Research in plant systematics at BRIT covers a wide diversity of families, as the summary below is organized.
Amanda Neill is studying the genus Gurania, which has about 75 species mostly in tropical South America. Read more about her work at the Gurania Pages.
Barney Lipscomb has long had an interest in the taxonomy of this family, especially in the many species of Cyperus.
John Janovec is studying the taxonomy, evolution, and biogeography of the Myristicaceae, especially neotropical members of the family. He has completed a monograph of the neotropical genus Compsoneura for publication through the BRIT Press and he is currently working on a monograph of the large genus Virola and other neotropical genera. He has conducted extensive field research on the family in Central and South America and will extend those field studies to tropical Asia through an expedition to Papua New Guinea during late 2005. Janovec also works with Tiana Franklin, Botanical Research Assistant, who is focused on Myristicaceae research for her M.S. thesis project.
Alain Liogier has spent most of his career studying the flora of the Caribbean region, and in the course of writing floristic treatments for the floras of the major islands, has studied the systematics of many tropical and subtropical families in detail. He has specialized (especially) in groups of Myrtaceae and Melastomataceae.
Robert George finds harmony and melody among the species and genera of these plants, which many others see as taxonomically obscure and difficult, or which they would rather deal with only as elements of their breakfast cereal or lunch sandwich.
Bob O'Kennon and co-researcher Jim Phipps (University of Western Ontario) are investigating the taxonomy of Crataegus (hawthorns) toward providing a treatment of the whole genus, which includes about 100 species native to many regions of the Northern Hemisphere. They have spent several weeks of each of the last three summers in western Canada studying the complex of variation that occurs there, recently describing eight new species from the area (see Sida 18:169-191. 1998; Sida 20:115-144. 2002).
Sy Sohmer is experienced in the taxonomy of Psychotria (wild coffee), a genus of many species (probably more than 2000) of trees and shrubs native to areas of South America and Asia. Some species of Psychotria produce alkaloids that are useful and potentially useful as drugs (emetics, various medicines, hallucinogens). Sy's research has mostly dealt with Asian and Pacific region species - see "The nonclimbing species of the genus Psychotria (Rubiaceae) in New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago" (Bishop Museum Press, 1988), and a review of the Philippine and Indonesian species (with collaborator Aaron Davis, of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew) was published in 2007.
Bob Kral has much accumulated experience in the systematics of Xyridaceae and is currently working toward an illustrated taxonomic guide to the family at world-wide scope. He also is an expert in the taxonomy of various genera of Cyperaceae and has made detailed studies of many genera of other families in the course of his research on the flora of the southeastern United States.
The breadth of knowledge of BRIT Research Associate George Diggs is remarkable, as he literally is involved with taxonomic research across all families and genera that are included in the Illustrated Flora of North Central Texas and the Illustrated Flora of East Texas. George also maintains his interest in the systematics of Arctostaphylos and Comarostaphylis, two closely related genera of Ericaceae (heath family).
