The Solanaceae family numbers roughly 2800 species, and that number is still growing as botanists around the world continue to discover and describe new species. This expanding species diversity means that phylogeneticists are always busy adding new tips to the family tree and working to align taxonomic classification with evolutionary history. Our lab contributes to both of these aspects of systematics -- describing new species of Solanaceae and understanding their relationship with other species. Within the family, Stacey's systematic work focuses on Iochroma and its relatives (the clade Iochrominae, left), Chelsea studies Physalis, and Rocío has made significant taxonomic contributions in multiple groups of Solanaceae, most notably the genus Deprea. These efforts are highly collaborative, and we work closely with botanists in many Latin American countries to explore and document this fascinating family of plants. You can see some of our collaborators and amazing field discoveries here! We have recently begun a major effort to produce a new time-calibrated phylogeny of the family. Rocío has begun this work with a survey of fossil collections, mostly seeds, and we will use the fossilized birth-death model to jointly estimate divergence times across the family and the placement of these fossils.
Relevant publications:
Deanna R.+, M. Larter+, G. E. Barboza & S.D. Smith. 2019. Repeated evolution of a morphological novelty: a phylogenetic analysis of the inflated fruiting calyx in the Physalideae tribe (Solanaceae). American Journal of Botany 106: 270-279. Link, Reprint Request
Deanna, R.+, S. D. Smith, T. Särkinen & F. Chiarini. 2018. Patterns of chromosomal evolution in the florally diverse Andean clade Iochrominae (Solanaceae). Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics, 35: 31-43. Link, Reprint Request
Dupin, J. & S. D. Smith. 2018. Phylogenetics of Datureae (Solanaceae), including description of the new genus Trompettia and re-circumscription of the tribe. Taxon, 67: 359-375. Link, Reprint request
Dupin, J. , N. J. Matzke, T. Sarkinen, S. Knapp, R. G. Olmstead, L. Bohs, and S. D. Smith. 2016. Bayesian estimation of global biogeographic history of Solanaceae. Journal of Biogeography 44: 887–899. PDF
Cueva-Manchego, M., S. D. Smith, and S. Leiva-Gonzáles. 2015. A new and endangered species of Iochroma (Solanaceae) from the cloud forests of central Peru and its phylogenetic position in Iochrominae. Phytotaxa 227: 147-157. PDF
Smith, S. D., and S. Leiva-G. 2011. A new species of Iochroma (Solanaceae) from Ecuador. Novon 21: 491-495. PDF
Smith, S. D., and D. A. Baum. 2007. Systematics of Iochrominae (Solanaceae): Patterns in floral diversity and interspecific crossability. Acta Hort. 745: 241-254. PDF
Smith, S. D., and D. A. Baum. 2006. Phylogenetics of the florally diverse Andean clade Iochrominae (Solanaceae). American Journal of Botany 93: 1140-1153. PDF