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Charlotte M. Taylor

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Charlotte M. Taylor
PhD
Dr. Taylor in the Rubiaceae collections of Herbarium at the Missouri Botanical Garden
Born1955[3]
Michigan
NationalityAmerican
Other namesCharlotte Morley Taylor
EducationUniversity of Michigan, Duke University
Scientific career
FieldsBotany, Systematics, Floristics, Taxonomy
InstitutionsMissouri Botanical Garden, University of Missouri–St. Louis, National Tropical Botanical Garden, University of Puerto Rico in San Juan
Theses
Academic advisorsRobert Lynch Wilbur
Author abbrev. (botany)C.M. Taylor

Dr. Charlotte M. Taylor is a botanist and professor specialising in taxonomy and conservation. She works with the large plant family Rubiaceae, particularly found in the American tropics and in the tribes Palicoureeae and Psychotrieae. This plant family is an economically important group, as it includes plant species used to make coffee and quinine. Taylor also conducts work related to the floristics of Rubiaceae and morphological radiations of the group. Taylor has collected plant samples from many countries across the globe, including Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, and the United States of America,[3] and has named many new species known to science from these regions. As of 2023, Taylor has authored 500 land plant species' names, the third-highest number of such names authored by any female scientist.[4][5]

Education

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Taylor holds a B.S. from the University of Michigan (1978), and an M.S. (1982) and Ph.D. (1987) from Duke University.[6]

Career

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In addition to the work mentioned below, Taylor has identified many herbarium specimens at the Missouri Botanical Garden and at other institutions throughout the world.

Floras

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Taylor has spent much of her career authoring floras (full treatments and catalogues), and she has contributed to several large regional floras, including:

  • Flora Mesoamericana (12 genera and ca. 850 species)
  • Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana (86 genera and 524 species)
  • Flora of China (97 genera and ca. 700 species)
  • Catalogue Rubiaceae treatments (see citations below)
  • Ecuador (ca. 110 genera and 530 species)
  • Peru (ca. 110 genera and 600 species)
  • Bolivia (ca. 100 genera, 430 species)

Overview of taxonomic work

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Taylor is an active and prolific scholar. She is one of the top 10 women to have described or named land plant species.[4] Within the Rubiaceae group, her main focuses are the species in the neotropical genera Palicourea, Notopleura, Carapichea, Faramea, and Coussarea, the species of the pantropical genus Psychotria, and the species of the Madagascar genus Gaertnera.[6] In addition to the numerous plants that she has named, Taylor has also conducted taxonomic work and transferred species names between different genera. For this reason, she is linked as an author to 1,091 plant species name citation records through the International Plant Names Index (IPNI). A full list of all 1,091 records can be viewed here.

Rubiaceae projects

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In addition to her taxonomic work with this family, Taylor maintains two websites related Rubiaceae to the Missouri Botanical Garden website. The Selected Rubiaceae Tribes and Genera website includes taxonomic parts of previously published works related to the family. The content of the website is also incorporated in Tropicos, the online database of taxonomic information about plants maintained and populated by the Missouri Botanical Garden and its scientific staff.

Personal life

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Taylor attributes her interest in plants to her parents, who were "serious bird watchers." However, she opted to study plants instead of birds because it afforded her more freedom to keep to her own research schedule.[7]

Taylor is married to Roy E. Gereau,[7] an Assistant Curator at the Missouri Botanical Garden. Gereau's research interests include plant nomenclature, floristics and phytogeography of eastern Africa, plant conservation assessment in eastern Africa and in Africa generally, classification and identification of East African flowering plant genera, and taxonomy and systematics of African Sapindaceae.[8] Taylor and Gereau have published together on botanical topics.

New species described

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As of 2015, Taylor had named 278 plant taxa new to science[4] and authored a total of 771 names. This number has increased to 500 by 2023.[5] She has also assigned new names to existing taxa and created new name combinations. The first species that Taylor described was Palicourea spathacea. A combination is a previously published name that is transferred to another name, for example a species transferred to a different genus, or a variety raised to a species, or a subgenus changed to a section, but it keeps the same name. A full list of Taylor's authored names can be viewed through the Tropicos database.[9]

Collapsed list of new species described by Taylor

Works

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Selected publications on Palicourea taxonomy

  • Taylor, C.M. 1997. Conspectus of the genus Palicourea (Rubiaceae: Psychotrieae) with the description of same new species from Ecuador. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 84: 224-262.
  • Taylor, C.M, D.H. Lorence, & R.E. Gereau. 2010. Rubiacearum americanarum magna hama pars XXV: The nocturnally flowering Psychotria domingensis-Coussarea hondensis group plus three other Mesoamerican Psychotria species transfer to Palicourea. Novon 20: 481-492.

