New species of bellflower in North America
One new genus Dr. Morin described is Eastwoodiella, named after the famed Alice Eastwood (1859-1953). Eastwood was a prolific botanist and collector across the United States who authored over 310 articles and named 395 species during her career. Eastwood is particularly famous for saving hundreds of plant specimens during a devastating fire at the California Academy of Sciences by lowering them out of a window with makeshift ropes. This unique species is endemic to wet places of coastal California, from Santa Cruz county to Mendocino county. Eastwoodia californica in the field. [Photograph from Morin 2020, used with permission from Nancy Morin] |
- Ravenella is named in honor of Peter H. Raven, current President Emeritus of the Missouri Botanical Garden and, in Morin's words, an "unstinting [advocate] for plants of the world and their study" (p. 13).
- "Smithiastrum is named in honor of James Payne Smith, Jr., emeritus faculty member in the Biology Department of Humboldt State University; a pioneer in plant conservation, authority on uses of plants especially by native peoples and on the toxicity of plants" (p. 21).
- Furthermore, "Poolea is named in honor of Jackie M. Poole, botanist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for more than thirty years, an effective and passionate advocate for plant conservation, especially of the Texas flora" (p. 27).
- Clade - a group of organisms believed to have been derived from a common ancestor; a grouping of closely-related organisms
- Genus (plural: genera) - a taxonomic category that groups species together into closely-related groups. Genus is less broad than family but more general than species.
- Taxonomic revision - the process of gathering and analyzing evidence for the evolutionary relatedness of taxa to one another, including the potential naming, re-naming, or re-organizing of species, genera, or other taxonomic groups