Talk:James C. Parks

Compositae
Dr. Parks conducted his doctoral dissertation on a taxonomic revision of the North American and Caribbean genus Melanthera Rohr (Compositae; Parks 1968), followed up by a 1973 publication, which, among other revisions, recognized the taxon Melanthera aspera var. glabriuscula (Kuntze) J.C.Parks. However, his subsequent treatment of the genus in Flora of North America combined this and other ecotypes of M. aspera with Melanthera nivea.

Ferns
Parks also researched American ferns. He collaborated with Donald R. Farrar in studying the fern genera Trichomanes and Vittaria, which are found in the northeastern United States almost exclusively in gametophyte form, reproducing without a sporophyte generation. Parks published a review of their distribution in Pennsylvania in 1989.

He also examined the difficult genus Cystopteris, reporting the first station of C. tennessensis in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and collaborating in a study that grouped C. dickieana as a variety of C. fragilis.

Parks' other work in fern systematics included an examination of genetic variation in a bracken (Pteridium aquilinum) population, and he provided the basis for the treatment of Lycopodiaceae and (with JD Montgomery) Pteridophyta in The plants of Pennsylvania: an illustrated manual.

other work-Physalia study, Erigenia report Choess (talk) 08:16, 26 July 2011 (UTC)