Relationships among major clades of Opuntieae and the circumscription of Opuntia s.s. were unresolved prior to this study. Opuntia s.s., as currently circumscribed, comprises 120-200 species, occurring natively throughout the Americas. The Opuntia humifusa species complex (OHC) is taxonomically misunderstood due to high morphological variability, frequent hybridization, and polyploidy. There is no comprehensive phylogeny of either the genus or the O. humifusa complex. The goal of this study was to reconstruct the phylogeny of Opuntieae to elucidate major clade relationships, divergence times, and the biogeographic history of Opuntia s.s. Evolutionary relationships and ploidal levels of the Humifusa clade [HC (including the OHC)] were assessed to provide the foundation for a taxonomic revision of the OHC.

Reconnect. Restore. Reciprocate. Repairing landscapes and reconnecting us to the wild plant communities around us. Integrating restoration practices, foraging, herbalism, rewilding, and permaculture, Wild Plant Culture is a comprehensive guide to the ecological restoration of native edible and medicinal plant communities in Eastern North America. Blending science, practice, and traditional knowledge, it makes bold connections that are actionable, innovative, and ecologically imperative for repairing both degraded landscapes and our broken cultural relationship with nature. Coverage includes: Understanding and engaging in mutually beneficial human-plant connections Techniques for observing the land's existing and potential plant communities Baseline monitoring, site preparation, seeding, planting, and maintaining restored areas Botanical fieldwork restoration stories and examples Detailed profiles of 209 native plants and their uses. Both a practical guide and an evocative read that will transport you deep into the natural landscape, Wild Plant Culture is an essential toolkit for gardeners, farmers, and ecological restoration practitioners, highlighting the important role humans play in tending and mending native plant communities.

The Nags Head Woods complex (Outer Banks, Dare County, North Carolina) hosts the best remaining example of exceedingly rare, mid-Atlantic maritime deciduous forest and also includes an extensive system of open dunes, evergreen forest, interdunal ponds, swamps, and marshes. Over 550 plant species in 122 families have been reported from the site, constituting nearly three-quarters of the known Outer Banks flora. This manual was developed based on field and herbarium study and seeks to document the rich flora of Nags Head Woods. Keys, descriptions, and illustrations, as well as notes on phenology, habitat, and the broader distribution of included taxa on the Outer Banks, are provided. Relevant herbarium specimens known to the author from the main depositories of Outer Banks collections, as well as important literature reports, are cited after the species descriptions.