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This is a selection of images of my research on parasitic plants, the genus Isoetes, teaching, and  plants of the Bible and Quran.

	Collecting Striga in Burkina Faso.  This was so long ago the country was then known as Haute Volta and I had black hair! The majority of my research efforts over the past three decades has been with parasitic angiosperms, particularly those which cause damage in the African Sahel and the Middle East
	The population of Isoetes olympica near Suweida, Syria. I have been monitoring this population for several years. Our research during the past fifteen years has shown that this genus of grass-like plants, little changed since the days of coal swamps, has remarkable diversity in the Middle Atlantic States.
	My plant taxonomy class from the American University of Beirut at the Ehden Cedar Preserve on Mount Lebanon. Cedars are evident in the background as are patches of snow in this March photo.
	I have a collaborative program with colleagues at the University of Peridenya in Sri Lanka. One of the areas of interest in that botanically diverse island is the Knuckles Preserve, shown here.  It is an area of granite outcrops and seeps and home to at least one endemic amphibian.
	Dr Mustafa Pala and I examining an infestation of Cuscuta (probably C. palestina) in a lentil test plant at the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) research farm at Tel Hadya, Syria. I have worked on an ICARDA sponsored project for the past several years. May 2005.
	Examining a shrubby species of Euphorbia near Fish River Canyon, Namibia. This shrub, which dominates the landscape, is the host of Hydnora africana one of the strangest plants in the world.  It spends its entire life underground, dependent upon this shrub for its existence, then breaks through the rock soil and flowers.  My colleague at the University of Namibia collaborates with my lab in this work. Click here.
	The distinguished botanist/physician/Arabist George Edward Post (right), 1838-1909. One of the founders of the Syrian Protestant College, which became the American University of Beruit, Post published the first comprehensive flora of the Middle East. I have just completed a biography of his life and am editing his letters.  Post also wrote extensively on plants of the Bible.
	Entrance to Mor Gabriel Monastery near Midyat, Turkey.  This is arguably the oldest monastery in continual use in the world.  One of my interests is in the cultic use of plants by ancient Christian groups.  May 2006. See:
Professor Gebisa Ejeta from Purdue University is on the right, holding Alectra vogelii, a serious parasite of cowpeas.  I have the same in my hand. On the lower left is Striga hermonthica, the most serious parasitic weed in Africa which causes severa damage to sorghum (as here) but also other grains. This field trip was part of a Striga workshop held in Ethiopia. 10 November 2006x	I am holding the pistillate inflorescences of Populus euphratica with the Euphrates River in the background.  Eastern Syria at the city of Deir Ezzor. March 2007. This tree is likely the "Willow of Babylon" mentioned in the Bible. Click here.

Above Abant Lake, Bolu Province, Turkey. This is the type locality of Isoetes anatolica.  We are standing in the depression where the quillworts grow. The large yellow flowers in the distance are species of Verbascum. With Mustafa Keskin. 2 July 2007.

Megaspores of Isoetes anatolica. These spores have the largest tubercles of almost any Isoetes species. The genus is poorly studied in Turkey and throughout Southwest Asia. See the PowerPoint presentation on Isoetes in Southwest Asia

In a field of opium poppies, Papaver somniferum, in Eskisehir Province, Turkey on a field trip of the Seventh Plant Life of Southwest Asia Symposium.  These poppies are grown legally for pharmaceuticals. 27 June 2007.

Updated 31 July 2007