Dr. Lena Struwe
© Rutgers Univ.

Ring gentian

photo: Lena Struwe

Potalia gentian
photo: Paul Maas

Tachia gentian

photo: Paul Maas

Bottle gentian

photo: John Mitchell

Associate Professor
Director, Chrysler Herbarium (CHRB)

Dept. of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources
  & Dept. of Plant Science and Pathology
237 Foran Hall, 59 Dudley Road
Cook Campus, Rutgers University
New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8551, USA 

Phone: (732) 932-9711 x235,  Fax: (732) 932-9411

E-mail: struwe@aesop.rutgers.edu 

Research Interests:
I am involved in several different research areas that involves taxonomy and biodiversity, historical biogeography , GIS, and phylogenetics, and ethnobotany or non-traditional application of phylogenetic methods in ecology and biogeography. I work in several areas of the world, with emphasis on Latin America and Central Asia.

My main research focus is the historical evolution and biodiversity of angiosperms, especially plants from the order Gentianales and its families Apocynaceae (dogbanes and milkweeds), Gelsemiaceae (Carolina jessamine), Gentianaceae (gentians), Loganiaceae (strychnine family), and Rubiaceae (coffee and madder family). I am investigating tropical plant diversity, evolution, and biogeography based on phylogenetic reconstructions using anatomical, morphological, and molecular data. Much of my recent work has focused on the classification and phylogeny of the families Gentianaceae and Loganiaceae. The gentian family is also the focus of my research in the evolution of morphology and New World biogeography.  

This means that I look at a group of plants and track their ancestors and changes in their looks and attributes through their evolution tens of millions of years into the past. How old are these species? Where did they evolve?  How did they get there?  Which traits have they inherited from their ancestors?  Why do they look like this? How did their looks become like this? How do their flowers and fruits develop? What are their proper names and how many species are there out there?  Are they endangered?  How are they useful to humans? Why are some flowers pollinated by hummingbirds and others by bats, bees, or moths? Why do some grow in the mountains and some in the rainforests or on savannas?

These are some of the questions I study using modern molecular (DNA) and traditional (morphological) techniques. This requires field work for collecting new plant material, visits to herbaria in many countries to study specimens collected during the last 300 years, and work in my laboratory with DNA sequencing, herbarium material, computers, and microscopes.
     We use methodologies such as histological preparations, SEM, GIS, statistical methods (multivariate statistics, etc.), light microscopy, phylogenetic analyses (parsimony, Bayesian, and maximum likelihood), and DNA sequencing.

In addition to plant systematics and evolution I work with sustainable use of plants for medicinal research on an international scale through the projects of ICBG Central Asia and GIBEX.

For more information on gentians, see the Gentian Research Network.   What is a gentian? 

FUN STUFF: Macrocarpaea apparata - a new species named after Harry Potter's adventures. (photos)