Monocots in society and tools to spread knowledge about monocots

Wild monocots of ornamental potential from Western Ghats, India Arun Nivrutti Chandore¹ & Shrirang Ramchandra Yadav²

1Department of Botany, Abasaheb Marathe Arts and New Commerce, Science College, Rajapur, District- Ratnagiri- 416 702, (MS), India; ²Department of Botany, Shivaji University, Kolhapur- 416 004, (MS), India. arunchandore@gmail.com

Western Ghats is one of the eight “hottest hot-spots” of biodiversity in the world and also home of more than 1/4 of flowering plant species reported in India. There are many flowering plant species of ornamental value in Western Ghats. In the monocot group, plants such as orchids, gingers, lilies, palms, sedges, grasses and many more have great ornamental potential and are of great floricultural importance. Monocots have ornamental potential for their foliage and flowers. Wild ornamental monocot genera from Northern Western Ghats include species of Aerides, Alpinia, Amorphophallus, Aponogeton, Ariopsis, Arisaema, Arundinella, Asparagus, Bambusa, Bulbophyllum, Burmannia, Calamus, Chlorophytum, Commelina, Corypha, Costus, Crinum, Curcuma, Cyanotis, Cymbidium, Cyperus, Dendrobium, Dinebra, Dioscorea, Dipcadi, Eleocharis, Eragrostis, Eria, Eriocaulon, Eulophia, Fimbristylis, Gloriosa, Habenaria, Hedychium, Iphigenia, Kaempferia, Kyllinga, Limnophyton, Monochoria, Murdannia, Ottelia, Pancratium, Pecteilis, Pennisetum, Peristylus, Pholidota, Rhynchelytrum, Rhynchospora, Rhynchostylis, Saccharum, Setaria, Smilax, Thunia, Typha, Vanda, Zingiber, etc. The present study brings out the ornamental potential of some of the monocot species and the need for their domestication and introduction in botanical gardens.

Key words: Konkan, monocotyledons, Northern-Western Ghats, ornamental potential, wild.

Poster 87

Prospects and limitations for using small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems (UAVs) to examine and document high-canopy epiphytic bromeliads (Bromeliaceae)

Gregory K. Brown¹, Brandon S. Gellis¹, Matthew G. Lehmitz¹, William E. Harris¹ & Ramesh Sivanpillai¹

1University of Wyoming. gkbrown@uwyo.edu

Tropical forest canopies have been characterized as perhaps the last frontier in terrestrial biology, and a primary reason for this is canopy access. Canopy access techniques are typically placed into two categories, high-tech, and low-tech. The high-tech access methods equate to high-cost and include canopy towers, cranes, scaffolding, walkways, hot air balloons, and canopy rafts. Low-tech canopy access methods, which tend to be lower cost, include ground-based methods, such as binoculars and clipper-poles, or tree climbing. We describe results from a May 2018 expedition in Costa Rica to test proof of concept for using small, relatively low-cost commercially available Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs, or drones) to examine and photograph epiphytic bromeliads.

The research confirms that small multi-propeller UAVs can be added to the lower cost ground-based methods for canopy research. The benefits and prospects of UAV use in tropical epiphytic plant research, as well as some of the limitations encountered with comparative use of three different UAV systems, will be presented.

Key words: Bromeliaceae, canopy-access, epiphytes, photography, UAVs.

