Morphological and molecular tests of species delimitation in Robinia L. of the southeastern United States

Robinia L. is a genus of trees and small shrubs native to North America, with several species that are of conservation concern within the Southern Appalachians. The genus has been re-circumscribed utilizing morphologically based taxonomic treatments several times in the last century, though no molecular study has focused solely on the genus. Restriction Site Associated Sequencing (RADSeq) is a method of rapidly sequencing short reads from the genome that are generated by digesting the DNA with restriction enzymes to create short sequences from the same loci in many samples. I plan to sample the entirety of Robinia L. species native to the Southeastern United States and employ both RADSeq and morphological methods provide an updated taxonomic treatment. This work will generate a thorough understanding of the genus, which will be integral to conserving populations of the rare species of the genus in their native ranges in the Southern Appalachians