Barney L. Lipscomb–Recipient of the 2010 Peter Raven Award

Abstract

5 The 2010 American Society of Plant Taxonomy’s Peter Raven award for exceptional outreach efforts to nonscientists by a plant systematist was presented this year to Barney L. Lipscomb, curator extraordinaire, and Dorothea L. Leonhardt Chair of Texas Botany at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas. While the title “Chair of Texas Botany” might imply regionalism, Barney is well known across the U. S. A. and Europe as the tireless and helpful editor of Sida (now the Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas ) and Sida, Botanical Miscellany a position he has held since 1982. Two monumental books of which he is coauthor, Shinners and Mahler’s Illustrated Flora of North Central Texas and the Illustrated Flora of East Texas vol. 1 have received widespread acclaim for their thoroughness, clarity, and illustrations. In addition, Barney annually brings Delzie Demaree alive as he presents the Delzie Demaree travel award to students attending the Missouri Botanical Garden Symposium. Barney began his academic career at Cameron University in Lawton, Oklahoma, where he received his undergraduate degree in biology. He went on to obtain an M. S. in Botany from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. From 1975 until 1987 he served as the Herbarium Botanist and Curator at the Southern Methodist University Herbarium. Barney has an interest in Cyperaceae but has published papers involving many other taxonomic groups and on regional floristics. He has also served as a consultant to at least a dozen governmental, corporate and environmental entities. Barney also serves the botanical community through his involvement with the Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries (CBHL), and through his current activities as treasurer for the Flora of North America project. Supporters of Barney’s nomination point out his contributions to the field of forensic botany, a fledgling science until 1935 when the use of wood anatomy by Kochler helped solve the infamous Lindbergh kidnapping case. In 1998 Barney coauthored with G. M. Diggs, Jr. an important paper in the field of forensic botany entitled “The use of animal-dispersed seeds and fruits in forensic botany.” He has not only helped in solving crimes, but he has also used these applied botanical solutions to interest lay people in plants, their distributions, and species-specific characters. Barney is well known for his engrossing lectures, most famously his presentation entitled “Murderous Plants: Poisonous Herbs,” a multimedia show involving smoking dry ice, spears, and other unusual props. One of the nomination letters for this award noted that the venue for this talk in Lufkin, Texas in 2007 had to be moved to the main auditorium at the Angelina College campus because of the size Barney L. Lipscomb–Recipient of the 2010 Peter Raven Award