Coral bean (Erythrina flabelliformis) is a broad-leaved shrub with dramatic, scarlet hummingbird pollinated flowers, which reaches its northernmost distribution in southern Arizona. It’s found in the foothills of the Sky Islands, from about 2500-5000 ft in elevation, mostly in rocky oak and mesquite grassland. In this talk, Lyn will summarize what she and her collaborators have learned about its life history, its flowering biology, and the various interactions that this plant has with other species in the habitats where it is found.
Lyn is a plant population biologist and population geneticist who is interested in how genes move about in natural populations. A retired biology professor who taught at The College of Wooster in Ohio before moving to Tucson, Lyn has been working on Coral Bean in southern Arizona and Sonora for 15 years. She and her students have undertaken a wide variety of projects, first at the Southwest Research Station in the Chiricahua Mountains, and then at the Amerind Foundation in Dragoon. One of the first things she did upon moving to Tucson was to join the Native Plant Society, and her favorite way to spend time is to go out looking for cool plants.
