Contact Info

Christopher R. Hardy, Ph.D.
Keeper of the Herbarium,
Assistant Professor &
Biology Club Advisor
(click name to see Dr. Hardy's profile)

Department of Biology
Millersville University
288 Roddy Hall
50 E. Frederick St.
Millersville, PA 17551, USA

Phone: (717) 871-2312
Fax: (717) 872-3905
christopher.hardy[at]millersville.edu

Services

• Specimen Holdings for Local Taxonomic & Floristic Studies
• Specimen Repository for Plant Occurrence Records
• Botanical Library
• Plant Identification
• Botanical Forensics
• Horticultural Consultation

Herbarium Associates

What is a Herbarium Associate?

Nazli W. Hardy, Ph.D., M.B.A.
Associate Professor of Computer Science
Millersville University
Interests: Biodiversity informatics; Network security; Internet education.

Jorge Mena-Alí , Ph.D.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology
Franklin & Marshall College
Interests: Ecology and evolution of host-pathogen interactions; Portulacaceae.

Howard J. Miller, Jr.
James C. Parks Herbarium
Millersville University
Interests: Grape systematics; Viticultural science.

News (students in boldface)

Jun: Dr. Hardy is scheduled to give an invited seminar at the Harvard Club of New York to the New York Botanical Garden Board of Trustees 17 Jun 2010.

Apr: A Herbarium Open House is scheduled for Monday, 19 Apr 2010, 5:30-8 pm, in the Herbarium (Roddy Hall 270). Dr. Hardy will be giving a seminar at 6 pm on the Importance of Herbarium Collections in Biodiversity Research & Conservation. This Open House is open to the public and light refreshments will be served.

Nov: Dr. Hardy gave a demonstration of Wiki-Plant-Atlas to the Muhlenberg Botanical Society at the North Museum (19 Nov 2009; 7:30 pm).

Oct: Dr. Jorge Mena-Alí (Visiting Assistant Professor at nearby Franklin & Marshall and Parks Herbarium Associate) was recently awarded a NSF grant to study the ecology and evolution of host-pathogen interactions using the Portulacaceae as the host-model system. Dr. Mena-Alí will be conducting much of his research at the Herbarium. Learn more...

Oct: The Herbarium/Botany Program's Coconut Exhibit is on display in the Roddy-Caputo stairwell area. The living coconut palm is 2 years old.

Aug: Mr. Dan Yoder, Dr. Hardy, and Herbarium Associate Howard Miller erected the demonstration grape trellis. The grape trellis currently has vines of the muscadine grape and frost grape growing on it. Spring 2010 will see the planting of several additional native Pennsylvanian species, as well as several varieties of wine, juice, and table grapes.

Jul: Ms. Lindsey Sloat (Biology '06) has had an article based on her Departmental Honors Thesis published in the July issue of American Journal of Botany. See an abstract of the article about dayflower development and ecology here, at the journal's Advance Access site.

Jun: The Herbarium is helping to sponsor the 2009 Native Plants in the Landscape Conference @ Millersville (brouchure, website).

May: Mr. Dan Yoder (B.Sc. candidate) has started his fieldwork for his project on the systematics and cultivation of wild grapes. In support of this work he has received grants from the Office of Graduate & Professional Studies as well as Howard Miller & Associates. Highlights of his fieldwork include a trip to the Carolinas and Georgia to collected wild grapes.

Apr: Mr. Jason Ryndock (Biology '08) has submitted a manuscript with Dr. Hardy for review for publication with the journal Botanical Review. The manuscript is titled Morphology and Organogenesis of the Flowers in Tinantia pringlei, a Mexican spiderwort.

Apr: Ms. Sara Helm (former Biology B.Sc) has accepted a job with Longwood Gardens to identify and inventory their native plants collection. She will be using her plant identification skills obtained in Plant Systematics (BIOL 325).

Apr: Dr. Hardy presented the newly released Wiki-Plant-Atlas to botanists at the 2009 Rare Plant Forum held Apr 4 at Bald Eagle State Park, Pennsylvania.

Mar: Dr. Hardy presented a lecture on Forensic Botany to the 2009 Forensic Chemistry class (CHEM 486) at Millersville.

Mar: Dr. Hardy presented a lecture on the systematics and ethnobotany of coffee to Dr. Wallace's General Biology class (BIOL 100) at Millersville.

Feb: Dr. Hardy gave an invited seminar entitled Notes on the Natural History and Evolution of the Cape Flora, Southern Africa. (26 Feb 2009, Philadelphia Botanical Club, Philadelphia.)

Jan: Dr. Hardy presented Some Aspects of Ancestor Reconstruction for the Study of Floral Assembly to the Floral Assembly Group at the National Evolutioanry Synthesis Center in Durham, North Carolina (7 Jan 2009). A printable copy of the presentation is here: Hardy-presentation.

