. The palm was wild
collected in Indonesia and donated to the Garden by
Searle Brothers Nursery in 1996.
Tacca integrifolia, the white bat
plant, comes from Sumatra, Java
and Borneo. Rumphius used the
name Tacca from the Indonesian
name taka for arrowroot;
integrifolia means uncut or entire
leaves. The genus is in the yam
family, Dioscoreaceae. The
black bat plant, Tacca chantrieri,
is named after brothers Adolphe
and Ernest Chantrier, who
created a nursery in Mortefontaine, France, in the
mid-19th century.
Verschaffeltia splendida is the single species
of palm in the genus from the Seychelles. A stilt
palm, it has downward-pointing spines on the trunk
and young leaves; long fronds split at the apex.
Vershaffeltia is named for a Belgian nurseryman
and botanical artist, Ambroise Colletto Alexandre
Verschaffelt. He wrote and illustrated a book on
camellias, and prints are sold online by Carolina
Antique Maps & Prints. Hermann Wendland, a
German horticulturist and palm expert, described this,
as well as some 130 other palm species.
Angiopteris evecta, the giant vessel fern or giant
fern, is native to New Guinea, Indonesia, northwest
Australia and some Pacific islands. The Arnold
Arboretum gave a specimen to the Garden in 1968;
this specimen was planted in 1996. Angio is Greek
for vessel; pteris means fern or wing. Evectus means
swollen. The name points out the shape of the
sporangia or spore cases. The ancient fern forms
invasive dense stands outside of its range in Hawaii,
Costa Rica and Jamaica. Georg Forest, a German
naturalist who accompanied his father on Captain
Cook’s second voyage around the world, described
the plant as a polypodium; Georg Franz Hoffman
corrected the taxonomy.
Brownea grandiceps, the rose of Venezuela, this
flowering tree grows in Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and
Venezuela. It is, like the Amherstia, a “handkerchief”
tree whose new leaves hang limp and brown but
gradually turn green as they become horizontal. (This
is thought to deceive herbivores from feeding on
tender new growth that initially might be perceived as
dead.) Brownea honors 18th-century Irish physician
Patrick Browne, who wrote “A Civil and Natural
History of Jamaica.” The flowers develop in showy
scarlet spheres, with golden stamens protruding from
red bracts, living up to the species name, which
means large-headed.
Tibouchina granulosa,
Brazilian glory tree. The genus
is a Guinean name; granulosa
means grain or granular. The
leaves have five veins and are
smooth, where other tibouchinas
have velvety leaves. It likes a
rich, organic soil that has an acid
pH, and is hard to grow in South
Florida landscapes.
Cyrtosperma merkusii is a swamp taro from
Southeast Asia. Cyrto means arched; sperma is seed.
Merkusii probably honors Pieter Merkus, a governor
general of the Dutch East Indies from 1866 to 1872.
(Pinus merkusii also is named for Merkus.) This huge
plant has an edible tuber, but it requires six years
of growth before harvest. Cyrtosperma johnstonii,
another aquatic aroid, honors Ivan Murray Johnston, a
20th-century American botanist. His plant collections
are housed at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden
and the Gray Herbarium at Harvard University.
Alpinia rugosa, a member
of the ginger family, was
discovered in Hainan, China,
in 1990. Its flowers resemble
those of the shell ginger, A.
zerumbet, and it has corrugated,
thin leaves. Alpinia is named for
Prospero Alpino, a 16th-century
Italian botanist. Rugosa means
wrinkled.
Lodoicea maldivica, coco-de-mer or double
coconut. This palm from the Seychelles has the largest
seed known. The genus is named for Louis, the 18thcentury King Louis XV of France. Maldivica is for the
Maldives Islands, where the palm was mistakenly
believed to have originated. Listed on the IUCN
endangered species list, the palm is poached because
of its incredible seed size. The seed requires two years
to germinate and the plant must grow for 20 to 40
years before it starts to flower.
Impatiens mirabilis, from Thailand, this
pachycaulous plant grows on limestone cliffs. Its thick
stem stores water and may grow to several feet tall.
The flowers are hooded. Impatiens means impatient,
as the seed capsules burst open upon ripening, as if
impatient to germinate. Mirabilis means wonderful or
remarkable.
Impatiens mirabilis
WINTER 2014
43
SPECIES NAMED FOR
DAVID FAIRCHILD
By Brett Jestrow, Nancy Korber, Janet Mosley
and Georgia Tasker
Elaeocarpus fairchildii Merr. (1951). While on
the Fairchild Garden Expedition in 1940, Dr. David
Fairchild was the first westerner to collect this
tropical evergreen tree with fringed flowers and
blue fruit, which is from Maluku in Indonesia. The
remarkable color of the fruit gives the closely-related
E. angustifolius the common name “blue marble
fruit.” You can see it in Plots 130, 132 and 73. The
trees range from Queensland, Australia, to India and
Malaysia. Tropical botanist Elmer D. Merrill, head of
the Arnold Arboretum and one-time president of the
Garden, named this species for his friend.
Ficus subcordata
(formerly Ficus fairchildii)
Photo by Georgia Tasker/FTBG
Clitoria fairchildiana R. A. Howard (1967). This
was actually named for Fairchild Tropical Botanic
Garden and Dr. Fairchild by the late Richard Howard,
a Harvard botanist. It also is called the butterfly pea
tree and is native to Brazil. The genus is named for the
flower’s resemblance to the female sex organ. Howard
saw the tree growing on the Montgomery Foundation
property and named it for Dr. Fairchild, whom he had
met in 1939 at Harvard’s Atkins Institution (which
was later renamed the Atkins Garden and Research
Laboratory) in Cienfuegos, Cuba. Howard taught and
conducted research at the Garden and The Kampong.
He helped save the University of Miami’s Gifford
Arboretum. He died in 2003.
