PLANT SCIENCE BULLETIN
A Publication of the Botanical Society of America, Inc.
6 DECEMBER 1960 NUMBER 5
About the Origin of Vascular Plants'
WILSON N. STEWART
the past five years I have become increasingly perplexed by the frequency
of articles supporting the claim that vascular plants with lycopsid affinities
occurred in the Cambrian. If the evidence justified the conclusion, then this
would be one of the most spectacular paleobotanical finds since Lang and Cookson's
(1935) discovery of bona fide vascular plants in the Silurian rocks of Australia.
Far more important than the spectacular nature of such discoveries, are the
effects they have had on interpretations of origins for vascular plants. If
we agree that relatively highly evolved vascular plants existed in Cambrian
times we must consider the possibility that they originated from some group
other than Upper Silurian and Devonian psilophytes of the Rhynia-type. In
agreeing to this premise, we at the same time accede to the argument that
vascular plants may have had an origin from more than one as yet unknown groups
of ancestors. Because of the impetus given to the idea of polyphylesis for
the origin of vascular plants by the discovery of plant remains in Cambrian
deposits, I believe it is important that we consider the supporting evidence
more critically and, having done this, evaluate how our conclusions about
vascular plant origins are to be reflected in a system of classification.
do this we must review briefly the state of evidence related to origins shortly
after 1921 when Kidston and Lang had completed their papers describing the
Middle Devonian flora of the Old Red Sandstone. Around 1840, long before Mackie
picked up the first specimen of the famous chert, Hofmeister and later Lignier,
among others, speculated about the nature of ancestral vascular plants. In
general, their speculations led to the conclusion that primitive vascular
plants consisted of three dimensional dichotomizing axes showing little organ
differentiation and with terminal sporangia; thus during the course of evolution
these axes were variously modified to give rise to plants with differentiated
the discovery of Rhynia and Horneophyton by Kidston and Lang and the rediscovery
of Psilophyton, the idea was soon widely adopted that here, in fact, were
primitive vascular plants of the type already postulated. To make the evidence
of common ancestral origin for vascular plants even more convincing, supposedly
transitional forms now placed in the Hyeniales, Protopteridales, and Protolepidodendrales
were soon added. The logical
of paper presented at IX International Botanical Congress Montreal, Canada,
1959. outcome of these events was the establishment of a single phylum for
vascular plants—the Stelophyta proposed in 1931 by Pia and the Tracheophyta
used by Sinnott in 1935. With the wide acceptance by morphologists of the
Tracheophyta as a natural group of plants the monophyletic interpretation
for the origin of vascular plants seemed to be established. Today, however,
it is safe to say that the Tracheophyta is far from being assured a permanent
position in a phyletic classification. The reason for this is directly or
indirectly the result of investigations by Leclercq, Andrews, Banks, Hoskins
and Cross, Read, Harris, Naumova, Kryshtofovich, Gosh and Bose, Kr~usel and
Weyland, Arnold, Lang and Cookson, Dorf, Teichert and Schopf, Halle, Radforth
and many others. Each has made a contribution to our knowledge of Devonian,
Silurian or Cambrian floras since the time of Kidston and Lang's work on the
Rhynie chert. The principle results of their investigations of these ancient
The Middle and Upper Devonian floras are heterogeneous being composed of numerous
species, some of which are highly differentiated and can not be assigned to
Middle and Upper Devonian psilophytes are not the "starting point" for
the subsequent evolution of vascular plants.
plants had evolved by the time of the Middle Cambrian.
plants are polyphyletic in origin.
summaries describing the heterogeneity of Devonian floras have been prepared
by Leclercq (1954) and Andrews (1956). More than any other, Andrews supports
the thesis that heterogeneity, per se, can be construed as evidence for the
polyphyletic origin of land plants from unknown algal groups. This is made
clear in his statement, —"The early land plants (excluding clearly defined
representatives of the lycopods or articulates) presents a highly complex
assemblage; some may be justifiably classified as psilophytes while others
do not fit with any degree of comfort into any major category and seem to
imply a highly polyphyletic origin from the algae."
