MORPH
An NSF Research Coordination Network
Research Interests
My research spans plant morphology and systematics, especially the development and and evolution of flowers in the plant order Zingiberales, which includes the Musaceae (bananas), Zingiberaceae (culinary gingers) and their relatives. In my morphological work, I am currently working to solve long-standing questions about the development of the flowers and inflorescences in bananas. In plant systematics, I am interested in how morphological characteristics are described and used to reconstruct phylogeny: Plants are structural and developmental units, yet systematic characters are abstracted from these wholes in ways that destroy the integrity of the organism.