Vicia fairchildiana, Maire. René Maire worked on
the 16-volume Flora of North Africa from 1918 to
1931. He named this pea-family tree in 1926.
Pilea fairchildiana Jestrow & Jimenez Rodriguez
(2012). Named for both Dr. Fairchild and Fairchild
Tropical Botanic Garden, this name replaced the
name Sarcopilea domingensis. The story of this
succulent plant from the Dominican Republic
appeared in the winter 2013 issue of The Tropical
Garden. After investigating the unusual properties
of the plant from the Dominican Republic, Dr.
r. Brett
Jestrow, herbarium coordinator at Fairchild’s Center
enter
for Tropical Plant Conservation and his colleagues
transferred it into the Pilea genus. Until that trip,
the single specimen growing outside the island of
Hispaniola was growing on the rocky, east-facing edge
of the Garden’s Overlook. That specimen is a male
plant. The scientists collected male and female cuttings
with the hope of producing seed for propagation.
Zamia fairchildiana Gomez. This Costa Rican cycad
was studied near that nation’s Panamanian border
by Robert Dressler, best known for classifying the
orchids of Costa Rica, and Luis Gomez, director of
the Wilson Botanical Gardens. Both agreed on the
name fairchildiana, but Dressler intended the name to
honor Alexander Graham Bell Fairchild, a naturalist.
However, Dressler did not publish the name and
Gomez did, so the cycad honors Dr. David Fairchild.
Two hybrid species were also named for Dr. Fairchild:
Actinidia x fairchildii Rehder. Actinidia is a genus
of shrubs and vines. The best known is Actinidia
deliciosa, the kiwi fruit.
Cattleya ‘David Fairchild.’ Created by Sherman
Adams in 1950, it was sent to the Royal Horticulture
Society by Robert Scully of Jones and Scully to be
officially registered.
Two plants that originally carried Dr. Fairchild’s name
have been reclassified: Indigofera heudelotii (formerly
Indigofera fairchildii) was collected in Africa by Dr.
Fairchild in 1927. Ficus subcordata, a ficus without
aerial roots once known as Ficus fairchildii, is called
Fairchild’s fig. It is from Indonesia and is widespread
throughout Southeast Asia. A specimen grows in
Plot 28.
Pilea fairchildiana
Drawing by Julio Figueroa
edible gardening
As Kris Kringle pilots his sled and reindeer south from the
North Pole to deliver Christmas cheer, something amazing
happens in the South Florida edible garden.
Winter in the
EDIBLE GARDEN
O
By Dr. Richard J. Campbell
ur skies clear, the humidity
drops and our edible garden
turns the page. For a brief
two, maybe three, months
we feel like the subtropics and we can
adjust our gardening accordingly. The
vegetable garden takes on a new life—
the fungus and bacteria pressure eases
a bit and we begin to harvest simply
beautiful tomatoes, squash and the
like with relatively little effort. Now
we can garden like we read about in
books and see on television. We feel
empowered to check out magazines and
gardening shows with no feelings of envy
or loathing. For this brief window we are
truly living the beautiful life of gardening.
South Florida’s cool nights and dry
days slow the growth of our numerous
and persistent insects as well. We get a
chance to break the cycle of population
growth and destruction within the edible
garden. All life slows down and we
can keep up with the hand removal of
pests and sprays of organic bio-controls.
Scouting remains a frequent activity, as
we examine the leaves and soil for pests
and predators—seeing, identifying and
making plans of action for care within
the edible garden. Now all the gardener’s
self-control pays off. You did not balk and
apply herbicide, fungicide or insecticide.
In fact, within the edible garden these are
words that should be an assault to the
ears and a labor to the tongue.
the experience as unique as the genetic
code of each plant in the garden.
Your winter crop of persimmon and loquat
begins to turn color and reach maturity.
You can harvest and again eat right in
the field or, if you are feeling ambitious,
take your cornucopia into the house
for a fresh edible garden brunch with
friends and family. You might even be
inspired to bake a fresh fruit pie. The
summer-planted fruits are in bloom
and your honeybees buzz exuberantly
among the blossoms, collecting pollen
and nectar to make the honey that you
will soon pour generously on your cut fruit
and into your cup of tea. The crisp, winter
day in the edible garden is a celebration of
the temperate life that we experience but
fleetingly—so enjoy and indulge.
Harvest in the Edible Garden
It is the time to begin your harvesting in
earnest. Each week you can harvest the
lettuce, the early tomatoes and the first
planting of beans. It is time to forget about
the prices for good-quality vegetables in
the grocery store or the farmers market.
You have your time and patience invested
in your own crops. There will be no
lettuce crispier, no tomato sweeter and
no bean more tender and delicious. Yes,
there is nothing like eating your own
vegetables and fruit. You know exactly
what they are grown with, how they
were handled. You can eat them right
on the spot as well. Warmed by the late
afternoon sun, your heirloom tomato is at
once acidic and sweet, soft and pulpy—
These moments of Bohemian pleasure will
be punctuated by a few nights of more
severe cold. Fret not, however, for these
nights are rarely damaging, and with just
a bit of vigilance and ingenuity you can
avoid any serious setback. But, you will
worry, for you are only human. It is during
these few nights that so much mischief
can occur. A one- or two-degree swing in
the temperature can spell disaster, but you
must be strong. Prepare for the worst, but
expect the best. A Zen-like approach is
sometimes difficult to achieve, but worthy
of the effort. The cold will come and it
will go. And if the cold prevails and your
plants are lost, do not despair, for there are
more seeds, more plants and always more
willpower. Good winter gardening!
plant societies
Introducing
A New Flowering Tree
By Paul Gehrke and Lynda LaRocca
T
he Tropical Flowering Tree
Society, founded in 1988
to promote, propagate and
preserve tropical flowering trees,
is pleased to introduce The Tropical Garden
readers to Cassia bakeriana, a wonderful
new flowering tree from Thailand. This
medium-size tree blooms in spring with
light pink flowers that fade to white. Known
as the dwarf apple blossom shower, it
blooms for three months starting in late
February. As the trees mature, they produce
more flowers with a longer duration of
blooms. The flowers are fragrant and
attractive to butterflies. The trees are very
showy, dropping their leaves just as the first
flowers appear and becoming cloaked in
whirls of pink and white flowers along their
branches. They grow best in full sun with
occasional watering in the dry season.
