Erica Wheeler: Wild onions from the wild west

Date: 7:30pm, Oct 8, 2014

Wild onions from the wild west: a tour of the beauty, diversity and evolutionary history of North American Allium species

Erica Wheeler, PhD.  Botany Collections Manager, Royal British Columbia Museum

 Erica Wheeler is a taxonomic expert in the genus Allium (Amaryllidaceae) in North America.  Over the last twelve years her research has ranged from the conservation genetics of the rare slim-leaf onion (Allium amplectens) in British Columbia, to the evolutionary relationships among the 84 species of Allium native to North America.  Erica grew up at the foot of the Coast Mountains in Deep Cove, North Vancouver, where she developed an early appreciation for the diversity of the botanical world.  She lives in Victoria where she is the Botany Collections Manager at the Royal British Columbia Museum herbarium.  

 Erica's presentation will focus on the genus Allium, its distribution around the world, and the diversity of species found in North America.

Allium crenulatum from Drabble Mountain