Teaching Interests
BSC 103 Biology and Society
BSC 305 Evolution
BSC 430/L 530/L Aquatic and Marsh Plants
BSC 433/L 533/L
Plant Systematics
BSC 706/L Principles of Biological
Systematics
Research Interests
Plant systematics and floristics are
the two major areas of my research. In systematics, my
research focuses on the tropical relatives of willows,
poplars, and cottonwoods (Salicaceae), trees and shrubs
formerly placed in the heterogeneous family
Flacourtiaceae. Delimiting and describing species,
working out the nomenclature, and mapping distributions
make up the classical aspects of these studies, and
inferring relationships using phylogenetic techniques
with data obtained from morphology, phytochemistry,
anatomy, and DNA sequences make up the modern aspects.
Although I study relationships throughout the family
(and related families), my descriptive and exploratory
research has been focused on neotropical members.
Present interests include inferring the evolution of the
reduced flowers of willows and reconstructing the
biogeographical history of the family.
In floristics, my research focuses on
the state of Mississippi and the southeastern coastal
plain. Mississippi currently lacks a manual, taxonomic
keys, and county-level distribution maps of the known
species of plants, and only recently has an electronic
checklist of the species become available. Along with
databasing the existing collections, I am actively
collecting within the state to ensure that a complete
checklist is prepared and that distribution maps reflect
the actual distributions. I am also actively involved in
the Flora Mesoamericana project, which covers plants
that occur in southern Mexico to Panama.
Students are welcome in both of these
areas of research. Local floras, species complexes in
both the southeastern U.S. and the tropics, and
classical and modern taxonomic questions are topics
ready for pursuit.
I am also curator of the USM
Herbarium. The collection presently consists of about
25,000 specimens and is an invaluable resource for the
flora of Mississippi. We also house the plant specimens
collected from the military’s Camp McCain and Camp
Shelby Training Sites.
Representative Publications
Alford, M. H. 2006. Gerrardinaceae: A
new family of African flowering plants unresolved among
Brassicales, Huerteales, Malvales, and Sapindales.
Taxon 55: 959-964.
Alford, M. H. 2006. Nomenclatural innovations in
neotropical Salicaceae. Novon 16: 293-298.
Alford, M. H. 2006. A taxonomic revision of the Andean
genus Pineda (Salicaceae). Kew Bulletin
61: 205-214.
Alford, M.H. 2003. Claves para los géneros de
Flacourtiaceae de Perú y del Nuevo Mundo. Arnaldoa
10: 19-38.
Alford, M.H. 2001. The vascular flora of Amite
County, Mississippi. Sida 19: 645-699.
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