The Tropical Flowering Tree Society has
planted trees all over South Florida and
donates plants to Fairchild, Zoo Miami
and projects in the area. It also sells trees
at Fairchild’s Spring Sale, Mother’s Day
Sale and The Ramble. The society meets
at Fairchild on the second Monday of the
month at 7:30 p.m. To learn more, visit
its website at www.tfts.org.
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The Million
Orchid Campaign
Hundreds of glass bottles align atop
stainless steel racks, sparkling under
grow lights in a lab. The order,
sterility and white lab coats don’t
quite evoke the feeling of tropical
profusion you get standing waistdeep in tannin-colored waters in
a swamp. But in fact the bottles
in question are tiny terraria, each
housing hundreds of endangered
native Florida orchids—plants you’d
once see in abundance growing
from trees all over South Florida, but
which now require a trek deep into
the Everglades, Big Cypress Swamp
or Fakahatchee Strand to see, and
that’s if you get lucky.
Dr. Carl Lewis, Fairchild’s director, explains why
these orchids are not likely to recover on their own:
“In the natural process, an orchid produces a seed
pod containing thousands of tiny seeds, as small
as grains of sand. When the pod opens, the seeds
are meant to be carried by the wind to suitable
locations for them to germinate. An orchid seed’s
journey on the wind must take it to the perfect
location, lodging it on a suitable host tree. The
lighting, humidity and temperature must be ideal.
Orchid seeds themselves contain very little of the
nutrients needed to germinate, so they’ve developed
a symbiotic relationship with a specific fungus to
provide the necessary energy. They need to find
both a suitable location and this particular fungus in
order to germinate—a very rare event.”
perhaps no other plant
conjures such strong emotions
as the orchid. People go to
great lengths—some legal,
some not—to possess them,
with often disastrous results
for wild populations.
TOP
Bottles containing orchid
seedlings growing in Fairchild’s
Jane Hsiao Laboratories.
BOTTOM
Volunteer Julie Berlin transfers
orchid seedlings.
Though orchids grow throughout the United
States, we are lucky in Florida to foster more than
100 native species—some of the most beautiful,
showy and rare examples. Starting in the late 19th
century, however, we began loving them to death.
Collectors and plant lovers reaching South Florida
tore orchids by the wagonload from live oaks,
pond apples, cypress and anywhere else they could
reach. They were shipped to buyers looking for
pretty, exotic houseplants. Being native to the subtropics, they were not likely to survive for long in
a cold, dry city dwelling. But being plentiful and
inexpensive, they were simply thrown away when
the flowers faded. More could always be taken
from nature’s seemingly infinite abundance.
But the endless supply is now running out. Habitat
destruction for agriculture, housing and cypress
logging only compounded the dire situation for
these orchids. Their scarcity, sadly, makes them a
target for poachers who sell the now-rare plants
at high prices. Consequently, finding wild native
orchids is nearly a thing of the past. Fairchild aims
to change that. As part of our mission to conserve
the world of tropical plants, the Garden is dedicated
to reintroducing our native orchids to areas that
were previously their domain.
Propagation to the Rescue
While it is challenging for orchids to germinate in the
wild, by propagating orchid seeds under idealized
laboratory conditions, each seed pod can be nearly
guaranteed to produce thousands of offspring.
“Scientists at Singapore Botanic Gardens have
been propagating several native orchid species
for several decades,” Lewis says. “They’ve reestablished orchids on trees in urban areas. It’s
been so successful that they are now reproducing
naturally on trees in downtown areas in Singapore.
I believe we can reintroduce so many native
orchids successfully in South Florida that they are
no longer rare, and therefore not of much value
to a poacher—starting with the butterfly orchid,
Encyclia tampensis, and the cowhorn orchid,
Cyrtopodium punctatum, both of which grow at
Fairchild. Our goal is to produce 1 million orchids
in five years’ time to be reintroduced onto trees in
urban areas.”
Growing 1 million orchids in five years seems
mind boggling, but it adds up: One seed pod
can produce approximately 12,500 seeds, which
initially fill about 10 bottles. The Fairchild lab
harvests about 16 seedpods a year, which will
generate about 1 million plants in five years.
Harvesting and growing the dust-like seeds is no
easy task. Trained Fairchild Micropropagation
Lab Volunteers Susie Lau and Julie Berlin know
this well. They and other volunteers in the Paul
and Swanee DiMare Science Village’s Jane Hsiao
Laboratories have been trained in laboratory
procedures and micropropagation, and are
attentive to painstaking details. “First, the orchid
seed pod exterior is sterilized,” they explain.
“Everything must be absolutely sterile to ensure no
bacteria, mold or fungi are introduced that might
contaminate and destroy the seeds. We also use
an autoclave for sterilization where appropriate.”
Using established propagation methods, the
volunteers mix very specific amounts of growing
medium, which is then poured into sterile glass
bottles. After it sets, the medium is ready to accept
seeds. The seed pod is carefully opened with a
scalpel, exposing the seeds within, which can then
be sown within a bottle. “It takes about three to
four months to actually see something green start
to grow inside the bottles,” Berlin explains. Each
bottle is sealed with a foil wrapper, colored to
indicate when the seeds within were sown, and
placed on racks under grow lights.
Every two to four months, as the tiny grass-like
seedlings fill their containers, they need to be gently—
but quickly—removed with a forceps and transferred
to a different bottle. The transfer is performed in a
laminar flow cabinet (a carefully enclosed bench
designed to prevent contamination) to ensure nothing
can contaminate the process. There are currently
about 150,000 individual orchids at different stages of
development in the Micropropagation Lab, growing in
1,200 bottles. “From seeding to the time they can live
out of the bottle depends on the species, but it takes
about 18 months,” Lau says. “Just recently, the
first group of seedlings to outgrow living inside a
bottle was removed and brought over to Fairchild’s
nursery to continue maturing.”
The project is yielding more than rare plants: Fairchild
researchers are taking the opportunity to study how
our native orchids grow best, examining variables
such as different growing media and types of lighting.
This research will further benefit future conservation,
including Fairchild’s plans to restore populations
of the native dollar orchid (Prosthechea boothiana)
and cockleshell orchid (Prosthechea cochleata).
