The Directors and Members of the Montgomery Foundation, Inc. haveunanimously voted to change the name of our organization to the Mont-gomery Botanical Center. Our letterhead will continue to carry the byline“A Center for Plant Research Collections Emphasizing Palms and Cycads.”

Nell Montgomery Jennings sought to honor the name of Robert H.Montgomery, her then late husband, by founding this organization in 1959.Robert Montgomery had developed extensive palm and cycad collectionsat his Coral Gables estate. Nell wanted to promote scientific andeducational use of these collections, and in so doing, promote recognitionof the “Montgomery” name in the field of plant science.

Consequently, the “Montgomery” name for our organization is altogetherfitting. However, the word “Foundation” in our name has been troublesome.

Our files reflect more than thirty years of dissatisfaction with the old name.Nell wrote in 1969, “We have talked at times of re-naming it the MontgomeryResearch Center for Plant Science or some such name.” In 1988, ExecutiveDirector Nixon Smiley asked if we could adopt the name “MontgomeryResearch Center.” In 1993, a strong consensus of the directors favored thename “Montgomery Tropical Plant Science Center.” Over the years no actionwas taken because of inertia and nostalgia for the old name.

One of the reasons for the dissatisfaction with our old name was that it did notlink “Montgomery” directly with the field of plant science. The word “Foundation” didnot convey that we are an operating entity actively conducting our own operations.Finally, there are at least five other charitable organizations whose names are exactlythe same as our old name and even more organizations with similar names.

After considering the various problems associated with the name, and the historicalsupport for changing the name, the directors and members have taken decisive action.We are now officially the Montgomery Botanical Center.

Vol. 6 no. 1SPRING 1998

MontgomeryBotanical Center

Letter from the Executive DirectorTerrence Walters, Ph.D.

Veit

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Volunteers Rule!

Cycad Specialist Group Workshop

In 1997, over 25 volunteers gave their skills,energy, and time to the MontgomeryBotanical Center on a weekly basis. InJanuary, attendees of the MBC Volunteer andStaff Picnic enjoyed cool weather and hotfood. After being well fed, the volunteersgraciously posed for the photograph above.

On October 28 and 29, the World Conservation Unionand Species Survival Commission sponsored a workshopfor the members of the Cycad Specialist Group, whoseresponsibilities are for the well-being of cycads, most ofwhich are endangered. Montgomery Botanical Centerhosted the workshop, which was attended by groupmembers John Donaldson (Kirstenbosch BotanicalGarden, South Africa), Terrence Walters (MBC ExecutiveDirector), Bijan Degan and Bart Schutzman (University ofFlorida), Dennis Stevenson (New York Botanical Garden),Andrew Vovides (Jardín Botánico Clavijero, Mexico),William Tang (USDA, Florida), and Si-lin Yang (NongNooch Tropical Garden, Thailand). The purpose of theworkshop was to review conservation needs, identifypriorities, and recommend appropriate actions.

Dozens of botanical societies, garden clubs,and student groups visit Montgomery eachyear. Shown to the left are members of theBig Pine Key Botanical Society examiningspecimens along our Cycad Walk. Theirinformative tour, conducted by MBC staff LarryNoblick and Lee Anderson, took place in late January.Recent tours were also given to the Garden Groomer’sof Fairchild, the Diggers Garden Club of Coral Gables,and a Fairchild-sponsored class. Terrence Walters alsohosted Chinese, South African, Belgium, and Frenchmembers of the World Conservation Union’s SpeciesSurvival Program.

The group below has been keeping theMontgomery Archive in tip-top shape. Fromleft to right are Katherine Byrholdt (MBCvolunteer), Jackie Biggane (MBC volunteer),Burt Zuckerman (Fairchild Historian), MaynaHutchinson (MBC volunteer), Bill Brown(Director of Special Collections at the Univer-sity of Miami Archives), and Terrence Walters(MBC Executive Director). Bill Brown hasbeen helping us with various aspects ofarchiving protocol.

