HEBERLING LAB

It is marshmallow peeps and bunnies season! But what exactly is in a marshmallow?  Marshmallows were historically made using the plant from which it gets its name, marsh mallow (Althaea officinalis).  Marsh mallow is a plant species in the mallow family (Malvaceae) found in marshes and wet areas native to parts of Europe, northern Africa, and Asia. The use of this plant to make marshmallows dates back to over 4,000 years ago in ancient Egypt!  Marsh mallows were also valued for medicinal properties. Marsh mallow roots were boiled with honey to make marshmallows.  It is said that in ancient Egypt, the consumption of marshmallows was only for royalty and the gods. The process of making marshmallows have changed quite a bit through time, and no longer contain sap from marsh mallow plants. Today, marshmallows consist of gelatin (thickening agent), sugar (most often from corn syrup), water, and corn starch. 
 
This marsh mallow specimen in the museum’s collection was collected on August 12, 1850 from a salt marsh on the Isle of Wight, England.

​Spring wildflower season will be here very soon.  Known as “harbinger-of-spring” (Erigenia bulbosa), this little plant in the carrot family (Apiaceae) is among the first to flower in our region.  It emerges and flowers before many other species, often in March. Although faced with cold temperatures in the early spring, the species is able to take advantage of the high light before the overstory trees leaf out in late spring. Harbinger-of-spring can be found in forests throughout the midatlantic and great lakes states.  It is uncommon, however, and listed as a rare species of “special concern” in Pennsylvania.
 
In addition to its scientific importance, this particular specimen has special cultural significance.  It is one of the earliest specimens collected by Otto Jennings, one of the first botany curators at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and an influential botanist, conservationist, and educator.  Jennings (1877-1964) was born on a farm in Olena, Ohio.  He collected this species in Olena when he was 21 years old, the year he started as a student at the Ohio State University.  Jennings started his 60-year tenure at the Carnegie Museum six years later, in 1904. He made many contributions throughout his career, serving as the Curator of Botany, Director of Education, and eventually Director of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.  He also was Professor of Head of the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh, having advised many students.  His legacy remains to this day for his influence on the museum, botany, conservation, and environmental education.
 

Above: Jennings in the field in 1958.

 Still have any chocolate or roses from Valentine’s day last month?  The herbarium has both, but from nearly 200 years ago. 

Above: ​Specimen of the cacao tree (Theobroma cacao) from Jacob Wolle’s herbarium, collected in Jamaica around 1840.  Some of the herbarium’s oldest specimens come from Jamaica.  Why?  Jacob Wolle was a botanist and the grandfather of William Holland, one of the first directors of the Carnegie Museum (from 1901-1922). Holland was born in Jamaica, where his father was a Moravian missionary. The CM herbarium has 2,514 specimens from Wolle’s collection, dating as far back as 1819.

Below: Wild field rose (Rosa arvensis) collected in England in 1820.

​How do you fit the world’s largest flowering structure on an herbarium sheet?  You don’t have to, but instead press and dry it in parts, and place them in a “palm” folder.  This specimen of titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum) was collected not in the rainforest in its native Indonesia but rather, right here in Pittsburgh!  The specimen was collected by Bonnie Isaac (collection manager here at the museum) and Ellen York at the University of Pittsburgh in a greenhouse.
 
The titan arum is known for its massive inflorescence (cluster of flowers) that can reach 10 feet tall (!) and the putrid scent of its flowers, which smells of rotting meat to attract the beetles and flies that pollinate it.  The inflorescence consists of a column of flowers (spadix) surrounded by a sheath (spathe) – a structure found in all members of the Arum family (Araceae), which includes familiar species like the houseplants called “peace lilies,” philodendrons, jack-in-the-pulpit, and skunk cabbage.
 
This plant has a massive belowground storage structure (corm) to support the energy requirements of the inflorescence and produce a large leaf which is quite large and can be confused as a tree.
 
It is said that naturalist David Attenborough, of nature documentary fame, is said to have started calling this plant the “titan arum,” as the use of Amorphophallus was inappropriate to repeatedly say on TV.