Engaging the local community—where these
orchids will eventually return—is an important
aspect of the program. Fairchild staff recently visited
high school students at TERRA Environmental
Cowhorn/cigar orchid (Cyrtopodium punctatum) was heavily
collected in the 20th century and is now relatively scarce.
Photo by Hong Liu/FTBG
Research Institute in Miami (see story, page 13),
bringing along a delivery of stainless steel racks,
lighting and bottles containing butterfly orchid and
cowhorn orchid seedlings. The students’ task is
to raise the orchids, monitoring the ideal amount
of light exposure required for healthiest growth.
These student citizen scientists are getting hands-on
experience in what it takes to conserve and restore a
community of plants. Appropriately, many of these
orchids will ultimately be attached to host trees at
this and other local schools.
“At about six to nine months after leaving the
bottles, the orchids can go back into trees they
would naturally inhabit,” Lewis says. “We are
partnering with local South Florida communities,
schools and municipalities to get the orchids into
trees in urban and suburban areas. We’ll need to
physically attach them to their host trees—not an
easy task to do a million times, so the community
will play a large part in the reintroduction.”
Being able to once again see native orchids bloom
on landscape trees in our local urban and suburban
areas will be exquisite, but the benefits go beyond
the intrinsic beauty of orchids: Growing these
orchids in populated areas will hopefully support
wild populations by providing a source of genetic
diversity and supporting the pollinators these plants
need to eventually start reproducing naturally. It’s
not too late to restore some of our most vulnerable
plants, 1 million orchids at a time.
To learn more and become a supporter
of the Million Orchid Campaign, visit:
www.fairchildgarden.org/The-MillionOrchid-Campaign
WINTER 2014
49
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10/15/13 9:39 AM
bug beat
The Rugose
SPIRALING WHITEFLY
New Bug on the Block
Text and photo by Kenneth Setzer
Whitefly at best causes unsightly blemishes on our landscaping.
Depending on the species, it can cause defoliation and bigger problems.
W
e say “whitefly”casually,
but there are actually
60 species of whitefly
reported within Florida.
The rugose spiraling whitefly—also
known as the gumbo limbo whitefly or
rugose whitefly—is a newer species to
South Florida. Entomologists know it as
Aleurodicus rugioperculatus. It is within
the order of insects known as Hemiptera,
which classifies it as a “true bug.” That
means it, like other hemipterans, doesn’t
chew with a jaw as many animals do.
Instead, it has a mouth like a needle
and syringe, which pierces and sucks
up its food—in this case plant nutrients.
Fortunately, this is not the same whitefly
that causes ficus defoliation.
At about two millimeters, adult rugose
spiraling whiteflies are very small
(although they are larger than other
whitefly species) and look much like tiny
white moths with faint, irregular brown
bars across their wings. Males have
pincer-like “tails.” They are named for the
spiral pattern in which they lay their eggs
on the ventral part (underside) of leaves.
Other whiteflies do the same, so an expert
may need to examine them under a
microscope to be certain of the species.
More than half the time, the rugose
spiraling whitefly is seen on gumbo limbo,
coconut palm, Calophyllum species, black
olive, pygmy date palm, bird of paradise,
Christmas palm and mango. Monitor
plants by looking for the spiral egg
patterns as well as a fluffy, waxy covering
underneath the leaf and black sooty mold
on top. The dreaded sooty mold forms
because the whitefly excretes a sticky
substance called honeydew, on which the
sooty black fungus grows.
This whitefly is not yet known to
introduce a virus or other pathogen to
its hosts, but because it does remove
nutrients, heavily infested plants may be
stressed. While it won’t directly harm
your plants, excessive amounts of the
black mold can hinder their ability to
photosynthesize. The honeydew and
accompanying black soot can cover
just about anything under or near plants
harboring the whitefly, including cars,
patios, sidewalks and other plants.
Though concentrated in Miami-Dade,
Broward and Monroe Counties, the
Florida Department of Agriculture and
Consumer Services indicated in a 2012
publication that this whitefly species has
been collected in Indian River and Polk
counties, meaning it might be able to
survive in central Florida as well.
To treat a minor infestation, washing
the plant off with a garden hose will be
temporarily effective with regular follow
up. Insecticide is also only a temporary
fix, and it kills beneficial insects as
well. Commercial growers might need
to apply a systemic insecticide, but this
renders fruit inedible. A safer bet for
more extreme infestations is horticultural
oil, which can be sprayed on plants. It
works by suffocating insects, but doesn’t
discriminate between beneficial or
harmful ones. One you may find available
is called neem oil, a natural plant
derivative. If you go this route, be careful
to follow all directions, as you can do
more harm than good if you apply the
product incorrectly.
Parasites and a certain beetle have already
begun to attack this whitefly, so hopefully
in time they will naturally reduce the
rugose spiraling whitefly population.
Learn more about whiteflies at
www.flwhitefly.org, and specifically
about the rugose spiraling whitefly
at entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/orn/
Aleurodicus_rugioperculatus.htm
tundra
Flowers
Text and photos by
Georgia tasker
PREVIOUS PAGE
Blue-purple common harebells (Campanula
rotundifolia) are found in south Greenland.
ABOVE
Gullfoss, Iceland’s most famous waterfalls,
was saved from destruction in the 1920s
and now is a nature reserve.
BELOW
Poppies of many colors flower in the
botanic garden at Akureyri, in
northern Iceland.
S
ummer on the tundra is a magical, fleeting moment when wildflowers
appear everywhere. Whole expanses of coastal valleys in southern
Greenland turn yellow with buttercups, dandelions, cinquefoils, roseroot
and hawkweeds, interspersed with blue harebells, gentians and blueberries.
The broad-leaved willowherb glows a bright rose, and the fire spike and arctic
marsh willow sear the landscape with red.
Given that the brief Arctic summer in these treeless and cold northern landscapes
lasts through just June and July, seeing all of these small jewels was as much of a
delight as watching a family of orcas play next to our ship or sailing among small
turquoise icebergs called bergy bits in fjords with heavenly views.
