Timothy Hammer

I'm originally from the USA and am currently a PhD candidate in systematics and taxonomy at the School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia. I'm an inaugural recipient of a Forrest Research Foundation PhD Scholarship.

My research focuses on the diverse Australian arid-zone plant genus Ptilotus (mulla mulla) in the family Amaranthaceae. Using molecular phylogenetics and morphology, I am resolving the evolutionary relationships within Ptilotus and between Ptilotus and its close relatives. I hope to understand when and how it diversified in Australia, and how it became an important floristic component of the deserts and one of the most morphologically diverse genera in the family.

In addition to my PhD chapters, I've authored or co-authored nine papers describing new species and a key to the species of Ptilotus in Western Australia. I'm keen to pursue a career as a plant taxonomist and biosystematist. Follow me on Instagram @botanizer and Twitter @TaxonomyTim.

Pressing a specimen of Ptilotus rotundifolius on a field trip in the Pilbara, Western Australia.

My blog posts:

• Two new species of Asterolasia (Rutaceae) in eastern Australia

• A Pennywort for your thoughts

• Eucalyptus dalveenica, a new and endangered species from eastern Australia

• On the Horizon: Generic changes for the amaranth family