support this point of view, Andrews makes extensive use of evidence provided
by I) structural differences between Devonian monostelic and polvstelic "stem"
genera, and 2) the genus Crocalophyton, an Upper Devonian fossil described
in an earlier part of his 1956 paper. In 1949 and
on page 2)
PLANT SCIENCE BULLETIN
SYDNEY S. GREENFIELD, Editor
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HARLAN P. BANKS Cornell University
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ELSIE QUARTERMAN Vanderbilt University
ERICH STEINER University of Michigan
DECEMBER, 1960 • VOLUME 6,
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ABOUT THE ORIGIN OF
from page I)
Zimmermann noted the relatively high percentage of polystelic axes to be found
among Devonian fossils and showed that with decrease in geological age there
was a decrease in the number of polystelic forms. To ac-count for this phenomenon
Zimmermann, in explaining the telome concept, suggests that the evolutionary
process of syngenesis has occurred resulting in tangential fusion of many
monostelic axes and that this process of fusion ultimately extended to the
polysteles resulting in their tangential fusion and the formation of monostelic
vascular systems. In his 1956 and later papers, Andrews seems to have over-looked
this possibility. He states in his 1956 paper, "The contrast between plants
of this sort (polystelic Steloxylon and Xenocladia) and those possessing slender
monstelic stems (Rhynia and Asteroxylon) presents a deep and broad chasm to
be spanned by an evolutionary bridge." That this chasm is neither deep nor
broad is pretty well attested to by the inclusion in the same order, Pteridospermales,
of both monostelic lyginopterids and polystelic medullosas. Furthermore, it
appears from the researches of Delevoryas (1955) on the medullosae that syngenesis
of axes and their vascular systems occurred in exactly the way postulated
by Zimmermann. That tangential fusion of axes is not of uncommon occurrence
in the plant kingdom is revealed by the thalli of certain green, brown and
red algae composed of fused filaments; the fruiting bodies of many fungi composed
of interwoven and fused hyphae; the axes of several ferns with false stems
composed of tangentially inter-woven adventitious roots and true stems, and
the tangentially fused parts of cones and flowers. In view of the wide-spread
occurrence of syngenesis in the plant kingdom one
logical and simple explanation of the heterogeneous Devonian floras represented
in part by polystelic axes, is that they are the products of fusion of more
primitive, monostelic axes of the Rhynia-type. The evidence from the medullosae
favors this interpretation.
noted earlier, a new genus Crocalophyton is the principal subject of the 1956
paper by Andrews and Alt. This genus, as its name suggests, is portrayed by
the authors as a primitive shore-dwelling organism which can't be as-signed
to any living or fossil group—an organism which is one representative
of many different kinds that made an "effort" to evolve a vascular flora.
Because of the obvious implication that Crocalophyton provides additional
evidence supporting a polyphyletic origin of vascular plants from algal ancestors,
this paper has received more than casual scrutiny. In brief, the results of
these more critical reviews agree that this genus can be interpreted logically
in another way. According to Andrew's interpretation much emphasis must be
placed on the orientation of the two conical specimens which are described.
If the broad portion of the specimen is considered to be the base and the
more pointed portion the apex then the histology from base to apex consists
of alternating areas of parenchyma and "strands." The latter are composed
of horizontally directed cells whose radial walls show rather regularly arranged
circular pits but showing no borders. Interpreted in this position Crocalophyton
is, indeed, an unusual plant without extinct or extant equivalents. There
is, as I'm sure we must agree, no good reason to assume that the more pointed
end of a fossil specimen must represent the apex of an organism. Weathering
has the disconcerting effect of shaping fossils so that they are conical,
yet the specimen may turn out to be the root mantle of a fern stem which is
in no way related to the plant's apex.
turning the conical specimens of Crocalophyton on their sides, i.e., tipping
them 900 so that their flat sides are horizontal instead of vertical, they
can then be interpreted as wedge-shaped segments, weathered and broken from
a cylindrical, trunk-like axis. Accordingly, the pointed end of a wedge represents
the more nearly central parts of the axis and the broad "basal" face the more
peripheral portions. By making this reorientation of the specimen the following
rather simple interpretations are possible: 1) The wedge-shaped segments are
from the trunk-like axis of a polycyclic portion of a vascular plant. 2) the
"strands," alternating with layers of parenchyma, can now be interpreted as
arcs of concentric bands of loosely arranged vascular tissue interspersed
with very broad rays. 3) Instead of having an horizontal orientation, the
pitted elements of the "strands" have the usual vertical orientation of tracheids
with pits on their radial walls. The pits probably lack borders because of
changes due to preservation of the cell wall.