Funded by: University of Wyoming A&S Seed Grant

Poster 88

An educational poster of monocot characters, relationships and floral diversity James W. Byng¹, Mark W. Chase², Rogier R. van Vugt³, Maarten J. M. Christenhusz⁴

1Plant Gateway Ltd., 5 Baddeley Gardens, Bradford, BD10 8JL, United Kingdom; ²Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, TW9 3DS, United Kingdom; ³Hortus botanicus, Leiden University, Rapenburg 73, 2311 GJ Leiden, The Netherlands; ⁴Department of Environment and Agriculture, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia. m.christenhusz@kew.org

Many biology students only learn basic plant taxonomy, resulting in many young biologists graduating with little knowledge of botanical diversity and its importance. Identification and taxonomic skills are also rarely taught in university curricula, and this results in perpetuation of

“green blindness” even among ecologists and other biologists. Diversity and classification of monocots have been particularly problematic because traditional morphological characters used for identification and to support the classification did not always coincide with the results from molecular data. During the molecular revolution in the field of plant taxonomy over the last 25 years, thousands of phylogenetic trees have been generated using DNA sequences from thousands of plant species, which have unravelled relationships and allowed taxonomists to revisit the classification and circumscriptions of orders, families and genera. Despite monocots being a well-defined group, numerous changes have taken place at every taxonomic level in recent years.

Particularly, circumscriptions of families like Liliaceae, Asphodelaceae and Asparagaceae have changed substantially. Here we present a visually attractive, informative and exciting new educational aid for showcasing relationships, morphology and characters for the eleven orders and 77 families of the monocots families.

Key words: diversity, education, green blindness, identification, phylogeny.

Funded by: Plant Gateway LTD

Poster 89

Dipcadi concanense and Dipcadi goaense (Asparagaceae) – threatened wild species from Northern–Western Ghats of India with unexplored potential as vegetable and ornamental plants

Neeta Arun Jadhav¹ & Usha Shrirang Yadav²

1Department of Botany, B. K. College, Belgaum, Karnataka, 590001, India; ²Department of Botany, Willingdon College, Sangli, Maharashtra, India. neetacp@gmail.com

Dipcadi concanense and Dipcadi goaense are two wild species of restricted distribution in the Northern – Western Ghats. Dipcadi concanense is locally abundant but area of distribution is limited. Dipcadi goaense is restricted to two nearby areas of about 5 sq. km. Both the species fall under plants of India. The major threat is habitat destruction and habitat modifications. Both the species need conservation measures. The leaves and bulbs of Dipcadi concanense are used as a vegetable. Other species are also edible. Similarly, both the species have large glistening white and sweet-scented flowers of ornamental potential. Therefore, introduction of these plants in horticultural trade would help in conservation and utilization of these species. The present work emphasis on the nutritive and potential of these species.

Key words: conservation, Dipcadi, Northern Western Ghats, ornamental, threatened.

Poster 90

Zingiberaceae Phylogeny Poster

Theodor C. H. Cole¹, Fernanda Antunes Carvalho², Sofi Mursidawati³, Lin Bai⁴, Atsuko Takano⁵, Ngoc-Sâm Lý⁶ & Pramote Triboun⁷

1Dahlem Centre of Plant Sciences (DCPS), Institute of Biology - Botany, Freie Universität Berlin;

2Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Centro de Biociências, Dept. de Botânica e Zoologia; ³Center for Plant Conservation, Bogor Botanic Gardens Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI); ⁴Kunming Institute of Botany (KUN), Chinese Academy of Sciences; ⁵Museum of Nature and Human Activities; ⁶Institute of Tropical Biology, Vietnam Academy of Science and

Technology; ⁷Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research. antunesfc@gmail.com

This educational phylogeny poster provides a graphic overview of the Zingiberaceae (ginger family) with its subfamilies, tribes, and genera along with relevant apomorphic, plesiomorphic as well as diagnostic traits – a compilation of published research – intended as a useful teaching, studying, and research tool on the current relationships among gingers. The poster is currently available in English, Portuguese, Indonesian, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Thai.

All versions are accessible to the community via ResearchGate and other open online platforms.

Regular updates of the poster will be made as new data becomes available. Within the tribe Alpinieae, the genera Alpinia, Amomum, and Etlingera are largely polyphyletic and currently being revised; recircumscriptions and reassignments to new or other genera are to be expected in the near future.

Key words: botany education, botany outreach, ginger, systematics, teaching.