3

Bernd Kornmaier, a graduate studentfrom the University of Bayreuth, Ger-many, spent the month of November withus to study the Florida Atala butterfly(Eumaeus atala). Bernd examined how theendangered butterfly uses compoundsfrom its primary food plant, the nativeFlorida cycad Zamia pumila, for court-ship. At right, he is inside one of hisnetted enclosures, watching atalas feed oncycad plants. Below is a female butterfly,which has black wings with blue-greenmarkings and an orange-red abdomen. Inaddition to Bernd, this research projectinvolves scientists from the Universities ofBayreuth, Heidelberg, and Florida, theBavarian Botanical Garden in Munich,and the Max Planck Institute inSeewiesen, Germany.

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Researchin Review

Fa i r c h i l d Tropical Garden researcher JackFisher is shown below surrounded by a native stand ofsaw palmetto palms (Serenoa repens) in a natural area atMontgomery. Dr. Fisher and Professor Jayachandran(Department of Environmental Studies, FloridaInternational University) recently began a detailedstudy of the root system of saw palmetto palms atMBC. Assisted by three FIU students (at left), thesescientists seek to correlate root structure with soilmicrobes, especially soil fungi that form beneficialmycorrhizae.

At left, Drs. John Dransfield (Royal BotanicGardens in Kew, England) and Natalie Uhl (CornellUniversity) are shown in the Arthur MontgomeryGuest House working on their book, GeneraPalmarum. When these palm specialists weren’t busywriting and editing, they were outside checkingtheir facts against our extensive live palm collection.Over 30 scientists visiting Montgomery andFairchild stayed in our guest house in 1997.

In theGrounds

CY

CA

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PALM

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Plant InventoryIn the

Nursery

Plants 2,272 1,383 1,852Accessions 412 394 157Species, Varieties 113 111 61

1997 inReview1997 inReview

New AcquTo the

Nursery G

4

COLLECTIONS

Montgomery is providing support to Dr. BijanDehgan of the University of Florida for creationof a digital set of photographs for future articleson the horticulture and conservation of cycads.These photographs, which are being taken ofour collection by photographer Fe Almira(shown to the right of Dr. Dehgan), will also beincorporated into MBC’s plant image database.

Plants 4,201 1,908 6,511Accessions 561 684 136Species, Varieties 282 229 83

The exciting discovery of Colonel Robert Montgomery’s original notebooks, aswell as some old plot maps, prompted the initiation of a new project at theMontgomery Botanical Center: the documentation of the Colonel’s originalcollections of palms and cycads. Working with various documents and photo-graphs in the Montgomery Archive, a picture of the Coconut Grove Palmetum asit was years ago is slowly emerging. The first question I am trying to answer is,how many of the original plantings still exist today? In just the area along thedriveway between the Gatehouse and Nell’s House, I’ve found 29 palms, repre-senting 13 species, that were originally planted by the Colonel in the 1930s. Thesecond question is, where did these older plants come from—a local nursery or anexpedition? Ultimately, the answers to these questions will be entered into our

collections database, thereby increasing thevalue of the documentation on the originalplantings of the Coconut Grove Palmetum.

Archive Research Aids Plant Databaseby Barbara Bohnsack, Assistant Plant Recorder

Similar views ofthe Royal PalmColonnade today(above) and in1932 (right) whenit was first beingplanted (far right).Note theGatehouse in thebackground inboth views.

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uisitionsTo the

Grounds

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DEVELOPMENT

Collecting the SouthAmerican Giants

1997 Plant Donations from Montgomeryto Institutions and Individuals

Number of Recipients 220Number of Species 75Number of Seeds & Plants 9,420

Giants? Yes, and like a knight after his dragons, I was crazyenough to go after the biggest South American palms, called theAmerican Oil Palms or Attaleoids. Everything about these treesis awesome, from the 50-80 cm diameter trunks to the 7-9 mlong leaves, the 2 m long flowering clusters, and the heavy fruitbunches that sometimes require two people to lift. The thoughtof having to press one of these giants into 30 x 35 cm pieces forvouchering would fill any botanist with terror, dread, anddespair. No wonder so few have been collected! Nevertheless, onmy 1997 trip to Brazil, I setout to bag some of the “bigones.”

