A Cladistic Analysis of Species Groups in Weinmannia (Cunoniaceae) Based on Morphology and Inflorescence Architecture

Abstract

Weinmannia (Cunoniaceae) is a woody genus of about 150 species widely distributed in the tropics and the southern temperate zone. Herbarium and living specimens were examined to determine characters for a cladistic analysis to test the monophyly of the genus and its sections. A matrix of 28 taxa and 31 morphological characters was analyzed to find the most parsimonious trees. The strict consensus cladogram supports the monophyly of the genus Weinmannia and sections Leiospermum, Weinmannia (including sect. Simplicifolia), lnspersa, and Spicata, but section Faseictilata is paraphyletic with respect to a highly derived section Weinmannia. Section Leiospermum from the South Pacific is the sister taxon to the rest of the genus. Some of the most parsimonious trees support a monophyletic clade from Madagascar of sections lnspersa and Spicata, but this node is unresolved in the strict consensus tree. Although the deep nodes of the phylogeny are not well supported, and few evolutionary interpretations are ventured, it appears that dioecy has arisen independently at least three times in the genus. The method and theory used to analyze variation in inflorescence architecture, which emerges from the metameric construction of plants and positional homology, are emphasized. The cladistic coding of positional characters and the tracing of their evolution on the cladogram are a study in heterotopy. i.e., evolutionary change in the position of development. Heterotopic evolution in the inflorescence is common in Weinmannia, suggesting a role for an evolutionary-developmental process that has typically been overlooked in favor of heterochrony.

Explosive Radiation of Malpighiales Supports a Mid‐Cretaceous Origin of Modern Tropical Rain Forests

“…Palynofossils assigned to extant taxa sampled in our data set were based on taxonomic assessments by Muller (1981) and updated accordingly for taxonomy and stratigraphy using the references below. TRF (Prance 1970(Prance , 1972a(Prance , 1973(Prance , 1989a1989b (Prance 1972a(Prance , 1973(Prance , 1989b Clusiaceae TRF (Kubitzki 1978;Cronquist 1981;Robson 1981) Clusia gundlachii Stahl Chase 341 (NCU) AY788209 Z75673 AY788278 AY674584 TRF (Cronquist 1981) E48 Cunoniaceae a OT/T and TRF (Hoogland 1979(Hoogland , 1981Bradford 1998Bradford , 2002 Cheek 5007 (K) AJ235385 AJ235771 AY674645 AF206840 TRF (Perkins 1909;Baas 1972;Takhtajan 1997) E51 (Hutchinson 1973;Robson 1974Robson , 1977Robson , 1981Robson , 1987Robson , 1990) Hypericum spp.…”

Bioactive ellagitannins from Cunonia macrophylla, an endemic Cunoniaceae from New Caledonia

“…Cunonia macrophylla Brongniart & Gris in particular showed a capacity to inhibit bacteria as well as fungi. This species belongs to a genus of 25 species (Hoogland et al, 1997), 24 from New Caledonia and 1 from South Africa, Cunonia capensis, which is morphologically somewhat similar to C. macrophylla (Bradford, 1998).…”

The history of Cunoniaceae in Australia from macrofossil evidence

“…Pollen data from Hideux and Ferguson (1976) and Barnes (1999), and geographic distribution data from Engler (1928), Smith (1952), Hoogland (1960Hoogland ( , 1979Hoogland ( , 1981Hoogland ( , 1988, Boland et al (1985), Floyd (1989), Harden (1990aHarden ( , 1990bHarden ( , 1990c, Hyland and Whiffin (1993), Zegers (1995), Zegers and Garcia (1994), Hoogland et al (1997), Bradford (1998), Hopkins (1998aHopkins ( , 1998bHopkins ( , 1998c, Hopkins and Florence (1998), Barnes and Jordan (2000), Rozefelds and Pellow (2000), Rozefelds et al (2001) Genus ( Barnes andHill 1999a, 1999b; Barnes and Jordan 2000), but unlike those of other prominent plant families such as Nothofagaceae (Hill 1994) and Proteaceae ), it has not been summarised.…”