Mason Heberling

“Who are you calling a pansy?”
 
This specimen of wild pansy (Viola bicolor) was collected on March 21, 2012 along the Monongahela River in California – California, Pennsylvania that is!  Allison Cusick collected this specimen. Allison is a former state botanist in Ohio and currently an active research associate at Carnegie Museum.
 
Wild pansy, also called field pansy, is in the same genus as violets (Viola. It is said to be the only pansy native to North America, though there is some debate if it was introduced.
 
This species is a relative of garden pansies, which are hybrids of different Viola species.
 
Pansies are actually pretty tough.  Blooming early and can be found in disturbed habitats like lawns and roadsides.
 
Find this specimen here: http://midatlanticherbaria.org/portal/collections/list.php?db=all&catnum=CM526628&othercatnum=1

It may be spring on your calendar...but most trees aren’t quite ready.
 
This leafless specimen of white ash (Fraxinus americana) was collected on March 20, 1919  by  E.M. Gress in “Frick’s Woods” in Pittsburgh. Frick Park is now a major city park in Pittsburgh, much loved by many.  It became a city park in 1919 (the same year this specimen was collected!), bequeathed to the city upon the death of industrialist Henry Clay Frick.  Earnest Milton Gress was the state botanist for the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. While we don't know for sure why Dr. Gress collected this specimen (and at least 6 others), it may be as part of property surveys for a possibly new public park.
 
As you can see from this specimen, white ash is usually still leafless this early in the spring. White ash is an economically and important species in Pennsylvania, with a wide distribution across the eastern US.  However, white ash (and other ash species) are in rapid decline due to the introduction of the Emerald Ash Borer (Agrilus planipennis), a beetle native to north-eastern Asia. The beetle lays eggs under the bark  of the species, and the larvae feed on the tree. It is causing the death of many ashes in North America and Europe. It was first discovered in the US in Michigan in 2002, and first documented  in Pennsylvania in 2012.  It is a relatively recent introduction. As an active invasion, the consequences are  still developing.  Read more here about emerald ash borer’s wide-ranging impacts to our forests:  https://www.fs.fed.us/nrs/pubs/jrnl/2019/nrs_2019_knight_001.pdf
 
Side note: The label shows the specimen was once part of the “Herbarium of Bureau of Economic Zoology, Penna. Dept. Agr. Harrisburgh, PA.”  Who knew the bureau of zoology (animals) had an herbarium!?
 
Find this specimen and the other specimens Gress collected at “Frick’s Woods” here: http://midatlanticherbaria.org/portal/collections/list.php?db=all&county=allegheny&eventdate1=March+20%2C+1919

Spring goes on!

Spring seems to happen fast, which makes it all the more special and worth our attention. Comfort can be found in the new life of spring, a time of change.
 
Happy official first day of spring! For many people, spring conjures of sunshine (and rain), birds tweeting about, and plants emerging from winter. Trees flower and leaf out high up in the canopy. Wildflowers emerge below, many playing a delicate balance between getting injured by cold or frost but taking advantage of the longer sunny days before being shaded out by tree leaves.
 
Many deciduous trees flower before, during, or just after they produce a new spring flush of leaves. That’s right – trees flower too! Keep a careful look out for them now and over the coming month. Many trees flower early in the spring, with small clusters of flowers. These easy to overlook flowers 40 feet or more up in the canopy are easy to overlook.  They are often quite small and are wind pollinated. That means that rather than relying on insects, the wind blows their pollen, transferring it to female flowers. (And also...as many with allergies know, we breathe in pollen too...)  Upon fertilization, seeds begin to develop. Flowering early, before leaves are out, is adaptive because the flowers are not blocked by vegetation.
 
This specimen of silver maple (Acer saccharinum) is in flower, but leaves are not yet emerged. Silver maple is native to swampy, wet areas such as around lakes across eastern North America.  It is also planted, so it is now found in many habitats. It has beautiful bark that forms distinctive strips and with “maple-looking” leaves that are deeply loped.
 
Beyond the science, this specimen also tells an important cultural story about the history behind the Carnegie Museum.  This specimen was collected by Otto Jennings in Olena, Ohio in 1898.  Otto Jennings was one of the first curators of botany at the museum. This specimen was collected when he was only 20 years old, six years before he moved to the museum. He was born in 1877 on a farm in Olena, Ohio. He collected this specimen not far from his childhood home.  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.
 
So many stories behind these specimens.

Lay down on this.

This bedstraw specimen was collected on March 18, 1951 by Bayard Long in Philadelphia county, Pennsylvania.
 
Bayard Long (1885-1969) was a Philadelphia-area botanist and an active member of the Philadelphia Botanical Club (founded in 1891 and still exists today).  He was a prolific collector and served as Curator of the Club’s Local Herbarium for 56 years (housed at the Academy of Natural Sciences).
 
Fogg writes of his collections in 1970 in the journal Rhodora: “It is doubtful that anyone ever possessed a higher standard for the quality of an herbarium specimen than Bayard Long.  Every leaf had to be laid out flat, every inflorescence properly displayed, every flower part clearly shown. Extra flowers and loose fruits and seeds were placed in pockets affixed to the sheet. Root systems (collected in their entirety whenever possible) were scrupulously clean, habitats were accurately described and localities were identified to the nearest tenth of a mile and closest compass point. All of this seems the more remarkable when it is realized that Long collected close to 80,000 numbers, not including collections made as a member of Fernald’s expeditions.”
 
Bedstraws (species in the genus Galium, in the coffee family Rubiaceae) are common and memorable in our woods. They have many historical and traditional uses. In particular, they were used to stuff mattresses, hence the funny name.  Also called cleavers or catchweed, the stems are sticky (due to fine hook hairs) and can be fun to stick on your clothes.  They have likely stuck to you or your pet. This specimen is Galium aparine. An annual plant, seeds germinate in spring and produce tiny white flowers. They are emerging now, poking through the leaf litter.
 
Find this specimen and more here: http://midatlanticherbaria.org/portal/collections/list.php?db=all&catnum=CM286585&othercatnum=1
 
There are >64,000 specimens collected by Bayard Long currently digitized and online!: http://midatlanticherbaria.org/portal/collections/list.php?db=all&collector=Long

This hawkweed specimen was collected on March 16,  1952 in Argentina by Hermann Otto Sleumer, a Dutch botanist who lived from 1906-1993 who published over 1,422  plant names, describing these species new to science!
 
And this species was one of them: Hieracium eriadenium Sleumer.  The scientific binomial name is in italics  (genus species) followed by the botanical authority (here, “Sleumer”).   This denotes that Sleumer published the description of the species.
 
In fact, Sleumer actually cited this specimen in the publication four years  after  it was collected (1956), thereby making this specimen a “type” specimen.  Type specimens are of special scientific importance, as they are designated specifically to define the species. 
 
Herbarium hairs
 
Hawkweeds (in the genus Hieracium) are in the sunflower/composite family (Asteraceae). As can be seen in this specimen, these species tend to be especially hairy.  Some species are introduced outside of their natural range and considered invasive and  actively spreading.
 
One study used digitized specimens of Hieracium to measure the effects of UV-B (ultraviolet-B) radiation on the density of hairs and length of hairs across native and  introduced  ranges  (Northern and  Southern hemispheres).  The found longer leaf hairs and more dense hairs correlated to higher UV-B. Leaf hairs were longer in their introduced range (Southern hemisphere).  This study was possible because of digitized specimen images.  Find this 2017 study here: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0175671 
 
Find this specimen and more here: http://midatlanticherbaria.org/portal/collections/list.php?db=all&catnum=CM107943&othercatnum=1