And so it was that I and aformer college roommate,Lester, headed north onemorning from Teófilo Otoni,Minas Gerais, in search ofAttaleoids. We pulled up to agroup of locals waiting for abus and inquired about thepalms. They directed usdown the road to an oldfarmer, Manuel Barreto. Hiswife (his third) had died froma snake bite just a fewmonths earlier; but in spite of

his sad mood,he and his 12year-old grand-daughter agreed to take us up into the forest.Well, Lester, who lives in Central Ohio, and I areboth “flat-landers,” and it was all we could do tokeep up with the 73 year-old Manuel as hecharged up the hill in his bare feet not far behindhis energetic granddaughter. We were relieved thathe paused occasionally to tell us some of the localhistory. We descended to a small, swiftly flowingriver filled with slime-covered rocks, whereManuel and his granddaughter were amused to seethe “gringo botanist” plunge in with both bootsand proceed to dance around on the slipperyrocks. However, Lester, being more cautious and

not willing to treat his newly acquired boots so brutally, unlacedthem and waded across barefoot. It was all uphill from thestream and when we reached the forest, we were rewarded withan abundance of recently fallen fruits from several different treesof Attalea camposportoana. Although one of the trees was shortenough to get all of the necessary parts for vouchering, therewere a few heart-throbbing moments as I pulled my way up thetrunk, which was covered with slippery leaf bases. The giddinessover our successful collection was quickly weighed down by theheavy sacks of fruit and plant material we had to carry back toManuel’s place. Coming to the same river, I managed to success-fully dance my way back across the slimy rocks again. However,Lester, in spite of his barefooted precautions, ended up sitting onthe river bottom while holding his camera high and dry.

Back at the house, I paid Manuel and his granddaughter fortheir time, and he hospitably treated us to several cups of coffeemade from his own beans. My wet college buddy really enjoyedhis hot coffee after his cool plunge. As we headed back to thecar, it was as if we were bidding goodbye to relatives. All of us

had been greatly enriched bythe encounter and I think weleft Manuel in better spiritsthan when we found him,providing him with a ratheramusing day.

Summarizing the 1997 trip,I spent two months in Brazil,traveling over 8,000 kilome-ters. I sent back over 3,740seeds, and left many more withmy Brazilian collaborators.These represented 51 acces-sions of 24 palm species fromParaíba, Pernambuco, Bahia,Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo,and Goiás, highlighted by 8species of giant Attaleoids—Attalea oleifera, A. burretiana,A. seabrensis, A. pindobassu, A.

funifera, A. camposportoana, A. brasiliensis, and Orbignabrejinhoensis. Many of these giants have never been cultivatedbefore, but promise to become major landscape features at theMontgomery Botanical Center.

by Larry Noblick, Ph.D.Collections Manager

Manuel and his granddaughter look on as Larry’s friend Lestershows off a young fruiting stalk of Attalea camposportoana.

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Already in 1998, we’ve donated 4,500 palm and cycad seeds!

ssG

lay of the land6

eneral maintenance of operationsas well as several projects arekeeping the Horticulture and

Facilities Department busy. Mario Borrotomows and trims the ever-increasing turfacreage, while Ansel Thomas maintains aprogram of aeration and top-dressing withthe rich, sandy compost produced here atMBC. Grounds Supervisor Judith Miller,along with landscapers Willie Payne andJessie Pender, are renovating various areasalong our perimeter road. Stanley Calizaire,Vickie Murphy, and Mike Shea have beenassisting Cycad Horticulturist Eric Shroyerwith the construction and planting of twonew beds dedicated to the cycads ofMexico and the Caribbean Basin. Mean-while, Palm Horticulturist LaurieDanielson keeps busy with the expansionof the Palm Walk. In the photograph beloware Larry Noblick, Lee Anderson, andSasaki Associates’ Joe Hibbard, our MasterSite Planning Consultant, meeting withLaurie (not shown) to design the 1998Palm Walk plantings.

Nursery operations, coordinated byBarbara Judd, continue to be hectic. Inrecent months, well over 5,000 seeds havecome in from around the world! Barbaraalso assisted Property Manager LeeAnderson with the installation andcalibration of new greenhouse sensors,including a device that contacts Lee viatelephone and beeper during freezes orpower outages.

