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Abigail
Moore Harold Robinson, Ph.D.
"I really enjoyed spending the summer immersed in botany and science of all kinds." |
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Abigail
Moore Harold Robinson, Ph.D.
"I really enjoyed spending the summer immersed in botany and science of all kinds." |
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The
delimitation of Viguiera pazensis and V. procumbens
(Asteraceae) Giving
a plant or animal its proper name is the first step in being able
to study it scientifically. In order to be able to communicate the
results of a study to other scientists, it is necessary to know the
identity of the organism being studied. This study involved investigation
into the plant genus Viguiera, from the sunflower family (Asteraceae).
Viguiera has been credited with more than 150 species, all
of which are native to the New World. Two of these are the Andean
species V. pazensis and V. procumbens. Botanist, S.
F. Blake, in his 1918 study of Viguiera, claimed that V.
pazensis and V. procumbens were distinct from each other
and said they could be told apart by the shape and size of their leaves.
However, in looking through the specimens that had been collected
since 1918, many plants were found whose leaves were intermediate
between what Blake would have called V. pazensis and what Blake
would have called V. procumbens. This research sought to answer
if Blake's two species should be combined into a single species or
if they are truly different species but leaf shape and size is not
the best way to tell them apart. Many different characters were examined
on individuals of both V. pazensis and V. procumbens,
including leaf shape and size, types of hairs on the leaves and stem,
characteristics of the flowering structure, and types of scales and
spines on the fruits. No characters were found that consistently separated
the two into separate groups and thus it was concluded that V.
pazensis is basically the same as V. procumbens. This research was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates program, Award Number DBI-02435123. |