Pieter B. Pelser (born 12 January 1976) is a lecturer in Plant Systematics and the curator of the herbarium at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. One research interest is the evolutionary history of the tribe Senecioneae, one of the largest tribes in the largest family of flowering plants. [1] He wrote the most recent attempt to define and delimit this tribe and its problematic founding species Senecio . [2] He also studies insects that eat these plants ( Longitarsus ) which contain pyrrolizidine alkaloids and what makes them choose which plants they eat. [3]
Pieter B. Pelser was born in Wijchen, a town in the province of Gelderland, in the eastern part of the Netherlands. He is married to Philippine pteridologist Julie F. Barcelona.
Pelser is Senior Lecturer in Plant Systematics, University of Canterbury
Pieter B. Pelser is a co-founder and a Main editor for Co's Digital Flora of the Philippines [4] a website dedicated to collating photos of Philippine Botanical Species [5]
Research on the Philippine members of the genus Rafflesia , which has the biggest flowers of any plant, and in particular the conservation of them. [1]
Non-refereed Articles:
Newsletters:
Book Reviews:
Popular Articles:
Rafflesia is a genus of parasitic flowering plants in the family Rafflesiaceae. The species have enormous flowers, the buds rising from the ground or directly from the lower stems of their host plants; one species has the largest flower in the world. Plants of the World Online lists up to 41 species from this genus, all of them are found throughout Southeast Asia.
Senecio is a genus of flowering plants in the daisy family (Asteraceae) that includes ragworts and groundsels.
Senecioneae is the largest tribe of the Asteraceae, or the sunflower family, comprising over 150 genera and over 3,500 species. Almost one-third of the species in this tribe are placed in the genus Senecio. Its members exhibit probably the widest possible range of form to be found in the entire plant kingdom, and include annuals, minute creeping alpines, herbaceous and evergreen perennials, shrubs, climbers, succulents, trees, and semi-aquatic plants.
Jacobaea is a genus of flowering plants in the tribe Senecioneae and the family Asteraceae. Its members used to be placed in the genus Senecio, but have been separated into the segregate genus Jacobaea on the basis of molecular phylogenetics in order to maintain genera that are monophyletic.
Othonna is a genus of approximately 90 species of succulent or subsucculent perennial herbs or shrubs, with its center of diversity in the Greater Cape Floristic Region (GCFR) of South Africa but some species' ranges include southern Namibia, Angola, and Zimbabwe. The genus was established by Linnaeus in 1753 containing 14 species, however, of those original species, only four are still retained in Othonna, while the others have been transferred to different genera including Cineraria, Euryops, Hertia, Ligularia, Senecio, and Tephroseris. The genus Othonnna is known to be monophyletic. In 2012, a new genus Crassothonna B. Nord. was erected with 13 species transferred from Othonna. A complete modern taxonomic treatment of the genus is being undertaken by the Compton Herbarium and the South African National Biodiversity Institute. The first part, a revision of the Othonnna bulbosa group, was published in 2019.
Lomanthus fosbergii, synonym Talamancalia fosbergii, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae endemic to Ecuador. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. It is threatened by habitat loss. It was first described by José Cuatrecasas in 1953 as Senecio fosbergii. The genus Lomanthus is placed in the tribe Senecioneae.
Rune Bertil Nordenstam is a Swedish botanist and professor emeritus at the Swedish Museum of Natural History in the Department of Phanerogamic Botany. He has worked with Colchicaceae, Senecioneae and Calenduleae, was the editor of Compositae Newsletter newsletter since 1990, and is a Tribal Coordinator for The International Compositae Alliance with responsibility for the tribes Calenduleae and Senecioneae.
Crassothonna capensis, also known as little pickles (USA), ruby necklace (Australia), Cape aster, Cape Othonna, and Bobbejaankool (Afrikaans), is a species of the genus Crassothonna previously (Othonna) in the family Asteraceae, and is a native of the Eastern Cape of South Africa. It is a native highveld species that originates from the southern Drakensberg region.