I sailed on the National Geographic Explorer from Iceland to Greenland in July on
a trip themed to follow the Viking Trail. Prior to boarding the ship, several of us
explored Iceland, which sits atop a volcanic hotspot and bears the scars of a great
rift as the North American plate and the Eurasian plate pull apart. At þingvellir,
where the world’s first democratic parliament was held in 930, we straddled the
deep cleft where the two plates surface. In northern Iceland, we walked across an
active geothermal moonscape letting off steam. And in Reykjavik, we gazed in awe
at the original 13th-century manuscripts of the “Icelandic Sagas,” which tell the
history of the Norsemen in the 10th and 11th centuries.
Then, boarding our ship, which was fitted as an icebreaker, we crossed the
Denmark Strait on surprisingly calm seas, landing in Greenland on muscular and
mountainous Skjoldungen Island. We drank in the scenery of granite mountains,
walked through sparsely peopled Greenland towns and hiked over 3-billionyear-old boulders—the oldest known on the planet. Rounding Cape Farewell, the
southernmost part of Greenland, we sailed up the country’s western coast, stopping at
a 14th-century Norse church still standing erect and weathered. We landed at Erik
the Red’s farm, which was built in 986. It was from this fjord that Leif Eriksson, Erik’s
son, set sail and became perhaps the first European to land in North America—500
years before Columbus.
ADAPTING TO SEVERE WINTERS
AND SHORT SUMMERS
At each of these stops—with the exception of Reykjavik’s museum and its
extraordinary new opera house—we walked among wildflowers beautifully attuned
to these harsh habitats. Their sizes and shapes are adaptations to severe winters
and short summers. Most of Greenland’s plants are less than a foot tall, snuggling
into the earth to keep warm and avoid damaging winds. Many are yellow, a color
that absorbs sunlight more efficiently than white, according to E.C. Pielou’s “A
Naturalist’s Guide to the Arctic.” The yellow arctic poppy has taken adaptation
further: It forms a cup with its petals, following the sun and retaining warmth
around the stigma and stamens and creating an invitingly cozy microhabitat for
small pollinating flies.
On volcanic rocks, we found pioneer plants such as lichens, mosses and other
bryophytes. As these organisms expand, they build up debris around them, and
gradually other plants find places to explore with their roots and make a home. In
areas made boggy by glacial meltwater collecting above permafrost, waterlogged
sphagnum moss flourishes and gradually turns to mucky soil, and eventually,
when dried, to peat. Crowberries and arctic sorrel, as well as bearberries and blue
berries, mature on low-lying plants. Scrawny polar willows and dwarf birch, while
increasing their populations due to warming, nonetheless do so by creeping along
the ground. The joke here: If you get lost in the woods in Greenland, stand up.
“Ten thousand years ago, this area was wiped clean [by glaciers],” says Steve
Maclean, a retired zoologist from the University of Alaska Fairbanks who travels
and lectures frequently on Lindblad/National Geographic ships. “As the ice
recedes, the earth rises up and the flora is very new. There’s a scarcity of endemics
in the tundra. Most of the plants are widespread around the arctic region.”
BELOW (L-R)
One of the many yellow flowers is
Hieracium alpinum, alpine hawkweed.
Three Greenlanders and a dog.
Greenland, its center below sea level because of the weight of the ice that covers
it, has both high arctic and low arctic tundra on its coasts. In both, nutrients are
limited in the young soil, and decomposition is slow—except in places where
people have lived and buried bodies or body waste, where whale carcasses have
ABOVE
Icebergs are more than five meters
high; bergy bits are between one and
five meters in height; growlers are
less than one meter tall.
BELOW
Plantanthera hyperbora, the
green-flowered bog-orchid, grows up
to 67 degrees north latitude in west
Greenland. This one grew in Akureyri’s botanic garden.
decomposed or beneath the nests of seabirds such as guillemots and shearwaters,
kittiwakes and puffins. In these places the tundra is especially green. Maclean,
author of “Svalbard, A Guide to Plants in the High Arctic,” says most of the plant
biomass in the Arctic is below ground, and many plants depend on mycorrhizal
fungi for nutrient uptake.
Most of the plants in the tundra are perennial, because summer is too short to
complete a life cycle. Many buds are set at the end of summer and overwinter
beneath the snow, ready to open when warmth returns. Some leaves have become
much smaller to minimize water loss, such as those of the Arctic bell heather,
mountain heath and white-flowering Labrador tea. Within the tiny spaces between
leaves, warm air can be trapped. Moss campion, in the carnation family, produces
pink flowers from a tiny mat of green; the flowers facing south open first.
Flower buds, stems and leaves often are dark or covered with dark hairs to protect
them from wind and to speed development. Many plants don’t shed dead leaves,
instead using them as insulation, the same way that settlers used driftwood and sod
and Inuits employed skins and snow.
THE CLIMATE CHANGE THREAT
As the climate warms, the stability of the polar regions is being lost. The Arctic is
warming twice as fast as areas in lower latitudes. The ice sheet that covers 80% of
Greenland, the world’s largest island, experienced melting over 97% of its surface
in 2012, although much less melted in 2013. Iceland, on the other hand, had its
coldest, rainiest summer in memory in 2013.
In “Teaching a Stone to Talk,” Annie Dillard wrote: “The old ark’s a moverin’. Each
live thing wags its home waters, rumples the turf, rearranges the air. The rocks press
out protoplasm; the protoplasm pummels the rocks.” Then she asks, “What shall we
sing when the fires burn down?”
FRANÇ A
AT FAI R C H IL D
From Brazil to Miami:
Hugo França brings sustainable
designs to Fairchild
By Brooke LeMaire
T
o some, a fallen tree is just a fallen tree. But to
Brazilian designer Hugo França, it’s an opportunity—a
reminder that we can salvage and breathe new life
into things that sometimes don’t get second chances.
From December 1, 2013 through May 31, 2014, visitors can
experience this message of sustainability as part of Design at
Fairchild, the annual showcase that brings unique exhibitions
from talented designers worldwide right into the Garden. This
season highlights França’s beautiful and functional designs,
which invite visitors to experience the shape, texture and story
of the reclaimed wood from which they are made.
