Welcome to the Systematics Lab and Herbarium of The Morton Arboretum. We are a group with diverse interests in plant biodiversity science, united by an interest in the diversification and evolution of plant lineages, investigated using the tools of molecular phylogenetics, population genetics, cytogenetics, and herbarium study. We welcome visiting researchers at the undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate level to collaborate in ongoing projects or develop new projects. Please email Andrew (the Lab PI) to discuss opportunities, or reach out to any of us if you have questions.
Lab Mission
The Plant Systematics Lab asks three fundamental questions: When and how did plant species and lineages arise? What genetic and physical traits delimit plant species and lineages? How do species’ attributes shape our world?
Rooted in systematics and specimen-based natural history, we work at the interface of species, clades, communities, and genomes. We integrate our research with mentorship across all levels of experience, with the goal of cultivating scientific identity and the habits of close observation.
Lab Vision
We envision our research group as a hub connecting diverse disciplines through systematics, and connecting and enabling the work of diverse researchers.
We envision our research as a foundation for biodiversity stewardship and appreciation of the natural world.
We aim to create an environment of informal knowledge-sharing among students, postdocs, and staff to promote best research practices and inspire excellent work across backgrounds and professional levels.
Recent news
- Herbarium wrap-up, December 2024The herbarium wrapped up a strong year of outreach, including October table-top tours in the visitor center, which brought information about oaks and the herbarium collections to more than 900 visitors; a set of public tours in May and November; a collaborative Oak-stravaganza collections event that gave staff a deep dive into oak collections in … Continue reading
- Publication — Oak Origins: from Acorns to Species and the Tree of LifeAndrew Hipp has just published Oak Origins: From Acorns to Species and the Tree of Life, a popular book on oak evolution and ecology, through University of Chicago Press. Described by one reviewer as “a captivating combination of oak natural history and evolutionary biology [and] a must-read for anyone interested in oaks or biodiversity science,” … Continue reading
- New funded project: Oak genomics in the service of conservationThe Morton Arboretum (including Andrew Hipp, Rebekah Mohn, Marlene Hahn, Alan Whittemore, and Drew Larson) is part of a consortium of 18 institutions who have been awarded a Community Science Program award from the Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute (JGI). The project will fund high-quality, annotated reference genomes for 16 oak species of the … Continue reading