stem type having the features just listed is not uncommon among vascular plants
where it occurs in the Medullosaceae and Cycadoxyleae. It has been observed
by Delevoryas that a specimen of Crocalophyton would bear a striking resemblance
to a wedge shaped segment of Ptycho-
Levyi, a member of the Cycadoxyleae. This does not mean that Crocalophyton
is a member of that family. What it does mean is that Crocalophyton can logically
be interpreted as a vascular plant with gymnosperm affinities. Until this
possibility is investigated further it is my opinion that we can hardly accept
Crocalophyton as providing evidence supporting a polyphyletic origin for vascular
second point I want to consider is well put in the title of Leclercq's 1954
article, "Are the Psilophytales a Starting or Resulting Point?" From the time
the lycopsid genus Baragwanathia was described from Silurian deposits by Lang
and Cookson (1935) it has become increasingly apparent that Middle Devonian
psilophytes (sensu Kidston and Lang, 1917-1921) can not be construced as the
progenitors of all vascular plants. There can be no question that we must
abandon the idea that the Middle Devonian genera Rhynia, Psilophyton, and
Horneophyton themselves provided the stock from which sphenopsids, lycopsids,
and probably pteropsids subsequently evolved. There is now convincing evidence
that the Sphenopsida, represented by Protohyenia, are to be found in Lower
Devonian deposits. This places the beginnings of at least two evolutionary
lines of vascular plants, the Sphenopsida and Lycopsida, at an earlier time
than Middle Devonian Psilopsida. It has been suggested that the lycopsid line
may extend back to the Cambrian. With the possible exception of the Middle
Cambrian lycopod flora described by Kryshtofovich (1953), it is interesting
to note that every new Lower Devonian or Silurian vascular plant flora that
is described contains elements which can be assigned to the Psilophytales
in the restricted sense. In other words the age of psilophytes has also been
pushed back into the Silurian. As long as the primitive Rhynia-type is found
to coexist with other kinds of vascular plants, as they do in the Upper Silurian,
then the thesis that the Rhynia-type provided the ancestral stock for lycopsids,
sphenopsids, and pteropsids retains its validity. Because of this, proponents
of a polyphyletic origin for vascular plants have made much of the Middle
Cambrian "Iycopsid" Aldanophyton described by Kryshtofovich. Leclercq has
stated in her article, "Evidence of Vascular Plants in the Cambrian" (1956),
"It [the discovery of Aldanophyton] positively separates the origin of the
lycopsids from the Psilophytales"; and further, "In a wider sense palynology
and plant impressions of Cambrian raise the major question of the polyphyletism
of the vascular plants."
of its important implications in classification as well as its appeal to the
spectacular, the evidence for the existence of vascular plants in the Cambrian
has become widely adopted as fact in a relatively short time. For ex-ample,
in Stirton's new historical geology text, "TIME, LIFE AND MAN" (1959) he notes
Aldanophyton as the oldest known land plant in which, ". . . vascular bundles
have been traced through the stems." As his authority Stirton refers to Leclercq's
1956 paper. Sporne, in an invitation paper appearing in the May, 1959, issue
of the American Journal of Botany, also alludes to Leclercq's description
of Kryshtofovich's Aldanophyton. Even more recently, in the June, 1959, issue
of Evolution, Axelrod has written a convincing article supporting the polyphyletic
origin of vascular plants from algal ancestors. He has placed considerable
emphasis on the "Aldonophyton-Drepanophycus line of evolution" described by
Leclercq in her 1956 article. Axel-rod states, ". . . that the phylum Lepidophyta
[lycopsids] was already established by the Middle Cambrian is shown by the
occurrence of Aldanophyton in Siberia (Krystofovich, 1954)2 which is represented
by several stems [there are 4] one up to 8.5 cm. long, with spirally arranged
microphyllous leaves." For the sake of accuracy, it should be pointed out
that in the generic and specific descriptions pre-pared by Kryshtofovich,
no defiinte arrangement of the enations or scars on the axes is claimed nor
has a vascular bundle been described in the enation. The presence of the latter
is a rather important criterion of a lycopsid microphyll. Like the other authors,
much of Axelrod's argument for polyphylesis is based on what is considered
to be valid evidence for the existence of vascular plants in Cambrian times.
by Leclercq's 1956 paper, I too have enthusiastically described to students
of paleobotany the earliest record of a vascular plant in the Cambrian. My
opinion, that Aldanophyton was truly a vascular plant, was influenced almost
entirely by a portion of the translated work of Kryshtofovich which Leclercq
quotes. This translation into English was obtained from Hoeg of the University
of Oslo. I quote from this translation, "The shoot [of Aldanophyton] is densely
covered with the delicate appendages (leaves) which are up to 9 mm. long.
On the impression the edge of the shoot is uneven, as if dentate due to form
of the thickenings and the arrangement of the appendages. In some places it
is possible to trace a thin stripe, a vascular bundle right out to the base
of the thickenings. . . ." I presumed, as have others, that remains of xylem
had been found thus validating the presence of the vascular bundles in Aldanophyton.
Later in reading a translation of the Kryshtofovich paper (1953) originating
from the Canadian Geological Survey I discovered some points of fundamental
disagreement with the translated passage cited by Leclercq. At no point in
the entire rendition obtained from the Canadian Government are vascular bundles
or vascular tissues described. The sentence describing the presence of vascular
bundles in Leclercq's paper was translated by the Canadians as follows: "In
places a thin rod-conducting bundle may be traced as far as the base of the
enations (leaves)." Further, at the end of the next paragraph, there is the
following revealing statement: "During the microscopic examination of the
transverse microsection it became evident that the fossilized body of the
shoot was depressed, etc. . . . no obvious cellular structure could be determined,
although traces of carbonaceous substance were discernible amid the granules
of the rock matrix." In other words, the proof that vascular tissue is present
and that Aldanophyton is a vascular plant is completely lacking. When so much
significance is attributed to 4 specimens of a single organism in deter-mining
the classification of vascular plants, I think we are
2 - Date should be 1953. Given as 1954 in the paper by Axelrod.
