IN MEMORIAM: CEES (‘KEES’) BERG, JULY 2nd 1934 – AUGUST 31st, 2012

2012·0.77 MB·English

by  Gadella, Theo

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IN MEMORIAM: CEES (‘KEES’) BERG, JULY 2nd 1934 – AUGUST 31st, 2012
Dr Cigaro collecting a Marcgraviaceae in Ecuador (1977) – Paul Maas
Cornelis Christiaan Berg, better known as Utrecht, The Netherlands. As a student, Cees
Cees (or ‘Kees’ for the non-Dutch) Berg, was born developed an interest in experimental taxonomy,
on July 2nd, 1934 in the city of Bandung on Java, more specifi cally in the study of polyploidy com-
then still the Netherlands East Indies. Later, the plexes. He focused his attention to the cytotaxo-
family moved to Sumatra, close to the city of nomic study of two intricate species complexes,
Medan. During the Second World War, when Japan Cardamine pratensis s.l. and Myosotis palustris s.l.
attacked the Netherlands East Indies, Cees’ father and used the technique of experimental cultivation
was enlisted and, unfortunately, did not survive the for the investigation of genetic differences among
war. Cees, his four brothers and their mother were populations. He collected many samples of these
interned in a women’s camp near Medan, but at the two species complexes. Later he supervised a cyto-
age of 10 Cees was moved to a men’s camp. This taxonomic study of Dorstenia (Moraceae) by one
period must have been very traumatic as Cees, after of his students. ―Theo Gadella
his release, spoke little for a long time. All brothers
About 50 years ago, Cees Berg and I had in
and their mother survived the war, but shortly after
the Utrecht Herbarium (Netherlands) a meeting
the liberation their mother died of hunger oedema.
with its director Prof.dr. J. Lanjouw. We both very
The fi ve orphans came to the Netherlands, where
much wanted to do a PhD study in plant taxonomy
they were split over two foster families. Cees,
and Lanjouw suggested to do it within the frame-
together with his youngest brother, came into a
work of the Flora Neotropica Project, which was
household with two daughters, and during holi-
just about to start at that time. Lanjouw proposed
days, both families joined so that the brothers were
as subjects for our study the families Moraceae or
united. Together with the eldest daughter, Cees
Zingiberaceae. Cees choose Moraceae, and I my-
started to explore the forests close to his house.
self Zingiberaceae. At that time, we had no idea
Both studied in Utrecht, Cees majoring in biology
that we would work on those plant families for the
and his foster sister studying nursing. ― Peter van
length of our whole career. Cees and I spent several
Welzen
years in completing our respective Flora Neotropica
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treatments and, as was still customary at the time, continued collecting in the meantime! But then we
we conducted our work using herbarium material got a big fi nancial problem as the insurance did not
only - fi eld work was not necessarily considered to cover expenses made for trips to the Amazon. So
form an essential part of taxonomic studies. We an emergency call to the Netherlands was neces-
both defended our PhD thesis on the same day, the sary, to see if someone (my wife) could send 1000
4th of May 1973. dollars to us. Cees during his fi eld work always had
one major problem: he could not live without cof-
After that period we both worked as Staff
fee and….cigars. I remember that whenever he was
members at the Utrecht Institute involving, next to
out of cigars he used to ask everyone in the villages
continuing taxonomic study of “our” respective
we came through to supply him with a few cigars
families, a great deal of teaching and training
(which was not always that easy…). One of his
young students in taxonomy. I particularly remem-
Ecuadorian colleagues, the late Dr. Jaime Jaramillo,
ber the course on the Dutch Flora we were giving
very aptly nicknamed Cees Doctor Cigaro.
