Camassia (wild hyacinth or camas) is a species complex which is distributed across North America and which contains taxa with widespread morphological and ecological variation. Several species and subspecies also occur in areas of sympatry with hybridization potential, thus often creating confusion in terms of the taxonomy of this group. We are using the camas system to examine the question of “What is a species?” using an integrative taxonomical approach. Working with Drs. Susan Kephart and Kathryn Theiss of Williamette University and Dr. Jenny Archibald at University of Kansas, we are examining species delimitation using several different approaches: morphometric analysis, phylogenetics, reproductive studies, ecological niche modeling, and population genetics/gene flow studies.
The Culley Lab 