to the demonstration of vascular tissue. With this in mind it is indeed disturbing
to find Aldanophyton de-scribed as an unequivocal vascular plant. It is far
from this and the other possibilities need discussion.
alternatives are presented based on comparisons with extant and fully described
extinct floras. The first and most obvious is that Aldanophyton is some kind
of alga. When one considers the diversity of form and high degree of internal
and external differentiation among the Laminariales and Fucales, coupled with
the fact that the plant fossils were associated with marine organisms, one
can hardly dismiss the possibility of some algal affinities for Aldanophyton.
For example, Sargasszttn is an alga showing differentiation which could pass,
on superficial examination, as that of a vascular plant. The high degree of
internal and external differentiation simulating features of primitive vascular
plants are summarized for various species of Sargassum by Fritsch (1952) as
follows: "The Eusargassums comprise about two-thirds of the known species
and are essentially confined to tropical seas. In them the terete or angular
branches of the first and higher orders are spirally arranged and bear numerous
laterals of limited growth in which the basal "leaf" is usually the most conspicuous.
These foliar organs, which are sometimes very narrow, commonly possess a serrate
margin and are usually provided with an obvious midrib. In certain species
the long axes bear wartlike outgrowths giving them a spiny or verrucose appearance."
there is no intention to give the impression that Aldanophyton is a member
of the Eusargassums. Of importance, however, is the observation that algae
have achieved differentiation comparable with that described for the Cambrian
fossil. Thus it is equally reasonable to conclude that Aldanophyton is an
alga and not a vascular plant.
second possibility is that Aldanophyton is a nonvascular, green land plant.
This is not meant to imply that it had to be a bryophyte as we know them today.
However, bryophytes provide us with our only means of comparison. When I mentioned
the possibility that Aldanophyton might be similar to a modern moss it was
suggested that I make comparisons with the extant Australian species Dawsonia
superba, one of the largest of all moss plants. The specimens I have seen
attain a length of about 25 cm. Near the apex, of the only slightly flattened
gametophyte, the axis is 4 mm. in diameter. The upper portion is covered with
lycopsid like leaves, up to 3.5 cm. long and arranged in a beautiful spiral.
It is clear that if such a plant, minus its sporophyte, was found as a compression
fossil it would be just as logical to include it in the Lycopsida as to include
Aldanophton. Yet, according to our present classification, Dawsonia is a nonvascular
plant. Further, Dawsonia shows internal differentiation of its main axis into
a centrally-located, conducting-rod and each leaf contains a small trace continuous
with the central strand. This type of internal differentiation is common among
the Musci. I believe this evidence emphasizes the importance of demonstrating
vascular tissue before final conclusions are made as to whether a fossil plant
is vascular or nonvascular, especially one assuming so much importance in
different spore types have been described from Cambrian rocks. Because of
their diversity and ornamentation it has been suggested that these were produced
by vascular plants. There are many possible explanations of their reported
presence in these ancient deposits, and even if validated as Cambrian in age,
the fact that they have the appearance of vascular plant spores has little
meaning. It must be remembered that not all land plants are vascular plants.
For example, many bryophytes have thick, highly ornamented spore walls which
are identical with those of primitive vascular plants.
of the more comprehensive descriptions of the ornamentation of spores of extant
bryophytes was prepared by Elizabeth Knox (1939). The spores illustrated by
Knox, especially those of the Hepaticae, exhibit a degree of variability in
ornamentation and size approximating that found in the spores of vascular
plants. This high degree of similarity between the two prompted Miss Knox
to conclude: "Except where fossil spores are found in organic union with recognizable
parent material, however, there can be no certainty as to their relationships."
This statement, in my opinion, applies to any valid Cambrian or pre-Cambrian
spore flora thus far described.
on the foregoing analyses of evidence the following
conclusions can now be made about the com-
origin and evolution of early vascular plants.
The Middle and Upper Devonian floras are heterogeneous and not composed of
just one group—the Psilophytales.
on page 5)
Division of Biological and Medical Sciences of the National Science Foundation
announces that the next closing date for receipt of basic research proposals
in the Life Sciences is January 15, 1961. Proposals received prior to that
date will be reviewed at the spring meetings of the Foundation's advisory
panels and disposition will be made approximately four months following the
closing date. Proposals received after the January 15, 1961, closing date
will be reviewed following the summer closing date of May 15, 1961.
next closing date for submission of proposals for specialized biological facilities
is March 1, 1961. The NSF has two programs for support of facilities, one
for general graduate level university laboratories and the other for specialized
biological facilities. The latter are defined as discrete research installations
which are unique, one-of-akind, or at least less than ordinary in that they
are not a usual part of a university department and may represent either new
ventures or the more traditional establishments.
should be addressed to the National Science Foundation, Washington 25, D.