each year, culminating in the week in the southern
Dutch province of Limburg, walking through the With Cees one of the Last Mohicans passed
nice and varied landscapes with many students, away. Throughout his long career he gained a vast
and fi nishing the days in the evenings enjoying ex- and unparalleled knowledge of the huge family of
cellent Limburgian beer in bar “De Kroon” in Moraceae, and of the genusFicus in particular. He
Gulpen together with Frits Jonker, Ad de Roon, could identify even the tiniest leaf fragments. It is
Lubbert Westra, Carolien de Wal, and many other unlikely that this achievement is ever going to be
Utrecht Staff members. equalled by anybody, and particularly so in a time
that favours short-time projects rather than long-
During that period, Cees did not feel overly
term work so very much essential for understand-
enthusiastic about going into the fi eld. I remember,
ing large plant families. We all shall miss Cees very
however, that after spending a year in Amazonian
much. ― Paul Maas
Brazil (1971) and joining several expeditions led
by G.T. Prance all over the Amazon region, I sug- Projeto Flora Amazônica and The New York
gested to Cees to do the same. He then agreed and Botanical Garden. Kees Berg’s long relationship
went to Brazil, only to become completely “lost” with The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG)
after that. Many visits to Tropical America fol- began in 1977 when he participated in one of the
lowed in order to study Moraceae and Cecropiaceae two parallel expeditions that inaugurated Projeto
(a family that Cees newly described) in the fi eld, Flora Amazônica (PFA), part of Brazil’s ambitious
and also combining this with visits to numerous plan to document its vast plant diversity. Over
Neotropical herbaria. more than ten years, most of the fi nancial support
In 1977 we went into the fi eld together, visit- for PFA came from the U.S. National Science
ing Panama where we were guided by our fantastic Foundation, and the non-Brazilian participation
guide and dear friend Dr. Bob Dressler. Then we was coordinated by Ghillean Prance, curator and
continued our trip to Ecuador, a country with many later Vice President for Botanical Science at
interesting Moraceae, Cecropiaceae, Urticaceae NYBG. Kees’s expedition included Prance, Antôno
(and Zingiberaceae). There we made some very Sérgio da Silva (Brazilian counterpart), Michael
nice fi eld trips into the Oriente. But not all went Balick (then a graduate student and now director of
well, as on one day we suddenly came to a halt the Institute of Economic Botany at NYBG), Bruce
because of a landslide. With Cees driving that day, W. Nelson (now a researcher at INPA in Manaus),
we were forced to continue through the rubble with and two tree-climbing mateiros or woodsmen,
our car, but we had to pay dearly when suddenly a Mario R. dos Santos and Raimundo P. Bahia (well-
large piece of rock came down on top of our roof. known as “Doca”). During October–December 1977,
To make things worse, an axle on the left side of the expedition collected plants in the Serra dos
our car broke down. There we were stuck –and Carajás, along the Transamazon Highway, around
what to do? One of our team members, Ben ter Tucuruí, in the Serra do Cachimbo, and along the
Welle, arranged for a truck and managed to bring Santarém-Cuiabá Highway. The expedition pro-
the car back to Quito. Of course, Cees and I duced 1921 numbers, including 100 collections of
palms.
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For more than 40 years, Kees was appreciat- rather diffi cult process adapting to the new envi-
ed by his colleagues at NYBG for sharing his rich ronment and the new language, but he took that
knowledge of botany by identifying specimens, challenge with restraint.
training students, publishing monographs, and
Frankly, the conditions at Milde were far
contributing treatments of his plant families to
from ideal for research of the tropical genusFicus
many fl oristic projects. Probably his most impor-
and its relatives. Nevertheless, Kees continued to
tant contribution to NYBG and to the botanical
work indefatigably on this enormous and very
community overall were his treatments in his
complicated group of plants, which are so impor-
groups of expertise for these monographic and fl o-
tant in the tropics, and managed by a generous gift
ristic projects, among others:
from our benefactor, Bjarne Rieber, to establish a
• Flora Neotropica Monographs for the greenhouse to grow them. He had about 200 differ-
Organization for Flora Neotropica, based at NYBG: ent species in cultivation.
Olmedieae and Brosimeae (Moraceae) in 1972;
This being solved, a much more diffi cult task
Coussapoa and Pourouma (Cecropiaceae) in 1990;
remained: to adapt to the rather complicated man-
Moreae, Artocarpeae, and Dorstenia (Moraceae) in
agement of the organisation, one which was an en-
2001; and Cecropia (Cecropiaceae) in 2005; he
during mystery to him, and where I was given the
submitted his treatment of Ficus to FloraNeotropica
task to assist him. We had many long discussions,
just before his death.
and somehow found ways through this jungle. I
• The Moraceae, Cecropiaceae, and Urticaceae cannot claim they were easy talks, but Kees had an
for the Guide to the Vascular Plants of Central unusually friendly persistence, which I liked, so we
French Guiana. never really clashed, even when we disagreed.
• Those families plus the Ulmaceae for the I particularly remember that, to my surprise,
First Catalogue of the Flora of Acre, Brazil. he was very keen on establishing a collection of
native Norwegian trees, an idea that had not previ-
Another service that Kees provided to NYBG
ously crossed our minds - we were primarily en-
botanists was the identifi cation of nearly all of our
gaged in fi nding foreign woody plants for
collections of Moraceae (including Cecropiaceae),
Norwegian gardens. But certainly he was right:
Urticaceae, and Ulmaceae, which has greatly in-
The Norwegian Arboretum should also take an in-
creased the scientifi c value of our collections.
terest in our native trees!
