proved forest trees and other plants 

 important for the production of food 

 and fiber. 



Taxonomy of plants requires con- 

 stant revision as new information be- 

 comes available thus providing new 

 insights into plant relationships. 

 Analysis of seed morphology utilizing 

 scanning electron microscopy has 

 helped taxonomist G. E. Crow in this 

 process. Over one period of six years 

 he and C. B. Hellquist produced a 

 computerized listing of the aquatic 

 vascular plants of New England, an 

 important identification aid to conser- 

 vationists, fish and game personnel, 

 botanists, consultants and students. 

 But Crow has a continuing interest in 

 rare and endangered plant species in 

 New Hampshire and New England. Of 

 some 1,500 native, vascular flora in 

 New Hampshire he considers approxi- 

 mately 400 to be rare and in need of 

 habitat protection if they are to be 

 saved. In 1969-70 the herbaria of 

 Bowdoin College and of the Portland 

 (ME) Society of Natural History were 

 permanently loaned to the Station, a 

 gesture that greatly enhanced the 

 holdings of the Hodgdon herbarium. 

 Based upon a reevaluation of the "type" 

 specimens in the expanded herbarium. 

 Crow developed a data base from which 

 he can now extract needed informa- 

 tion efficiently and quickly. 



Photosynthesis, a process of tre- 

 mendous significance to agriculture, 

 is the field of interest of L. S. Jahnke, 

 physiologist. He works with algae, be- 

 lieving that if the process can be modi- 

 fied in a simple plant easily grown in 

 the laboratory it might be attainable in 

 more complex plants. 



W. K. Fagerberg, physiologist, is 

 asking why, and how, plants adapt to 



changes in environmental conditions; 

 e.g., temperature, availability of wa- 

 ter, light intensity. Regulation of plant 

 metabolism is accomplished by the 

 individual cell. To detect the effect of 

 daily changes of light and shade on the 

 cell, Fagerberg uses both light and 

 electron microscopy. Leaf swelling and 

 an increase in chloroplast membrane 

 surface area are two of the light-caused 

 changes he has discovered, but their 

 significance and how they relate to the 

 chemical process in the cell is not yet 

 understood. 



Pollen grain structure is one of the 

 areas of research of A. L. Bogle, plant 

 morphologist and department chair- 

 man from 1976 to 1982, who uses 

 scanning electron microscopy (SEM) 

 for improved clarity of detail. His SEM 

 pictures of witch hazel pollens of the 

 world, together with descriptions, ap- 

 pear in an atlas published by Harvard 

 University. He and graduate assistant 

 C. T. Philbrick completed a study of 

 pollen morphology and descriptions 

 of maple species indigenous to New 

 England. This kind of research may 

 aid in understanding the mechanism 

 of pollination and reproduction of field 



A pollen grain under SEM 



65 