Psilophyton, and other similar genera are not themselves the progenitors
of all vascular plants. As has been suggested, the Middle and Upper Devonian
Psilophytales are not the starting point for other vascular plants.
heterogeneity of Devonian floras, per se, cannot be cited as evidence
for the polyphyletic origin of vascular plants.
can be logically interpreted as an alga or a non-vascular land plant.
oldest proven vascular plants are from the Silurian and this flora is
represented by coexisting members of the Lycopsida and Psilopsida.
must look for an earlier origin of vascular plants. This may have occurred
during the Cambrian but there is no conclusive evidence.
Rhynia-type is the most primitive kind of vascular plant known. It represents
the logical, basic form from which, at different times in the history
of vascular plant evolution, major groups have originated.
I am not aware of any evidence which supports the polyphyletic origin of vascular
plants. However, in view of the work of my colleagues on the early vascular
plants it can be said that the monophyletic origin of vascular plants from
the psilophytes is not as assured as it was 20 years ago. We must, however,
continue to recognize the tracheophytes as a natural unit of chlorophyllous
Andrews, H. N. 1959. Evolutionary trends in early vascular plants. Cold Springs
Harbor Symposia on Quant. Biol. 24:217-234.
Andrews, H. N. and Karen S. Alt. 1956. Crocalophyton a new fossil plant from
the New Albany Shale and some comments on the origin of land vascular plants.
Ann. Mo. Bot. Gard. 43:355-378.
Axelrod, D. I. 1959. Evolution of the psilophyte paleo flora. Evol. 13:264-275.
Delevoryas, T. 1955. The Medullosae—structure and relationships. Palaeontographica.
97 Ser. B: 114-167.
Fritsch, F. E. 1952. The structure and reproduction of the algae. Vol. II.
Cambridge Univ. Press. Page 341.
Kidston, R. and W. H. Lang. 1917-21. Old Red Sandstone plants showing structure,
from the Rhynie chert bed, Aberdeenshire, Parts I-IV. Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinburgh
Knox, Elizabeth. 1939. Spores of Bryophyta compared with those of
age. Trans. Bot. Soc. Edinburgh. 32: Part 4. 477-487.
Kryshtofovich, A. N. 1953. Discovery of lycopodiaceous plants in the
Cambrian. Dokladi Akad. Nauk SSSR. 91:1377-1379.
of original in Russian.
from Coal Geology Laboratory—Columbus, Ohio.
from Library of Canadian Geological Survey.
Lang, W. H. and I. C. Cookson. 1935. On a flora, including vascular land plants,
associated with A9onograptus, in rocks of Silurian age, from Victoria, Australia.
Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. London 224B: 421-449-
Leclercq, S. 1954. Are the Psilophytales a starting or a resulting point?
Svcnsk Bot. Tidskr. 48:301-315.
1956. Evidence of vascular plants in the Cambrian. Evol. 10:109-114.
K. R. 1959. On the phylogenetic classification of plants. Amer. Jour.
R. A. 1959• Time, Life, and Man. Wiley and Sons. N. Y. P. 389-390.
W. 1949. Geschichte der Pflanzen. Stuttgart.
1952. Main results of the telome theory. The Palaeobotanist 1:456-470.
Items From the American Society
of Plant Taxonomists
the recent meeting of the American Society of Plant Taxonomists at Stillwater,
Oklahoma the following officers were re-elected to serve one year terms :
Mildred Mathias (University of California at Los Angeles) Chairman of the
council for 1961.
C. Ritchie Bell (University of North Carolina) Secretary for 1961.
Richard W. Pohl (Iowa State University) Treasurer for 1961.
appointments made by the Council are as follows: Dr. Rogers McVaugh was reappointed
as editor of Brittonia.
Rolla Tryon (Harvard University) and Miss Annetta Carter (University of California
at Berkeley) were appointed to serve four year terms on the editorial board
A. E. Radford (University of North Carolina) was appointed as the Society's
representative on the editorial board of the American Journal of Botany.
Robert Thorne (University of Iowa) was appointed as the American Society of
Plant Taxonomists' representative to the American Association for the Advancement
Reed Rollins (Harvard University) was appointed as the Society's representative
to the American Institute of Biological Science.
Dr. Robert Ornduff, University of California, Berkeley, received the Cooley
Award for the best paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society. His
paper was entitled "Hybridization between Lasthenia and Crockeria (Co1npositae)
: its taxonomic and evolutionary implications.
changes in personnel of the Department of Botany at Yale: Paul B. Sears has
retired as of July 1, 1960. Oswald Tippo has left his post as Chairman of
the Department to become Provost at the University of Colorado. Theodore Delevoryas
has left to become Associate Professor in the Department of Botany at the
University of Illinois. Kenton L. Chambers has left to become Associate Professor
and Curator of the Herbarium at Oregon State College. Arthur W. Galston became
Chairman of the department on July 1, but during the year 196o-61 he will
be on leave in Australia, and Norman H. Giles will serve as Acting Chairman.
