Thank you for a fantastic Intermountain Botanical Foray 2026, The Rubies! For those of you who missed this year, the Rubies did not disappoint! Our iNaturalist project already has over 2,893 observations and 576 species! Action shots from the foray can be found on Box through this link: usu.box.com/s/… . And the long-awaited Plant of the Foray! This year it was tricky, and we opted for a 2.5-way tie. First is Pearce Lucas’ extraordinary Opuntia fragilis, a first collection for Nevada and the Great Basin!
inaturalist.org/observations/385107226. The other 1.5 plants of the Foray are a pair of sedges that haven’t been reported for Nevada since Bassett Maguire collected them in the early 1940s, one of which was from the same location that we collected it. It was a nice feeling to be following in Maguire’s footsteps, given his formative role in the Intermountain Herbarium. inaturalist.org/observations/385327715
inaturalist.org/observations/385792929
We are grateful to everyone who participated and will see you all next year.

The Rothfels lab is proud to congratulate Caleb Akogwu in receiving the Volunteer Recognition Certificate in recognition of his service with TreeUtah and The Red Cross. Caleb’s service to the community extends far beyond this and he is always searching for ways to give his time, energy, and talents to great causes. He was given this award by the State of Utah in partnership with The Utah Commission on Service and Volunteerism as part of the America 250 celebration. Caleb is a great example to all of us of the values of charity, diligence, service, and kindness. We are lucky and happy to have him with us.

Check out TreeUtah’s Facebook and Instagram posts about Caleb!

This summer the Rothfels lab joined forces with the Kuo Fern Lab from National Tsing Hua University to go collecting in Taiwan! The trip was a success, collecting hundreds of herbarium specimens with over 1,100 iNaturalist observations documenting 417 species and counting! The team primarily focused on collecting and documenting the flora in the higher mountain areas of the island. Included in their travels was a five day backpacking trip where they traversed over 40 kilometers and climbed from 1800 meters to 3600 meters in elevation. The Rothfels lab stops at nothing to ensure ferns are documented. Apart from the botany, they also enjoyed exploring Taiwan in all of its beauty and culture. They saw beautiful mountain vistas, marvelled at public transportation, and enjoyed delicious food. The Rothfels Lab would all like to extend a special thanks to the Kuo Fern Lab, particularly to En Liu, You-Wun Hwang, and Li Chieh Wang who accompanied us and made this all possible. Without them we probably wouldn’t have made it out of the airport.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To start this year’s field season, the Rothfels Lab set out on a daring adventure.
Rumors had been whispered in hushed tones of something unthinkable: a legend that
north of Malad, Idaho, upon the cliffs of Elkhorn Peak and the surrounding mountains,
a population of Cystopteris utahensis lay in wait — discoverable
only by those most noble of heart, intrepid of mind, trained of body, and nerdy about
ferns.

The lab, accompanied by Kris Valles, curator of the USU Herbarium, believed themselves
worthy of the task. Their mission: find the true northern extent of C. utahensis —
or perhaps discover a new species entirely. A C. idahoensis…?

As fate would have it, no marvelous discoveries were made, but the valiant adventurers
had a wonderful time trying out their field legs for the season. Ferns were identified,
plants were collected, pickles were shared, and good times were had by all in this band
of botanists.

Congratulations Julia!!!

Julia has successfully unlocked her candidate superpowers after an excellent comps performance!

 

 

 

Extending Our Streak!

Team Rushfels Labs successfully defending their coveted pumpkin-carving crown, earning Best In Show at the departmental pumpkin carving contest. But the competition was stiff!

Look’it those bivalents!

 

Julia has officially leveled-up to Chromosome Counter Extraordinaire! You can see the chromosomes! In the cell! With your eye! How cool is that???

Julia counts 81 chromosome pairs/bivalents/tetrads. So since the base number of chromosomes in Cystopteris is x=42, there are presumably 84 pairs present, meaning that this plant it is a tetraploid. Thank you to Mike Windham and James Beck for helping us continue the cytological dark arts!

 

Caleb has joined the lab!

We (rLab sensu stricto, lato, and everything in between) are excited to welcome Caleb Onoja Akogwu to the lab!! Fresh from a summer of finishing his Master’s (in China), visiting family (in Nigeria), and completing a major fellowship application, Caleb has settled right down to a relaxing semester as a new PhD student. So great to have you here Caleb!

 

 

 

 

Rlab sensu lato Melts in the Desert (and Delivers the Science and Good Times)

It is/was Botany time again! Palm Springs in late July might not be my first choice, but in fairness it wasn’t the conference’s first choice either. Regardless, the Rothfels Lab sensu lato represented and good times were had! A highlight was a colloquium celebrating the careers and individuals of Kathleen Pryer (my phd advisor) and Michael Windham (my pretty much co-advisor). It was great to see everyone come together and celebrate these two extraordinary people.

 

 

 

 

 

The legendary Woods Hole phylogenetics workshop

This May, Chinedum attended the Workshop on Molecular Evolution at Woods Hole, and wow—what an experience! Two weeks of intense lectures, hands-on coding, and late-night phylogenetics discussions with some of the brightest minds in evolutionary biology. From wrestling with RevBayes scripts to exploring molecular clocks and model testing, Chinedum was definitely pushed out of his comfort zone (in the best way) and came home buzzing with new ideas for his dissertation research. He called it one of the most intellectually intense—and rewarding—experiences of grad school so far. Plus, learning all of this while overlooking the ocean and bonding with brilliant, like-minded nerds? 10/10—would absolutely nerd out again.