Maximising informativeness for target capture-based phylogenomics in (Ericaceae).

Plant phylogenetics has been revolutionised in the genomic era, with target capture acting as the primary workhorse of most recent research in the new field of phylogenomics. Target capture (aka Hyb-Seq) allows researchers to sequence hundreds of genomic regions (loci) of their choosing, at relatively low cost per sample, from which to derive phylogenetically informative data. Although this highly flexible and widely applicable method has rightly earned its place as the field's standard, it does not come without its challenges.

Pollinator shifts despite hybridisation in the Cape's hyperdiverse heathers (Erica, Ericaceae).

Interrogating the ecological and geographic factors that influence population divergence dynamics can reveal why some groups of organisms diversify more prolifically than others. One such group is the heathers (Erica, Ericaceae), the largest plant genus in the Cape Floristic Region. We study Erica abietina, a highly variable species complex with four subspecies differing in geographic range, habitat and pollination syndrome.

Redefining the megagenus L. (Ericaceae): the contributions of E. G. H. Oliver and I. M. Oliver (née Nitzsche) to taxonomy and nomenclature.

The megagenus L. (Ericaceae), as it is recognised today, includes 851 species of evergreen shrubs or small trees, the majority of which are endemic to the Cape Floristic Region of South Africa. From the first descriptions in Linnaeus's , a succession of authors ascribed the steadily accumulating numbers of known species to various of a total of 72 different genera.

Curating an online checklist for Erica L. (Ericaceae): contributing to and supporting global conservation through the World Flora Online.

To support the work of the Global Conservation Consortium for and update the checklist in the World Flora Online (WFO), we have curated the taxonomic backbone in the WFO by expanding it to include updated nomenclatural information from the International Plant Name Index, missing names present in the World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP), the Botanical Database of Southern Africa (BODATSA), and from the "International register of heather names" database, a data source not readily available online. The result is the most robust database of names to date, including 851 species, 111 subspecies, 244 varieties, and 2787 synonyms, which is a reliable reference for initiatives such as the identification aid, conservation prioritisation, and gap analyses. We disambiguate common orthographic variants within the database and present an overview of these.