Flora of New Zealand ‐ Gramineae supplement I: Danthonioideae

Abstract

The newly erected grass subfamily Danthonioideae encompasses four New Zealand genera viz Chionochloa, Cortaderia, Pyrrhanthera, and Rytidosperma; 43 endemic species comprise it. In Rytidosperma new chromosome counts confirm earlier reports of diploid and hexaploid species and report tetraploids (2n = 48) as an additional level of ploidy. In Pyrrhanthera 2n = c. 156, which is the highest chromosome number in the subfamily and second highest recorded in the Gramineae. New Zealand species of Cortaderia should not be included in the same clade as South American species according to cladistic analyses of rpoC2 and ITS sequences. Morphologically this separation fails. Monophyletic Chionochloa is generically secure. Earlier data on the triterpene methyl ethers (TMEs) isolated from the epicuticular leaf wax of species of Chionochloa and Cortaderia are interpreted along modern pathways of the biosynthesis of the precursor sterols and triterpenols, and their subsequent methylation. In Chionochloa where 18 taxa in 33 synthesise TMEs mostly as single compounds, dedicated synthases for each of several triterpenoids is indicated. Nonrandomness of TME synthesis is characteristic, but there is no total accord between taxonomic treatment and TME synthesis. Zones of TME-richness lie in the Tararua and Rimutaka Ranges, southern North Island (6 TMEs), and Canterbury, South Island (5 TMEs).

Carbon isotope evidence for sedimentary miliacin as a tracer of Panicum miliaceum (broomcorn millet) in the sediments of Lake le Bourget (French Alps)

“…This author found miliacin in P. miliaceum and Syntherisma sanguinalis (hairy crabgrass). Miliacin was also found in several species of Chionochloa, sometimes associated with other PTMEs such as arundoin, lupeol methyl ether, β-amyrin methyl ether, parkeol and cycloartenol methyl ethers (Russell et al, 1976;Connor and Purdie, 1976;Connor, 2004). Miliacin is the sole PTME detected in Glyceria acutiflora.…”

“…This compound was purified from Chionochloa sp. extracts (Russell et al, 1976;Connor and Purdie, 1976;Connor, 2004).…”

Model uncertainty in ancestral area reconstruction: A parsimonious solution?

“…Africa is a plausible ancestral area for Danthonioideae, as it is consistent with independent evidence: the sister group, Chloridoideae, is inferred to have originated either in Africa (Hartley, 1964;Hilu & Alice, 2001) or in Africa or temperate Asia (Peterson & al., 2010), and African clades of Danthonioideae are generally diploid, whereas the Australasian and American clades are (largely) more derived polyploids (de Wet, 1960;Connor, 2004;H.P. Linder, unpub.…”

Complete Chloroplast Genomes ofSaccharum giganteum,Saccharum longisetosum,Cleistachne sorghoides, Sarga timorense, Narenga porphyrocomaandTripsacum dactyloides. Comparisons with ITS phylogeny and Placement withinSaccharum

“…The relative ease by which chloroplast DNA can be isolated and assembled from whole genome short read data or sequenced from PCR amplification from whole plant DNA isolates has made chloroplast genome assembly and phylogenomics much simpler. However, it has recently become clear (Connor 2004;Kellogg et al 1996;Hinsinger et al 2014;Záveská et al 2016;Folk et al 2017) that plant evolution is much more complex than previously realised and that reticulate (network) evolution is much more common than previously thought. This is particularly the case in the Andropogoneae subtribe of grasses, where ancestral cross species hybridization has been very common (Estep et al 2014, Lloyd Evans et al 2019.…”