Ian M. Sussex has been appointed Associate Professor on July 1, 196o, and
will teach courses in anatomy and developmental morphology. Diter H. von Wettstein
of the Forest Genetics Institute in Stockholm has been appointed Associate
Professor effective July 1, 1961. He is expected to set up an electron microscopy
laboratory. William S. Hillman has been appointed Assistant Professor. John
H. Miller has been appointed Instructor. Derald G. Langham, formerly of the
Department of Genetics in Caracas and Maracay, Venezuela, has been appointed
Animal Welfare Institute, on the advice of scientists and educators who share
its belief that animals in school should always be kept in the maximum possible
good health and comfort, has prepared a new free illustrated manual for high
school teachers entitled "Humane Biology Projects." The manual, which will
be available upon request to teachers, includes representative biology projects
for teaching and for helping students with their projects for Science Fairs.
Biology Projects" was prepared with the assistance of botanists, zoologists,
physiologists, ecologists and others who agree with the Institute's position
that the constantly increasing numbers of cruel experiments being carried
out by untrained youths mean not only unnecessary suffering on the part of
animals but demoralization of young people at a time in their lives when every
effort should be made to develop humane feelings of sympathy, kindness and
following rules concerning science teaching in the public schools have been
adopted by the Florida State Department of Public Instruction, and it is hoped
other States will soon follow suit:
being observed by students sould always be maintained in the maximum possible
condition of health, comfort and well-being.
vertebrate animal used for primary or secondary school teaching may be
subjected to any experiment or procedure which interferes with its normal
health or causes it pain or distress."
manual which the Institute provides free to teachers, teachers' colleges and
libraries is a 46-page illustrated booklet entitled "First Aid and Care of
Small Animals." This booklet, which is intended to increase the student's
understanding of the need of wild animals and to inculcate a humane attitude
toward them, was first published in 1955, and the fourth edition appeared
in 1959. To date, approximately 32,000 free copies have been distributed.
of both "Humane Biology Projects" and "First Aid and Care of Small Animals"
may be obtained by writing to the Institute, 22 East 17th Street, New York
3, New York. Single copies are available without charge to teachers, librarians
and others who work in the educational field; others may purchase at cost:
"Humane Biology Projects" $.2o; "First Aid and Care of Small Animals" $.35.
Copies in bulk will be provided without charge to those in teachers' colleges
who give the manuals to prospective teachers.
R. Lēvēque is currently in Ecuador as an agent of UNESCO and the
"Charles Darwin Foundation," establishing a field research station and carrying
out other functions for these organizations on the Galapagos Islands. Since
the work at this field station will touch on many phases of biology, a small
working library needs to be established. Suggestions for botanical literature
and contributions of such for the library will be appreciated. Contributions
should be sent to Dr. R. Lēvēque, c/o Naciones Unidas, Casilla 2951,
Department of Botany has been establishd at Ege University (Izmir—Turkey).
This new department is in need of aid from botanists and botanical institutions.
Help in the form of contributions of collections of books, periodicals and
reprints in any field of botany will be appreciated. In addition, the Department
is anxious to obtain samples of plants as well as instruments, models and
classroom charts that may be available as extras in departments that no longer
need them. Contributions should be sent to Prof. Dr. Yusuf Vardar, Department
of Botany, University of Ege, Bornova—Izmir—TURKEY.
of a Card File on Current,
Active, Taxonomic Research Projects
Raymond C. Jackson, of the Department of Botany, University of Kansas, Lawrence,
Kansas, is establishing a card file on all research problems in the field
of plant taxonomy that are currently and actively underway in North America.
All botanists involved in taxonomic work are earnestly requested to support
this project, which is under the sponsorship of the American Society of Plant
Taxonomists, by sending to Dr. Jackson information on your cur-rent research
and the research of your students. Such in-formation should identify the taxon
or taxa under investigation, the primary trend or emphasis of the project
(morphological, ecological, cytological, etc.) and the name and address of
the person or persons actually doing the research. If the project is being
supported by N.S.F. or other funds this information might be included, as
might any tentative schedule for completion of the project.
object of the file is to eliminate duplication of taxonomic effort and to
foster cooperation between those who might be working on a common problem
from different approaches. Please address your information, and inquiries,
to Dr. Jackson.
June 15, 196o, the Museum Building of The New York Botanical Garden, which
houses the museum, the library, the herbaria and the paleobotanical collections,
has been temporarily closed to visitors. Extensive renovations and rehabilitations
of the monumental building, opened in 1900, will include new heating, new
plumbing, new wiring, new lighting, and the installation of a new elevator.