França’s story is as interesting as that of the material from
which he crafts his designs. After receiving a degree in
engineering from Brazil’s Universidade Federal do Rio
Grande do Sul, he moved to São Paulo and began work at a
computer company. After realizing that he wanted to be closer
to nature, he sought out a more rural lifestyle and moved to
the picturesque Bahia state in northeastern Brazil. There, he
learned woodworking from the indigenous Pataxó tribe. He has
been fascinated with the intricacies of crafting designs out of
wood ever since.
Exploring deep into the heart of Brazil’s lush landscape with
native tribes, França searches for already dead or felled trees.
The voyages often lead them to giant pequi trees (Caryocar
brasiliense, also known as souari nut), almost 150 feet tall and
seven feet wide, which have been left on the ground to rot.
França collects the wood from these trees and hand carves it
into designs that accentuate its natural and organic properties.
Many of his uniquely-shaped pieces—such as benches, settees
and chaises—are functional and used for seating.
Sixteen of França’s pieces are on display throughout Fairchild’s
83 acres. The reds and browns of the designs beautifully
complement the tropical greens of the Garden. On your next
visit, lounge on the “Guaraci” chaise, which was inspired by
the shape of a canoe, and look up as the clouds pass by the
towering palm trees overhead. Sit on the “Araraúna” bench
under the vibrant purple blooms of the jacaranda tree. Or
take respite in the trunk of the remarkable “Cabrué” casulo,
immersing yourself in the story of the tree it came from that got
a second chance.
WINTER 2014
57
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wish list
gifts and donors
Fairchild has a wish list of items that
will enhance our programs, but we
need Wish Makers. We hope you see
an item that you can help fulfill.
The following gifts were made between August 16, 2013 and October 31, 2013. Please
notify the Member Services and Donor Relations Office at 305.667.1651, ext. 3310 if
your information is incorrect. We apologize in advance for any errors or omissions.
FOR OUR HORTICULTURE OPERATION
• 2 Tablet Notebooks, $1,500
• 12 Golf Cart Batteries, $1,200
• Walk-Behind Aerator, $1,500
• Hardware for Accession Tag
Embossing Machine, $2,000
• Plant Transport Van, $20,000
MAJOR GIFTS
Adam R. Rose and
Peter R. McQuillan
Arts Center
Adam R. Rose and
Peter R. McQuillan
Drs. Steven S. Pabalan
and Grace Wang
Mrs. Nettie Belle Robinson
Mr. and Mrs. Vincent A. Tria Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. David L. Willse
Dr. Mark Young
Fairchild Challenge Program
The Fairchild Palms
TRIBUTE PROGRAM
Commemorative Gifts
In Memory of Harold R. Cobb
Mrs. Judith Walker
In Memory of
Finlay L. Matheson
Mr. and Mrs.
Daniel L. Hightower
In Memory of
Nancye Moynahan
Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Bolton
Calcagni Associates
Mrs. Betty B. Chapman
Mr. and Mrs. Carlton W. Cole
Georgianna Methodist Church
Mr. and Mrs.
Roger Moynahan
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Sanz
Mrs. Jane Schuh
Stokes McMillan
Antúnez P.A.
Ms. Katsumi Taplinger
Mr. Patrick Wellspeak
In Memory of
Bernadette Small
Ms. Helaine Alessio
Ms. Julianne Leigh Armao
Mr. and Mrs.
Bart Jason Carlson
Mr. and Mrs.
John W. Harbert
Ms. Cecelia Seufert
Mr. Larry Small
Mrs. Diane Spindel
Ms. Ann Vaske
Mr. Kenneth Wilder and
Mrs. Gail Wright-Wilder
In Honor of Nannette Zapata
Mrs. Olga A. Alonso
Dr. and Mrs. Michael Aptman
Mr. and Mrs.
Douglas Bradbury
FOR CONSERVATION, RESEARCH AND
THE ONLINE HERBARIUM
• Extra-Tall Tripod, $150
• Macro Zoom Lens for Sony SLR
Camera, $800
• Laptop Computer, $2,000
• New Display Giclee Prints on Canvas
for Public Events, $2,000
• Plant Canopy Imager, $6,000
• Seed Germination Chamber, $8,500
• Mid-Size Pickup Truck, $26,400
FOR THE RESEARCH LIBRARY
• World Checklists for: Araliaceae, Conifers
and Fagales, $300
FOR THE FAIRCHILD FARM
• Golf Cart, $7,000
FOR THE VISITOR EXPERIENCE
OPERATION
• iPad, $500
• Digital SLR Camera, $500
FOR SPECIAL EVENTS
• Fully-equipped Commercial Kitchen
for Visitor Center
FOR MEMBER AND DONOR SERVICES
• Laptop Computer/LCD Projector, $2,000
• Digital SLR Camera, $1,000
FOR OUR STUDENTS
• New Vehicle for PlantMobile
Outreach Program, $25,000
• Solar Conversion Kits for Education
Golf Carts, $4,000
• iPads for Explorer Field Studies
Program, $2,500
• Laptop Computer for Lifelong Learning,
$600
• SMART Board for the Corbin Classroom,
$2,000
• Table-Top Easels, $125
• Art Display Panels, $1,000
• Dark Field Microscope, $600
• Cannon Double-Sided Feed Scanner,
$3,000
FOR OUR VISITORS
• Golf Cart, $7,000
FOR LIFELONG LEARNING PROGRAM
• Laptop and LCD, $1,200
To fully fund a wish, donate a portion of the
cost or donate the actual item, please contact
Leslie Bowe at 305.667.1651, ext. 3338,
[email protected] or please visit
www.fairchildgarden.org/Donate
FTBG Operating Support
Pro Sound Inc.
FAIRCHILD GIFTS
The following list combines
membership and gifts to
Fairchild at the $1,000 level
and above.
Diamond Fellow
Mr. and Mrs.
M. Anthony Burns
Platinum Fellow
White & Case L.L.P.
Gold Fellow
Colson Hicks Eidson
Mr. Steven Cooke-Yarborough
Walt Disney World Co.
Ms. Anne Lovett and
Mr. Stephen G. Woodsum
Silver Fellow
Mr. R. Kirk Landon
James Deering Danielson
Foundation
Fellow
Prof. and Mrs.
