Vorontsova, Maria, S.
Job Title
Grass Taxonomist
Department
Herbarium, Library, Art & Archives
Section
Monocot Systematics
Science Teams:
Joined Kew:
2004Foreign Language(s):
Russian, LatinQualifications & Appointments
PhD, Open University, sponsored by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 2008
MA, Natural Sciences, University of Cambridge, 2003
BA, Natural Sciences, University of Cambridge, 2000
Book Reviews Editor of the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 2011 onwards
Systematics Association Council 2010 onwards
Editor of Phytotaxa 2009 onwards
Fellow of the Linnean Society of London
Role
Research into the taxonomy and evolution of Poaceae and management of Grassbase
Research into the taxonomy and evolutionary history of grasses with special emphasis on the grasses of Madagascar and early diverging grass lineages. Development and curation of Grassbase: the largest standardised descriptive dataset of any plant group with ca, 11,000 species descriptions and 60,000 taxon names. Organisation of the grass collections at the RBG Kew herbarium, supervision of curation, staff, visitors and volunteers, and carrying out naming of incoming material. Teaching courses on grass evolution and identification to MSc students at the University of Reading and the University of Kent, and to Diploma in Horticulture students.
Projects
- Checklist of the Plants of the Arabian Peninsula
- eMonocot
- Evolution of Tribe Poranthereae (Phyllanthaceae) - COMPLETED 2010
- Evolution and Systematics of Puelia and Guaduella
- Flora of China
- Flora of Tropical East Africa
- Grasses of Madagascar
- Electronic cataloguing and imaging of monocot type specimens
- Morphological Innovations in Poales
- Systematics course material for horticultural students
- Target 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation 2010- A working list of known plant species.
- GrassBase
Selected Recent Publications
Clayton, W.D.,Vorontsova, M.S., Harman, K.T. & Williamson, H. 2011. GrassBase - The Online World Grass Flora. (http://www.kew.org/data/grassbase/index.html)
Vorontsova, M.S. & Knapp, S. Solanum sections Melongena, Monodolichopus, and Oliganthes. In: J.M. Edmonds, Flora of Tropical East Africa: Solanaceae. In press.
Vorontsova, M.S. & McNeill, A. 2011. Kew Record of Taxonomic Literature 1935-2007. Taxon 60: 618–619.
Vorontsova, M.S. & Mbago, F.M. 2010 publ. 2011. New Solanum from Tanzanian coastal forest may already be extinct. Journal of East African Natural History 99: 227-234.
Vorontsova, M.S. 2010. The spiny wild aubergine hunt. 17 March-15 April 2010. Nature Plus interactive field work blog (http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/blogs/wildspiny).
Vorontsova, M.S., Kirika, P. & Muthoka, P. 2010. Overlooked diversity in African Solanum: new and endangered Solanum agnewiorum from Kenya. Phytotaxa 10: 31-37.
Vorontsova, M.S., Christenhusz, M.J.M., Kirika, P. & Muthoka, P. 2010. Three new species of Solanum from Kenya: using herbarium specimens to document environmental change. Systematic Botany 35: 894-906.
Vorontsova, M.S. & Knapp, S. 2010. Lost Berlin (B) types of Solanum (Solanaceae) – found in Göttingen (GOET). Taxon 59: 1585-1601.
Vorontsova, M.S. 2010. Revision of the genus Leptopus. Kew Bulletin 64: 627-645.
Selected Earlier Publications
Vorontsova, M. S., & Hoffmann, P. 2008. A phylogenetic classification of tribe Poranthereae (Phyllanthaceae; Euphorbiaceae sensu lato). Kew Bulletin 63: 41-59.
Vorontsova, M. S., Hoffmann, P., Maurin, O. & Chase, M. W. 2007. Molecular phylogenetics of tribe Poranthereae (Phyllanthaceae; Euphorbiaceae sensu lato). American Journal of Botany 94: 2026-2040.
