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High praise
Alumnus names plant species after former Iowa State botany professor
Thomas Lammers has never searched for plants in the mountains of South
America.
That hasn't stopped the Missouri Botanical Garden, the New York Botanical
Garden, the Smithsonian Institution and other major research institutions
from contacting him when it comes time to identify new plant species from
that area.
"In the last 14 years I have described 42 species and three subspecies
of the Lobelioideae (family) as new, but I have never seen one of them living,"
Lammers said. "These institutions routinely send me unidentified specimens
primarily from Andean South America with requests to identify them."
Lammers, assistant professor and curator of the herbarium at the Department
of Biology and Microbiology at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, estimates
that one out of every 16 such specimens submitted to him has turned out
to be an unnamed species.
"'Easy' specimens that the collector can identify are not usually sent
to me, only the 'problem' specimens," Lammers said.
One such sample recently sent to Lammers by the Missouri Botanical Garden
was collected in 1987 by W.S. Hoover. While it was Hoover that saw it in
the field, plucked the plant and preserved it by pressing and drying it,
Lammers actually identified it as a new plant.
Lammers, a 1977 botany graduate of Iowa State, decided to recognize a former
professor by naming the plant after a former botany professor.
"It is customary in botany to name species for botanists who have made
valuable contributions to our science," he said.
The new species, Burmeistera knaphusii Lammers, was named in honor
of George Knaphus, a former professor of botany at Iowa State, who died
in 2000.
Burmeistera knaphusii Lammers is in the bellflower family (Campanulaceae),
along with native and cultivated bellflowers and their relatives. The plant
was discovered in a relatively unexplored portion of the Golondrinas Mountains
of northern Ecuador. This particular species is a woody vine with flowers
more than an inch long.
"Dr. K (Knaphus) was instrumental in starting me down what has been
an extremely rewarding career path," Lammers said. "I owe him
an enormous debt of gratitude for his time, effort, and encouragement during
my four years at Iowa State. In my entire academic career, I have never
known a professor who was as dedicated to instilling a love of plants in
students as Dr. K was.
"In the classroom, laboratory and field, he opened the eyes of thousands
of undergraduate students to the marvels of the plant and fungal kingdoms."
Lammers said it was Knaphus that first opened his eyes to the marvels of
the plant and fungal kingdoms.
"I was a journalism major when I took his non-majors' botany course
my freshman year," Lammers said. "He was such an engaging teacher,
so adept at making the topic at hand fascinating, that I immediately changed
majors.
"I would not be a professional botanist today were it not for George
Knaphus." 
George Knaphus
Around LAS
October 7-20, 2002
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