How to map a plantain: phylogeny of the diverse Plantagineae (Lamiales)

Abstract

The tribe Plantagineae (Lamiales) is a group of plants with worldwide distribution, notorious for its complicated taxonomy, still unresolved natural history, and a trend of morphologic reduction and simplification. This tribe includes the plantains (Plantago), the small aquatic Littorella, and the northern Andean shrubs Aragoa. Some Plantago lineages exhibit remarkably high diversification rates, which further adds to the complicated classification, and the worldwide distribution of these plants raises numerous questions related to vicariance and dispersal. In this work, we present the broadest phylogeny of the group to date and discuss the evolutionary, morphological, and biogeographical implications of our phylogenetic results, including the description of two new species from the Americas.

Plastomes from tribe Plantagineae (Plantaginaceae) reveal infrageneric structural synapormorphies and localized hypermutation for Plantago and functional loss of ndh genes from Littorella

“…Thus, it is clear that more data are needed to define and/or substantiate Plantagineae relationships. Broad sampling of Plantagineae species using a small number of markers is one possible approach, which was recently undertaken in an unpublished study (Shipunov, et al 2020). Plastome phylogenomics provide an alternative solution, and the first such study , focused on subg.…”