James Zech, a doctoral student under the direction of Dr. Tod Stuessy at the The Ohio State University, will undertake a systematic study of the plant genus Mulinum which is an assemblage of approximately 21 species occurring in southern South America. The genus is a poorly known member of the family Apiaceae, the wild carrots. The study will include collecting trips to South America and collaborative research with Chilean and Argentinian botanists with whom Dr. Stuessy has established good working relationships over the years. The study involves a battery of modern techniques including comparative biochemical, chromosomal and anatomical studies. These data sets will permit reconstruction of the evolutionary history of the genus using cladistics, which is a methodology to reconstruct evolutionary trees, made practical by the development of digital computers.