Raymond F. Baddour
Mrs. Bunny Bastian
Mr. and Mrs. Alan S. Bernstein
Mr. and Mrs. Irving Bolotin
Ms. Anna Bromberg
Ms. Pamela W. Cole
Dr. and Mrs. Alfred Damus
Mr. Janis Dzelzkalns and
Mrs. Kathryn Sorenson
Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Eastlick
Dr. and Mrs. Richard A. Elias
Dr. and Mrs. Joseph L. Giegel
Ms. Melissa Hoffman
Dr. and Mrs. Richard Levine
Mr. and Mrs. Daniel R. Lewis
Mr. and Mrs. Clifford W. Mezey
Mr. and Mrs.
Anthony R. Morgenthau
Ms. Lamar J. Noriega
Mr. and Mrs. Henry Z. Norton
In Memory of Harold Cobb
Mrs. Ann B. Bussel
In Memory of
Suzanne Curinier
Mrs. Mila Mokadem
In Memory of Laly De La Cruz
Ms. Maria De La Cruz
In Honor of Lily Yael Goldin
Mrs. Ann B. Bussel
In Memory of
Delores B. Henley
Mr. and Mrs. James Berlin
In Honor of Ellen and
Andy Leinoff
Mr. Paul S. Leinoff and
Ms. Zoe Leinoff
In Memory of Nancye
Moynahan
Mr. Joseph Mayer
Mrs. Gina Shumilla
In Memory of Rudy Raines
Mr. Robert J. Petzinger and
Ms. Cristina Moran
In Memory of Alfredo
Sutherland Richards Sr.
Ms. Carolyn S. Cofer
Tribute Benches
In Memory of Nancye
Moynahan
Ms. Laura Lorio
Mr. David Moynahan and
Ms. Crystal S. Wakoa
Mr. and Mrs.
John Moynahan Jr.
Mr. and Mrs.
Stephen Moynahan
Tribute Trees
In Honor of
Stephanie L. Brown
Ms. Rebecca Quinn
In Memory of
Nicolas Simonetta
Ms. Karen Vazquez and
Ms. Catalina Pavicic
Frances Greer Memorial Fund
Mr. Donald J. Glazer
Tribute Bricks
In Honor of
Samuel F. Bussel Alonso
Mrs. Ann B. Bussel
In Honor of Jeanne Bunten
Mrs. Anne E. Gaschler
To support Fairchild, please visit
www.fairchildgarden.org/Donate
WINTER 2014
59
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garden views
FALL
at Fairchild
1
Fairchild was bursting with activity
this fall. The Bird Festival brought
together dedicated birders to hear
Kushlan Keynote Speaker Ted Floyd,
the editor of Birding magazine, and
to watch the Miami City Ballet’s firstever performance at Fairchild. The
horticulture department treated our
valued members to flourishing plants
at the Members’ Day Plant Sale, a
tradition that dates back to 1938. The
73rd Annual Ramble filled the Garden
with books, antiques, garden crafts
and guilds specializing in ceramics,
embroidery, jewelry and woodturning.
And, the Fall Orchid Festival turned
Fairchild into an orchid wonderland
with the American Orchid Society’s
breathtaking juried arrangements,
workshops and plant vendors.
3
2
1. Kids having fun at The Ramble
2. Fresh market at the Incredible Edible Garden Festival
3. Carnivorous plants at The Ramble
4
5
6
7
4. Outdoor lecture at the Incredible Edible Garden Festival
5. Friendly Creatures of the Night event
6. Garden demonstration at The Fall Orchid Festival
7. Outdoor lecture at the Bird Festival
Holiday Music
Holiday Music celebrated its 20th Anniversary in
December. Guests enjoyed festival music, holiday
ambience and a special performance by Igor and
Vesna Gruppman, who were both instrumental in the
foundation of Holiday Music. Honorary Co-Chairs
Jeanne and Rudy Aragon, as well as the rest of the
committee, look forward to the next 20 years of the
event. Special thank you to long-time Holiday Music
sponsors White & Case LLC and Baptist Health
South Florida.
Honorary Co-Chairs Jeanne and Rudy
Aragon celebrate the 20th Anniversary
of Holiday Music at Fairchild.
Book your
child's next
birthday
at fairchild!
There is no better spot to celebrate than among the
fluttering colors of Fairchild’s Wings of the Tropics
exhibit Discover thousands of tropical butterflies,
participate in a butterfly release and get an up-close look
at these winged wonders.
More themes available, including: Painter Paradise,
Enchanted Explorers, Garden Tea and Fun at Fairchild.
For more information or to book a birthday party,
contact Lauren Waller at 305.663.8044 or
lwaller fairchildgarden.org.
Gala
in the
Garden
Saturday, February 1, 2014
6:30 p.m.
For information, please call Susannah Shubin
at 305.663.8075 or email [email protected].
from the archives
THE FAMOUS SAUSAGE TREE:
From Cairo to Coral Gables
By Marianne Swan
Planted in 1908 and
still growing today
just yards from
Fairchild, this tree has
a rich history to tell.
RIGHT
David Fairchild under the sausage tree
in 1934. The Blacks’ filling station and
souvenir stand are visible in the background.
David Fairchild Collection, Archives/FTBG.
BELOW
The tree in blossom in the fall of 2013 at the
intersection of Old Cutler Road and SW 104
Street. The Blacks’ Dade County pine house,
built in the late 1890’s, can be seen in the
background (currently painted yellow).
D
avid Fairchild’s legacy can be seen throughout the United States in
the many “plant immigrants” he introduced from lands far and wide.
Although his focus was on economic plants like cotton, wheat and
dates, he also sought out the unusual. While he was in Egypt in 1901,
a botanical curiosity caught his eye: the sausage tree, Kigelia pinnata. In 1907
Fairchild was finally successful in procuring viable sausage tree seeds from a friend
in Cairo. One of the trees grown from this acquisition still stands today, and the
story surrounding it provides an interesting vignette of the early Miami area.
