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Carol Wilson has been at California Botanic Garden (formerly Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden) as a research scientist and Claremont Graduate University as a research associate professor of botany since 2005. She also is a research botanist at the University and Jepson Herbaria, University of California, Berkeley (since 2016). Prior to these positions, Wilson was on the faculty and curated the herbarium at Portland State University.

Wilson’s research focuses on phylogenetics, systematics, and biogeography of Iris (Iridaceae) and comparative morphology of floral and vegetative structures in the genus. Her research also includes studies of parasitic angiosperms in the Viscaceae and Loranthaceae with an interest in the origins of parasitism. Wilson has received research grants from the National Science Foundation, American Iris Foundation, and other organizations.

Co-authored with J. Padiernos and Y. Sapir “The royal irises (subgenus Iris section Oncocyclus): plastid and low-copy nuclear data contribute to an understanding of their phylogenetic relationships” (2016) Taxon 65: 35–46.

Wilson, Carol A. “The complete plastid genome sequence of Iris gatesii (section Oncocyclus), a bearded species from southeastern Turkey” (2014) Aliso 31: 45–52. Download a pdf of this article.

Co-authored with A. S. Wheeler “Exploring phylogenetic relationships within a broadly distributed, Northern Hemisphere group of semi-aquatic Iris species” (2014) Systematic Botany 39: 759–766. Read the abstract of this article.

Co-authored with J. Guo “Molecular phylogenetic study of the crested Iris based on five plastid markers” (2013) Systematic Botany 38: 987–995. Read the abstract of this article.

Co-authored with N.J. Vereecken, S. Hötling, S. Schulz, S. A. Banketov and P. Mardulyn “Preadaptations and the evolution of pollination by sexual deception: Cope’s rule of specialization revisited” (2012) Proceedings of the Royal Society B 279: 4786–4794. Download a pdf of this article.

Co-authored with L.D. Karst “Phylogenetic analyses of the genus Sisyrinchium based on chloroplast and nrDNA data” (2012) Systematic Botany 37: 87–95. Read the abstract of this article.

Wilson, Carol A. “Subgeneric classification in Iris re-examined using chloroplast sequence data” (2011) Taxon 60: 27–35.