Sally Chess did not just take time out to smell the flowers, she studied them. Her childhood love of plants blossomed into an award-winning study that won her the respect of her mentors.

Her research dealt with the pursuit of one wild flower - Linanthus dichotomus, also known as Evening Snow, which has two subspecies. One blooms at night, grows throughout Southern California,
Arizona, and Nevada, the other blooms during the day and only grows in a small part of Northern California. Chess studied the scent, chemistry and floral shape of the two subspecies at 10 research sites around the Bay Area. The site locations ranged from southern Monterey County, all the way up to Lake County.

Chess calls her work an “evolution in action.”

“Since insects pollinate plants, they decide which plants reproduce,” Chess said. “There are lots of different kinds of sugars in nectar, and insects prefer certain flavors. I was interested in whether there were any differences in the subspecies that might be due to the difference in pollinators.”

Chess’ interest led to two awards.

In May 2005, Chess, 32, earned her master’s degree in biology at SF State, and won the Graduate Distinguished Achievement Award for her thesis on pollinator-scent relationships in plants. The award is administered by the dean of College of Science and Engineering, Sheldon Axler, and Associate Dean Dr. Sung Hu. Chess’ presentation, entitled “Evidence for Pollinator-Mediated Selection in Linanthus Dichotomous,” won her the “Best Paper Award” in the ecological section of the Botanical Society of America’s annual meeting in 2004.

Chess’ results showed that the difference in pollinators do affect the floral scent and shape of the two subspecies.

During the day, various insects (such as moths, bees, and butterflies) pollinated the flower, while at night, only moths (hawk and sphingid moths) were the plant’s source of pollination. The day-blooming subspecies is called Linanthus dichotomus, and the night-blooming subspecies is called Linanthus dichotomus meridianus.

However, this claim cannot be confirmed since Chess did not conduct any genetic research.

Chess began work on her thesis in the fall of 2001 and finished in May of 2005. She is now in the process of writing two journal articles based on her thesis. She will submit one article to the American Journal of Botany and the other to the journal of Phytochemistry. Both publications are internationally recognized.

“She has taken on and completed a research project that easily would pass for a Ph.D. at another institution,” said Gretchen LeBuhn, assistant professor of biology and Chess’s advisor.
Her professors are impressed by her motivation.

“Sally’s research is groundbreaking,” said Robert Patterson, professor of biology, as well as a member of her thesis committee. “It’s as innovative and high-powered as any that I have witnessed during my time as graduate coordinator of the Biology grad program. She may be the first person to study pollinator-scent relationships in plants with day- and night-blooming population.”

Chess’ close friend of 15 years always noticed her love for the outdoors.

“I think that her pursuit of science came out of her love of nature and plants,” said Tatiana Roegiers, a graphic designer.

Patterson finds that pollination research is very interesting but a difficult undertaking.

“Sally tackled a huge job and followed it through to its end,” he said. “She did all of her own field work.”

Chess’ fieldwork included travel throughout the state to visit populations of Linanthus dichotomus to measure various aspects of pollination. She camped out at various locations and stayed awake all night to watch for night-flying pollinating insects.

“Such commitment is rare among biologists at any level,” Patterson said.

Regardless of how challenging the project got, Chess’ commitment never wavered.

She is currently doing “quality work” at the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park.

“Just the fact that I have a botany job seems miraculous since there aren’t many around,” said Chess. “It’s a beautiful place to work.”