Fairchild gave seedling trees to Dr. Samuel H. Richmond of Cutler, who, in turn,
gave one to Sarah Elizabeth “Maud” Seibold. In 1908 Seibold planted her seedling
near the sandy trail fronting her house which was built of Dade County pine. That
trail, then known simply as “the road from Coconut Grove to Cutler,” is presentday Old Cutler Road. As the tree matured, it became an integral part of Seibold’s
livelihood and served as a harbinger of the important role tourism would play in
shaping the future of the Miami area.
In 1929, Seibold married Charlie Black, who moved into the house. Black
took a special interest in the tree when he noticed that passersby stopped to
ogle its enormous sausage-like fruit. Though the “sausages” were not edible,
ABOVE (L-R)
The front of Charlie Black’s tourist
brochure touting the “Sausage Tree.”
From the author’s collection
Map showing the location of the
famous sausage tree from Charlie
Black’s tourist brochure.
From the author’s collection
BELOW
Ceramic plaque at the base of the sausage tree tells the story of its origin.
Photo by Kenneth Setzer/FTBG
the couple benefited from their striking appearance by marketing the tree as a
tourist attraction. Charlie Black produced a brochure, which he placed in hotels
and at train and bus stations, inviting tourists to see this most unusual tree—and
they came by the thousands. While the Blacks did not charge to see the tree, they
did offer for sale Maud’s homemade coconut candy and jams, made from the many
tropical fruits growing on their property. Charlie also built and operated a filling
station where he sold gasoline to the tourists, along with picture postcards of the
sausage tree and other souvenirs.
So successful was this venture that Fairchild included the following passage in his
book The World Was My Garden, published in 1938:
Today this tree hangs its enormous “sausages” over a busy highway and
literally stops traffic. Only rarely does a car go by without being slowed
or stopped by the amazing spectacle. The present owner of the tree, in a
sense, depends upon it for his living, as he sells gas and food to motorists.
Moving-pictures of the tree have been exhibited all over the country, and
I often think how amazed the parent tree in Cairo would be to see its
offspring entertaining winter tourists in Florida.
Clearly Fairchild was amused to see that the tree he originally considered a mere
curiosity had become an important economic plant, at least for Maud and
Charlie Black.
connect with fairchild
VISIT US
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden
10901 Old Cutler Road, Coral Gables FL 33156
T: 305.667.1651 F: 305.661.8953
9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Everyday (except December 25)
Admission: Free for Fairchild Members and children 5 and under.
Non-members: $25 for adults, $18 for seniors 65 and up and
$12 for children 6-17.
Eco-discount: If you walk, ride your bike or take public
transportation to Fairchild, receive $5 off admission for adults and
$2 off admission for children. Members, remember to bring your
Rewards Card to earn your gift passes!
Military Discount: We are pleased to offer active military
personnel free admission. Please present Military IDs
FAIRCHILD BLOGS
Found at Fairchild
Discover Fairchild past and present with Fairchild writer Kenneth
Setzer. www.fairchildgarden.org/FoundatFairchild
Gardening with Georgia
Plant writer extraordinaire Georgia Tasker writes about plants and
everything Fairchild. www.fairchildgarden.org/GeorgiaTasker
Musings with Mary
Fairchild Senior Horticulturist Mary Collins writes about
horticulture in the garden and around South Florida.
www.fairchildgarden.org/Horticulture
For the Love of Mangos
Fairchild Tropical Fruit Curators Dr. Richard J. Campbell and
Noris Ledesma write about traveling the globe in search of the
world’s most delicious fruit. www.fairchildgarden.org/LoveMangos
The Cheng Ho Blog
Seventy years after David Fairchild’s famous Cheng Ho
expedition, you can follow the ship’s journey with daily journal
entries posted in this historical blog.
www.fairchildgarden.org/ChengHo
GIFTS THAT GIVE BACK
Give the gift of Fairchild
Inquiries: 305.667.1651, ext. 3351
[email protected].
www.fairchildgarden.org/GiftIdeas
GET INVOLVED
Become a Member
Become a member and enjoy Garden benefits all year long.
Inquiries: 305.667.1651, ext. 3301 or 3362
[email protected]
www.fairchildgarden.org/Membership
Volunteer
Become a volunteer and help the Garden grow.
Inquiries: 305.667.1651, ext. 3324
[email protected]
www.fairchildgarden.org/Volunteer
Give
Donate to the Garden and help support Fairchild’s programs.
Inquiries: 305.667.1651, ext. 3351
[email protected]
www.fairchildgarden.org/DonateNow
EVENTS AND PRIVATE RENTALS
Information about events can be found on Fairchild’s website.
Tickets for certain events maybe be purchased online. Interested in
having your event at Fairchild? Please call us or visit our website.
Inquiries: 305.667.1651, ext. 3359
[email protected]
www.fairchildgarden.org/Events
SHOP AT FAIRCHILD
Visit The Shop at Fairchild for a large selection of gardening and
culinary books, home decor items and unique gifts.
Inquiries: 305.667.1651, ext. 3305
[email protected]. store.fairchildonline.com
GET YOUR BINOCULARS
You may borrow a pair of binoculars to get a closer look at Fairchild’s
wildlife. Please ask at the Visitor Center’s information desk.
FOLLOW US
www.fairchildgarden.org
FairchildGarden
FairchildGarden
FairchildGarden
FairchildGarden
FairchildGarden
2
Celebrating the Orchids of Venezuela
Friday-Sunday, March 7-9, 2014
9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
www.fairchildgarden.org
Printed on recycled paper that contains
10% post-consumer waste and is FSC®
Certified using vegetable-based ink. When
you are finished enjoying this magazine,
please recycle it by sharing it with a friend.
If you love chocolate
Presented by
YOU CAN’T M
MISS
Fairchild’s
8TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL
CHOCOLATE
FESTIVAL
Friday, Saturday and Sunday
January 24, 25 and 26, 2014
9:30 A.M. - 4:30 P.M.
THREE DAYS OF CHOCOLATE,
EDUCATION AND FUN!
Don’t miss artisan chocolate, plant sales,
cooking demonstrations, our ChocoWalk,
hocoWalk,
The ChocoKids
hocoKids area, informative lectures and more.
Non-Profit
Organization
U. S. Postage
PAID
Miami, Florida
Permit No. 155

winter 2014 - Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden

Transcription

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