The Facilities staff support the activitiesof all Montgomery departments. Inaddition to keeping the horticulturalmachinery operational, Facilities SupervisorJack Bauer has been working with

Administrator EvelynYoung and House-keeper Martha Lagoson renovations to theArthur MontgomeryGuest House. Newemployee Ray Everett(Systems Specialist)immediately wasimmersed, so tospeak, in the expan-sion of the irrigationsystem in the PalmWalk.

Montgomery’s loyalcadre of volunteershas been important in keeping severalprojects moving along. A Master Gardenersgroup, which meets the first Saturday ofevery month, is restoring the historicsection of Old Cutler Road that passesthrough our property. Envisioning anarrow lane shaded by an oak canopy, theMaster Gardeners (shown below) areencouraging the growth of selected oaksthrough their program of pruning,fertilizing, and irrigation.

As part of MBC’s outreach program,Montgomery has become an official DadePartner with Coral Reef High School. Thisnew magnet school offers several special-ized courses, including agronomy and

environmental science. Lee Anderson isworking with curriculum coordinator LarryFloyd to develop a program that matchesour resources with the needs of the school.Lee is shown above leading some CoralReef students on a tour of our property.This spring, we will participate in aninstructional propagation program at theschool’s newly constructed greenhouse,using seeds and seedlings from Montgomery.

With so many dedicated employees,volunteers, and students working together,the Horticulture and Facilities Departmentcontinues to keep the MontgomeryBotanical Center running smoothly as weprogress on our 1992 Master Site Plan.

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HAPPENINGSStaff ActivitiesWith the continuing purpose of enhanc-

ing employee skills, Judith Miller took RedCross First Aid training in November. Shewas joined by the landscapers on January30 for a turf management course. Sue Katzattended two AutoCAD classes this winterto help her manage our mapping program(BG-MAP) more effectively. She and LarryNoblick also participated in two days ofon-site BG-MAP training given by MarkGlicksman. Evelyn Young took twoMicrosoft Word courses at Miami-DadeCommunity College. Not to be left out,Lee Anderson learned about “Aquatics andRight-of-Way” in February. In the fall, theHorticulture and Facilities staff spent ahalf day viewing the operations of similarstaff at Parrot Jungle.

We thank the following fortheir recent donations to theMontgomery Botanical Center

MonetaryMichael BalickJeanne BellamyLibby & Byron BesseAlan BillsEdwin Brown IIIKatherine ByrholdtCentral Florida Palm & Cycad SocietyAlan & Mary Ann CurtisMr. & Mrs. Daniel DavisTheodore DelevoryasJohn DeMott (Redland Nursery)Samuel Dennis IIIBarbara GivensMarion HaynesWalter HaynesJoe HibbardFaith JacksonBeverley JohnsonKelly FoundationNick & Barbara KellyDavid ManzIna & Gary MonhollenPalm Beach Palm & Cycad SocietyElaine & Stephen PearsonAlfred & Susan RobertsCharles & Dorothy SacherSearle Brothers NurseryEvelyn SmileyJean & Eugene StarkJean SwetlandLoran & Eva Whitelock (Cycad Gardens)Jane WilsonFrancis Zierer

PlantsTom & Cindy Broome (B&B Landscaping)Cycad SocietyJohn DeMott (Redland Nursery)Fairchild Tropical GardenBernard FischerDonald HodelCharlie OchipaJoe Perner (Cycad Gardens Nursery)Ian Turner (Springs Farm)Roy Works

Goods & ServicesLibby BesseTom & Cindy Broome (B&B Landscaping)Central Florida Palm & Cycad SocietyCraig Davis (C. A. Associates)Martha DentonFairchild Tropical GardenMayna & Bob HutchinsonCharlie OchipaBill Rosenberg (Rosenberg Landscape Design)Evelyn SmileyMark SmileyStarbucks CoffeeLoran Whitelock (Cycad Gardens)

As if work and classes weren’t enough,MBC staff have been donating their timeto other organizations. Several employeesand MBC volunteers spent Saturday,September 13, working with the City ofMiami Beautification Committee andDade Heritage Trust planting palms andother trees in the Miami City Cemetery.On August 20, Plant Recorder Sue Katzadvised Florida International University onhow to create signs for FIU’s grounds andconservatory collection. In October, Dr.

