Preventing Extinction: Hawaii is the extinction capital of the United States. One group that has some of the highest number of endangered species are the Hawaiian Lobeliods. This unique taxonomic group represents some of the most unusual members of the Campanulaceae family. Considerable effort is being invested in preventing the extinction of many of the critically endangered species in this group. One of the key objective of the Hawaiian strategy on Plant Conservation has recognized an understanding the genetics composition of ex-situ collections is an important key step to helping the reintroduction of these groups.  Working with markers developed at the Chicago Botanic Garden, a student will be genotyping samples collected from Lyon Arboretum collection of rare Lobeliods.