History of fern systematics at The New York Botanical Garden JOHN t . M I C K E L

Mickel, J. T. (The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY 10458, U.S.A.). History of fern systematics at The New York Botanical Garden. Brittonia 48:386-388. 1996.--The New York Botanical Garden has had only two fern curators: L. M. Underwood (1896-1907) and J, T. Mickel (1969-present). Both curators published milestone manuals on the North American ferns and conducted research on tropical American pteridophytes. After Underwood's death, J. K. Small, though not a fern curator, published manuals on the ferns of New York and the southeastern United States. The current fern program is a broad one, involving the herbarium, horticulture, and outside support groups.

This year marks the one hundredth year since fern study began at The New York Botanical Garden. We cannot say that there has been one hundred years of fern study, however, as such research falls into two widely separated eras. In 1896 Lucien M. Underwood (Fig. 1) was appointed professor and head of the botany department at Columbia University, by virtue of which position he became a member of the Garden's Board of Scientific Directors (and served as the board's chairman from 1901 to 1907). He had held teaching positions in Illinois, Indiana, and Alabama and at Syracuse University before coming to New York City. Ferns were his first love. In 1881 he published the first manual of the ferns of North America (Our Native Ferns and How to Study Them), which subsequently went through six editions (as Our Ferns and Their Allies), the last one being in 1908. An authority also on bryophytes (hepatics) and fungi (polypores), he published major works to encourage study in those fields as well---Descrip-

tive Catalogue of North American Hepaticae, North of Mexico (1884), Evolution of Hepatics (1894), and Moulds, Mildews, and Mushrooms (1899). He was one of the leading botanists of his day, acting as Vice President of the International Botanical Congress of 1892, held in Genoa, and being one of the ten founders of the Botanical Society of America (of which he was president from 1899 to 1900). He proposed to N. L. Britton in 1893 the idea of organizing the North American Flora project and wrote some parts for it (Ophioglossaceae, with R. C. Bene-

dict, and Marattiaceae). He prepared the pteridophyte treatments for Britton and Brown's Illustrated Flora (1896), Small's Flora of the Southeastern United States (1903), and Britton's Man-

ual of the Flora of the Northern States and Canada (1901), and he treated the fern genera in Bailey and Miller's Cyclopedia of American Horticulture (1900-1902). Underwood's home was in Redding, Connecticut; he came to New York City Monday through Thursday, generally visiting the Garden on Tuesdays (Gleason, 1961) and working at Columbia University the other days. Even with this busy schedule, he was editor of publications for the Torrey Botanical Club from 1898 to 1902, was associate editor of the North America Flora, and worked on quite varied groups of pteridophytes. Although he published no monumental monographs, he showed special interest in Selaginella, Lycopodium, Botrychium, and Phanerophlebia. A notebook of his was found at the Smithsonian Institution containing a preliminary key and notes on the North American species of Elaphoglossum, apparently in preparation for its publication in the North American Flora. During Underwood's tenure, two students began creditable systematic fern studies: Jean Broadhurst (Blechnum: Broadhurst, 1912; master's degree, 1903) and Ralph C. Benedict (Antrophyum, Ceratopteris, Vittarieae, and Vittaria: Benedict, 1907, 1909, 1911, 1914, respectively; and Ophioglossaceae: Underwood & Benedict, 1909; doctorate, 1911). William R. Maxon

Brittonia, 48(3), 1996, pp. 386-388. 9 1996, by The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY 10458-5126

ISSUED: 16 Oct 1996

1996]

MICKEL: HISTORY OF FERN SYSTEMATICS AT NYBG

F~G. 1. Lucien M. Underwood, the first pteridologist at The New York Botanical Garden, until 1907.

began graduate work in 1898 but soon left to accept a post at the Smithsonian Institution, where he curated the ferns until 1942, collecting and publishing with Underwood in the early 1900s. Unfortunately, failure of his financial investments weighed heavily on Underwood, and in November 1907 he committed suicide, at the age of 54. John Kunkel Small, curator of the museum from 1898 to 1938, studied primarily the flora of the southeastern United States and had a floristic interest in ferns: Ferns of Royal Palm Hammock [Florida], 1918; Ferns of Florida, 1931; Ferns of the Vicinity of New York, 1935; and Ferns of the Southeastern United States, 1938). Other than his regional floristic studies, Small did no systematic research on the pteridophytes. After 62 years without a fern curator, the Garden hired me in 1969. 1 had been teaching botany at Iowa State University for eight years, with periods of leave taken to teach in Costa Rica for the Organization for Tropical Studies and to hold a postdoctoral research associateship at the Smithsonian Institution. The fern herbarium at NYBG had lain fallow

