EIU Department of Biology

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Dr. Gordon C. Tucker, Professor | Herbarium Curator

Office: 3027 - Life Sciences
Phone: 217-581-6240
Email: gctucker@eiu.edu

 

Dr. Tucker's Web Site

A vascular plant systematist, Dr. Tucker is a specialist on the sedge family. He serves as curator of the Stover-Ebinger Herbarium. He has strong interests in field botany and has conducted inventories for The Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources and other agencies. His teaching interests include Plant Taxonomy, Dendrology, Wetland and Aquatic Plants, Economic Botany, and Ethnobotany. He co-teaches a study abroad course, Plant Usage and Culture in China, with Dr. Zhiwei Liu. He has recently published papers and monographs on the sedges of North America, Venezuela, and Brazil. Current projects include studies of the sedge genera Cyperus, Kyllinga, and Carex for the Flora of China, in collaboration with the Missouri Botanical Garden and the Chinese National Academy of Sciences.

Frequently Taught Courses

Plant Taxonomy
Wetland Plants
Dendrology
Plants and Civilization
General Biology

Education

A.B. 1979.  Cornell University. Biology/Botany
M.S.  1981. Duke University. Botany.
Ph.D. 1985. Duke University. Botany. 
Post-doc. 1985-1990. N.Y. State Museum/Harvard University.

Selected Publications

Deng, T., D.G. Zhang, Z. Liu, G. C. Tucker, H. Sun, & Z.L. Nie. 2013. Oxalis wulingensis, an unusual new Oxalis (Oxalidaceae) species from Hunan and Hubei, China. Systematic Botany 38: 154-161.

Sy, D.T., T.T. Bach,R.K. Choudhary, G.C. Tucker, X. Cornejo, &  J. Lee. 2013. . Capparis daknongensis (Capparaceae), a new species from Vietnam. Annales Botanici Fennici 50: 99-102. Tucker, G.C., K.K. Shrestha, & S. Dajal. 2011. Capparaceae. Flora of Nepal 3: 96-102. Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh.

_____, K.K. Shrestha, & J.P. Gajurel. 2011. Cleomaceae. Flora of Nepal 3: 103-107. Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh.

_____, & J.E. Ebinger.  2011. A review of the Genus Scleria (Cyperaceae) in Illinois. Transactions of the Illinois State Academy of Science 104: 109-118.

Tucker, G.C. 2009 onwards. Cleomaceae. In: Neotropikey. Version 1 (Aug. 2009). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. http://www.kew.org/science/tropamerica/neotropikey.htm 

Tucker, G.C., B. Edgin, J.E. Ebinger, & N. Owens. 2009. Botanical Inventory of Wildcat Hollow State Forest, Effingham County, Illinois. Transactions of the Illinois State Academy of Science 101: 167-185.



Zhang, M. L. & G.C. Tucker. 2008. Capparaceae. In: Wu, C. Y., Raven, P. H. & Hong, D. Y. (eds.), Flora of China 7: 433-450. Science Press, Beijing and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.

Tucker, G.C. 2008. Cyperus alvesii (Cyperaceae), a new species from northeastern Brazil. Harvard Papers in Botany 13: 237-240.

Tucker, G.C. 2007. Helictotrichon Besser. in Barkworth, M.E., K.M. Capels, S. Long, & M.B. Piep (eds.), Flora of North America, north of Mexico. Poaceae, part 1: 701-702. New York and Oxford.

Yang, Q. E. & Tucker, G. C. 2007. Elatinaceae. Pp. 55-56 in: Wu, Z. Y., Raven, P. H. & Hong, D. Y., (eds.), Flora of China vol. 13 (Clusiaceae through Araliaceae). Science Press, Beijing and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.

Tucker, G.C. 2007. Systematics of Cyperus L. section Diffusi Kunth (Cyperaceae) in the Neotropics. in Barbosa, L.M. and N.A. Santos (eds.), A botânica no Brasil: pesquisa, ensino e políticas públicas ambientais. Soc. Bot. Bras. Bull. 238A: 311-314. São Paulo.

Selected Conference Presentations

Gordon Tucker & David A. Simpson
Biogeography and Diversity of Cyperaceae in China. 2013. 

Gordon Tucker
Botanical Inventory of Prairie Ridge State Natural Area, Jasper County, Illinois. 2007 

Gordon Tucker 
Systematics of Cyperus L. (Cyperaceae) in Brazil.  2007 

John Ebinger, Gordon Tucker, Nick Owens and William McClain 
Glacial Drift Hill Prairies of the Prairie Peninsula.  2006   

Bob Edgin, Gordon C. Tucker and John E. Ebinger. 
Vegetation and Flora of American Beech Woods Nature Preserve, Clark County, IL.  2003 

Community

Charleston Tree Commission (since 2006)