A California Scholar’s Research Into a Flowering Shrub Took Him to Mexico and a Violent Death

A California Scholar’s Research Into a Flowering Shrub Took Him to Mexico and a Violent Death
Gabriel Trujillo conducts field research for his doctorate in Arizona. Roxanne Cruz-de Hoyos/AP Photo
The Associated Press
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LOS ANGELES—For four years, Gabriel Trujillo trekked the breadth of the United States and south into Mexico in search of a flowering shrub called the common buttonbush.

The plant is native to the varied climates of Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. Trujillo, a 31-year-old Ph.D. student at the University of California–Berkeley, wanted to know why it thrived in such a range of places, and whether the evolution of the species held possibilities for future habitat conservation and restoration efforts.