Selected Publications on Genera of Palicoureeae and Psychotrieae

  • Taylor, C.M. 2001. Overview of the neotropical genus Notopleura (Rubiaceae: Psychotrieae), with the description of some new species. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 88: 478-515.
  • Taylor, C.M. 2003. Rubiacearum americanarum magna hama. Pars XIV. New species and a new combination in Notopleura (Psychotrieae) from Central and South America. Novon 13: 228-260.
  • Taylor, C.M. 2005. Margaritopsis (Rubiaceae, Psychotrieae) in the Neotropics. Syst. Geogr. Pl. 75: 161-177.
  • Taylor, C.M. 2011. The genus Coccochondra (neotropical Rubiaceae) expanded. Pl. Ecol. & Evol. 144(1): 115-118.
  • Taylor, C.M. & R.E. Gereau. 2013. The genus Carapichea (Rubiaceae). Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 99: 100-127.
  • Razafimandimbison, S.G., C.M. Taylor, N. Widstrom, T. Paillier, A. Khobadandeh, B. Bremer. 2014. Phylogeny and generic limits in the sister tribes Psychotrieae and Palicoureeae (Rubiaceae): Evolution of schizocarps in Psychotria and origins of bacterial leaf nodules of the Malagasy species. Amer. J. Bot. 101: 1102-1126.
  • Taylor, C.M. 2015. Rubiacearum americanarum magna hama XXXIII: Overview of the new group Palicourea sect. Didymocarpae with four new species and two new subspecies (Palicoureeae). Novon 23: 452-478.
  • Taylor, C.M. 2015. Rubiacearum americanarum magna hama XXXIV: Overview of the new group Palicourea sect. Tricephalium with either new species and a new subspecies (Palicoureeae). Novon 24: 55-95.

Selected flora treatments

  • Taylor, C.M. 1999. Faramea, Coussarea, Palicourea. In: G. Harling and L. Andersson, eds. Flora of Ecuador 62(3): 134-235, 245-314.
  • Taylor, C.M., J.A. Steyermark, P. Delprete, C. Persson, C. Costa, A. Vincentini, & R. Cortés. 2004. Rubiaceae. In: J.A. Steyermark, P.E. Berry, K. Yatskievych, & B.K. Holst, eds. Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana 8:497-847.
  • Campos, M.T.V.A., C.M. & Taylor & D. Zappi. 2007. Rubiaceae. In: M. Hopkins et al., Flora of the Ducke Reserve. Rodriguesia 58: 549-616.
  • Chen, T., H. Zhu; J.-R. Chen; C.M.Taylor, F. Ehrendorfer, H. Lantz, A.M. Funsten, C. Puff. 2011. Rubiaceae. In: Z.-G. Wu, P.H. Raven, & D.-Y. Hong, dirs. Flora of China 19: 57-368.
  • D.H. Lorence, C.M. Taylor, & Collaborators. 2012. Rubiaceae. In: Flora Mesoamericana 4(2): 1-288.
  • Taylor, C.M., B.E. Hammel, & D.H. Lorence. 2014. Rubiaceae. In: B.E. Hammel, M.H. Grayum, M.C. Herrera Mora, & N. Zamora, eds. Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica. Volumen VII. Dicotiledóneas (Picramniaceae-Rutaceae). Monogr. Syst. Bot. Missouri Bot. Gard. 129: 464-779.

Selected floristic catalogues

  • Taylor, C.M. & A. Pool. 1993. Rubiaceae. In: L. Brako et al., Catalogue of the Flowering Plants and Gymnosperms of Peru. Monogr. Syst. Bot. Missouri Bot. Gard. 45: 1010 1053.
  • Taylor, C.M. 1999. Rubiaceae. In P. Jørgensen & S. León, Catalogue of the vascular plants of Ecuador. Monogr. Syst. Bot. Missouri Bot. Gard.75: 855-878.
  • Bacigalupo, N.M., E.L. Cabral, & C.M. Taylor. 2008. Rubiaceae. In: F.O. Zuloaga, O. Morrone, & M.J. Belgrano, eds. Católogo de las Plantas Vasculares del Cono Sur. Monogr. Syst. Bot. Missouri Bot. Gard. 107(3): 1871-2920.
  • Taylor, C.M. 2011. Rubiaceae. In: A. Idárraga P., R. del C. Ortiz, R. Callejas P., & M. Merello. Flora de Antioquia, Catálogo de las Plantas Vasculares, Vol. 2, Listado de las Plantas Vasculares del Departamento de Antioquia, pp. 822–854. Universidad de Antioquia.
  • Taylor, C.M., E. Cabral, & N. Bacigalupo. 2014. Rubiaceae. In: P. Jørgensen, M. Nee, & S. Beck, eds. Catálogo de las Plantas Vasculares de Bolivia. Monogr. Syst. Bot. Missouri Bot. Gard. 127(2): 1140-1171.

References

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  1. ^ Taylor, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Morley) (1989). Revision of Palicourea (Rubiaceae) in Mexico and Central America. American Society of Plant Taxonomists. ISBN 978-0912861265. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  2. ^ Taylor, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Morley) (1981). A revision of the genus Monnina (Polygalaceae) in Central America. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  3. ^ a b "Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries". kiki.huh.harvard.edu. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  4. ^ a b c Lindon, Heather L.; Gardiner, Lauren M.; Brady, Abigail; Vorontsova, Maria S. (5 May 2015). "Fewer than three percent of land plant species named by women: Author gender over 260 years". Taxon. 64 (2): 209–215. doi:10.12705/642.4.
  5. ^ a b mbgadmin (2023-12-18). "Living Legend: Garden Scientist Charlotte Taylor has described more new plant species than any woman alive". Discover + Share. Retrieved 2023-12-21.
  6. ^ a b "Taylor, Charlotte M." Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  7. ^ a b "A Conversation with Dr. Charlotte Taylor". Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  8. ^ "Gereau, Roy E." Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  9. ^ "Tropicos - Name Search". tropicos.org. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
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