2002 Richard and Minnie Windler Award recipient--James R. Allison

Castanea, Sep 2002 by Haynes, Robert R

The 12th annual Richard and Winnie Windler Award has been presented to James R. Allison for his paper, with Timothy E. Stevens, titled "Vascular Flora of Ketona Dolomite Outcrops in Bibb County, Alabama," which appeared in Castanea 66:154-205. The Richard and Minnie Windler Award is designated as a meritorious SABS award for the best systematics paper published the preceding year within Castanea. Dr. Donald R. Windler of Towson State University established this award as a memorial to his parents.

Jim Allison grew up in Louisville, Kentucky. After the family moved south to metropolitan Atlanta, Jim developed an interest in plants, particularly pteridophytes. The fact that two of the local representatives (Isoetes melanospora and L piedmontana) were only found on granite outcrops, led to explorations of Stone Mountain and other nearby monadnocks. A broader focus on the flora of these places developed during Jim's undergraduate and graduate studies at the University of Georgia.

After college Jim did consulting work, especially surveys for rare plants, before joining the Natural Heritage Program of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources a little more than a decade ago. Since that time his duties have focused on rare plants of Georgia, especially on field surveys of public lands and on conservation projects. Among his job-related writings are the book, Protected Plants of Georgia (with Thomas S. Patrick and Gregory A. Krakow) and the federal Recovery Plan for Three Granite Outcrop Plants and Draft Recovery Plan for Fringed Campion.

A May 1992 canoe trip in Alabama to search for another rare plant, Arabis georgiana, resulted in the discovery of a botanical bonanza, at the southernmost fringe of the Southern Appalachians. As documented in the Castanea paper, an undescribed plant community lay hidden in central Alabama, with at least eight plants new to science and a Solanum not seen anywhere since the 1830s, plus state records and other rarities too numerous to list here. Several years of study in the field, library, herbarium, and at the microscope, came to fruition at just the right time for the manuscript to be included in the 2001 symposium issue of Castanea on Southeastern Endemics: Speciation and Biogeography. In the meantime, Jim worked with The Nature Conservancy in a successful effort to protect the dolomite outcrop habitat of the new species before he actually described them in Castanea (with line drawings by Vicky Holifield).

The author has received a cash award of $500 and a letter noting his achievement and contribution to systematics.

-ROBERT R. HAYNES, DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES,

UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA, CHAIR, WINDLER AwARD COMMITTEE.