fieldwork

Malia hits the jackpot in Nevada!

Stacey Dewitt Smith — Sat, 30 May 2026 03:37:56 +0000

Malia hits the jackpot in Nevada! Stacey Dewitt Smith Fri, 05/29/2026 - 21:37

The monotypic genus Oryctes had been a fascination in the lab since the earliest days. Solanologist Armando Hunziker placed the genus in Iochrominae because of its purple tubular flowers, but beyond floral traits, Oryctes is its own thing. First, it is tiny and let's be honest, the kind of cute only a mother could love. It is only found in a few high elevation deserts in the west (hello Death Valley), and its seeds have a thin membranous wing around the perimeter.

Malia was determined to find this species and sample it for our Physalideae study. She made the loooong drive from Boulder to the deserts near the Nevada-California border. And boom, Orcytes nevadensis was in full splendor, with flowers and fruits ready to go. Back in the lab, we've been able image the samples and send material off to the Schenck lab for a full biochemistry work-up. Congrats to Malia for making this Solanaceae dream come true!

Our intrepid postdoc travels to find the elusive desert endemic Orcytes nevadensis.

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Mini-field trip to DBG for Fabiana

Anonymous — Thu, 07 Jun 2018 15:11:03 +0000

Mini-field trip to DBG for Fabiana Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 06/07/2018 - 09:11

Luis, Lexi, Nick and Stacey spent the day at Denver Botanic Gardens, which feature two species of Fabiana (F. imbricata and Petunia [really a Fabiana] patagonica) in its living collections. This trip marked the kick-off of Luis' project -- he is studying the evolution of plant habit in Solanaceae, with a focus on the intriguing cushion plants. Thanks to fantastic DBG staff (esp. Mike Bone) for their help!

We took a little drive to the Denver Botanic Gardens to collect Fabiana in flower.

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Visit to Buenos Aires

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Jan 2018 21:42:45 +0000

Visit to Buenos Aires Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 01/10/2018 - 14:42

Stacey spent much of winter break in Argentina working on the Petunieae project. In Buenos Aires, she visited the famous Instituto Darwinion, which houses an impressive collection of Solanaceae. She also met the inimitable Julian Greppi, a biologist at the Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Together with botantists from Brazil, Julian has been spent years working the taxonomy of Calibrachoa and developing horticultural varieties from native species. There is even a video about his efforts!

Stacey returned to Argentina to learn about Petunieae of the North.

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