Faculty
Emeriti

Mark Alan Schlessman, PhD

Professor Emeritus of Biology
(1980–2022)
Mark Schlessman

I am an evolutionary biologist who loves plants. I have focused my research on sexual systems, i.e. the ways that angiosperms distribute stamens and pistils among their flowers in order to specialize more on either the male or the female component of reproductive success. Most of my work has been on andromonoecious plants, those that produce both bisexual and male flowers, in the parsley family (Apiaceae), ginseng family (Araliaceae), and spider flower family (Cleomaceae). I’ve studied these plants (and others) in the Pacific Northwest, Rocky Mountain, and Northeastern US; New Zealand; and New Caledonia.  Although I am now officially retired, I am continuing work on digitizing the Vassar College Herbarium.

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