PD Dr. Matthias Erben

Field of work

Systematics of angiosperms

Research interests

Systematics of the genera Limonium (Plumbaginaceae) and Viola (Violaceae), Mediterranean flora.

The genus Limonium comprises approximately 600 species and 300 hybrids and is distributed across the coastal, steppe, and desert regions of all continents, but primarily in the Old World. Its representatives are only facultative halophytes, but for competitive reasons they have been largely displaced to salt- or mineral-rich locations.

Due to its extraordinary diversity of forms – there are approximately 450 species – and its worldwide distribution, the genus Viola must be considered to be relatively old. The majority of species belong to the northern temperate zone.

While hybridization in conjunction with apomixis is of fundamental importance as an essential mechanism of clade differentiation in the genus Limonium, sexuality in conjunction with hybridization has led to similarly complex relationships in the genus Viola.

Using karyological methods and comparative cultivation experiments – over 1,500 plants have been cultivated to date – it has been possible to largely unravel these complex forms. Several of these studies are being conducted in close cooperation with foreign institutes. This is particularly evident in the participation in the Flora Iberica and Flora Hellenica projects, in the collaboration in the referee committees for Flora Mediterranea (Palermo) and Anales del Jardín Botánico de Madrid, and in the function as a member of the OPTIMA Commission for Karyosystematics.