NEWS AND VIEWS

• NEPALESE WORKSHOP
• INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES
• DEPARTURE OF STEVE BLACKMORE
• NEW SPECIAL COLLECTIONS ROOM

PLANT INFORMATION AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER FOR NEPAL

On 16 September, Steve Blackmore, Charlie Jarvis and Krishna Shrestha attended the final workshop in Kathmandu for our Darwin Initiative Project. Colleagues from the Central Department of Botany, Tribhuvan University, the Department of Plant Resources, and the Royal Nepal Academy of Science and Technology contributed to a lively debate. A series of presentations explaining the Project's background was followed by a detailed demonstration of the features and information contained in the database. A CD-ROM version of which, complete with images of many type specimens of Nepalese plants, was formally presented to Professor N. L. Shreshta, Registrar of Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu, in the presence of the Minister for Education, Mr Yog Prasad Upadhaya.

Steve Blackmore presenting a copy of the Nepalese Plant Database to Prof. N.L. Shrestha, Registrar of Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu

Contact: Bob Press

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES

Departmental staff have attended and participated in various international conferences over the last six months. The Botany Department was especially well represented at the XVI International Botanical Congress in St. Louis, U.S.A. which was attended by ten members of staff who variously presented papers and posters highlighting their research. Alex Monro and Mamen Pea also attended the III Congreso y IV Asamblea General, Sociedad Mesoamericana para la Biologia y la Conservacion in Guatemala City in early July. Another six members of staff attended and presented papers at the 2nd Biennial Conference of the Systematics Association at Glasgow University in August, whilst Dave Williams and Chris Humphries also attended the XVIII Meeting of The Willi Hennig Society in Gttingen, Germany in September of this year. William Purvis was also elected an honorary member of Societ Lichenologica Italiana (SLI) at the Convegno Annuale della SLI held in Naples, 22-24 October where he presented the keynote address on 'Lichen-mineral interactions'.

DEPARTURE OF STEVE BLACKMORE

After 19 years at the Museum, Steve Blackmore bade farewell to the Botany Department on 8 October before taking up his new post as Regius Keeper at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh. Before joining the Museum in 1980 as Head of Palynology, Steve had worked first at the Aldabra Research Station in the Indian Ocean, and later at the National Herbarium in Malawi. At the Museum he was able to develop his research interests, including delving into the developmental bases of diverse pollen morphologies, and in 1990, he succeeded John Cannon as Keeper of Botany. After nine years in this position, he is leaving to to take on a new and exciting challenge in Edinburgh, and his friends and colleagues wish him success and enjoyment in his new post. Steve has been replaced as Keeper by Dr. Richard Bateman, former Director of Science at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh. Richard will be featured in the New Scientists section of the next issue of Plant Cuttings.

NEW BERNARD SUNLEY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS ROOM IN BOTANY

 

One of the Museum's most important collections, Sir Hans Sloane's 265 bound volumes dating back to the end of the 16th century, has now been re-housed in a specially built facility. Sloane's collections are of great scientific and historical value and we receive many requests from scientists all over the world wishing to consult them.

Due to their age and state of preservation however, these volumes require very careful handling to ensure they remain of equal benefit to future generations of scientists. To address this, a new Special Collections Room has been constructed within the Department complete with specially designed cabinets and air conditioning.

Completion of the new room will also enable other historical collections, previously stored separately, to be housed together in one facility. As well as accommodating the Sloane volumes, the new room will also provide space for other historically important collections such as the Paul Hermann, Clifford and Clayton herbaria, also kept at the Museum. The major sponsor of the new room is The Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation who provided generous support for the new facility. A formal opening ceremony attended by sponsors, the Keeper of Botany and Neil Chalmers, the Director of the Museum, took place on the 14th December.

Contact: Dr. Rob Huxley

DIGITISATION OF THE HANS SLOANE & PAUL HERMANN HERBARIA

The Hans Sloane herbarium housed at The Natural History Museum includes a significant number of plant materials from Jamaica, including the first collection brought to this country of Theobroma cacao L., the main ingredient in chocolate. The collection, together with the Paul Hermann herbarium comprising plants of mostly Sri Lankan origin, is now being digitised and databased. The project will build on the techniques and protocols developed in producing the John Clayton herbarium on-line, http://www.nhm.ac.uk/botany/clayton/index.html, and will add to the Museum's virtual presence on the web.

Plate 160 from Sloane's Voyage to Jamaica, the designated lectotype of Theobroma cacao L.	The corresponding voucher specimen from the Sloane herbarium, Herb. Sloane 5: 59 (BM).

Both the Sloane and Hermann herbaria are valuable historical sources of botanical information. Both include many type specimens, not readily accessible to the global botanical community until now . The aim of the project is to make the collections more accessible to researchers worldwide whilst also creating an important digital archive. This will also aid the conservation of the specimens through reduced handling. It is hoped that the project will be completed by early summer 2000 at which point a searchable database complete with images will be accessible over the Internet, and a CD-ROM will also be produced. The project has received sponsorship from various bodies including the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Contact: Clare Bradley Smith.

MONITORING, MUD AND MORECAMBE BAY

In September this year, Fred Rumsey, Alison Paul, Rosemarie Rees and Rob Huxley found themselves in rather inclement weather, slowly working over acres of sandy mud in Morecambe Bay, an important wildlife site and currently a Special Protection Area (SPA) under European law. The Botany Department's interest in this area has developed over the duration of a long-term contract with British Gas to monitor the recovery of Zostera (eelgrass) and related floristic changes following the construction of two gas pipelines across the Walney Channel. The monitoring work came to a conclusion last year and September's survey was a result of a contract from English Nature, who are keen to obtain quantitative assessments of Zostera and to understand its substrate requirements.

The Zostera beds directly and indirectly support the faunal diversity in the area, and the survey work will help elucidate management requirements of the faunal and floral communities in Morecambe Bay. It is hoped that this will not conclude the Museum's researches on either this area, or the eelgrass communities, here and elsewhere. Many problems remain, the taxonomic status of Z. angustifolia being but one, and further work is clearly necessary to inform conservation action.

Rosemarie Rees and Fred Rumsey carrying out a survey in Morecambe Bay       Contact: Dr Fred Rumsey

MIKE MULLIN (20 September 1947 - 2 August 1999)

John Michael Mullin joined the Department in 1973 after first contributing to the 'Flora of Mull' project in 1970 as a vacation student surveying the island. At first in the Fern Herbarium and latterly in the Flowering Plant Herbaria, Mike cheerfully helped with enquiries from members of the public, the British Pteridological Society and the Botanical Society of the British Isles, and enjoyed teaching the elements of systematics to youngsters visiting the Museum. He quickly found new employment following the Museum's restructuring in 1990. Mike died after a comparatively short fight against cancer. We remember him for his vast knowledge of the British flora and an amazing range of miscellanea, his bonhomie and, alas, his propensity for minor accidents.