This much-needed work was undertaken on behalf of the Garden by the Department
of Parks of the City of New York, and is expected to be completed by or before
the end of the year. The administrative and scientific staff have found temporary
quarters in other buildings of the Garden, and a skeleton library of reference
works and cur-rent publications is available. It is estimated that the Museum
Building will re-open about January 1, 1961.
Passing of Two Pioneers
KENNETH V. THIMANN
deaths during the past year of both Fritz Kōgl and Peter Boysen Jensen
may be said to mark the end of an era in that active field which encompasses
plant growth and growth substances. Both men made substantial contributions
to knowledge, and both more or less withdrew later on from the field, though
for different reasons.
Jensen was 27 when he performed his well-known experiment on the conduction
of phototropism across a cut surface (1910). Coleoptile tips were illuminated
from one side, cut off and replaced; after a short period in darkness they
were seen to curve towards the side which had been lighted, and the curvature
took place not only in the tip but also in the part below the cut surface,
showing that the "stimulus," or as we should now say the asymmetric distribution
of auxin, had been transmitted across the cut. Boysen Jensen's interpretation
of the experiment at the time was somewhat complicated, but in hindsight we
see that this was the primary demonstration that growth is controlled by a
diffusible substance. In the thirties Boysen Jensen came back to the growth
field, proving that asymmetric auxin distribution under the influence of gravity
also took place in root tips, which form auxin when supplied with osmotic
material, and in shoots of whole plants. He wrote the first book on the subject,
"Die Wuchsstoffe," which was translated into English by Avery and Burkholder
as "Growth Hormones in Plants" (McGraw Hill, 1936). After a few more years,
however, the administrative work of the Professorship took much of his time,
and only after retirement could he return to his first love, experiments on
growth. He was doing an experiment on the day before he died.
a young man Boysen Jensen had studied in Copenhagen with Warming, the ecologist,
and had spent shorter times in Germany with Pfeffer and in Switzerland with
Schulze,—both physiologists. It was Warming who urged him to go into
physiology. (How many of us would direct our best students into another field
than our own?) All these studies gave him a very broad botanical viewpoint;
next to his growth and auxin studies he had a strong interest in photosynthesis
at the field level, and he published also on galls, on differentiation and
even on plant geography. His plant physiology text had two Danish editions
and was translated into German (Jena, 1939). This breadth was, alas, more
typical of the last generation than of the present, for the demands of specialization
have forced most of us to substitute depth for breadth.
was a very different type, who made his botanical contributions through chemistry.
Born and trained in Germany, he went to Utrecht as Professor of Organic Chemistry
in 1930 and soon came under the influence of F. A. F. C. Went, the Professor
of Botany, in whose lab-oratory the work of his son F. W. Went, and of Dolk,
Heyn, van Overbeek, van der Weij and du Buy was unraveling the distribution
and function of the growth sub- stance that Boysen Jensen had earlier shown
to exist. This development was made possible by F. W. Went's demonstration
that the growth substance could be quantitatively diffused into agar blocks.
Furthermore, Boysen Jensen's junior, Niels Nielsen, had shown that Rhizopus
secretes a plant growth substance into its culture medium, so that the way
was open for chemical extraction. With Haagen Smit and Miss Erxleben, Kōgl
began a series of researches on these growth substances, soon called "auxins."
They examined numerous microorganisms but finally settled on human urine as
a source material. But their initial isolations of "auxins a and b" and of
some derivatives proved unconfirmable subsequently, and the work of these
early years is still lacking a satisfactory explanation. How-ever, the isolation
of indole-3-acetic acid as a major auxin from urine in 1934 brought the subject
on to firmer ground, especially as the same substance was independently isolated
in America from Nielsen's culture of Rhizopus, and shown to be the auxin produced
by this fungus. The role of indoleacetic acid as the major naturally-occurring
auxin in both higher and lower plants is now established. The synthetic compounds
that dominate the applied auxin field (2,4-D etc.) took off from the structure
of indoleacetic acid. But like his predecessor Ruzicka, who had had a strong
bent towards the biochemistry of plants, Kōgl had interests in many aspects
of biochemistry, including fungus pigments, tumor metabolism and especially
other growth substances. In 1935 he and Tōnnis isolated a yeast growth-promoting
substance, termed Biotin, which has since taken its place as a major member
of the Vitamin B group.
interests were far from being restricted to the chemical aspects of this work;
he directed such studies as the variation in auxin bioassay with time of day,
the role of auxin in tropisms, and the effect of diet on auxin levels in human
urine. But, like Boysen Jensen, he left the field during the war years, and
though he spoke several times of returning to a reinvestigation of "auxins
a and b," he be-came interested in other topics. Nevertheless, he continued
to puzzle over the auxin problem to the end of his life, and several of his
collaborators returned to researches on these auxins, but without success.
a born German who had become a naturalized Dutch citizen, Kōgl might
have been put in a difficult position by war. But he stood firmly by his adopted
country and his personal popularity was undiminished.