Rafflesia leonardi is a parasitic plant species of the genus Rafflesia. It is endemic to the Philippines. Rafflesia banaoana is considered to be a synonym by some sources, but is recognized as a separate species by others. R. leonardi is the fourth Rafflesia species found in Luzon and the eighth from the Philippines. It is called ngaratngat by the local Agta tribesmen.
Rafflesia manillana is a parasitic plant species of the genus Rafflesia. It is endemic to the Philippines.
Rafflesia schadenbergiana is a parasitic plant species of the genus Rafflesia. Known as "bó-o" to the Bagobo tribe and "kolon busaw" to the Higaonon tribe of Bukidnon, it has the largest flower among the Rafflesia species found in the Philippines with a diameter ranging from 52 to 80 centimeters. It has also the second largest flower in the genus after R. arnoldii.
Rafflesia speciosa is a parasitic plant species of the genus Rafflesia. It is endemic to the Philippine island of Panay. R. speciosa is the third Rafflesia species documented to exist in the Philippines, after R. manillana and R. schadenbergiana. It belongs to the medium-sized Rafflesia. The species was named by Julie Barcelona and Edwino Fernando.
Senecio cadiscus is a species of aquatic flowering plant in the aster family, Asteraceae. It is endemic to the Western Cape of South Africa, where it grows in vernal pools. It was at one time classified as Cadiscus aquaticus, the only species in the monotypic genus Cadiscus, but molecular phylogenetic analysis showed that it is nested within Senecio. It is a floating or emergent plant with small narrow leaves and white-rayed flowers. Its populations are small and fragmented, and are declining. The plant is threatened by grazing and trampling by livestock, invasive plants, reclamation of wetlands and eutrophication from fertilizer runoff. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has consequently rated it as "critically endangered".
Lasiocephalus is a genus of South American flowering plants in groundsel tribe within the sunflower family. The genus was shown to be part of Senecio and predominantly occurs in tropical alpine-like regions.
Phaneroglossa is a genus of plants that is assigned to the daisy family. It consists of only one species, Phaneroglossa bolusii, a perennial plant of up to 40 cm high, that has leathery, line- to lance-shaped, seated leaves with mostly few shallow teeth and flower heads set individually on top of long stalks. The flower head has an involucre of just one whorl of bracts, few elliptic, white or cream ray florets, and many yellow disc florets. It is an endemic species of the Western Cape province of South Africa. Flowering mainly occurs from November to January.
Rafflesia verrucosa was first identified and characterized during a small mammal survey of Mt. Kampalili in eastern Mindanao in 2010. R. verrucosa is the tenth species of Rafflesia found in the Philippines. Rafflesia species have rare and unusual flowers known for their large size and pungent smell. Some plant enthusiasts like Frits W. Went have gone to extreme measures to see these plants in bloom. Went detailed his search for Rafflesia saying,
"I had heard, when I was in Java many years ago, that Rafflesia were to be found on an offshore island named Nusah Kembangan. This was in 1929, when it was a penal colony for major criminals. My driver on this occasion was a convicted murderer, and my guide was serving time for cannibalism."
Julie F. Barcelona is a Filipina botanist and taxonomist working as Research Associate at University of Canterbury. She is mostly known for her research on the Philippine members of the genus Rafflesia.
Daniel Lee Nickrent is an American botanist, working in plant evolutionary biology, including the subdisciplines of genomics, phylogenetics, systematics, population genetics, and taxonomy. A major focus has been parasitic flowering plants, particularly of the sandalwood order (Santalales). His interest in photographic documentation and photographic databases has led to several photographic databases including Parasitic Plant Connection, Phytoimages, Plant Checklist for the Rocky Mountain National Park, and Plant Checklist for the Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge.
Caputia is a small genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, native to South Africa. It may be of hybrid origin. Species in this genus were formerly considered part of the genus Senecio.
Lomanthus is a genus of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, with species native to northwestern Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru. The genus was established in 2009. It was segregated from Senecio on the basis of morphological and molecular phylogenetic evidence. It is placed in the tribe Senecioneae.