Summary Many of the diverse floral characteristics used by taxonomists in assessing relationships among taxa represent adaptations to specific pollinators or pollinating methods. Therefore, the diversity of reproductive methods that occurs within a phylad has a strong influence on the number of taxa that are generally recognized in the phylad. Such evolutionary phenomena as convergence and adaptive radiation of floral patterns influence the taxonomic status of various phylads or the relationships that are seen among them. Incompatibility systems are generally unassociated with morphological distinctions, but are of practical importance in crossing programs designed to test the presence and nature of genetic isolation between species, since an unawareness of their existence may lead to erroneous taxonomic conclusions. Similarly, unilateral incompatibility is discussed in relation to certain practicalities in hybridization programs. Morphological features associated with dioecism and heterostyly are disscussed as a generally overlooked source of potentially very useful taxonomic characters. The importance of adaptations to different pollinators as a basis of interspecific isolating mechanisms is stressed, as are the possible positive evolutionary (and taxonomic) consequences of a breakdown in this isolation. Floral and other characters associated with autogamy are discussed and examples are given where the relationships of autogamous taxa are uncertain because of their highly specialized reduced flowers. It is suggested that taxonomists should make an attempt to understand the reproductive methods of the plants with which they work, since such an understanding will strengthen the foundation upon which taxonomic judgments are made.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. Society for the Study of Evolution is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Evolution.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. The University of Chicago Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to International Journal of Plant Sciences. DNA sequence data from the internal and external transcribed spacers of 18S-26S nuclear ribosomal DNA and the 3 trnK intron of chloroplast DNA provide evidence for patterns of evolutionary diversification and relationships in Lasthenia. Maximum parsimony analysis shows strong support for monophyly of Lasthenia and monophyly of each of seven sections (as treated here) in Lasthenia, with minor revision of Ornduff's (1966) sectional circumscriptions. Lasthenia sect. Amphiachaenia (correct name for L. sect. Baeria sensu Ornduff 1966 and redelimited to include L. leptalea) was resolved as a basally divergent section, i.e., as the sister group of a clade comprising all other Lasthenia taxa. Placement of other sections within Lasthenia is only weakly resolved, except for L. sect. Burrielia (redefined to exclude L. leptalea) and L. sect. Hologymne, which are robust sister clades. The clade comprising L. sect. Burrielia and L. sect. Hologymne and clades corresponding to each of the other sections except L. sect. Amphiachaenia constitute a polytomy, with most clades characterized by a long basal branch and relatively short terminal branches. We suggest that overall patterns of divergence in the molecular trees for Lasthenia conform to expectations of saltational diversification, with an initial rapid radiation followed by long periods of minimal diversification in each group preceding relatively recent episodes of speciation. Results also show that several important taxonomic characters in Lasthenia are homoplastic and that the base chromosome number for Lasthenia is xp8.

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