Kōgl and Boysen Jensen ever saw much of one another is not recorded.
They were both at the Botanical Congress in Amsterdam in 1935, and Kogl lectured
widely in Europe on the work of his laboratory. Boysen Jensen, perhaps because
of indifferent health, was no great traveler or public lecturer. Indeed he
had few collaborators and seems to have preferred to work alone, while Kōgl
did virtually all his work through students or assistants. But by now it is
a platitude to say that successful scientists include all types of personality;
about the only thing they have in common is a devouring interest in their
work. Certainly this characteristic was exemplified in these two men, and
botany owes them a great debt.
Annual Meeting (Plant Science Seminar) of the
American Society of Pharmacognosy
University of Colorado College of Pharmacy was host to the First Annual Meeting
(Plant Science Seminar) of the American Society of Pharmacognosy from June
30 to July 2, 196o. The program committee included the following:
Maurice C. Andries, Chairman Dr. Melvin R. Gibson Dr. Frank L. Mercer
members were welcomed by Dean Curtis H. Waldron
the School of Pharmacy at the University of Colorado.
The Seminar activities included a field trip to the Rocky Mountain National
Park. Dr. John W. Marr of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research of the
University of Colorado gave an interesting lecture on the biological projects
they are undertaking in these areas. Papers dealing with research and teaching
in pharmacognosy were presented, including-
Phytochemical Study of Vinca major L.," by
N. R. Farnsworth, Pittsburgh University.
and Morphological Changes Induced
Gibberellic Acid on Mentha piperita," by Dr. G.
of Wayne State University.
on The Fate of Hyoscyamine in Atropa Belladonna," by Dr. E. S. Mika, Chicago
Studies of the Genus Lavandula," by Dr. M. S. Dunn of Philadelphia College
Effects on the Carbohydrate, Glycoside, and Growth Patterns in Digitalis
lanata Ehrhart," by Dr. L. A. Sciuchetti of Oregon State College.
present officers of the Society are:
E. Tyler, Jr., President
R. Farnsworth, Vice-President Rolf S. Westby, Secretary
A. Crane, Treasurer
P. Claus, Executive Committee Carl H. Johnson, Executive Committee David P.
Carew, Executive Committee
Society has been formed by the pharmacognosists of the United States to formalize
and perpetuate the standards and ideals of the Plant Science Seminar and has
for its purpose ". . . . to promote the growth and development of pharmacognosy,
to provide the opportunity for association among the workers in that science
and in related sciences, to provide opportunities for presentations of research
achievements and to promote the publication of meritorious research." Membership
is also open to graduate students and workers of other nations.
Institute of Biological Sciences Translation Program
American Institute of Biological Sciences is currently translating and publishing
seven Russian research journals in biology. These journals are translated
with support from the National Science Foundation, which is eager that such
information be more widely distributed to biologists throughout the world.
It is hoped that this material will aid biologists in research, prevent duplication
of work, give some idea of the work being done by Soviet scientists in the
field of biology, and also bring about a bet-ter international understanding
of the support of the National Science Foundation, the AIBS can offer these
translations at a fraction of their publication cost, with even further price
reduction to AIBS members and to academic and non-profit libraries. This reduction,
the AIBS feels, places the translation within the reach of all biologists.
journals currently being translated are: Doklady: Biological Sciences Section;
Doklady: Botanical Sciences Section; Doklady: Biochemistry Section; Plant
Physiology; Microbiology; Soviet Soil Science; and Entomological Re-view.
addition to its program of Russian Biological Journal translations, the AIBS
has instituted a separate program of translation and publication of selected
Russian Monographs in biology.
was felt that the program of Journal translations was not sufficient to cover
all of the significant work being done in all fields of biology by Russian
scientists. With the aid of competent authorities, the AIBS has translated
and published six Russian monographs and one monograph is in the process of
being published. In addition, several prominent monographs in various biological
areas are being considered by the AIBS and the National Science Foundation
for translation and publication. The monographs that have been published are:
Origins of Angiospermous Plants by A. L. Takhtajan; Problems in the Classification
of Antagonists of Actinomycetes by G. F. Gauze; Marine Biology, Trudi Institute
of Oceanology, Vol. XX, edited by B. N. Nikitin; Arachnoidea by A. A. Zakhvatkin;
and Arachnida by B. I. Pomerantzev. The manuscript for Plants and X rays by
L. P. Breslavets is in the final stages of preparation and should be published
early in 1961.
information pertaining to this program may be obtained by writing to the American
Institute of Biological Sciences, 2000 P Street, N. W., Washington 6, D. C.,
U. S. A.