Larry Noblickgave a lectureon the palmgenus Syagrusto the CentralFlorida Palm &Cycad Societyat Leu Gardensin Orlando.Evelyn Youngspent manyhours afterwork planning

the October reception for theCycad Specialist Group. Over 40botanists and cycad enthusiastsfrom South Florida attended thesuccessful event. As in the past,MBC staff helped out at Fairchild’sRamble in December, running theCold Drinks Booth.

Executive Director TerrenceWalters has been busy spreadingthe word on who we are and whatwe have to offer. In recent months,he hosted the University ofFlorida’s “Public Garden Manage-ment” class, met with officers ofthe Dade County Chapter of theFlorida Nurserymen GrowersAssociation, lectured to the

Natives of Dade Society, and gave inter-views to the Coral Gables Gazette (whowrote “Montgomery Foundation—anarboretum for cycads, palms with deeproots” on September 23) and the MiamiHerald (“Scientists meet in Gables to findways to save cycads” on November 9). Thissummer he plans to take his messagefurther afield—to Kew Gardens inLondon, Royal Botanic Gardens inEdinburgh, and the annual meeting of theSociety for Economic Botany in Denmark.

Montgomery Botanical Centerwelcomes contributions and

bequests to support our activities.Montgomery Botanical Center is tax exempt under Section501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions toMontgomery are deductible for federal income and estatetax purposes. Montgomery is registered under the FloridaSolicitation of Contributions Act. A copy of the official regis-tration and financial information may be obtained from theDivision of Consumer Services by calling toll free within thestate 800-435-7352. Registration does not imply endorse-ment, approval or recommendation by the state.

Barbara Bohnsack (upper right) was hired as a temporarypart-time employee in January. Find out about heractivities in the archive on page 4. We also welcome fivenew full-time employees. From left to right above, they areMike Shea, Ray Everett, Vickie Murphy, and JessiePender. New Landscaper Jan Milone is not shown.

MONTGOMERY BOTANICAL CENTER

11901 Old Cutler RoadMiami, Florida 33156

Terrence Walters, Ph.D.Executive Director

Lee AndersonProperty Manager

Jack BauerFacilities Supervisor

Mario BorrotoLandscaper

Stanley CalizaireEquipment Operator

Laurie DanielsonPalm Horticulturist

Ray EverettSystems Specialist

Fabian GomezAssistant Plant Recorder

Barbara JuddNursery Horticulturist

Sue KatzPlant Recorder

Marta LagosHousekeeper

Judith MillerGrounds Supervisor

Jan MiloneLandscaper

Vickie MurphyLandscaper

Larry Noblick, Ph.D.Collections Manager

Willie PayneLandscaper

Jessie PenderLandscaper

Mike SheaLandscaper

Eric ShroyerCycad Horticulturist

Ansel ThomasLandscaper

Evelyn YoungAdministrator

Board of DirectorsJeanne Bellamy

PresidentWalter Haynes, Esq.

Vice-President/TreasurerArthur Montgomery, Ph.D.

Vice-PresidentLoyd Kelly

Assistant SecretaryNicholas KellyPeter ManzKarl Smiley, M.D.

The Montgomery NewsDeena Decker-Walters, Ph.D.

Publications Coordinator, EditorJeanne Bellamy

Editorial Consultant

Who We Are

8

The Montgomery News is published twice ayear by the Montgomery Botanical Center, anon-profit private operating institutionspecializing in tropical plant researchcollections, emphasizing palms and cycads.

We can be reached by telephone at(305) 667-3800, by fax at(305) 661-5984, and by e-mail atmontgome@fiu.edu. A

From The

Montgomery

Archive comes

this circa 1951

photograph of

Nell and

Robert

Montgomery

relaxing on the

back porch of

their Florida

home, now part

of the

Montgomery

Botanical

Center.