Lab
Joyce G. Onyenedum's Lab
Institution: New York University
Department: Department of Environmental Studies
About the lab
The Onyenedum Lab (EST. 2020) seeks to investigate the evolutionary developmental biology underpinning plant diversity. We investigate how fine-scale developmental processes drive large-scale macroevolutionary patterns, with a particular interest in addressing the repeated and independent evolution of climbing plants. To achieve this, we use integrative approaches, leveraging tools and techniques from classical anatomy and morphology, molecular phylogenetics, statistical phylogenetic comparative methods, developmental biology, and cell wall biology.
Featured research (1)
Aristolochia pulvinata Yi-Fan Wang & Zhi-Jian Yin, a new species of Aristolochia subgenus Siphisia (Aristolochiaceae) from Yunnan Province, southwest China, is described and illustrated. Aristolochia pulvinata is distinguished by its unique characters: an elevated and thickened pulvinate structure in the inferior calyx limbs of its perianth. Morphologically, it resembles A. ovatifolia, A. melanocephala, A. utriformis, and A. luudamcui due to the similar thickening on the calyx limb region, but it differs in terms of degree, surface texture, color, and angle, as well as leaf morphology. This species, discovered and known only from one region, is assessed as Critically Endangered (CR) according to IUCN categories and criteria. This publication includes detailed morphological illustrations of A. pulvinata, with comparative photo plates and a table that highlights distinguishing features relative to similar species.