
A Phylogeny of Begonia Using Nuclear Ribosomal Sequence Data and Morphological Characters
With ca. 1400 species, Begonia is one of the largest plant genera. To address the evolution of Begonia we have produced maximum parsimony cladograms for nuclear large subunit and internal transcribed spacer sequence data in combination with 34 informative morphological
characters. Data were obtained from 64 species of Begonia, the monotypic genus Hillebrandia, and both species of Datisca. The resulting phylogenetic hypotheses supported three main clades within Begonia, two internally resolved clades of African plants, and one
unresolved transcontinental clade containing species from southern Africa, America, Asia, and the Socotran archipelago. Morphological characters often support well-resolved molecular clades. Tepal number in the staminate and carpellate flowers and fruit characters are discussed. None of the
morphological characters sampled, including traditionally emphasized characters in sectional delimitations such as locule number and number of placental branches, provides a basis for subdividing Begonia into easily circumscribed monophyletic groups. Implications for future sectional
classifications of Begonia are discussed.
Document Type: Regular Paper
Publication date: July 1, 2005
- Systematic Botany is the scientific journal of the American Society of Plant Taxonomists and publishes four issues per year.
2011 Impact Factor: 1.517
2011 ISI Journal Citation Reports® Rankings: 87/190 - Plant Sciences
34/45 - Evolutionary Biology - Editorial Board
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