Australian Apiaceae, dominated by Hydrocotyloideae Link, are characterized by a number of enigmatic genera, the phylogenetic relationships of which are obscure. A cladistic analysis using morphological and anatomical data indicated that Apiaceae are monophyletic and Hydrocotyloideae form a grade between a paraphyletic Araliaceae and a monophyletic Apioideae Drude+Saniculoideae Burnett. Beyond this, there was no support for past suprageneric arrangements within the order. Hydrocotyleae Spreng. and their constituent subtribes were polyphyletic, as were the subtribes of Mulineae DC. The relationships between Australian genera were not well resolved although the analysis did provide a good indication of broad generic affinities.
Prostanthera is the largest genus of Lamiaceae in Australia and was last comprehensively revised in 1870. To test the classification, and the homology of the morphological characters on which it is based, we analysed nuclear (ETS) and chloroplast (trnT–F and ndhF–rpl32) sequence data for 71 species of Westringieae (Lamiaceae) in separate and combined datasets by using maximum-parsimony and Bayesian-inference methods. Results supported the monophyly of the Westringieae, but indicated that Prostanthera is paraphyletic with respect to Wrixonia, requiring the latter to be synonymised with the former. Although combinations of datasets provided some degree of infrageneric resolution within Prostanthera sensu lato, none of its sections or series could be recovered unambiguously. Prostanthera section Prostanthera and P. section Klanderia (regarded as entomophilous and ornithophilous, respectively) did not form a sister relationship, and neither could be unequivocally resolved as monophyletic. However, all species of P. section Klanderia nested within P. section Prostanthera raising the possibility that P. section Prostanthera is paraphyletic. Similarly, the phylogeny of Prostanthera based on molecular data could not be reconciled with the morphological definition of the traditionally recognised series. We recommend abandoning Bentham’s series as a means of organising morphological variation within the genus, but acknowledge that it is premature to discard Bentham’s sections. The evolutionary and systematic implications of the lack of congruence between our molecular phylogeny and morphologically defined subgeneric taxa are discussed.
Molecular systematics has clarified the limits of Loganiaceae (Gentianales), the tribal circumscriptions and the phylogenetic relationships within the family. Loganieae includes seven genera; however, generic boundaries remain untested and intergeneric relationships are largely unknown. The chloroplast intron petD and the nuclear ribosomal ETS were sequenced for 37 ingroup accessions, including all genera of Loganieae, to infer generic and infrageneric boundaries and intergeneric relationships within the tribe. Maximum parsimony and Bayesian analyses resolved several strongly supported clades. Mitreola s. str. was placed sister to the rest of Loganieae. The south-western Australian endemic, Mitreola minima B.J.Conn, was placed sister to Mitrasacme, Schizacme and Phyllangium, rendering Mitreola polyphyletic. Mitrasacme, Logania section Logania and L. section Stomandra were each strongly supported as monophyletic, but there was no support for the monophyly of Logania. Geniostoma was paraphyletic with respect to a monophyletic Labordia. It is here recommended that Mitreola minima be afforded generic status and that the three species of Labordia used in the present study be reduced to synonymy of Geniostoma. Additional sampling is needed to clarify the relationship between Logania section Logania and L. section Stomandra and to increase support for intergeneric relationships in Loganieae.
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