-archive

 

About the Herbarium

Millersville University’s James C. Parks Herbarium (registered among the World's herbaria as MVSC) is a regional leader in biodiversity research and informatics. The Herbarium's mission is the pursuit and dissemination of knowledge about biodiversity, with an obvious emphasis on plant diversity, and its products include research articles, web applications, and educational posters (listed below). Facilities include a modestly sized botanical library and an archived collection of 15,000 pressed or pickled plant specimens primarily from our region’s flora. These specimens serve generally as

• historical records of regional species' distributions,
• the basis for new species descriptions and other taxonomic studies,
• teaching aids,
• reference specimens for applications requiring accurate species identification (e.g., forensics or taxonomic and floristic surveys)
• archived voucher specimens to document the species identity of plants used for various other biological investigations.

Since 2004, the herbarium has been named in honor of the late MU professor who built it, James C. Parks. (Click here to see the herbarium.)

A mashup of authoritative sources of information about Pennsylvania's mammals.	An illustrated interactive guide to habits, nativity, conservation & wetland status for Lancaster County plants.	An informative mashup of authoritative sources of information about the woody vines of PA.

A Website with information & photos of some non-native plants in and around Pennsylvanian woodlands.	An interactive illustrated guide to habits, nativity, conservation & wetland status for Lancaster County plants.	An interactive illustrated guide to habits, nativity, & conservation status for woody plants of PA.

	For Manuel.

A 22x28" poster-version of an illustrated glossary of botanical terminology.	A 22x28" poster-version of a photographic guide to plants invasive to Mid-Atlantic woodlands	A 24x36" poster-version of a photographic guide to lawn weeds

Notes: 1. Herbarium authors are in bold-face font.
2. An asterisk (*) indicates student author.

2009

Hardy CR, J Ryndock*^{[MU '08]} (in review) Morphology and organogenesis of the flowers in Tinantia pringlei, a Mexican spiderwort (Commelinaceae). Botanical Review.

Hardy CR, LL Sloat*^{[MU '06]}, RB Faden (2009) Floral organogenesis and the developmental basis for pollinator deception in the Asiatic dayflower Commelina communis (Commelinaceae). American Journal of Botany 96: 1236-1244.

2008

Hardy CR, NW Hardy (2008) Simple biodiversity mashups for non-tech-savvy biologists: a demonstration using the liana flora of Pennsylvania, USA. Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society 135: 585-594. (Please contact Keeper for pdf of article.)

Hardy CR, P Moline, HP Linder (2008) A Phylogeny for the African Restionaceae, and New Perspectives on Morphology's Role in Generating Complete Species Phylogenies for Large Clades. International Journal of Plant Sciences 169: 377-390.
(Please contact Keeper for pdf of article; click here for supporting electronic appendices, matrices, and cladograms)

NW Hardy, CR Hardy (2008) Interactive Google Map application to mark species distribution on campus. Proceedings of the 24th Annual Eastern Conference of the Consortium for Computing Science (Hood College, Frederick, Maryland).

2007

Hardy CR, HP Linder (2007) Phylogeny and historical ecology of Rhodocoma (Restionaceae) from the Cape Floristic Region. Aliso 23: 213-226.
(pdf available)

2006

Hardy CR (2006) Reconstructing ancestral ecologies: challenges and possible solutions. Diversity & Distributions 12: 7-19.
(pdf available)

Davis JI, G Petersen, O Seberg, DW Stevenson, CR Hardy, MP Simmons, FA Michelangeli, DH Goldman, LM Campbell, CD Specht, JI Cohen (2006) Are mitochondrial genes useful for the analysis of monocot relationships? Taxon 55: 857-870.

Petersen G, O Seberg, JI Davis, D Goldman, DW Stevenson, LM Campbell, FA Michelangeli, CD Specht, MW Chase, MF Fay, JC Pires, JV Freudenstein, CR Hardy, MP Simmons (2006) Mitochondrial data in monocot phylogenetics. Aliso 22: 52-62.
(pdf available)

2005

Hardy CR, HP Linder (2005) Intraspecific variability and timing in ancestral ecology reconstruction: A test case from the Cape flora. Systematic Biology 54 (2): 299-316.
(pdf available)

Linder HP, CR Hardy (2005) Speciation in the Cape flora: A macroevolutionary and macroecological perspective. Pp. 46-73 in F. T.
Bakker, L. W. Chatrou, B. Gravendeel and P. B. Pelser, eds. Plant species-level systematics: new perspectives on pattern & process. Koeltz, Königstein
(pdf available)

Linder HP, CR Hardy, F Rutschmann (2005) Taxon sampling effects in molecular clock dating: An example from the African Restionaceae. Molecular Phylogenetics & Evolution 35: 569-582.
(pdf available)

2004

Hardy CR, RB Faden (2004). Commelinaceae. Pp 425-427 in Smith N, S Mori, A Henderson, DW Stevenson, SV Heald (eds.) Flowering Plants of the Neotropics. Princeton University Press.