NYBG’s institutional data-base has over 3200
identifi cations made by Kees over the years, but He also engaged in the relationship with the
unquestionably the NY herbarium contains many Friends of the Arboretum and started nearly imme-
more. diately to write a Newsletter which under his
successor Per H. Salvesen has developed into the
Curators at NYBG are grateful for the nearly
important journal Årringen, issued yearly, where
40 years of collaboration with Cornelis Berg, not
we present results from our collections to the
only for the improvements he made to our collec-
general public. This close relation to the Friends
tions and the intellectual contributions he made to
led to the establishment of a heather garden, which
our publication program, but also because of the
was donated in 1996, and which still is run by the
close friendships that he maintained with many of
Friends. This garden was an enjoyment to him, as
our staff. He will be sorely missed, but he will con-
well as to all of us.
tinue to inspire everyone here who had the privi-
lege of knowing him. ― Douglas Daly and Scott After his retirement in 2005 and return to the
Mori Netherlands, he was a frequent visitor to Bergen -
surely the old tree had developed some Norwegian
Bergen, Norway. (A second phase in Cees his
roots. He usually came about midsummer, when
career was his professorship in Norway.) One of
also visiting his daughter Hendrieke at Voss. He
the fi rst things Kees said to me in the process lead-
then fi lled our tables with specimens that are in the
ing to his employment at Milde (Norway, near
BG herbarium (2,000–3,000 specimens), which
Bergen) in 1985 was: “I am an old tree, and they
now houses a comprehensive, well-identifi ed col-
are diffi cult to transplant.” Nevertheless the trans-
lection preserved for future generations to study
plantation took place, and as predicted, he had a
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- of particular importance since the tropical forests with the results of molecular work (though those
are disappearing quickly. results also synonymised his Cecropiaceae with the
Urticaceae), and he collaborated closely with Finn
But this summer in 2012 we missed him, he
Kjellberg’s group in Montpellier (France). Cees
was too ill to travel, though he still steadily worked
was certainly a person who liked to travel; he vis-
on the task to reviseFicus. In his last letter, which
ited and did fi eld work in almost all the tropical
we received a few weeks before his death, he was
countries of Africa and South America. In Asia, he
concerned about a loan, which was needed quickly
visited southern China and Thailand. Only after
for drawings (by his daughter Hendrieke) for a paper
retirement did he return once to his land of birth,
he had nearly fi nished, since his days were num-
now called Indonesia. ― Peter van Welzen
bered. He was certainly one of the most dedicated
and industrious botanists I have known. Collecting in Acre, Brazil. The state of Acre,
The old tree has fallen, but the seeds he Brazil in Southwestern Amazonia is honoured to
spread, will grow! ― Per M. Jørgensen have been the site of Dr. Cornelis C. Berg’s last
botanical expedition in April, 2010. Given the high
Leiden, The Netherlands. Back in the Netherlands
diversity of Moraceae in Acre, he was one of the
Cees, of course, continued his work on Moraceae.
key botanists invited to participate in the Mobilizing
The fi rst time I met him in the Leiden herbarium, I
Taxonomic Specialists for Acre project, developed
vaguely remembered that I had seen him before,
by the collaborative research program between the
when I was still an M.Sc. student, working on the
New York Botanical Garden and the Universidade
ecology of tsetse fl ies in Ivory Coast. My supervi-
Federal do Acre (UFAC) to advance our knowl-
sor was Prof.dr. Koos Wiebes, a specialist in fi g
edge of that region’s most important plant groups.
wasps. Wiebes announced that he would come for
He joined the fi eld team of UFAC’s
fi eld work to the Ivory Coast and while driving to
Laboratório de Botânica e Ecologia Vegetal, which
the expedition site he would visit me and he would
at the time consisted of Flávio Obermuller, Marcos
be accompanied by a colleague, which indeed was
Silveira, Herison Medeiros, Wendeson Castro,
Cees. Together they worked on the interaction
Edilson Consuelo de Oliveira, Lívia Souza and
between fi gs and wasps, resulting in a book about
Heloisa Polary. The group visited diverse locali-
the African species (Berg & Wiebes, 1992). Leiden
ties: the Riozinho do Andirá, Seringal Cachoeira,
is for many taxonomists synonymous with Flora
Fazenda Catuaba, Reserva Florestal Humaitá, Rio
Malesiana. However, Asia had never been a focus
Iquirí, and the Vila do V in six municipalities (Rio
for Cees, probably because another world expert
Branco, Sena Madureira, Bujari, Porto Acre,
on Moraceae had worked there, Corner in
Senador Guiomard and Xapuri) in the eastern part
Singapore. Corner had produced a manuscript on
of the state. The expedition produced more than
the Malesian Moraceae, but disagreement with Van
400 collections, the vast majority of them in the
Steenis (editor of Flora Malesiana) about several
families of Dr. Berg’s expertise. Before and after
species concepts stalled publication of the
the fi eld work, he annotated virtually all the UFAC
Moraceae. We were happy that we could interest
herbarium’s specimens in those plant groups.
