On Sunday, February 28, the MSNH joined botanist Dr. Donald McClelland to learn about the diversity and evolution of common fruits and vegetables that we eat. Dr. McClelland, a professor at Bard College, started off his talk by introducing “plant blindness,” a common disease that plagues many of us with the primary symptom being only viewing plants only as background material in our environments. After clarifying some terminology, including the difference between a nut, a fruit and a vegetable, and introducing us to the major groups of plants, Dr. McClelland showed us how much diversity is in our food and how they are related. For example, pumpkins, squashes and zucchinis, which look similar, are in the same family, Cucurbitaceae. Similarly, plants in the same family many times often have similar flavors. White mustard, horseradish and wasabi all have very sharp, pungent flavors and are in the same family Brassicaceae. At the end of the talk, Dr. McClelland gave us a challenge to see how much diversity we could pack into a salad by selecting ingredients that are from across the plant evolutionary tree.
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Dr. Donald McClelland is a botanist with expertise in the nightshade family (Solanaceae). He earned his Ph.D. from the City University of New York and The New York Botanical Garden joint program in plant biology researching the taxonomy and systematics of the cannibals’ tomato and its relatives in the Pacific Islands. Currently, he is an assistant professor of environmental science at Bard College at Simon’s Rock in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts where his research projects focus on the taxonomy and systematics of the Solanaceae, the flora of Montserrat, West Indies, and nectar and pollen forage plants for honey bees in New England. Dr. McClelland is also a beekeeper and maple sugar producer. He runs the apiary and manages the sugar bush at Simon’s Rock, producing honey and maple syrup annually. He is an avid gardener, forager of wild and wonderful food, and all-round outdoorsman.