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for so long, with the genera filed alphabetically for the most part, that a new arrangement was necessary. Together with staff of the British Museum (Natural History), I developed a new generic arrangement that reflected current views of relationships (Crabbe et al., 1975). My research on fern floristics has emphasized North America (Mickel, 1979, the first manual since Underwood's), Mexico (Mickel, 1987, 1992; Mickel & Beitel, 1988), Trinidad (Mickel, 1985), Hispaniola, and the Greater Antilles; my monographic studies have been primarily on Anemia and Elaphoglossum. Graduate students have made valuable advances in our knowledge of Elaphoglossum (Lucfa Atehortfia, doctorate, 1988) and Selaginella (Iv~in Valdespino, doctorate, 1995). For several years the Garden had a horticultural taxonomist (1986-1991), Joseph Beitel, whose doctoral training had been in pteridophyte systematics (especially Lycopodium). His after-hours research, teaching, and field trips were a boon to the N Y B G fern program. In collaboration with the Horticulture Department, we were able to develop an outstanding living-fern collection, both indoors in the propagation range and conservatory and outdoors in the Native Plant Garden (E Gordon Foster Fern Collection) and at the Cary Arboretum (fern glen). These collections have been quite valuable, not only for public display but also for teaching and as a reservoir of research material for us and for botanists at other institutions. Bruce McAlpin, fern horticulturist at the Garden from 1974 to 1982, and Beitel were both important in the collection's development. Several groups have played important supporting roles for our studies. Volunteers have enabled us to do much more than would otherwise have been possible. Jean Lawyer for 17 years, Ruth Russell for 23 years, and many others for shorter periods have helped in the office and herbarium. Ethelyn Williams has done virtually all the raising of ferns from spores for the Garden for 23 years, and Edgar Paulton illustrated many publications. The New York Chapter of the American Fern Society (established 1973 here at the Garden) has provided additional volunteers, expertise, and financial support. The Fern Committee, a group of persons outside the Garden who are interested in ferns, has been generous with suggestions and financial support for both horticulture and science. The balance of outstanding herbarium, li-

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b r a r y , a n d h o r t i c u l t u r a l facilities, p l u s o u t s i d e support groups, make The New York Botanical G a r d e n ' s f e r n p r o g r a m p e r h a p s t h e b r o a d e s t in the world. Literature

Cited

Bailey, L. H. & W . Miller 9 1900-1902. Cyclopedia of American horticulture. Macmillan, New York. B e n e d i c t , R. C. 1907. The genus Antrophyum. 1. Synopsis of subgenera, and the American species. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 34: 445-458. - - . 1909. The genus Ceratopteris: a preliminary revision. Bull. Torrey Bot, Club 36: 4 6 3 - 4 7 6 . - - . 1911. The genera of the fern tribe Vittarieae. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 38: 153-190, pls. 2-8. - - . 1914. A revision of the genus Vittaria J. E. Smith. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 41: 3 9 1 - 4 1 0 , pls. 15-2O. Britton, N. L. 1901. Manual of the flora of the northern United States and Canada. H e n r y Holt, New York. - & A. B r o w n 9 1896-1898. An illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British possessions. Scribner, New York. B r o a d h u r s t , J. 1912. The genus Struthiopteris and its representatives in North America. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 39: 257-278, pls. 21, 22; and 357-385, pls. 26-29. C r a b b e , J. A., A. C. J e r m y & J. T. Miekel. 1975. A new generic sequence for the pteridophyte herbarium. Fern. Gaz. 11(2 & 3): 141-163. Gleason, H. A. 1961. Thumbnail sketches of botanists. Typescript deposited in The New York Botanical Garden Library.

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M i c k e l , J. T. 1979. How to know the ferns and fern

allies. W m . C. Brown, Dubuque, Iowa. - - . 1985. Trinidad pteridophytes. New York Botanical Garden, Bronx. --(ed.). 1987. L i e b m a n n ' s Mexican ferns: his itinerary, a translation of his " M e x i c o s Bregner," and a reprinting of the original work. Contr. N.Y. Bot. Gard. 1 9 : 1 - 1 7 3 + 1-174. - - . 1992. Pteridophytes. Pages 120-431. In: R. McVaugh, editor. Flora Novo-Galiciana. Vol. 17. - - & J. M. Beitel. 1988. Pteridophyte flora of Oaxaca, Mexico. Mere. N. Y. Bot. Gard. 46: 1-568. Small, J. K. 1903. Flora of the southeastern United States. Published by the author, New York. 9 1918. Ferns of Royal Palm H a m m o c k . Published by the author, New York. 9 1931. Ferns of Florida. Science Press, New York. 9 1935. Ferns of the vicinity of New York. Science Press, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. 1938. Ferns of the southeastern United States. Science Press, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. U n d e r w o o d , L. M. 1881, Our native ferns and how to study them. Leader Publishing, Bloomington, Illinois. 9 1884. Descriptive catalogue of the North American Hepaticae, north of Mexico. Bull. Illinois State Lab. Nat. Hist. 2: 1-133. 9 1894. The evolution of the Hepaticae. Bot. Gaz. 19: 347-361. 9 1899. Moulds, mildews, and m u s h r o o m s : a guide to the systematic study of the fungi and mycetozoa and their literature. Henry Holt, New York. 9 1900. Our native ferns and their allies. H e n r y Holt, New York. - - & R. C. Benedict 9 1909. Ophioglossaceae. North American Flora 16(1): 1-13.