Cees in revising the Malesian Moraceae, using
Corner’s manuscript as a basis. He consulted thou- His work contributed signifi cantly to our
sands of specimens during a few sabbatical periods, knowledge of the Acre fl ora, adding two new genus
and quickly produced two big volumes, one on records and 25 new species records for the state,
Ficus (2005) and one on the remaining Moraceae and among those eight new records for Brazil.
(2006). The editors of local Asian Floras now Undoubtedly, if he had had more time, he would
became aware of Cees his knowledge and invited have added a number of species new to science
him to help with their Flora treatments as well. He from the Acre fl ora, considering that 18 or nearly
quite liked working on the Thai Moraceae. This half of his Ficus collections from that trip remained
took quite some time, but it allowed him to visit the undetermined.
country several times and at the time of his death
During his brief visit to Acre, ”Berg” (as he
Cees was still supervisor of a Thai PhD student
was dubbed there) made a lasting impression on
working on a group of fi gs. Cees only worked with
everyone he met. He will be remembered in Acre
a morphological species concept, but he was happy
with fondness and great respect. ― Flávio
Obermüller and Douglas Daly
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Molecular work? Cees was sceptical about the hypotheses - surely enough we are still struggling
ability of DNA-sequence based phylogenies to to sort out the infrageneric relationships of Ficus
uncover the true relationships, but - as always - wel- and even the origin of the fi gs based on molecular
coming anybody who wanted to contribute to our data. Berg was a great morphologist and has
understanding about any aspect of Ficus. Embarking inspired us to pursue the molecular work in even
on a quest for discovering the global phylogeny of more detail - especially when DNA suggests obvi-
Ficus, I fi rst contacted Cees in 2002 to ask if he ous confl icts with relationships well supported by
would support my funding applications as an morphology. As Berg said, “it has to make sense,
expert of the classifi cation of Ficus. He kindly you can’t just say that swallows are not birds” and
wrote back to me on the same day and offered me so the white crane has himself departed, but his
his assistance, as well as access to his extensive love of Ficus, supportive attitude, and persistence
living collections in Milde, which I visited for a and insistence on making sense of it all continues.
pleasant couple of days in 2003. I since met him ―Nina Rønsted
several times when he visited the herbarium in
Honours. We knew Cees as a silent, hard-working
Kew and Minnesota where I worked during my
man who never took part in social events like cof-
postdoctoral years. He was always very helpful on
fee breaks or drinks. Till his death, he tried to visit
checking my identifi cations and commenting on
Leiden as much as possible, but like in Norway, he
the results of the phylogenetic analyses, and he
missed his last appointment. We also treasure him
always had time for a nice meal, and a good beer
as a very friendly and helpful person. Although he
and a chat about future research needs. He was par-
had no teaching obligations in Leiden, he still
ticularly happy about the possibility of the DNA-
motivated students to help revise the species of the
based work to enlighten the large and diffi cult
Solomon Islands. We admire the way in which he
Neotropical section Americana, which he was in
made all arrangements for after his death: the list of
the process of revising until his death. However, he
persons who should be notifi ed, who should ‘clean’
was very sceptical about some of the infrageneric
his desk, etc. Cees was really a banyan tree among
relationships suggested by the molecular data, and
taxonomists and he will be dearly remembered.
wondered about the limitations and methodologi-
cal errors. When offered co-authorships for his One Moraceae was named in honour of Cees:
help and comments on the fi rst global phylogeny Dorstenia bergiana Hijman. Cees newly described
published in 2005, he kindly refused with a smile or made new name combinations for 318 taxa in
and a twinkle of his eye, because he would rather the Moraceae and Cecropiaceae and for one
keep the right to criticise it afterwards. In Flora Boraginaceae, a subspecies of Myosotis, M. palus-
Malesiana he largely ignored the molecular sug- tris (L.) Nathh. subsp. nemorosa (Besser) C.C.Berg
gestions of relationships, I guess he found it too & Kaastra, a result of his polyploidy interest. ―
diffi cult to decide which of the results were well Peter van Welzen
supported and which were only preliminary
Cees in the herbarium of the Queen Sirikit Botanical Garden, Two giants in Chiang Mai, Thailand. – Rachun Pooma
Chiang Mai, Thailand. – Rachun Pooma