Hardy CR, RB Faden (2004) Plowmanianthus, a new genus of Commelinaceae with five new species from tropical America. Systematic Botany 29 (2): 316-333.
(pdf available)

Hardy CR, JI Davis, DW Stevenson (2004) Floral organogenesis in Plowmanianthus (Commelinaceae). International Journal of Plant Sciences 165 (4): 511-519.
(pdf available)

Davis JI, DW Stevenson, G Petersen, O Seberg, LM Campbell, JV Freudenstein, DH Goldman, CR Hardy, FA Michelangeli, MP Simmons, CD Specht, F Vergara-Silva, MA Gandolfo (2004) A phylogeny of the monocots, as inferred from rbcL and atpA sequence variation, and a comparison of methods for calculating jackknife and bootstrap values. Systematic Botany 29 (3): 467-510.
(pdf available)

Linder HP, CR Hardy (2004) Evolution of the species-rich Cape flora. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B 359 (1450): 1623-1632.
(pdf available)  

2003

Hardy CR (2003) Malawi . Natural History 112 (travel issue, supplement 4A): 75.

Hardy CR, DL Lipscomb, KC Nixon, H Ochoterena (2003) WinClada ver. 1.0, a basic users manual. Available upon request from Kevin C. Nixon, Bailey Hortorium, 462 Mann Library, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853.  

2001

Hardy CR (2001) Systematics of Cochliostema, Geogenanthus, and an undescribed genus in the spiderwort family Commelinaceae. Ph.D. Dissertation, Cornell University , Ithaca , NY .  

2000

Dyer AF, JC Parks, S Lindsay (2000) Historical review of the uncertain taxonomic status of Cystopteris dickieana R.Sim (Dickie's bladder fern). Edinburgh Journal of Botany 57 (1): 71-81.
(Millersville Library Bibliography)

Hardy CR, DW Stevenson (2000) Floral organogenesis in some species of Tradescantia and Callisia (Commelinaceae). International Journal of Plant Sciences 161 (4): 551-562.
(pdf available)

Hardy CR, DW Stevenson (2000) Development of the flower, gametophytes, and floral vasculature in Cochliostema odoratissimum (Commelinaceae). Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 134 (1): 131-157.
(pdf available)

Hardy CR, DW Stevenson, HG Kiss (2000) Development of the flower, gametophytes, and floral vasculature in Dichorisandra thyrsiflora (Commelinaceae). American Journal of Botany 87 (9): 1228-1239.
(pdf available)

Parks JC, AF Dyter, S Lindsay (2000) Allozyme, spore and frond variation in some Scottish populations of the ferns Cystopteris dickieana and Cystopteris fragilis. Edinburgh Journal of Botany 57 (1): 83-105.
(Millersville Library Bibliography)

Parks JC (2000). Lycopodiaceae. Pp 64-70 in Rhoads AF, TA Block (eds.) The plants of Pennsylvania: an illustrated manual. University of Pennsylvania Press.
(Millersville Library Bibliography)

Parks JC, JD Montgomery (2000). Ferns. Pp 71-106 in Rhoads AF, TA Block (eds.) The plants of Pennsylvania: an illustrated manual. University of Pennsylvania Press.
(Millersville Library Bibliography)

Stevenson DW, JI Davis, JV Freudenstein, CR Hardy, MP Simmons, CD Specht (2000) A phylogenetic analysis of the monocotyledons based on morphological and molecular character sets, with comments on the placement of Acorus and Hydatellaceae. Pp 17-24 in Wilson KL and DA Morrison (eds.) Monocots: systematics and evolution. CSIRO Publishing: Australia.

1998

Parks JC, KA Mosser (1998) A morphological and allozymal study of a Cystoperis tennesseensis (Dryopteridaceae) population: first report of the species in Lancaster County, PA. Journal of the Pennsylvania Academy of Sciences 71 (2): 78-83.
(Millersville Library Bibliography)

1989

Parks JC (1989) Distribution of gametophytic populations of Vittaria and Trichomanes in Pennsylvania. Rhodora 91: 201-206.
(Millersville Library Bibliography)

1985

Parks JC (1985) Erigenia bulbosa in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Bartonia 51.
(Millersville Library Bibliography)

Stober SS, JC Parks (1985) Chromosomal studies of Physalis virginiana var. subglabrata and Physalis heterophylla. Bartonia 51: 65-68.
(Millersville Library Bibliography)

1984

Parks JC (1984) A first report of the fern genus Vittaria in New York. Rhodora 86 (848): 421-423.
(Millersville Library Bibliography)

Parks JC (1984) New Pennsylvania locality of Cryptogramma stelleri. Bartonia 50: 63.
(Millersville Library Bibliography)

1983

Parks JC (1983) The fern genera Vittaria and Trichomanes in the Northeastern United States. Rhodora 85 (841): 83-92.
(Millersville Library Bibliography)

1973

Parks JC (1973) A revision of North American and Caribbean Melanthera (Compositae). Rhodora 75: 169-210.
(Millersville Library Bibliography)

1969

Parks JC (1969) Simple technique for demonstrating chromosomal coils using Tradescantia pollen mother cells. Proceedings of the Pennsylvania Academy of Science 43: 61-63.  
(Millersville Library Bibliography)

1968

Parks JC (1968) A revision of the genus Melanthera Rohr (Compositae): in North America and the Caribbean. Ph.D. Dissertation, Vanderbilt University.  
(Millersville Library Bibliography)