Lewis, Gwilym P.
Job TitleHead of Legume Section
DepartmentHerbarium, Library, Art & Archives
SectionSystematics
Science Teams:
Joined Kew: 1975
Foreign Language(s): Brazilian Portuguese (spoken), Spanish (spoken).
Qualifications & Appointments
BSc (Hons), Univ. London, 1973.
PhD, Univ. St Andrews, 1994.
Commission, Flora Neotropica.
Rupert Barneby, visiting researcher award, New York Botanical Garden (1996).
Two year sabbatical in Ecuador supported by the Carlsberg Foundation (1996–1998).
Consultant, Department for International Development (1998–2000).
Role
Systematics, biogeography, diversity and biology of neotropical Leguminosae, especially Caesalpinioideae (particularly Caesalpinia) and Mimosoideae.
Research focuses on the systematics of neotropical (mainly South American) Leguminosae, principally subfamilies Caesalpinioideae and Mimosoideae. Floristic work has been in the drylands and wet tropics of Brazil and the Andes of Ecuador, including monographic work on the large genus Caesalpinia. Research and publication is multidisciplinary (including: taxonomic revision, phylogenetic studies, reproductive biology, floral anatomy, phytochemistry and biogeography) and involves international networks and capacity-building through training and data repatriation. Fundamental identification services facilitate legume work in conservation and sustainable use, both at Kew and globally. Higher level systematic studies contribute to an improved legume phylogeny through international collaborative efforts and publication and dissemination of the results.
Projects
- Authentication and Chemical Fingerprinting of Economically Important Species
- Biogeography of the Leguminosae
(project completed 2010) - Diversity of Biologically Active Plants and Plant-Derived Compound
- Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change
- Flora Zambesiaca
- Flora Zambesiaca: Leguminosae
- Importance of Legumes and Legume-Derived Compounds in Medicine and Agriculture
- Isoflavonoids of the Leguminosae
- Kew Latin American Research Fellowships
- Legumes of the World Online
- Major Latin American Floras
- Evolution of Mimosoid Legume Pollen
- New Phylogeny of the Caesalpinioideae, Leguminosae
- Phylogenetic Diversity of the Malagasy Legumes: New Insights for the Conservation of the Malagasy Flora
- Plant Information for Northeast Brazil (Project completed 2009)
- Plant-Insect Interactions
- Pollen of the Cercideae
- Pollen Evolution
- Pollen of Polygalaceae
(project completed 2008) - Reflora
- Repatriation of Herbarium Data for Northeastern Brazil (Project completed 2009)
- Systematic Phytochemistry of Legumes
- Wood Anatomy of Leguminosae
- Toucan Cipó
- Lista do Brasil
Selected Recent Publications
Bruneau, A., Mecure, M., Lewis, G.P. & Herendeen, P.S. (2008). Phylogenetic patterns and diversifications in the caesalpinioid legumes. Canadian Journal of Botany 86: 697–718.
Gasson, P., Warner, K. & Lewis, G. (2009). Wood anatomy of Caesalpinia s.s., Coulteria, Erythrostemon, Guilandina, Libidibia, Mezoneuron, Poincianella, Pomaria and Tara (Leguminosae, Caesalpinioideae, Caesalpinieae). IAWA Journal 30(3): 247–276.
Sinou, C., Forest, F., Lewis, G. & Bruneau, A. (2009). The genus Bauhinia s. l. (Leguminosae): a phylogeny based on the plastid trnL-trnF region. Botany 87: 947–960.
Queiroz, L.P. de, Lewis, G.P. & Wojciechowski, M.F. (2010). Tabaroa, a new genus of Leguminosae tribe Brongniartieae from Brazil. Kew Bulletin 65: 189–203.
Pennington, R.T., Lavin, M., Särkinen, T., Lewis, G.P., Klitgaard, B.B. & Hughes, C.E. (2010). Contrasting plant diversification histories within the Andean biodiversity hotspot. PNAS 107 (31): 13783–13787.
Selected Earlier Publications
Lewis, G.P. (1998). Caesalpinia, A revision of the Poincianella-Erythrostemon Group. Kew: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 233 pp.
Hughes, C.E., Lewis, G.P., Yomona, A.D. & Reynal, C. (2004). Maraniona. A new Dalbergioid legume genus (Leguminosae, Papilionoideae) from Peru. Systematic Botany 29(2): 366–374.
Lewis, G., Schrire, B., Mackinder, B. & Lock, M. (eds) (2005). Legumes of the World. Kew: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. xiv, 577 pp.
Pennington, R.T., Lewis, G.P. & Ratter, J.A. (eds.) (2006). Neotropical savannas and dry forests: plant diversity, biogeography and conservation. The Systematics Association Special Volume Series 69. CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, Florida, 484 pp.
Bruneau, A., Mecure, M., Lewis, G.P. & Herendeen, P S. (2008). Phylogenetic patterns and diversifications in the caesalpinioid legumes. Canadian Journal of Botany 86: 697–718.
