美国国家公共电台 NPR Centuries-Old Plant Collection Now Online — A Treasure Trove For Researchers

 

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

For centuries, scientists and amateur botanists¹ scoured² the country to document and preserve plant species. Their findings were prized like fine art. Now there's a new effort to digitize these collections, a treasure trove³ for researchers. From member station WHYY in Philadelphia, Susan Phillips reports.

SUSAN PHILLIPS, BYLINE⁴: On the fifth floor of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, in a cool, windowless room that smells a little pungent⁵...

(SOUNDBITE OF DOOR CREAKING)

PHILLIPS: ...Tall, metal cabinets store some of the most famous dead plants in the world.

RICK MCCOURT: This is called Grindelia squarrosa. And it was collected...

PHILLIPS: Rick McCourt is the botany curator here. And he reads the notes scribbled⁶ around this dried and pressed pretty, yellow flower.

MCCOURT: And so it says prairies in the camp near the old Maha (ph) village - that's a Native American village - September 17, 1804.

PHILLIPS: Members of the Lewis and Clark expedition collected this medicinal flower. This herbarium, like a library for plants, is the oldest in North America. McCourt says it has more than a million dried plants collected by explorers, botanists and citizen scientists over the past 400 years.

MCCOURT: I almost think of it like any collector - like, you know, baseball trading cards. I mean, it was a competitive game to see if you could describe a lot of new species. And there were different levels of vanity associated with it.

PHILLIPS: These collections are difficult to access. But now there's a massive effort to photograph and make available online hundreds of thousands of plants housed in about a dozen institutions on the East Coast. It's called the Mid-Atlantic Megalopolis⁷ project. McCourt says hundreds of years of plant data could answer questions about conservation, climate change and development.

MCCOURT: Like, how has the environment changed? What plants occur where? Do they occur someplace differently now than they used to? Are they banished⁸ or gone from an area?

PHILLIPS: He says it might even raise the possibility of using plant DNA⁹ to bring back extinct species.

MCCOURT: That's more like a "Jurassic Park" dream. But DNA is DNA. Who knows?

PHILLIPS: At Muhlenberg College, ecologist Rich Niesenbaum just finished adding its plant collection to the database. He's using it to track down a rare and possibly endangered plant called the flat-stemmed pond weed. But going by the centuries-old handwritten notes isn't easy.

RICH NIESENBAUM: It's a grass - an aquatic¹⁰ grass growing in Cedar¹¹ Creek¹² south of Fairview Street.

PHILLIPS: The notes also mention a quarry¹³. And there's only one in Allentown, so he's pretty confident he knows where to go.

(SOUNDBITE OF UNDERGROWTH RUSTLING)

PHILLIPS: We head to Cedar Creek, where thickets¹⁴ of reeds and cattails line the banks.

(SOUNDBITE OF UNDERGROWTH RUSTLING)

PHILLIPS: There's a lot of poison ivy¹⁵ here.

NEISENBAUM: I don't see any grass down in here.

(SOUNDBITE OF UNDERGROWTH RUSTLING)

PHILLIPS: Crowding out everything else are invasive species like Japanese knotweed and stiltgrass, one reason why some of these native plants are endangered. But then he does spot the rare grass.

(SOUNDBITE OF WATER SPLASHING)

NEISENBAUM: All right. I'm getting in the creek.

(SOUNDBITE OF WATER SPLASHING)

NEISENBAUM: Oh, that's refreshing¹⁶. Yeah, I think we'll take this back to the lab and take a look at it.

PHILLIPS: But does it surprise you to even find it here?

NEISENBAUM: Yeah. I'm surprised. I mean, that's exciting because, you know, as a plant hunter - right? - we spend a lot more time hunting and looking than actually finding.

PHILLIPS: Niesenbaum says he'll grow it in the lab to make sure it's a match. If so, it will be added to the database, minus the exact location. Because the plant's at risk of being extinct, that will be kept a secret. For NPR News, I'm Susan Phillips in Philadelphia.

1 botanists   

n.植物学家，研究植物的人( botanist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Botanists had some difficulty categorizing the newly found plant. 植物学家们不大容易确定这种新发现的植物的种类。 来自辞典例句
• Botanists refer this flower to the rose family. 植物学家将这花归入蔷薇科。 来自辞典例句

2 scoured   

走遍（某地）搜寻（人或物）( scour的过去式和过去分词 )； （用力）刷； 擦净； 擦亮

参考例句：

• We scoured the area for somewhere to pitch our tent. 我们四处查看，想找一个搭帐篷的地方。
• The torrents scoured out a channel down the hill side. 急流沿着山腰冲刷出一条水沟。

3 trove   

n.被发现的东西，收藏的东西

参考例句：

• He assembled a rich trove of Chinese porcelain.他收集了一批中国瓷器。
• The gallery is a treasure trove of medieval art.这个画廊是中世纪艺术的宝库。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 pungent   

adj.（气味、味道）刺激性的，辛辣的；尖锐的

参考例句：

• The article is written in a pungent style.文章写得泼辣。
• Its pungent smell can choke terrorists and force them out of their hideouts.它的刺激性气味会令恐怖分子窒息，迫使他们从藏身地点逃脱出来。

6 scribbled   

v.潦草的书写( scribble的过去式和过去分词 )；乱画；草草地写；匆匆记下

参考例句：

• She scribbled his phone number on a scrap of paper. 她把他的电话号码匆匆写在一张小纸片上。
• He scribbled a note to his sister before leaving. 临行前，他给妹妹草草写了一封短信。

7 megalopolis   

n.特大城市

参考例句：

• There was a lot of talent in this megalopolis.在这个城市里有很多人才。
• People converged on the political meeting from all parts of the megalopolis.人们从城市的四面八方涌向这次政治集会。

8 banished   

v.放逐，驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was banished to Australia, where he died five years later. 他被流放到澳大利亚，五年后在那里去世。
• He was banished to an uninhabited island for a year. 他被放逐到一个无人居住的荒岛一年。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

10 aquatic   

adj.水生的，水栖的

参考例句：

• Aquatic sports include swimming and rowing.水上运动包括游泳和划船。
• We visited an aquatic city in Italy.我们在意大利访问过一个水上城市。

11 cedar   

n.雪松，香柏(木)

参考例句：

• The cedar was about five feet high and very shapely.那棵雪松约有五尺高,风姿优美。
• She struck the snow from the branches of an old cedar with gray lichen.她把长有灰色地衣的老雪松树枝上的雪打了下来。

12 creek   

n.小溪，小河，小湾

参考例句：

• He sprang through the creek.他跳过小河。
• People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek.人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。

13 quarry   

n.采石场；v.采石；费力地找

参考例句：

• Michelangelo obtained his marble from a quarry.米开朗基罗从采石场获得他的大理石。
• This mountain was the site for a quarry.这座山曾经有一个采石场。

14 thickets   

n.灌木丛( thicket的名词复数 )；丛状物

参考例句：

• Small trees became thinly scattered among less dense thickets. 小树稀稀朗朗地立在树林里。 来自辞典例句
• The entire surface is covered with dense thickets. 所有的地面盖满了密密层层的灌木丛。 来自辞典例句

15 ivy   

n.常青藤，常春藤

参考例句：

• Her wedding bouquet consisted of roses and ivy.她的婚礼花篮包括玫瑰和长春藤。
• The wall is covered all over with ivy.墙上爬满了常春藤。

16 refreshing   

adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的

参考例句：

• I find it'so refreshing to work with young people in this department.我发现和这一部门的青年一起工作令人精神振奋。
• The water was cold and wonderfully refreshing.水很涼，特别解乏提神。