February Noon Lecture: Rediscovering a Southeastern Endemic Plant

Name: February Noon Lecture: Rediscovering a Southeastern Endemic Plant
Start: 2026-02-03T12:00:00-06:00
End: 2026-02-03T13:00:00-06:00
Location: 2148 Riverside Dr, Jackson, MS, United States, Mississippi 39202

Schedule

Tue Feb 03 2026 at 12:00 pm to 01:00 pm

UTC-06:00

Location

2148 Riverside Dr, Jackson, MS, United States, Mississippi 39202 | Jackson, MS

Dr. Alford will share the story of how unusual spurge plants in Mississippi were ultimately recognized as a new species occurring infrequently throughout the southeastern United States.
Mississippi Natural Heritage program scientists had suspicions about the classification of this "thing" for decades, and a graduate student and Honors student at the University of Southern Mississippi followed up with targeted field work, statistics, and genetics. Thought to be a new species, examination of type specimens turned up a close match described over a century ago and subsequently ignored.
Their work highlights the unrecognized diversity that may be overlooked and the work, time, and collaboration needed to solve species problems.